The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-27

80 i =. ,Tfs the Benz Of Shandon S.ie
s,-Is.. Thatsoundso grand on
me nlaaeant waters OF the River Lee.
Gssgcc ~ -
1tisss .ssWEET sEyENTBEM
from the Saturday Reyiew.l
fi vast amount of poetry has always been
thrown around that special time OF womahs
lie when,
Isg {. Standing with reluctant ieeL
where the brook and river meet,
aha;,a No longer child, and yet not quite
:, y-Ny,re,,-f nat transition time between the
Closed bud and the full blown hcVer wmcn we
Ia England express by tAeterm, among otheis,
sey ts;npi,3aln or To- enyelep things n o geiden
sisze Wr6uuht by the lima ginati0n unly and no
Whera 10 be found III FAC, we ealnet deny the
iSecr,Ifar charm which BELONGS to .a girl OF TINS
ags. f she Il ct an nice, and neither pert nor
sEi9s Besides, itiB not only what she is, tnat
interests us7 but what sheSRth ibe E Tor tnls Is.
the time when the character as se0ang mo isS ns
every one connected with her is, how Will sne'
frIrrr ont into what kind of woman VIII the
GIRL fievelou and what kind OF life will she
make fer herself ~ Certainly Sweet Seventeen
nav he . most unloyely creature, and In ciact
she Jeffani is; aEcreature haro ana iotWaru,
oSS childhood, and fnhaVing gained nothing
vet of sfhe tact and grace OF woman
hood: q creature whose hopes and thoughts
are an centred on the time when she shall be
brouGht out, and have her ding ef flirting ana
nne dresses with the fest5 Or she may ee only
aganshe and giggling school glrt Ttn sam mina III
trigues and scandals Of the dormitory and tne
nlaycrouHd;e z an who scAmps her lessons and
chsa{s ner tnasterss; whose highest efforts OF
irfsliecf are shown in the cleverness with
yehioS she can break the rules OF the estaonsh-
ndento without being found out; who THINKS
hldpga sforeidden times. Reepng .nIouga
her o6uipanions and the teachers, and telling
SHY secrets with less truth than ingenu,tya IN
them the greatest fnn Imaginable, and al the
greater because Of the spice OF repeulon anu
perversity with which II Is dashed.s W sne
HsY,be mere tomboy regrethng her sex and;
sinn0and rauing echoolboy habits; ridiculing
her 1isbers, and disliked by her companions,
While thinking airfhood bore and woman
h6od g mistake Ii enact proportion to its femi-
naiitS. OR she may be o budding miss, shy
Sni awkward, with no harm In her and as Mt
tie, good--a mere sketch of girl, without 9
line Is yet made out of the dominant color
q, much "a ;ndicated. Sometimes she is awk-
ward IN another way, being studious and pre-
occonied, when ehe passes for ODD and origin
sl and 4 parsly feared, partly disliked, and
wholly misunderstood by her own young
world; md sometimes she has cynical con,
tempt 'i6r men and beauty ana pleasure ,ir,..a ana
6vher revolt against all the canons OF good
tssfe and conventionality. But after her deou
IN taftered garments Of severe 7colors and m
aSfEW cif, she win probably end her days IS
afanfic fashionable, the salvation OF whose soul
ss1d 2sss pTGgs1ess p ss q seSeDtsen nsr %asa
net unfreauentlY. revenge themselves py an
aISsfly opposit6 mature extraEagance. But
fAoIlRR there are enough andtto spare OF gtrls8
1ceof1link DO al ntheAe patterns, the sweet
geventeen or ones affections u none OF them.
lhdYet she is nos always the same, but has
htr didexert presen tsfzons, ner ysryi59 Acs.s,
Sf68 6sss and lovsHesE thing about Sweet
EeVeifSca Is her sense Or duty-for the most
Tarf A. new serge. She no longer needs 10
Be told what to do; she has net 70 De Kept
to her tasks BY the fear Of authority Or tne
eabMissiye grace Of obedience; but OF her
oEr, nee win, because understanding that
Il h her duty. and that duty is 7holier
Ting than seifWili, she conscientiously does
WilaS she, does not like 70 do, and cheer
fnIly riycs up what she desires without
being driven or exhorted. She has generally
hef1rs her. mind some favorite heroine IN
eiri's. novel, who goes through mucn patniui
discipline and comes out al the orlgnser aor
4 In the end; and she makes noble resolves OF
TviIfr a. Wortnily as her model She comforts
her Soul, TOO, With passages nom LongfeuoT
,l,d Tenhyeon and the 1Christian Year and
I6Eius lonr extracts from s.Eyangehnen and the
AfdrisS poetry having an almost magical intlu-
ence over her, nesrly3s powerful as the Sunday
SERMONS she listens to 90 devoufly and tries
abe wakes to q dim sense OF her own IN
df1iduaiity, and confesses to herself that sne
Aas NE of her own apert H0m, and extrane-
ors t6.. her mere family membership. She is
rot only the sister or the daughter living with
and for her parents or herbrpthers and sisters,
hut she is also heFselE, With q future OF her
own not 10 be shared with them-uot TO oe
vague dreams Of this future and It's hero
dreams that are as much Of fairyland as u they,
were Of the young prince coming over the sea
in q GOLDEN boat to Ind the princess In tower
ofkrass waiting for him. Quite impersenal,
and with hero only In the clouds, yet never
theless these dreams are suggested oy the
eDeciai circumstances Of her life, by her favor
IA % hooks. M or the style of society in which she
Has been placed. The young prince is either
beautiful and, high-souled clergyman-not
unlike the young vicar or the new curate, but
infinitely more beautiful-ap apostle In the
standing collar and single-breasted coat OF the
nineteenth century; or he 1s an ARTIST
IN q VefpoL blouse anu WlLn moving nhII, uV-~
ingin world ofbeauty such as no Philistine can
imagine; or he IS o gallant sailor, with blue
ewes and loose neck-tie, looking up to heaven
In q rale. and thinking of. his mother and sis
tefs at home, and of the one still more be-
loved, when he certainly ought to be thinking
of tarry ropes and coarse, sailcloth; orhe Is a
magnificent young officer heading his men at a
charge, and looking supremely well got up
and handsome This Is the kind Of 5attur she
dreams of when she dreams at all, whichis not
Often The reality Of her mature life Is per-
haps astolid country squire, or pr0saic city
merchant without the thinnest thread of ro-
nance In his composition; while her own life,
which was to be such aalovely poem Of grace
ful usefulness and heroic beauty, sinks into the
prosafc routine of housekeeping and society,
the sigh after the vanished ideal growing fainter
and fainter as the weight Of time and fact
9roWs heavier.
Married men are all sacred to Sweet Seven
teen when she is good girl; 30 are engaged
men. For the matter Of that, she believes that
nothing could induce her to marry either
Widower or one who had been already engag-
ed, as nothing could induce her to marry any
man under five foot eleven, or with q snub
nose or sandy whiskers. Sweet Seventeen
has in general the most profound aversion to
boys. To be sure she may have her favorites-
very few and very seldom; but she mostly
thinks them stupid or conceited, and resents
impartially either their awkward attentions to
herself. or their assumptions Of superiority.
An abnormally clever boy-the P0et-Laureate
or George Stephenson of his generation-is
ser deteStation, because he Is odd and unlike
eyery one else; and the one that she likes best
:. t,,avy, io rho rohool hAr0 who Ia frat in