The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-07-16
Tue NoprRy EARLY BIRD, OR THE PRE-.

TgE MODERN EARLY BIRD, OR THE Pre-.
coCITy OF THE TIMEs.-The bills Of NOR
tality and general statistics are supposed
| to nroye with uncomfortable accuracy
that the span of life is gradually decreas-
ing the davs of giants and thousand year
old patriarchs are gone forever; and, as q
natural consequence, our keen and acute
neonle have determined to condense as
much life as possible into the prescribed
neriod of three score years and ten. II
this desire showed itself by restless anxi-
ety to do good, no one would complain,
and if children, with the short duration OF
mans life before them, could be taught to
display in infancy the virtues and good
qualities of womanhood, no one would utter
a word Of blame but, unfortunately for
us. our ideas have taken another turn, and
the ruling passion appears to be to con-
dense AS much folly, nonsense, and frivo-
litv as possible into each passing hour.
The "old birds" of the community,
who have learned by experience the van
ity of human affairs, plod along without
excitement or change, but the young
and "early birds" refuse counsel or ad-
vice. and turn over on every day q new
mage in the book OF useless knowledge.
In the good old times" Of tradition-aye,
and ten years ago-the children Of twelve
years old we're kept in the nursery, in q
chronic condition of bib-aprons and dis
crctionary bread and butter. They read
L" Mother Goose" and slack the Giant
Killer" played with doll-babies, knew
how to romp and frolic, shouted, sang, a nd
laughed, and were, in fact and deed,
ingenious, frank, and noisy children:
When, at eighteen or nineteen years OF
age, their schooling was completed, they
were permitted to peep into the world,
they were fresh and strong, prepared for
the tolls of fashionable life, able to endure
the late dance and enervating Soiree, and,
by the time they were tired of gaiety, were
old enough to marry with reason, and be-
come faithful and afiectionate wives and
mothers.
In these days, alas all is changed; we
have no children now. "Girls" of four
teen years of age, who do not know how
to write their own English tongue with de-
cent correctness, are accomplished "wo-
men" of the world. They have their
"bcaux and their bWetS-dour their eve
ming promenadcs and engagements to
church: their visits Of ceremony and MORN
ing calls. They know how to twist fan,
to glance out Of the corner Of the eye, to
firt and coquette, to give a flower or
ribbon, or to receive with we'll ieigned sur
prise the addresses of a hoy of thirteen or
fourteen, informing him with pitying look
that they have "rcally only looked upon
him as friend The porchcs and veran-
dahs of the houses in which these child
al hnx
who listen admirinely to the rattling
wherever they are, and wherever they go,
il is the same round of assumed know
ledge and prccocious w"manhoOd.
Even admiration and ilattery willpall and
sicken at last, but the child-belles cannot
thrust away the chalice that has once
touched their lips. They 60 on in the
same strain month after month, and by the
time that they are eighteen or nineteen
years old-by the time that they ought to
think Of entering into Socicty-they are
wcaried, disgustcd, and sick at heart. 1t is
not expected of them 10 marry, and they
continue in society IL few years longer, still
tired, still careless, and deSpising the fiat
tering words that in earlier days were the
greatest Joys Of their existence. All the
cnioyments of life have been exhausted by
them; they have nothing Of pleasure to
learn; they are young women, but old
bellies; and where is the man who could
choose such an one Of them as his wife
with any assurance that she would be the
contcnted sharer Of his perhaps humble
and quiet home!
The responsibility Of all this rests upon
the parents. Their motives are good
enough. They desire to see their children
caressed and admired, and forget the harm
! they arc doing them. Let them look back
to their own young days, to their own mo-
Tiers and sisters, and compare their girl
hood with that of their children and il
they will do this they will see the criminal
error Of over indulgence and too much
freedom Of action. 1t is never too late to
mend, and it is not yet too late to wean
the children from their follics. They will
funfc and fret, pout and grow indignant at
| first, but they will soon become reconciled,
and when, at mature age and with matured
mind, they 60 again into the world, they
can assume their proper position as cult
waited and intelligent women, and will bless
the wise action that kept them away from
society until they were old enough to de.
StGsf4 f. Itlh49 themselves and wise enough to draw
some little good from an Il Nitss>&aa!lles is and
vcxations.