The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-06-25
Feminine SnObs.

in England, done an immense amount
OF harm, 1nasmuch as it has excited
great deal of il-feeling, prevented peo-
pie from drawing together who would
be benefited by communion with each
other, and rendered the condition of
society absurdly anomalous. Nowadays,
society does not consist merely of three
classes but of a scere or two, the mem
bers of which heartily hate and mis-
trust each other. Indeed, it is not
| going too far to say that society is di-
vided into an immense number OF con-
temptible cliques the result being that
when hundred people are drown pro-
miscuously together the majority are so
impressed with sense of their impor-
lance and exalted condition that they
| proudly decline to condescend to have
anything whatever to say to nine tenths
OF those by whom they are surrounded.
A man may have brains, he may have
refined tastes, he may be hardworking
and upright in all his dolngs, and he
may be of presentable appearance, but
he is not saved from receiving cruel re-
Bluffs, as he journeys through life, from
| those who are vastly inferior to him and
might be much improved by friendly in
tercourse with him, but who fatter
themselves that they are his superiors
in position. Now, men are largely re-
| spons1ble for this melancholy state of
| things; but we are inclined to think
that the greater portion of the blame
for what is deplored-must rest upon
feminine shoulders. No doubt there
are many male snobs but, as a rule,
men are not inclined to be so particular
as to whom they associate with as are
women, and it is highly probable that
if they were not exposed to female in
fuences they might be led to act so that
the lines of demarcation which separate
the people of this country might become
less broadly defined and in many cases be
entirely obliterated. AS it is, there are
thousands of men who have hundreds of
| acquaintances whom they cam OF
whom, indeed, they dare not-admit to
their family circles, and these acquaint-
anees not unfrequently ripen into warm
friends. The people whom man meets
at the various places which be visits
during his walks abroad please him and
he can freely mingle with them without
his sense of self-respect being, in any
way, hurt, for they are equal to him in
point of ability and their natures ara as
pure and elevated as his own. But be
knows that if he were to introduce them
to his feminine connections things
would be said which would please
neither them nor him, 50 he keeps his
knowledge of them, so to speak, to him
self and gets his pleasures out of them
in stealthy manner. Perhaps be is
wise to act in this fashion but it may
still be thought that it would be better if |
he pursued an independent course and |
elected his friends on the score of their |
intrinsic merits rather than on that of |
their meretrieious surroundings. It |
must not be forgotten, however, that |
he would then, in many instances, be |
subj ected to a never-ending course of |
pagging," and it may be remarked |
that as the constant dropping of water |
will wear away a stone 50 will a Dagging |
woman in the end get pretty much what |
she wants.
It may be asked how it comes about |
that women are more snobbish than |
men. Probably this is because they |
have less real work to do, and so have |
more time to think about their neigh |
bors and their surroundings than have
men because they have little actual |
contact with the world and because i
they have, from their earliest days, the |
principles of snobbishness carefully in |
stilled into them. The course of edu- |
cation to which school girls are sub
iected, is, of itself, calculated to make |
them snObs. Certainly, it would be |
we'll If means were taken to render |
women less spobbbish than they are,
for bad as male snob is, female snob |
is infinitely worse. For one thing, she |
is more spiteful. It is the wife of |
arandee, and not Grandee himself, who |
has such a magnificent contempt for |
people engaged in retail trade that she |
would become pale with Indignation |
and dismay if it TRANSFERRED that
daughter of the house of Grandee was
being educated alongside the daughter
of Haberdasher, who, though he could |
buy Grandee up once or twice, AS been
unfortunate enough to make his money
by selling tape by the yard and buttons
by the dozen, while Grandee has dealt
in them in the bulk. As for Grandeo.
if he had only himself to please, he
would as soon his daughter were edu-
Gated with little Miss Haberdasher as
with the child of Swindie, the mer-
chant, who has failed once or twice, and
very neatly diddled the chief bulk Of
his creditors and he only takes action
in order that he may hive peace and
quietneas at his own Preside. Indeed, !
if he were left to his own devices, his
Gothic barbarity would carry him still
further then We have indicated. He
would hob-nob with Haberdasher him
self, and he would not be at all annoyed
if it came to his ears that his wife had
been having friendly gossip with Mrs.
Haberdasher. But his good lady has
too much sense to fall into such an in
hn hn7- |
business that his lax notions do not run
away with him. Then, again, it is she,
not he, who carefully weighs up all the
qualifications and possessions of those
persons who are introduced into the
house of Grandee. It is she who goes
in for making people know their places.
It is she who can meet a so-called in
ferior in the street, and gaze at him as
if be were a piece of inanimate sculp-
ture. It is she who can keep would-be
upstairs down. 1t is she who can for
sake old friends because they have "be-
come so dreadfully low, you know"
that it really would not do to associate
with them. 1t is she who can quietly
drop her poor relations because it does
not suit her purpose to retain hold of
them, even though by SO doing, she
might succeed in helping them up to
her own level-she is so afraid of being
dragged down to theirs. It is she who
seems to imagine that those who are
paid to serve her are of race apart
from herself, in the same, though a ;
lesser degree, than are dogs, horses,
and other animals. Tt is she who fsunts
her riches and power in the face of the !
world. And, finally, it is she who sees
a superiority and potentiality in herself ]
which are not discerned by other peo-
pie. OF course, the amount of harm
that she does is incalculable. It will
be, then, for those who have charge of
the education of women to consider
whether it is not time that their policy
we're revised, and that instead of girls J
being taught to be snobs they should be
taught not to be so.-Li6erGL ReUjeaO.
Powers of the Young