Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-08-24
From the Round Tablet

faeL wife.
From the Round Table,
There is suggested TO us distinction
between the fast girl and the wild girl
who are often, but most unjustly, con
founded; for though the latter in her be-
hayior oftentimes rather too closely imi-
tates the former, it is with very differ
ent motive and very different effect
The fast girls main aim in life is the at
tainment Of notorieiy; this gives us the
key Of all the curiosities OF her conduct.
But the singularities of the wild girl
spripe from the thoughtlessness ofyouth,
from it's headlong insouciance and mis-
cbievous ardor, from sheer excess of ami
nal spirits, the bubbling over of unusual
vitality. The wild girl will conduct q
vigorous handkerchief Irritation with q
stranger at a distance, but she hies in
dismay at his approach; she will answer
a matrimonial advertiser ent just for the
fun Of the thing, and be precipitated into
the sorest distress and terror il the pros
pective Benedick should find her out |;
disregardng every conventional pro-
priety, she yet knows how to blush at
every unworthy deed or word that gives
instructive alarm to her innocence. But
the fast girl has lost the art of blushiDg,
or rather she has educated herself out OF
it, along with the other weaknesses of
childhood AS for innocence, she SCOTS
and derides il; she has eaten of the for
hidden fruit of fatal knowledge, and she is
boastful of her enlightenment. In Ewes
place, she would have screened the ser
pent for the sake of monopoliziDg the
credit Of the sin.
The fast girl is easily to be distin-
guished by the exaggeration of dress or
of manner. If crinoline be in vogue, she
rivals the dame of 81. Peters; if paniers,
she sspires to personate Bactrian. The
very smallest of microscopic hats and
the heelest of high-heeled boots adorn
her extremities; and if the prevailing
mode allows the slightest resemblance to
masculine attire, she pushes the fashion
to its utmost. Any particularly repre-
hensible masculine habit has to her an
irresistible attraction; she talks slang
with volubility and ease that would as
topish an uptown butchers boy, and she
is never so happy as when she can COM
bine the delight Of inspiring sherry cob.
bers through straw, with the bliss of
smoking the surreptitious cigarette. If
rich enough, she runs to pony phaetons
and stunning tigers, and she is usually
an accomplished whip. At the races she
is, of course, in her element, and gives
and takes the odds on the favorite with
all the ease and familiarity of the most
veteran turtle, while displaying q cspa-
city for champagne that would do honor
to Presidential candidate. She doesn't |
care greatly for dancing, except for fash
ions sake and masked balls, where |
she gives loose rein TO all her in |
genuity Of intrigue; and she is sa-
tiated with delight if she can contrive |
to be the cause of a quarrel. Of
all women that loved, that Helen seems
TO her the most enviable about whom all |
the heroes of earth strove for ten years
TO cut each others throats, and all the
poets Of earth have been singing for CEN
turtles of decades Only 10 be talked
about that is the aim and end of her
aspirations. If she ia married, she
would prefer to preface the wedding by
an eopement, and epilogue it with d.
vorce; not to be immoral, but only to be
notorious. If she cant be divorced, at
least she can run away, which she CON-
monty does with the faithless father Of
some very large and interesting family.
The larger and the more interesting the
better, because the more opprobrium and
consequently the more comment. Some
times, but rarely, she settles down to a
course of quiet domestic felicity; mar.
ries some retail grocer or tsllow chandler
Of fabulous wealth, and is sung by en-
rapturea Jenkinses at every watering
place she honors with her startling pres
ence. Her diamonds are always more
costly, her costumes more recherche and
numerous, her liveries more gorgeous,
her horses more blooded, her hotel bills
more appalling, than any one else s.
Her name is always in the mouths Of
men; the daily papers chronicle her out
goings aud her incomings; she is first
among lady directors of every ball and
church and sewing society; her fame
flies abroad, gathering strength as it
goes, and she is happy. AS for the
grocer, if be is not happy, everybody
straightway reviles him, and tells him
what brute he is, which ought to make
him very cheerful indeed. And for her
children-she never has any.
SO the fast girl, married and provided |
for, goes down to a peaceful and notori-
Gus age, revered by all who don't know
her, happy in the consciousness of graft |
fed ambition. Perhaps she is no worse |
than her slower neighbors, after all.
She is the product Of imperfect ciyiliza-
ton, acting on the undeveloped moral
sense and keen perception of the beauty
and desirability of self-aggrandizement,
and in some respects may be held 10
iypify the spirit Of the age. She does no
great harm to any one but herself, and |
is, on the contrary, of immense service |
20 pious maiden aun,s and proper old |
fathers of families as a horrible example |
to ingenious female youth.