The Hickman courier., 1877-06-29
coxMUxIsrIc IDEA PREVAILS.

I ties are as good now as then. In my
| opinion the cause is found in the fact,
that
| CoNHUSIsTIC IDEA PREVAILS,
and that fathers and mothers, without
weighing the consequences, are educa-
ting, and iustiiiing these. uischevous
and ultimately ruinoas, ideas into their
childrens social life The idea that
person is necessarily the equal of his
neighbor is false in every particular.
Animal creation, much less progressive
humanity, rejects the idea. say, then,
that
CLASS DIsTISc TONS,
are absolutely necessary to the we'll being
of society, and that children should be so
taught at home. Let not some unequal
toad, conscious of infsriOrity, charge the
editress of this column with being an ar
ristocrat. In some respects l am, and
in some future issue may explain, but In
this Introductory column, my purpose is
to attack not defend, to expose faults of
the general school aud TO avoid personal
/ tiles The field have mapped out is
Z
you, our society is as q once beautiful
GARDEN GROWN TO WEEDS.
Sweet flowers are withering, and lovely
/ little vines are twining their delicate
tendrils around poisonous barks and
/ deadly upas trees It needs the pruning
/ hook of love, the hoe Of culture, the rake
! of emulation, and indeed ali the imple-
ments of intelligence, morals and religion
to save it from waste and ruin. The sur
roundings are alarming. Could picture
be drawn, in the which parents could see
their children as others see them. in
. which they could sec the step by step
process of degeneration that IS bearing
their daughters down in the scale of so
ciety. they would reeoil with fear and
trembling. lay il down rs philosophic
axiom of womanhood. that the natural
tendency of woman is to degenerate
The rsrrst flower, neglected, dies, or sea-
son By season grows coarser, and in 5 m
instances in time poisons the hand that
touches it. Oh, how many of our liti
girls are growing Up neglected And
who from over kiulRcss, are permitting
the tares, and nettles and thorns of our
society to grow up rank around them,
choking out their moral life and social
culture Oh, mothers think of this
MOTHERS OF HICKMAN,
permit their daughters to accept company,
their grand mothers would have turned
from their doors This is so, and ID is de-
moraliziug. Our daughters are familiar
with "Bill, John, "Dick, and jim
and correspondiugly lhe boys reciprocate
the compliment with Sal" aud Jane,
and "Mouie" And iathers ami mothers
tolerate it! The young man, The boy, so
ill-bred as 10 address II young lady or
even little Miss, afer such manner, is
too i'll bred to be received into your
houses, aud should be shown the door.
The errors leading to this unfortunate
degeneracy, are multitudinous, but to
star, say the commencing point sw
little
MISSES BETWEEN and Is.
Uuwittingly mothers tolerate promiscu-
Gus associations. The irretrievably ruin
Gus line of lemarkation to girlhOod, is
familiarity" I would not have little
girls held with icy cOldness from the
warmth of genial compani ship. Oh, no.
> But, those surroundings whi;h obliterate
,lI>s distinctions in their young minds, L
would have them shun as the charmed
house of social death. The girl who
s,,to la- ti,a rAt.-
ence of such association can never be a
true lady. Such associations may be re-
, spectacle, chargeabe with no crimes or
moral defeciiOns, yet it bIuuts the youn G
mind to the.nicer sensbilities without
which there can sbe no polite culture
Schools, colleges, nor wealth, can ever
efface il. This social communism must
- be extinguished. Look at its blighting
effects in Hickman and Fulton county
Are Hickman young ladies of this day
. pure, innocent, pretty, sweet faced as
} they are, the equals in polite culture oi
the young ladies Of 20 years ago2 Could
they charm aud entertain in the draw n
rooms of the best society of the larger
! cities, their mothers did, 30 years ago ?
Certainly not. say it in courtesy.
Another error, is the cultivation of
e SLANG PHRASES BY YOUNG LApIEs
!: J.: ''You bet, "that the kind of Kair pir
; 1 am," and all such vuIgarisms. The
y thought of such utterances from the lips
4 of our daughters Shame, shame
1t is such steps as these that degener
Il
: 1T TOO COMMON.
They are too easily approached, theil
society too easily obtained The privil
/ ege of association, of escortiug, of keep
e ing the company of pure, sweet, innocent
t cultivated young ladies, should be held 8
worthy. Is it so with us ? The young
| man who neglects the cultivation of his
e mind, who neglects or is ignorant of the
? amenities of polite circles, should be re-
iected from polite society because of sucl
inequality or unworthiuess. 1t matter:
: mated, or outraged settled principles o
i common decency and be he never so honest
e and yet polite society should exclude him
2 until he learns to be polite. The degen
eracy in manners of our young ladies
comes from
ATTENDING PRoNIscUoUs PARTIES.
In these assemblages they catch thes,
l. slang phrases, are infected by the l-bret
mannerisms around them, and common
ideas are populariled by use until they
subvert their Unborn better nature. l
: is sad spectacle to see the daug ghter of
lady, or at least the grand daughter of
lady, the vis-a-vis of an immoral Iepe
g who is entitled to admission only becaus
d his money buys ticket. The fault i
undermining our social fabric.