The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-07-17
Intimacy at Sight.


Intimacy at Sight.
What close observer of the ways
of society has failed to notice how
soon an Introduction is followed by
the invitation, ''I would be pleased
to have you call and see me, sir"
a comely face and pleasant adj
dress are the only essentials neces-
sary for q stranger to insinuate him
self into the society of the most
select of our daughters. If he is
seemingly occupationless, the better
are his chances. From idleness on
the part of the male, the inference
of wealth is generally drawn by the
opposite sex. Men, as q general
rule, are more careful in the selec-
ton of their friends than are women.
We have frequently seen agentleman
deliberately cut handsome rouc
upon the street, who, ten minutes
after, would be raising his hat in
acknowledgment of graceful nod
from said gentleman S sister.
Under home influences, woman is
shut out and kept apart from much
of the worlds wickedness; but as
the warmest clad are always the
most susceptible to taking cold, SO
are those most looked after the most
liable to neglect looking after them
selves. With all womans worldly
wisdom, she is seldom worldly wise.
The purest in mind seem to succumb
the soonest to the magnetism of i'm
purity. They are careful only to be
careless, and wise only to be entrap-
ped. Mothers know this, and the
more beautiful and bashful their
daughters, the more they fear for
them. A romp of girl, the boy
girl of or school days, seldom causes
uneasiness at home. She protects
herself by her abandon, and learns
modesty in fearlessness. So much
for the shell, now for the kernel.
In large cities like our own, young
ladies cannot be too careful to in
quire the antecedents of n gentleman
before admitting him to their homes.
Meeting stranger at fashionable
party is far from proving him a gen
tleman. He may be a waif, first
seen by your friend amid the hotsam
and jestam of some summer resort,
or his acquaintance may have com
menced by the assiduity with which
he picked up falling gloves, or the
steadiness of his stare at the church
door on Sundays, which would ad-
NIT only of recognition or insult,
and the former was preferable as
the least of the evils. The proba-
bility is that an agreeable and we'll
Informed stranger is q gentleman
n fhof l.,
The fact that mans name is Brown,
and that he is well-dressed, is not
sufficient. 1t must be ascertained
whether his parents were named
Brown, how they subsisted, how the
present Brown subsists, and whether
his chances for future subsistence are
nnclouded. A prudent man will
invest in neither house nor land
until the title of such be clear. A
prudent woman should call no man
friend or acquaintance until his title
to the name of gentleman be as clear
as honesty can make it. There may
be romance in new acquaintances,
but most romantic young men desert
their inamoritas when the romance
ceases to be profitable.
Brothers and fathers owe it, no
less n duty to their daughters and
sisters than to themselves, to find
out the character of the youn. II. N
who frequent their houses. Only
rascals would object to this, and
honest men would seem ali the
brighter for the investigation.
If daughters would be moro care
fnl in the selection of their friends,
there would be fewer divorces and
desertions, seductions and heart
breakings in this wide world, and we
might, therefore, have great deal
more of sunshine and much less of
shadow.