Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-12-10
LAY SERMON To YOUNG LADIES.

Now, ladies, | viii preach to you just a
little sermon. l don't often preach, but in
this case nothing but a sermon viii do.
!. Ycu are perfect idiots to 90 on in this
way. Your bodies are the most beautiful
of Gods creation. In the Continental
galleries l always saw groups of people
gathered about the pictures of women. 1t
was not passion; the gazers were just as
likely TO be women as men; it was because
Of the wondrOuS beauty Of woman.
Now stand with Inc at my office window
and see lady pass. There goes one! Now,
isn't that pretty looking object? A big
hump, three big humps, a wilderness of
crimps and frills, hauling up of the dress
here and there, an enormous, hideous mass
of hair or bark piled on the top of her head,
surmounted by a little flat, Ornamented
with bits oflace, birds tails, etc. The shop
windows tell us, all day long, Of the pad
didgs, whalebOnes, and steel springs, that
occupy most of the space within that out
side rig.
In the name of the simple, sweet senti-
ments which cluster about home, | would
ask, How is a man to fall in love with such
a piece of compound, double and twisted
touch-me-not aTtificiality as you see in that
wriggling curiosity?
2. With that wasp waist, squeezing your
lungs, stomach, liver, and vital organs, into
one-half their natural size, and with that
long tail sweeping on the ground, how can
any man Of sense, who knows that life is
made up of use, of service, Of work, how
can he take such a partner? He must be
desperate, indeed, to unite himself for life
with such a fettered, halfbreathing Orna-
ment.
3. Your bad dress and lack of exercise
leadto bad health; and men wisely fear that
instead of helpmeet, they would get an
invalid to take care of. This bad health il
you, Just as in men, makes the mind, as
well as the body, fuddled and effeminate
You have no power, no magnetism.
know you giggle freely, and use big adjec
tives, such as splendid" ''awful,' but theT
this does not deceive us; We see through il
all. You are superficial, affected, silly; YOU
have none of that womanly strength ani
warmth which are 50 assuring and attractive
to man. Why, you have become SO child.
ish ard weak-minded that you refuse tC
wear decent names even, and insist upon
baby names. Instead of Helen, Margaret
and Elizabeth, you affect Nellie, Maggie
and Lizzie. When your brothers were ba,
bies, you called them Bobby, Dicly and
johnny, but when they grow up to man
hood no more of that silly trash, if you
please. I know woman of twenty-five
years, and she is as big as both Of my grand
mothers put together, and her real name is
Catharine, and though her brain is bic
enough to conduct affairs Of State, she does
nothing but giggle, cover up her face with
her fan, and eXclaim once in four minutes,
Don't now, you are real meanm
How can a man propose a life partner
ship to such a silly goose? My dear girls,
you must, if you would get husbands, and
decent ones, dress in plain, neat, and be-
coming garments, and talk like sensible
earnest sisters.
You may say that most sensible men are
crazy after these butterflies of fashion. ]
beg your pardon; it is not so. Occasionally
a man of brilliant success may marry a
silly, weak woman; but to say, as l have
heard women say a hundred times, that the
most sensible men choose women without
sense, is simply absurd. Nineteen times
in twenty sensible men choose sensible
women. grant you that in company they
are very likely to chat and toy with those
overdressed and forward creatures, but
they don't ask them to 60 to the altar will
them.
4. Among the young men in the matri
monial market only very small number
are independently rich, and in America
such very rarely make good husbands. But
the number of those who are just begin.
ming in life, who are filed with noble am.
bition, who have future, is very large
These are worth having. But such viii
not, they dare not, ask you 10 join them
while they see you SO idle, silly, and gor-
geously attired. Let them see that you are
industrious, economical, with habits that
secure health and strength, that your life is
earnest and real, that you would be willing
to begin at the beginning in life with the
| man you would consent to marry; then
marriage becomes the rule and not az nov,
| the exception.-Dio LeasiS.