Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1868-02-26
Intimacy at light.

What close observer of the ways OF
society has failed to notice how soon an
introduction is follow ed by the invitation
81 would be pleased to have you call
and see me, sir"
A comelY face and pleasant address
are the only essentials necessary for
stranger to insinuate himself into the So
ciety of the most select of our daughters.
If he is seemingly occupationless, the bet
ter are the chances. From idleness nthe
part of the male, the inference of wealth
is generally drawn by the opposite sex.
Men, as general rule, are more careful
in their selection of friends than are wo-
men. We have frequently seen gentle
man deliberately cut a handsome roue
upon the street, who, ten minutes after,
would be raising his hat in acknowledge
ment Of graceful nod from said gentle
mans sister.
Under home influences, woman is shut
on; and kept apart from much of the
worlds wickcdness; but as the warmest
clad are the most susceptible to taking
cold SO are those looked after the most
liable toneglect looking after themselves.
With 2womiati,s worldly wisdom, she is
seldom worldly wise. The purest in
mind seem. to succumb the soonest to the
magnetism of impurity. They are careful
only to be careless, and wise only to be
entrapped. Mothers know this, and the
more beautiful and bashful their daughters,
the more they fear for them A romp
of girl, the boygirl of our school days,
seldom causes uneasiness at. t.home. She
protects herself by her perfect abandon,
and learns modesty by fearlessness. So
much for the she'll, now for the kernel.
In large cities, like our own, young
ladies cannot be too careful to inquire
into the antecedents of gentleman be-
fore admitting him to their homes. Meet
ing stranger at fashionable party is
far from proving him gentleman. He
may be waif, first seen by your friend
amid the hotsam and jesam of some sum.
mer resort, OF his acquaintance may have
commenced by the assiduity with which
ne picked up fallen gloves, or the steadi.
ness of his stare at the church door on
Sundays, which would admit only of re-
cognition or insult, and the former was
preferable as the least of the evils. The
probability is that an agreeable and well.
informed stranger is gentleman-the
chances are he is rascal. The fact that
mans nLme is Brown, and that he is
we'll 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 prospects for future subsistence are
uncIouded.
A prudent man will invest in neither
house nor land, until the title of such be
clear. A prudent woman will call no
man friend or acquaintance until his title
as gentleman be as clear as honesty can
make it. There may be romance in new
acquaintances, but romantic young men
desert their inamoratas when romance
ceases to be profitable.
Brothers and fathers owe it, no less a
duty to their daughters and sisters than
to themselves, to fndout the character of
the young men who frequent their hous-
ses. Only rascals would object to this,
and honest men would seem all the
brighter for the investigation.
If daughters would be more careful in
the selection of their friends there would
be fewer divorces and desertions, seduc-
tions and heart-breakings in this wide
world, and we might have great deal
more sunshine and much less of shadow.