The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-02-24
Advice to Young Ladies'.
TALK BY DIR. do LEWIS.


little sermon, about an inch long. l
don't often preach, but, in this case,
nothing but sermon will do.
Firstly. You are perfect idiots to 90
on this way. Your bodies are the
most beautiful of Gods creation. In
the continental galleries, always saw
groups of people gathered about pic
lures of women. 1t was not passion ;
the gaze was just as likely to be wo-
men as men: it was because of the
wondrous beauty of woman's body.
Now, stand with me at my Office
window, and see lady pass. There
goes one! Now, isn't that pretty
looking object? A big hump; three
big Jumps; wilderness of crimps
and frizzes hauling up of the dress
here and there an enormous, hideous
mass of false hair OF bark piled on the
top of her head, surmounted by little
fiat, ornamented with bits of lace,
birds tails, ETC., etc. The shop VIM
dows tell us, all day long, of the pad
dings, whalebones and steel springs
which occupy most of the space with
in that outside ring. H
In the name Of the simple, sweet
sentiments that cluster about home,
l would ask, how is a man to fall in
love with such a piece of compound,
doubled and twisted, touch-me-not
artificiality, as You see i'll the wrig-
Cling curiosity? --au-e-
Secondly. With that wasp waist,
squeezing your lungs, stomach, liver,
and vital organs into one half of their
natural size, and with that long train
dragging on the ground, how can any
man of sense, who knows that life is
made up of use, of service, of work,
take such a partner? He must be des-
perate, indeed, to unite himself for life
with sucn fettered, half-breathiDg
ornament!
Thirdly. Your bad dlcss and lack
of exercise leads to bad health; and
men wisely fear that, instead of help
mate, they would get an invalid to
take care of. This bad health in you
just as in men-makes the mind as
the body, faddled and effeminate.
You have no power, no magnetism. l
know you gigglc freely, and use big
adjectives, such as splendid, lawful )"
but, then, this doesn't deceive us; we
see through it all. You are superficial,
affected, silly; you have none of that
womanly strength and warmth which
are so assuring and attractive to men.
Why you have become SO childish
and weak-minded, that you wear de-
cent names even, and insist upon baby
names. Instead of Helen, Margaret
and Elizabeth, you affect Nellie, Mag
gle and Lizzie. When your brothers
were babies, you called them Dolby,
Dicky, and Johnny; but when they
grew up TO manhood, no more of that
silly trash if you please. But l 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 big enough to conduct the af-
fairs of the State, she does nothing
but eiggle, cover uo her face with her
fan, and eXclaim once in four minutes,
Don't now; you are real mean"
How can a man propose partner
ship for life with such a silly goose ?
NV dear girls, you must, if you would
get husbands, and decent ones, dress
III plain, neat, becoming garments,
and talk like sensible, earnest sisters.
You say that the most sensible me.l
are crazy after the butterflies of fash
ion. beg your pardon; it is not so.
Occasionally a man of brilliant sue
cess may marry weak, silly woman
but to say, ~ l have heard women say
hundred times, that most sensible
men choose women without sense, is
simply absurd. Nineteen times in
twenty. sensible men choose sensible
wives. | grant you, that in company,
they are very likely to chat and toy
with these over-dressed and forward
creatures; but they don't ask them to
go to the altar with them.
Fourthly. Among the men in the
matrimonial market, only a very small
number are independently rich, and,
in America, such rarely make good
husbands. But the number of those
who are just beginning, who are filled
with a noble ambition, who have a
future, is very large. These arc wol til
having. But such will not, dare not,
ask you to join them, while they sec
you so idle, silly, and so gorgeously
attircd. Let them sec that you arc in
! dustr.ous, economical, with habits
that secure health and strength, that
your life is real, that you would be
willing to begin at the beginning in
life with the man you would consent
to marry, then marriage will become
the rule, and not be, as now, the ex-
ception.