Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-01-01
Women at the Bottom of Society's Elk.
travagNnce.

The London Times SAYS in an article n,
English society OF to-day: II must always be-
with pain ana delicacy aud hes itation that
we make any allusion tn those VINO are sun
posed Ia be the less able 10 drfeni them
selves and tire more under just authority. as
well, IL must he added, as Also most sinnad
against. Buj one remark must be maze
Even or the most superficial survey of So
ciety, whether in the great furnace of the ME-
troEuiis or in the lesser fires of provincial
ard rural life, who can shut his eyes 10 the
lsnentable fact that the gentler and kinder
sex have very great deal To do with that
homeless and ruinous extravaganza which
~ PRODUCES all the vices and disables all the
virtues, even Ia decay and extinction? 1t
may he the necessity or duty OF some 20
spend princely fortunes in princely ponp
ard luxury; if so, they are only To he pitied
for the difficulty of doing it gracefully, and
Tedeemiu material waste with personal re-
finement. But in this great town, and each
season more than the last, there are thou
sands and thousands who are manifestly
spending far more their circumstances will
allow. For very much of this deep, wide
spread, ard still spreading evil the women
are answerable. 1t is they who dress at a
rate far beyond their income; they who in
sist upon the best houses in the best neigh
bOrhoOd; they who must have equipages for
all uses. times and places; they who cannot
ahate their manifold requirements even
when the family increases and noble cares
should take the place OF childish things. OF
course the men have their besetting sins and
their pet eXtravagances, sometimes very
costly; and they have often the still greater
mutt Of not explaining thelr pecuniary al
fairs to their wives with manly candor or
common business like accuracy. They DO
rot make the wife a COMPLIANT and fellow
cOur Sellor. But there cannot be a doubt
that in n great majority of houses the lady
kpowS quite enough to see, with a very little
r, a. cton, that she is driving her husband
ard family into straitness and emrarraSs-
ment, with the risk of ruin. People must
have very many and very good acres, or very
good Investments indeed, to be able to spend
often the rental of good estate in a single
entertainment. n dreSsmaker's or an uphol-
sterer's bill. a house at a fashionable water
ing place, prolonged Continental tour, a
necklace. or some other toy. Yet women are
such creatures of rivalry and display that
they cannot help sort OF triumph over those
who are less fortunate or less spirited, and so
are continually foremost to infiame PERM
cious rivalry. What can their husbands do?
Trey submit. perhaps. They sulk, perhaps.
They more commonly cast about for ways
and means, and, as they hear and learn more
they are more apt to take counsel from de-
spair, and give themselves up 10 the stream
in which they are floating helplessly. They
cannot be worse than they are: they may be
better. So they speculate-that is, they
gamble. They soon find they are victims,
and set il down to their simplicity or their
scruples. By and by they make the discove-
~ that In such an affair 1t is better to be at
at the head than at the tail; better 10 be on
the right side of the wall; better to be in the
ring than an outsider So they press in
wards, give and take condolences, and in time
are milIionaires, or bankrupts and exileS.