Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-09-25
Irrom tho Lonaon sataraay Rerlew.l

uliW noicsOE1e COnuttlOtls. sometimes
the spelling co mes from over-harsh-'
ness sometimes from ,over-indalgence;
what we are speaking of to-,lay is the
latter condition-the' spoiling which
comes from being petted and given
way to and indulged,' till they think
themselves better than any body else,
and as If living under laws made cs-
peclally for them sf0lle. Men get
spoilt too in the same manner; but
for the most part there Is a tougher
fibre in them, which rcsists the fiabby
influences of flattery and exaggerated
attention better than The morale Of
the weaker sex; and, besides, even
arbitrary men meet with opposition
I'm etrtan directions, and even the
most self-contented social autocrat
knows that his humblest adhercnts
criticise though they dare not oppose.
A man subjected to this iilsldlous
injury is simply ruined so for as any
real manliness of nature goes He Is
made into that sickening creature, IA
sweet being" as the women call him:
woman's man, With allowing hair
and turn for poetry, full ofhigh-flown
sentiment, and norlddly excited
sympathies man almost as much
woman as man, Who has no back
bone of ambition In him, but who
puts his whole life into love, Just as
women do, and who becomes at last
emphatically not worth his salt. No
greater damage can bs tfOffG to q man
than Is done by this great domestic
idolatry. But, in truth, the evil IL
too pleasant 20 be resisted; and there
Is scarcely man SO fur master of
himself as to withstand the subtle
intoxcation of woman's tender fiat
terry and loving submission.
Spoilt women are spoilt mainly
nom Ike cause-Over-attention from
men. A few certainly are TO be found,
as pampered daughters, with indul-
gent mamas and subserviant aunts
given up wholly TO ruin their young
charge with the utmost dispatch pos
sible but this is comparatively q fiir
form of the disease, and one which u
little wholesome matrimonial discip-
line would soon cure. For II IL seldom
that petted daughter becomes q
spoilt wife, human affairs having
marvellous power of compensation,
that inevitable tendency to readjust
the balance, which prevents the CON-
tinuance of like excess under diff.
ferent forms.
Besides, a spoilt daughter generally
makes such a suprefnely unpleasant
wife that the husband has no induce
ment to continue the mistake, and
therefore either lowers her tone by o
Judicious exhibition of snubbing, or,
if she Is aggressive as well as unpleas-
ant, leaves her to fight with her shad-
ows in the best way she can glad for
his own part to escape the strife she
VIII not foregU. One characteristic Of
the spoilt woman is her ifiipatiehce
Of any thing like rivalry. She never
has d female friend-certainly not one
OF her own degree, and not one at all
IN the true sefise of the word
Friendship presupposes equality, and
spoilt woman knows no equality
She has been so LONG accustomed to
consider hereself as tn lady-para-
mount, that she caii not understand
IL If any one steps i'm to Share her hon.
ors and devide her throne. TO praise
the beauty of any Woman, to find her
charming, or to pay her the attention
due TO acharmiDg woman, is to insult
our spoilt darling, add TO slight her
past forgiveness. If there Is only Oiie
good thing, 1t must he given to her
the first seat, the softest cushion, the
most protected situation; and she
looks for the best things sls if natural
ly cohsecrated from her birth into the
sunshine OF life, and as II the "cold
shade" which may do for Others were
t16 sP3liG 'lWomaf" UndpRflstaRd' 2kSs
grace or the glory of sacrifie.
The spoilt womafi as the wife of an
Unsuccessful husband or the mother
of sickly children is pitable specta-
Gle. If 1t comes TO her to be Obliged
to sacrifice her usual luxurics, TO make
and old gown serve when new one Is
desired, tosit upall night Watching by
the sick bed, to witness the painful
details Of illness, per1ihps of death,
to meet hardships face to face, to bend
her back to the burden of sorrow,
she is ut the first absolutely lost. Not
the thing to be done, but her own
discomfort i'm doing 1t, is the one mas
ter idea-not others needs, but her
own pain In supplying them, tho
great grief of the moment. Many
are the hard lessons set us by life and
fate, but the hardest of all is that
given to the spoilt woman when she
Is made TO think for others rather
than for hereself and is forced by the
exigencies of circumstances TO sacri-
flee her own ease for the greater me-
cessities OF her kind.
All that large part Of the perfect
woman's'nature which expresses it.
self In serving IL an unknown func-
ton to the spoilt woman. She must
be waited on, but she cannot in turn
serve even the one or two she loves.-
She is the woman who calls her hus-T
band from one end of the room TO the
other to put down her cup, rather
than reach out her arm and put 1t
down for herself; however weary he
may he, will bid him get up and ring
the bell, though Ii Is close 10 her hand
and her longest walk during the day
has been from the dining room To tho
drawing-Oom il Is not that she cart
not do these small offices. for herself,
but that she likes the feeling Of being
waited on and attended 10; and II II
not for love and the amlble, weak
pleasure Of attracting the notice OF
tie beloved-it il just for the vanity
of being little somebody for
the moment, and Of playing off the
small regality involved In the proce-
dure. She would not return the at
teIltion. Unlike the Eastern women
who wait on their lords hand and
foot, and who place their highest hon
or on their lowliest stTvice, the spoilt
woman of Western life knows moth
ing Of the natural grace Of womanly
serving for love, for grace or for grati-
tndc. The spoilt, woman OF
the mental kind Is a horrid nuisance
generally. She is greatly givem tO
large discourse, the discourse of q
kind that leads all to one side, and