Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-10
THE GIRL OF THE PERIOD.
The Sex Not Degenerated from the
ssGood old Times.,'

1
The Sex Not Degenerated from ti,'
ssGOod old Times.o
One of our exchanges despairingly in
quires: s'ShaIl we ever, ever have any girl
any more OF must we remember then
only as beautiful phantoms of a vanishet
dream7' The 7echnologist comes L
the defense Of the girls in its April mum
Der in the following trenchant manner;
IT'S AN OLD STORY.
The cry that earnest and noble womel
are daily becoming more rare; that tn
place of the brave-hearted and gentle ar,
usurped by the frivolous and dissipated
is one that is by no means new. Two
hundred years ago the wits of England
INDUCED in the same cant, and said tn,
same smart things in regard to the samt
matter; and long before that time tb'
prophet had asked the people of his day
why they said that "the former days
were better than these" and rebuked
them roundly by telling them that they
''did not consider wisely concerning thi:
matter We have heard many "rev.
erend gTannies," both with and without
petticoats, dwelling at length upon the
degeneracy of the men and women of the
present day; no days like the old days
no such wise men now as those that laid
sage hands upon their young heads; nc
such mothers as their mothers, and, infer
entially, no such young men and women
now as they were in their prime.
AWAY WITH SUCH CANT
The skies are as bright to-day as they
ever were since human history began to
record the changes of the years; statistics
show that the men of to-day are larger,
stronger, longer-lived and less vicious
than those that lived five hundred years
ago, and amongst the women there are
hearts as brave and true, natures as warm
and affectionate, minds as intelligent,
and souls as noble as ever existed amongst
| our grandmothers, of either sex.
PLEA FOR THE GIRLS.
Our girls may dress more gaily, and
perhaps, they enjoy amusements more
keenly than did the women of the last
century; but what of that9 If the chemist
of the period is able to produce aniline
colors SO brilliant as almost to rival the
famed Tyrian purple, shall his sister
the girl of the periodic condemned to
wear dingy madder2 And if better edu-
cation and wider opportunities have en-
abled her to enjoy a Chickering or a
Steinway piano, is it to be supposed that
she will remain content to listen to a
shepherds reed or cornstalk fiddle9
THE CROAKKRs AT FAULT.
These old croakers forget two things ::
In the first place, that the grandmothers
of the period were once girls, as wild as
any girls that we have now and, second
ly, that the greater refinement, the higher
education, and the nobler views of the
modern girls are things that the old fogies
who have descended 10 US from former
| generation are totally unable to under
stand. That the girl of the period is per-
fectly able to rough it, perfectly able to
live in loghouse, milk the COWS, and tend
the babies, we have no doubt, for we have
seen her do it on more than one occasion,
when necessity required. But if she
| should prefer the coarse associations that
accompany life of what is called rough
ing it, to the refined and elevating influ-
ences that in the nineteenth century have
| made our Christian homes the nurseries of
| modern civilization, she would deny her
birthright and prove false TO the intel
lectual opportunities with which she has
been so marvellusly blessed.
NO USE FOR THE STOWE MODELS.
| When Mrs. Stowe and her sister hold
up for admiration and imitation the
women of her young days-days when ''a
bride was married with sheets and table
cloths of her own weaving, with counter
panes and tOilet-covers wrought in divers
embroidery by her own and her sisters
handsn-they seek to recall times that
have passed away, we hope never to re-
turn. As these ladies well observe, "thOse
| remarkable women of old were made by
circumstances ~ we can only add hope
| that neither the women nor the circum-
stances will ever be reproduced on this
| planet In their own departments, for
| the tired muscles of the weary worker.
| men have substituted muscles of iron,
| sinews of steel and nerves of brass, pro-
| PEELED by heart and lungs that can never
tire while the coal fields of Pennsylvania
hold out; and shall we condemn our wives
and daughters to the humdrum OF the
spinning wheel and distaffl No, indeed.
Even the sewing machine is bad enough,
and it won't be long until some of US sue
coed in Harvesting the physical forces to
it, 50 as to give the tired limbs of the
sewing girl holiday.
| REQUIREMENTS OF OUR CIVILIZATION.
1t is singular fact that we often meet
people who, having come down to US
from the days of stage coaches, two shil.
ling postage and whale oil lights, are anx.
ious to revive the habits and education OF
these old times in the days of gas, tele
graphs and lightning express trains. Theil
highest ambition is to have clean linen
make good butter and save money-pointi
that are all very commendable, but tina
| do not altogether fulfill the requirement
of modern civilization. These people for
get that wider civilization involves wide
necessities. They tell us to limit our de
sires, being ignorant of the truth, that tn
extent of our desires is the measure of GU
culture and that their advice is like tell
ing a man to cut off his feet when ID
wants boots. And so persistent are thest
sol distant sages in recommending us t,
restrict our desires and simplify" GU
tastes; to conflne ourselves TO the graft
fication of homely pleasures, which, wit
them, signifies the obtaining of mere ma
terial necessaries (and pork and beans a
that that we often feel tempted to turl
. from them in disgust, and to exclaim
''Give me the luxuries of life, and wi
| dispense with the necessaries.
A WORTHY woMAN4oOD WANTED.
These thoughts have been forced upo
/ | US by the evident changes that must TAX
| place in the education of our young wo
J ! men as well as rs our young men. Will
/ | we deprecate any system that would ten
{ ! to convert the latter into mere tenders G
= | machines, much more should've condem
{ any system, the tendency of which Woul
( he to degrade the former below even tn
humble level and convert them into tn
machines themselves. We do not wal
c spinning machines, sewing machines, {
q knitting machines for wives; we wal
i women, and that all around us
If THERE Is ABUNDANT MATERIAL
l. for the production of good women, m
n terial which it requires but proper educ
e ton to develop, wefeel perfectly Statistic
At All this twaddle about the degeneracy
II modern women is the silliest kind of no
/. sense.
r TIE GIRLS AS GOOD AS EVER.
4, That VIC are in transition state th
is in passing from the rude culture of o
IS fOrefathers to the higher education tn
N awaits us, we have reached somewh
Il anomalous condition, no one can for
q moment doubt. But the fault lies wi
ii the times, and with the peculiar conditio
10 of human progress, and not with the gil