The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-05-08
Plain Talk to Young Ladies
BY AN OLD MAID.


am not going to preach; l only want to
have nice, confidential chat with You
about the world in general, and few things
in particular. Although I may be an old
maid who has turned several ''corners = on
the highway of life, does it prove my inca
pacity to be oracular at times9 1t only
shows that have better opportunities for
observing men and things from my stand
point, and am, consequently, better pre-
pared to expatiate upon the subject under
consideration, than your matronly friends
and advisers who are encountered with the
details of housekeeping and the response
bilities of family. During the five and
forty years of my sojourning, have neither
kept my eyes shut nor been asleep.
Now, dear girls, let me begin at the be-
ginning. There is something in the world
to be thought of besides getting married!
You may open your unbeleving eyes and
elevate your incredulous noses; but this is
the sober conviction of a practical woman
supposed to be sin her right mind.''
Your father has spent large sums. it may
be, upon your education; and your mother
has striven, both by precept and example,
to make you an ornamental as well as val
liable acquisition to the home circle, and a
useful member of society. Truly, then,
here is your sphere. 1t is pre-emincntly a
daughters high privilege and duty to make
home happy: to seek to render the house
attractive to the weary father as he comes
i'll and leaves the busy turmoil of the world
behind him, and shuts the door on the
face of care; to tighten the burden of
the mother, and smooth from her per-
picked brow the wrinkles of sorrow or
anxiety, by the tender and willing sympa-
thy which only daughter can give; to help
and encourage the hayward brothers, and
keep them, by the constraining power of
love, away from temptations Of improper
amusements; to hold up the blessed exam
pie of pure and womanly life before the
young sisters whose guileless feet are just
entering upon the untried borders of the
mysterious future. These are some of the
objects you should live for. True, wo-
mans heart is so constituted that she longs
to love and be loved in return; but man
who would not prize girl more highly for
fulfilling faithfully the relations of daugh-
ter and sister, would not be worth the win
ming.
Here is another item for your considera-
ton: never flirt! I have observed that when
young lady SO far forgets her dignity and
selfrespect as to try to attract the notice
of gentlemen, she generally fails of her OBJ
ject; for does she not, by so doing, publicly
advertise that she has lost that sweet
maidenly reserve which constituted her
chief charm? No true man, when seeking
for sympathetic sharer in his joys and
sorrows, would choose one who could daz-
zle crowd; for these are not the qualities
which endure the wear and tear of life
Where the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit will not attract, it is hardly worth
while to add the loadstone of dress and art
\ man who values only these external,
superficial accomplishments which any wo-
man of ordinary capacities may acquire
to the entire neglect of the mind; who
hardly seems to care if she have soul
even, so long as she is handsome enough to
crafty his vanity. may as well buy pup
pet to display his wealth and add to his
Importance as the owner and proprietor
Let him do it, then! Let him see that you
will be priced for your moral worth, your
virtues, yourself. Such man might make
a desirable escort to places of amusement,
but would never make good, practical
loving husband; and no girl of sense, or of
sound principles, would desire any other.
were he possessed of incalculable wealth.
Fashion and frivolity seem to be reigning
supreme in too many female hearts. The
ladies may argue that they have at their
disposal plenty of time and money. Grant
ed: but is it a valid excuse for leading 9TH
ers astray? The devotee of fashion may
appear arrayed in new and elegant suit
every time there is a shadow of change
in the style, and it may cost her compare
lively little trouble; only the husband and
father must economic in some other direc-
ton in order to furnish the requisite funds,
and the poor, tired dressmaker be obliged
to forego her necessary rest. But does the
evil stop there? Assuredly not. And let
us hope the fair wearer of this expensive
tinery does not realize the extent of the
injury she is doing ; we could exer-
else no charity toward her else. But
there are other considerations. In the first
place, it fosters the growth of two most
noxious plants in the female heart; namely,
vanity and envy. What young lady has
not experienced the humiliation of being
eclipsed by some more fashionably dressed
person than herself9 All! all this engen-
ders anything but holy emotions in the
mind.
would have lady always neatly and
becomingly dressed; richly too, when she
could afford it without causing others to
suffer in consequence; but never gaudily,
or in the extreme of the prevailing styles.
Nor would have her fall into the opposite
extreme of ignoring the fashion altogether.
1t is duty we owe to ourselves, as well as
our friends and society in general, to pay
proper regard to our appareling; and it is
always safe to follow medium course in
the matter of dress, as in other things
And remember, girls, that the state of the
finances, as well as the personal taste, must
be consulted. And where there is harmony
in all the details, there cannot fail to be
both elegance and beauty, perfection and
finish which always strike well balanced
mind as the ''eternal fitness of things
and no other would be safe to trust in,
either as guide or companion through, the
tangible realities of life's perilous journey.
A WISE MERCHANT.-The following in
cident is not without its lesson to large
class who think that ..tine feathers make
fine BIRDS
A servent girl went to leading dry
goods house in the city to purchase cloak.
The clerk who waited upon her, after dis
playing one or two patterns, rudely refused