The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1871-11-11
Female Vanity in Chlcll.

to church for devotion, but, if they do
devotion and vanity are twin sisters,
Look at the number of pretty hands
which find it absolutely necessary topull
off their gloves, and which are always
wandering up to the face in becoming
gestures, and with tho right curve. Or,
ifthc hands only mediocre, the, rings
ere handsome, and diamonds sparkle as
well in church as anywhere else, And
though one vows to rcnonnce the lust
of the world as well rs of the flesh, there
is no use in having diamonds if .ona's
ncighbors don't see them. Look, too,
at the pretty faces which knows so well
the effect produced by a little paint and
powder beneath a softning mask of thin
white lace Isthis their best confession
of sin (? And, again, those elaborate
toilets in which women come to pray for
forgiveness and humility; care they for
the honor of God? 1t strikes us that
the honor of God has very little to do
with that formidable, and may be unpaid
millincr's bill; but the admiration of men
and tho envy OF other women great
deal. The Pope is wise to make all
ladies go to his religious festivals in a
uniform costume, and in black. 1t mar
rows the margin Of coquetry somewhat,
if it does not altogether remove it. But
dress ever was, and ever will be, as
webs spread in the way of woman's
righteousness; and We have no doubt
that Eve frilled her apron of fig leaves
before she had worn it day.
Hero trip in couple of giggliug girls
conscious of their youth and good looks,
but mainly conscious of their bonnets.
They look with tittering dismay at the
crowded seats all along the middle, and
when the vcrger makes them understand
that they must goto the back of the
side aisle, where they can be seen by no
nne hut will only he able To hear tho
service and say their prayers, they hesi-
tate and whisper to each other before
they finally so up, feeling that the great
object for which they camo to church
has failed them, gand they had better
have stayed away and taken their chance
on the parade. When they speak of it
afterwards, they say it was lawfully
slow sitting there and they determine
to be earlier another time. There sweep
in triad of superbly dressed women
with fans and scent-bottIes, who dis
dainlully decline the back places which
the same vergor, with fine sense of
justice, and beginning to fail little in
temper, inexorably assigns them. They
too confer together, but by no means in
whispers; and finally elect to stand in
the middle aisle, trusting to their mag
niicence and quite determination to get
mice places" in the pcwed sittings
They are fine ladies who look as il they
were performing an act Of condescension
by coming ut all without special privi-
lcgcs and separation from the vulgar; as
if they had an inherent right to worship
God in a superior and aristocratic man
ncr, and were not to be confoundcd with
the rest of the miserable sinners who
ask for mercy and forgiveness. They
are accustomed to front seats everywhere;
so why not in the place whcre they say
swcetly they arc nothing of themselves"
aud pray to be delivered "from pride, and
vain,glory ?" That old lady, rouged and
/ uycu, anu 0rcssci to represent Tire hey
day Of youth, who also is supposed to
come to church to say her prayers and
confess her sins, looks as if she would
be more at home at the green tables at
llomburg than in az unpretendiug
chair of tho strangers quarter in the
parish church. But she finds her places
in her Prayer book, if after ime and
with much seeking; and when she mods
during the sermon, she has the good
breeding not to snOre. She, too, has
the odd trick of looking like condescen-
sion when she comes in, trailing her
costly silks and laccs behind her; and
by her manner she leaves on you the
impression that she was beauty in her
youth, and has been used to the defer
cuce an admiration of men, to servants
and carriage, and purple and fine lin
en-, and that all you, whom she has the
pleasure of surveying through her dou-
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