The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1873-02-13
For the JeGersonian ]
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Is 1t So

day, from the time they enter their "teens"
until they glide down the rugged path of old
maid-hood are necessarily laying plans and
devising schemes to trap some being for "bet-
ter or worse" and to accomplish their object
they resort to any kind of strategem is it so
Some ~oficious individual says that young
ladies' are guilty of deceiving their mothers
by telling them that the "sociable" viii meet
this evening at such a place, and they intend
to devise means 10 promote some charitable
cause, but instead of doing any thing of the
kind, they spend the precious time, which
God has allotted to them for their good and
His glory, in the giddy dance is it SO?
First, We think that common gossip Is too
cruel and heartless, as if the most prominent
question that occupied their mind was no
%loftier, noblier, and holier than dress; the
Bible saws. "For out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh." And if they do
speak about the fashions, have they not a per-
feet right to speak about subjects, which
empties their father's purse and d~eprives the
family of so many of the neccssaries of life ?
The poet says:
1--WE sacrifice to dress, till household joys
And comforts cease. Dress drains our cellar
dry,
And keeps our larder lean puts out our fires :
And introduces hunger, frost, and woe,
Where peace and hospitality might reign"
1t would be a very foolish idea for young
ladies who lavish almost all of their fathers
hard earnings on dress, if they never inquired
about the quality, the quantity, the price, and
the p%rcttiest style when in company, for in not
doing so, instead Of making such a grand dis
play of drygoods as they generally do, they
might perhaps not be atiired more gaudy or
foolish than common sense people are. Sup
pose they would spend all this precious time in
talking about cooking, baking or making ends
meet with the least possible means, who would
be the better for it? Why, the idea is absurd
it smells too much after the days when our
good old ~grandmothers lived with their few
wants and these easily satisfied.
Second, In reference to their prudence and
foresight in making ample preparation for the
future of this life, We dare not censure too
severely. II a young lady, with a view to her
lovers appearance in the evening, spends two
or three hours in the afternoon making her
toilet, while mother is busy in the kitchen
or busting the p%arlor, will she not be fully
compensated by the approving smile of her
tiattering beau? And then, to see her graceful
movements, as she sweeps her hands across the
piano board, is charmining itself. Some
good people think young ladies ought to
learn to do homework. Remember rough
hands interfere very much with per
Torrance on the piano, and it does not look
graceful nor ladylike to have the hand.
chapped or rough, but if a lady should be
obliged to work in the kitchen every now and
then, with 4 securing brush or dish-cloth, she
certainly could not have lilly white hands
Baking is another thing not very pleasant tc
contemplate much less to do. True, some
young men in looking for 4 wife think that il
is very essential for a lady to be thoroughly
accomplished in the kitchen, not that they
wish to make a slave of her, but simply this
that she knows how it should be done. They
ought to be satisfied if she can entertain com
pany with ease and grace, dash off a few non,
sensical airs on the piano, find enough patience
~ '"h pSiO'O NHS SAdoS an LOll, anu wall
on herself at least half the time. 1t must moi
be supposed for one moment that a young man
after marrying an accomplished lady, will find
home pleasant and coy at any time. He
must not expect to find his meals nicely pre-
pared by her hands, for the little odds and
ends, which go to make up the comforts OF
home, are perfect strangers to her. Oh! no,
| -
if he wants such a help-meet, he had better
take for his partner a girl whose mother pos.
sesses an abundance of common sense and
rears her daughter partly in the kitchen and
partly in the parlor, that is, teaches her how
to do all kinds of homework, cooking, baking
cleaning, ct cetera. But remember, if you get
such a companion you will be debarred for.
ever from Goldfish aristocracy. 1t is impossi-
bic for a lady TO be accomplished in flirting
dancing, gibbering a few sentences of French
and filling her mind with moonshine, if she
has wasted her youth in trying to become a
model housewife.
Third, We can not blame girls for having 9
few secrets of their own. Mothers of the
present day are too slow and old-fashioned
III young lauleS snoulu tell their mothers the
real object of sociables, they would in all pro-
liability have the pleasure of Staying at home
and consequently be deprived of so much
pleasure and happiness. At any rate, what
harm is their dancing? William Penn has
said, every step in the dance is a ster
towards He'll" but then we must ~recollect thai
Penn was an old fogy-not worth while tc
stop and inquire about his opinion. A young
lady is not expected to sit down like an ole
philosopher to peruse som useful book mucl
less a whole company. Suppose at one O
these sociables, after the business was trans
acted one of the party should suggest that in.
stead Of dancing this evening let some 1ne
read a selection from some good author and
then we will discuss the frue work Of the niece