Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-08-25
UNCLE SANS
Susan, Kate and Jane Made to Sit for
Them All.

From the New York Tribune.
If May be the month sacred 20 virgins.
August should have been dedicated to
matrimony. The summers idleness
and the approaches Of idle people more
or less near to nature. usually cause
young men'sand wOmen's fancies to turn,
not lightly to love, but seriously to mat
ing. During this vacation month. too,
Uncle Sans sons, with all their turbu-
lence about politics, sink into the back
ground, and his daughters take the fore
most places On the stage; for after all,
the bigger half of our lives and inter-
ests is given to our social and domestic
relations. and not to the ballot-bOx. It
is a curious pointtO notice how few types
there are among these daughters Of his,
whether they gather in a Newport ball
room or a country farmhouse. Not, as
/ Pope suggests, because "mOst women
have no characters at all,n but because
all women have so few leading pursuits
in life. Take any group of young men
busted in yachting, fishing, hunting, or
even flirting, during the month of
August. Back Of the moments trifing
they are men -engrossed more or less in
business, science, politics, religion. Their
natures have q dozen outlets with which
these pretty girls with whom they are
apparently entirely absorbed have moth
ing to do. But how is il with the pretty
girls? In all Uncle Sans household Of
daughters, the noise, great as it is, about
suffrage, is made by but a small minOri-
ty; the rest of the women inmates are
busted, as they have been since time be-
gan, with the work of the kitchen or
nursery, or the idleness of the drawing
room.
Here is Kate, who will be seen during
this month at every watering-place or
summer resort from the coast of Maine
to the gulf. Her nose is slightly aquline;
her hair %(unbought) heaped in a mag
nificent crown on the top of the head:
her step is slightly aggressive; her we'll
opened eyes understand all the moods
and lenses; of attraction and repulsiOn;
having a sound capital of good looks and
meney to serve as backbone, she is not
at all limp, flexible, or fashy in her dis
positions toward matrimOuy, but love-
making, Irritation, pfatOnic friendships
occupy full power Of brain or body, pre-
cisely a a profession or trade would a
man Of similar age and ability. She has,
however, a cheap and decent scorn for
her thick-sknned, Acknowledged, equally
fashionable sister, who languishes
through a waltz with all the Trojan
Cressida's heat of blood and none of her
sparkle Of vivacity. Then there is Dick
ems Dora, with her numberless success
ors, alive land immortal forever, sweet
and clear and pure as bubbling springs .
in the forest, and with little more in
tentiOn thanthey of being useful or turn
ing mills, or of anything beyond delight
ing the eye and heart Of man.
There is the sound, sensible Susan,
who, with her clear-cut face, watchful,
moderate eye and Well-chOsen dress, fills
up the corners at hop or ball where con-
versatiOn does most prevail. Susan is
too sound and practical not to know that
marriage is her just and fitting career,
and to know, too, within a fraction, how
much love and income will be requisite
to make the aforesaid marriage move
upon well-oiled wheels. She proceeds
to the business Of her life, nationally, vet
with feeling. Then, further in the back
ground is Jane, who. represents a very
class of American girls. Her fore
head projects, her skin is swarthy, her
eye is more brilliant than tender: her
chest is narrow, she is most likely to
counted twenty-five summers, and
to have an abiding consciousness Of her
stomach and back. Ugliness or brusque-
ness Of manner, or superiority of mind
20 the young men about her, has placed
ler irrevOcably in the list Ofunmarriage-
able women. She jokes and laughs at
mis-, accepts the fact frankly; but she
never forgets it. 1t distorts all her
views Of life. She avoids young men and
with a morbid fear Of suspected in
rusion; she is apt to begin to scribble
or the Atlantic or Harper; she is fond
# children, and IL all probability finds
female friend with whom she goes
bout this August, to mountains or sea-
bore, like the two Ladies of Llangellen,
II, she carries on instead a Perfectly
but sentimental friendship with
ONE old bachelor or married man. 1
Now, in every one of these cases mar
or the lack of it, fills up the wo- !
mans whole mind and aims, to the s
warning Of all. Shall we, then, as some
f our refOTmers claim, teach them that |
marriage is but a trivial accident, and {
be bearing Of children not so important
D them or the world as the work they
ught to learn and to do, as artist, sur
con, or paper-hanger2 Or is there no
course? If these young girls
rOwding our places of amusementtO-day :
ad each some pursuit, trade, or even !
Ominant taste given to her, it would :
OF serve as a substitute for the wife and !
love which is her birthright; but 1
-Ould it not assuredly make her stronger :
nd more likely to win that love, and if 4
le missed it, furnish her with the next
irongest consolation for its loss after re- |;
80 ~