The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-05-03
As Others See Us.

Here is a pretty state of affairs! A
travelling Frenchman has gone home,
and, according to custom, written a
book about US, or rather our fashionable
society, which is hardly grateful, after
its devoted fealty to Napoleon and his
court during the late fracas. Whether
he hits the nail on the head our readers
must decide by their own sensitiveness,
and how far il is hurt. On the matter
of fashionable religion he is very plain
spoken. "The Americans accept nom.
inally the Christian religion but their
real affections and homage are placed
everywhere; glass Of liquor or pipe
of tobacco is oftener in their thoughts
than the sacred mysteries of their faith.
They bring their infants, handsomely
clothed, TO the font, but without any
apparent motive or subsequent zeal for
their salvation. But while thus dull
and blockish in matters of religion they
are extremely subtle and expert in all
that concerns trade or profit"
AS regards dress, our author asserts
that the men are properly clothed, but
the women are neither decent nor clean
ly. "They grease and stiffen their hair
inserting flowers and feathers in the
nasty mass, and daub their faces with
various earths and paints. In their
public feasts and dances, the exposure
of their persons is shamefully lewd."
OF the treatment of criminals, he says:
"These barbarians delight in the tor.
ture of those condemned to die, the
wretches being forced to look upon the
preparations for days beforehand.
When the execution takes place, it is
made kind of raree show or holiday
for the whole nation, and talked over
with all its horror in every family.
This is for the purpose of giving to the
children the taste for blood and human
torture" We bewail our dead, he says,
with vehement and unseemly outcry,
burying costly garments with them and
performing the ceremony of burial with
the display Of such wealth as we have,
so that it is apparent we believe the
rich stuffs and and ornaments will give
pleasure to the dead in the future world,
I" so british and besotted are their opin-
ions of God and His Kingdom" Men,
he asserts, are Exceedingly unchaste,
often keeping more than one wife,
though unacknowledged; marriage is
in fact among these classes only civil
contract made on the grounds of espe-
diency or aggrandizement, rather than
affection. There are certain among
them who think it a hardship to be
compelled to continue married to the
same person for any length of time.'
Our friend has evidently fallen in with
the Woodruff brigade of the Advanced
Female cohorts, and states their argu.
ment very fairly; "'How is it posi-
ble,' they say to me, 'for man to be
subject to the bonds ofmarriage? Don't
you see how little reason you have?
My wife is not pleased with me, neither
am at ease with her. My neighbor
may like her better, and l may like
his, who does not care so much for him.
Why should you oblige us to live like
cat and dog, when, by only changing
one with another, we can live at quiet p
Thus their argument proceeds in favor
of their brutishness." There are Ger.
tain jugglers also among these people,
he says, who profess to recall the dead.
But on turning to the next chapter we
find it treats of cannibalism. Surely
we reformed, in that particular at least,
some centuries ago.
We have been mistaken, it appears.
The book is by LIE Sieur de la Sale, and
was printed in 1862, and it is not our
fashionable society he is describing, but
the man eating savages of Iroquis. But
the mistake was natural, after all.-N.
Y. Tribune.