Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-05-03
A QUESTION OF D E
Different Idsas on That Subject In the
North and South.

-
Japan, for instance, men, women and
children battle freely together without
a vestige of clothing and with no
thought or suggestion of indecency.
There is, in the United States even, a
wide difference in the views which
women of different sections entertain
in respect to what constitutes an in
suit from a man. IL is undeniable
that, at the North, a degree of contact
and familiarity is tolerated without a
thought of improperly, which, in the
South, is resented as an impertinence
and insolence. The recent tragedy at
Richmond, Va, in which Charles
c. Curtis was shot dead by John
Poindexter, is a case in point. The
murdered man had complimented
Miss Isabella Cottrell, Poindexter's
sweetheart, on her pretty foot, and
had, as the young lady declared,
squeezed her arm rather too warmly
in helping her into the carriage. With
this as a %prOvocation, Poindexter
cowhided Curtis and then shot him
dead, and the jury could not agree
that P~oiRdexter had committed al
crime in taking Curtis life.
A New York girl the other day in
vited her aunt from Savannah. who
was visiting her, to enter a Broadway
shoestore with her. Araminta, the
niece, much to her aged relative hor-
ror, projected her pretty foot and ankle
agross the clerks knee, had her old
boots removed and submitted inter.
estedly, holding her dress convenient
ly out of the way, while the clerk be-
gan the process of encasing the fair
ones neither extremities in a new
and extra long pair of $15 "high-
b%uttoners." The Savannah aunt was
shocked beyond expression at her
%niece's strange immodesty in exposing
her stockinged foot to male gaze. and
and when the shoe clerk, beginning at
the lower buttons, gradually progressed
upward in his work, Georgia modesty
and propriety could no longer endure
the shocking spectacle, and down
cahic the sun umbrella on the shoe
clerks head with a whack. and her
fingers tingling with shame made busy
with his hair. 1t was to no purpose
hatAraminta explained that such oc-
currences were the regular thing in
New York. That is undoubtedly the
truth, and the reporter who has been
interviewing New York bellies, apro-
pos of the bloody tragedy at Rich {
mond, doubtless correctly reports the
views which prevail among women in
Gotham. He says: E
[ asked one of the bellies of Fifth S
avenue if she allowed a shoe clerk to I
put on her shoes. {
Why, of course | do" she said. !
and lace them up, too. That is what
a shoe clerk is for. Only a silly wo- ]
man with country ideas or a common I
woman who looks upon the clerk as a
probable sweetheart, would object to I
a shoe clerk putting on her shoes.
Every well-bred lady in New York
expects the clerk to lace a new pair Of Z
shoes" {
But suppose the clerk should re- &
mark, you have a pretty foot. or I
your foot is small, would you be in !
dignant?' t
Certainly not. | should consider
the remark the same as if a servant
had made it. IF this Miss Cottrell. of t
Richmond, had been a true lady. she
would never have made such a silly !
fool Of herself; and if P~oindexter had /
not been a harum-scarum goose. with 9
out true gentlemanly instincts, he /
would not have killed Mr.. Curtis. the 5
simple and innocent shoe clerk"
DO you allow a young gentleman
clerk to put on a new kid glove n +
Yes. In Paris the glove clerk
always puts on a new glove for you.
While | would not allow a young gen.
tleman friend to put on my glove | 4
consider il highly proper for a glove y
clerk TO do it." I
Suppose a gentleman at a party in Q
your own set should squeeze your hand i
in the Laneers, what would you do p i
Now, that is a different thing. II t
ne were an Intimate friend | should
take it as a joke. If he were my lover a
| should return it; but if he were a y
casual acquaintance, and | thought he t
squeezed my hand impertinently Q
would cut him dead. | shouldn't tell 4
any one, but the man would suffer a {
silent punishment"
Would you 90 back to the same
clerk three times, as did Miss Cot s
trell, if he said your foot was pretty?" {
"Yes, If | had business there. INC
his remarks offended me, | should tell ,
him to please make no remarks.
shouldn't have gone to my lover with I
a silly story. The fact is. this whole /
Richmond foolishness occurred among
common, ill-bred people. not used to /
the usages Of refined society" and /
then the a%ristocratic young lady but {
toned up her ten-button kids and pre- /
pa oil for a promenade. .
At the South, however. there is no :
immediate prospect of the adoption of {
the views or the degree of freedom j
from men which is tolerated in New /
York and elsewhere In the North. {
Nor can it be denied that the loose. {
ness which many hoe-clerks. hack /
drivers, car. conductors, policemen and !
Others exhibit at the North in hand q
ling women is, from the Southern /
standpoint, very shocking. Some of i
these fellows are insufferable. They ,
ind a breastpin out of plumb, or a /
hairpin sticking a sixteenth of an inch !
further out than it should, or a lock of
HAIR astray, or a watch slipping out Of {
a belt, or gather Of the dress has start {
ed the stitching, or the flower in the ,
hat droopS a tridc, or the shawl-pin {
don't hang Just SO, and they ipsist I
upon liking these matters. and Keen
fumbling and paving aud picking
away at a lady until attention is drawn
20 the performance and nm anno,nna