The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-05-07
DOVES AND DOYECOTS.
From the Saturday Review. /

From the Saturday Review,l
Times must be very bad indeed ifa faithful
few are not still left to keep the sources of So
ciety sweet and wholesome. When corruption
has gone through the whole mass and all
classes are bad alike. everything comes to an
end, and there is o general overthrow of ma
tional life; but while some are lett pure and
unspotted We are not quite undene, and we
reasonably hope for better days in the future.
In the midst Of the reign OF the glrl OF the Pc
riod, with her slang and her boldness-of the
fashionable woman, with ner denial OF duty
and her madness for pleasure-we come every
nov now ans and tn then % upon group Of good g,rls Of
growing up silently among us, but none the
less valuable because they are silent,and make
no public display---doves who are content with
desire to be either eagles dwelling on romantic
heights, or peacocks displaying their pride in
sunny courts. We find these faithful few
in toTn and country ai'ke; Dut they are
temptation to 80 wrong than there is in the
large towns, and where life is more simple, and
the moral tone undeniably higher. The lead
ing. feature OF these girls is their love OF home
making ccupation and happiness ont OF appa-
rently meagre materials. II they IRE the e1d-
ers, they find amusement and MODE in their
little brothers and sisters, whom they consider
immensely funny, and TO whom they are as
much girl-mothers as sisters; If thsy are the
yO1ngers, they idollze their baby nephews and
nieces. For there is always a baby going on
somewhere about these. houses, babies being
the great excitement of home life. and the an
tiseptic element which keeps everything else
pure. They are passionateIy attached to papa
and mamma, whom they think the very king
and queen OF humanity, and whom they do not
call by even endearing slahg names. IL has
never occurred to them to criticise them as orr
dinary mortais; and as they have not been
in the way OF learning the prevailing ac-
cent cent Of disrespect. they have not shaken off
parents which all young people feel naturally,
If they have been we'll brought up and are not
corrupted. The yoke in most middle-class
country houses is one fitting very loosely round
greater freedom. if even they had it, the girls
are not fretted by it's pressure, and are con-
tent to 1--we under it in peace They adore their
ming the great battle Of life for themselves. and
confidently believe them to be the finest fell
lows going. aud the future great men Of the
day If oaly they ire to put out those splendid
talents OF theirs, and take the trouble Of pluck
ing the prizes within their reach. They may
have slight reservation, perhaps, in favor or
the brothers friend, whom they place on
pedestal of almost equal height. But they
keep their mental architecture profound
secret from everyionepand notsuffer them
selves TO let it grow into too solid structure
unless 1t has some surer foundation than their
own fancy. For, though doves are loving,
they are by no means love-sick tfamsels; they
are too healthy and natural and quietly busy
for uowholesome dreams. If one Of them mar
RES, they all unite IN loving the man who
comes in among them. He is adopted as one
of themselves, and leaps into family of ido.-
izing. sisters who pet him as their brother
with just that subtle little difference in the pct
ting that it comes from sisters uEaccustomed,
and so has the charm of novelty Ii not the ex-
element of naughtiness. But this kind of thing
is about the most dangerous to mans moral
nature that can befall him. Though pretty to
Ace, and undcniably pleasant to experience, ,and
though perfectly innocent in every way, still
nothing enervates one 60 much as this idola-
trous submission of a large family OF women.
In widows house. where there are many
daughters and no sons, and where the man
is worshlpped accordingly. the danger ia of
cour SO increased tenfoid; but if there are bro
shsEs ena sathe5 the sistea Il hot 5Y thoush
such o fuss with, and the association is ali the
less hurtful in consequence.
The life OF these girls is by no means stupid,
events or calaclysms of fortune in any way.
They go great deal among the village pool.
and they teach at the Sunday school, and at
tend the mothers meetings and clothing clubs
their humber frie dis, who. after all. are Chris
tlan sisters. They read their rOmances in real
life instead Of in three-volume novels, and
study human nature as it is-in the rough,
than if they learnt it only in what is called
society. Then they have their pleasures,
though they are Of an unexcitlng kind and
what fact girls would call awfully slow. They
have their horses and their croquet parties
and their archery, meetings, they have batches
of new music, and a monthly box from Mudle's,
and they know the value Of both; and they 20
out to tea sometimes, and sometimes to dinner
in the neighborhood; and enjoy the ire coun-
try balls with zest unknown to London girls
who are out every night in the week. They
have their village fower-shows, which the
great families patrOnize in fIee-and-easy
kind Of way, and which give occupation for
weeks before and subject for talk for weeks
after; their school feasts, where the pet parson
Of the district comes out with hls beat aneo-
dotes, and makes mlld jokes at o long distance
Eom Sydney smith; their periodical mis-
from London, and where they hear unctuous
stories about the saintlinegs of converted can
nibals, and are required to belleve in the power
81 oa rss aaaSs g eS fasf haze e ns s
with them -schooi-girl 1riends--with whom
they exchange deep condolences, and 10 back
over the old days-so old to their youthl and
their brothers friends come with them, and do
little spooning In the shrubbery. But there
is more spooniDg done at plcnics than any
where else; and more Offers are made there,
quiet leafy nook by the river side, than at any
other gathering time OF the country. And as
we are all to certain extent what we are made
these pleasures being the only ones known to
eu0L1s tH0 OOf06 thk0 10 Cu0m quite kln0Ly 6NG
gratefully. and enjoy themselves in aimplici.
ty OF circumstances which would give no plea
sure at all to girls accustomed to moro highly
splced entertainments.
Doves know very little Of evil. They are not
in the way OF learning 1t; and they do
not care to learn 1t. The few villagers
who are supposed TO lead Ill lives are
spoken Of below the breath, and care.
fully avoided without being critically studied.
When the railway is carried down past their
quiet neat there dS an Immense eYClternent ae
tue report goes that knot Of strange men
have been seen scattering themselves over the
fields with their little white flags and theodol.
ites--thelr measuring lines ana levels. Bpi
when the armytoH navvies follows after, the ex
citement iS changed to CONSERVATION. and 9
general sense OF evil brooding ruthlessty ovel
them. The Clargy,of the district orgarize spe,
clal services; and the scared doves keep reli
giously away from the p ace where the navvies
are hutted. They are little better than the
savageS. the deputation tell them abont onre
or twlce q year. aud create almost no much
terror as an encampment OF gipsiea. They
rnO I'M Ia laoc u<,r <1,n