Connecticut western news., 1872-12-27
Girls who Bet.

If one had no means of personal ob- servation, the papers would show how largely the practice of " betting" Is car ried on among men. But one can hardly pass along the street without hearing more or less of the slang that accom- panies this habit. The amount that has been staked upon such and such candi. date for office is being vigorously discus Sed, and the chances weighed in the bal- ance. Boys, too of not more than eight years, may be heard pledging themselves to jackknives, tops and marbles, with as wise aud knowing an air as the most dig nihed fathers. Ipdeed, it was not long ing n middle aged man not Cup" on that point upon the state of Mr. Morrissey's betting transactions. The amount of perior in years on this subject was some thing astonishing.
 I had known that this practice pre- vailed largely among men and boys, but it was not until recently that I was fur ther enlightened. I was so far behind the times as to be quito taken aback when I heard three or four girls betting with gusto in place of public gathering. Kid gloves. lace collars and silkep ties were staked with nerve and animation upon the uncertain issues of the Presi- dency. Whatever this might prove con. corning the interest taken in politics by women, it revealed a condition of local society that had not dreamed of.
 But this was only among themselves. A few days later had a chance oi ob- serving similar occurrence between tho sexes. If it had not been saddening, it would have been as good as Q play to notice tho eager manner of the two par ties. Discussion ran high, and finally terminated in challenge on the part of the young woman to bets pair of gloves that Grant would be reelected. Not particle of hesitancy or restraint tinctur- ed her manner. She was as bold and as- sured as if betting'' were quite the po- lite thing-a matter to be proud of rather than ashamed.
 What sort of refinement can exist in minds of girls who gamble in that man. ner ? What womanliness ? And it is to be observed that tho girls who indulge in this form of fashionable stealing-for Q kind of stealing it is-are not generally advocates of the Woman Movement. They scof at the ambitions of more thoughtful young women, and deride their masculine aspirations. They would not for the world degrade themselves by working for living. They would lose caste by that--the re6nements of privilcg- ed young ladyhood. They are not by any means so unwomanly as to ask for a wider field of occupation, but are sweet ly content with the one already in pos session.
 As ordained by the dictum of fashion able society, in what does womauliness consist? Does not society continually contradict itself in sublime unconcious- ness ofits inconsistency !?
 Persons visiting places of summer re- sort the past season, have written of young women who eked out the mono. toAous pleasures of life there, with sher- " cobblers, cocktails, champagne and claret. @4ppSetons's Journal, commenting on this report, hopes it may have been exaggerated, or, atleast, true only of ex- ceptional cases. It is to be hoped also that "girls who bet" are as seldom to lAe found; that they exist only in occa- sional localities. If otherwise-to quote from Appleton's- much the wors' for society. "-JcRnie Burr in WomanS Journal.