Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-06-02

WOman's Beauty.

There is great deal said about our beauty,
great deal done to make US beautiful.
How ? In spirit2 Not a. all. To be phys
ically beautiful is our aim. For this we don
the costly bonnet, the dainty boot, friz our
hair, paint our faces. To this end we devote
our lives, sacrifice health, mind, heart and
strength.
From the cradle we are taught that we
must be beautiful. We are shut up in the
house, away from the glad sunlight and pure
air, to protect our fair complications; dressed
in corsets and crinoline to improve our forms
gathered and thinly hosed in the dead of winter,
that our feet may be petite and attractive.
Our brothers run, laugh loud, whistle, get
tanned, wear stout boots and warm clothes
but we don't-it isn't "ladylike." They grow
strong in the gymnasium or at the woodpile,
while we crotchet, practice the last song, be-
have with propriety, and sometimes make
cake They go tocollegc, grow independent,
90 out into the world, make their mark, while
we, who are attractive. get married, and we,
who are not, teach school, make dresses, and
fade out Some of us live in the country In
that case, we milk COWS, make butter and
cheese, help send our brothers to school, learn
how to cook, and get husband.
Sometimes we are ambitious to acquire
strength of mind to study and investigate for
ourselves. Twenty three of us requested ad-
mittance to Wabash College, Ind, but were
refused because we were women. At Oberlin
they have a Gentleman's Course and
" Ladies Course because we have nothing
to do in life but get married, while our BROTH
ers, you know, must be lawyers, doctors,
ministers, &c.
Two or three of us make speeches, but our
brothers and the church-members say that we
unsex ourselves that we are trying to be
men, that We are blaspheming God for max
ing us women.
Tho majority Of men admire us for our
physical beauty alone, and then wonder why
we aim at nothing else
| know young lady, living in the vicinity
of College, who has not single beau, be-
cause the young men "will not go with the
ugiest girl in town. Many an intelligent
man, utterly ignoring priceless soul, hid by
homely exterior, has unconsciously welded
virago, because the adorning was pink and
white Many wife and mother sits by her
hearthstone tonight bewailing the lost charms
which once held him who promised to :" love
and cherish :" and there are husbands and
fathers plodding their weary way from the
solitary board to the counting-room, without
sympathy, early and late, because their wives
and daughters will have the admiration which
fashionable beauty demands.
We love admiration; we seek II, court it !;
dress three times a day, enter society, spend
hundred thousand and toddle down Broad
way p we take summer trip, that we may be
the the most elegant lady at Saratoga"
or " the most beautiful lady at Niagara"
! We are so frail and delicate that We must be
cared for, and protected, and, Of course, We
never marry unless fortune is offered US.
Our beauty lifts us up and drags us down.
IL lifts US up by securing wealthy and inhu-
ential husband-it drags us down by this rule,
the greater beauty the greater the prize, the
greater the snare" We cannot protect our
selves, for various reasons, First, we are
weak Secondly we know nothing but to
please and to be admired. Thirdly, we treat
all men alike. Fourthly, it degrades us to
entertain the slightest suspicion of evil. One
of us started from st. Louis alone, u few
months since; she was bewildered by the diff
fereut trains, and inquired which she would
\ take for Indianapolis she was told, and en-
tered the ear designated, when she found bor-
self locked into an empty car with him who
had directed her thither. Her cries were
heard by a policeman and she was saved.
A young lady went from California to Den
yer City, taking with her the highest recom-
mendations She commenced teaching, but
pupils were few and board was high. There
came one wearing our country's insignia, who
called himself friend. She was alone. No
woman extended helping hand. No fathers
heart bled for her No Christian hand was
reached out to her healing they passed by
on the other side She is now an outcast.
God pity her
i When We fall there is none bat God to pity.
Our brothers glory in like sins, aud stand up.
on the high places of earth, while we are trod
upon, spit upon, hissed at. No repentance
can remove tho stain it is scarlet always.
We that are pure and sinless tread upon our
fallen sisters We cannot so much as think
of them in their degradation. We forget
that money and station bought many of US;
forget that God sees behind the marriage vow
forget that hundreds Of street girls and trayi-
atas, who at this hour are selling their virtue,
were I" once as pure as the snow" forget
Christs voice, {" Do unto others as you would
that they should do unto you"
-----~--------------s-s ss--------- ----
Moss agates are plenty in the western