St. Landry democrat., 1879-06-21
A Question Of MOdesty.
DIFFERENT ideas OF THAT SUBJECT IN
THE NORTI! AND SOUSEI--THE WOMEN
GRABBERS.
Providence, Il. L., Dispatch. !

1t is strange how different civilization
looks upon the same matter. In Japan,
| for instance, men, women and children
bathe freely together without a vestigc
of clothing and with no thought Or suy
gestion of indeccncy. There is, in tic
United States even, a wide difference in
the views which women Of different sec
tiOns entertain in respect to what con
stitutes All insult from Il Dan. 1t ia
un,leniable that, at the North, a degree
OF ontact and familiarity is tolerated
without a thought of improperly, which,
in the South, is resented as an imper~
tnence and inSolence. The recent
tragedy at Richmond, Va, in which
Charles G. Curtis was shot dead by John
! PulnteXter, is a ease III point. The
murdered man had compiimented Miss
Isabella Cottrcll, PoindeXter's sweet
heart, on her pretty foot, and had us
the young lady declared, squeezed her
arm rather to warmly in helping her
| into The carriage. With this as y pre-
vocation, fondextcr cowhidcd Curtis
and then shot him dead, and the jury
could not agree that Poilidexter had
committed Il crime in taking Curtis life.
A New York girl the other day in
, yited her aunt from Savannah, who was
| visiting her, to enter a broadway shoe
| StplC W ltlI llti' VIC llltCt,
much to her aged relatives horror, Dro~
.jeeted her pretty foot and ankle across
the clerks knee, had her old boots re
| moved and submitted intcrestedly, hold
| ing her dress conveniently out OF the
way, while the clerk began encasng the
| fair ones neither eXtremities in new
and extra long pair of fifteen dollar
"high buttoners." The Savannah aunt
was shocked beyond exnressicr 81 her
| nicce's strange numodesty in exposing
her stockinged feet to male gaze, and
when the shoe clerk, beginning at the
| lower buttons, gradually progressed in
! his upward work, Georgia modcstY and
properlety could no longer endure the
shocking spectacle, and down came the
sun umbrella Oh the shoe clerks head
Witha Whack, apu hpl hngures tingling
with shame made busy with his hair. 1t
piaillei. tt..i;t such occurrences were the
Irregular thing" in New York. That is
undoubtedly the truth, and the reporter
who has been interviewing New York
bellies sprop0s OF the bloody tragedy at
Richmond, doubtless correctly reports
the views which prevail among the WO-
men in Gotham.
At the South, however, there is no i'm
mediate prospect of the adoption of the
views or the degree of freedom from
men which is tolerated in New York
and elsewhere in the North. Nor can it
be denied that the !ooseness which many
slioe-clerks, llacll-drivcrs, car-conuuc-
tors, policemen and others exhibit at the
| North in handling women is, from the
Southern standpoint, very shocking.
Some Of these fellows are insut1trablc.
They find a breastpin out of plumb, OF a
h1,ty s-tI i1t,,n u
further out than it should, or Il lock of
hair astray, or Il watch slipping out Of
belt, OF {; gather of a dress has started
the stitching, CT Il flower in the hat
drOops a trltie, or the shaWlpin doesn't
hang just so, and they insist on fixing
these matters, and keep fumbling and
paving and picking away at a lady until
attention is drawn to the performance
and annoyance is the result. One of
these fellows will put his hand under a
ladys elbow to lift her over straw on
the Walk Or across slX-lncn gutter, and,
when gong up a rise or two or three
steps, Will insist on putting his hand
upon her waist and partially lifting her
! Up. 1t he helps her into a carriage, he
wants to Lift her in, and, III assisting her
| to alight, he makes her jump into his
arms, where he holds her as long as he
dares. While riding with her lie always
| has his band Oh the seat behind her.
ready to seize iher waist every time there
is jolt big enough to give him an ex-
cuse for doing so--in fact, he seems to
he continually aching to paw, in one way
or another, every lady into whose con=
pany lie is thrown. 1t may not be i'm
proper between people pretty we'll ac-
ouainted with each other, but it doesn't
look well, and ladies, while they don't
like to appear annoyed, still feel so, and
wish to be let alone.
POSITIVELY SHOoK1NG ''-Ihere is
| a beautiful pellucid lake in q certain
county ia Tennessee, Which is noted as
much for leechcs as for the beauty of
its clear water and surrounding scenery.
It was an ippromtn bathing pool for all
the boys in the neighborhOod, except on
Sundays, when they were at church,
lying about Oh the grass and telling
stories, which were occasionally inter
rupted by the loud tones of the preacher.
The SECOND warm Sunday this spring
four pretty romping girls were staying
together at farm house near the lake,
and when everybody started to church
they allowed that they would stay at
home and go bathing In the late; which
they did to their entire satisfaction.
They swan and giggled and splashed
like merniaids and nymphs, and then sat
on the bank like frogs, and then splash
ed and swan and giggled some more,
and calculating their time, so as to get i
to the house before the church. goers re-
turned, they presently crawled out of
the water to dress but what was their
Consideration to discover d dozen or so |
of black things attached to the snowy
form Of each one of the nymphs. They
yelled Will, forty-girl power and tried |
to pull the leeches off, but the yarmints
had too good taste, in more senses than |
one, to be pulled off. They stuck on
faster the more the girls screamed.
Their fright got the better of maiden1y
modesty, and the four damsels cut for
home just as they were, in Tennessee |
beathing dresses, which means nothing
at all. It. happened, however, that
brother Ebenezer Crawford was sick
that day and the service were short. so
the four Eve-like fugitives came out on
the main road and met two-thirds Of
the congregation. Their relatives did
not recognize them in that slight attire
was a female lunatic asylum broken
loose, took after them pelI-mell. Away
they went over bush and briar, wood
and bramble, the whole congregation,
headed by the deacons, after the four
girls. At last they ran in some hay
Stacks, and it was only then that the
dilemma was discoSered. The chase
returned, and four old ladies went out
and brought the girls in.
A WESTERN OUTLAw.-"T The man
with the gold tooth, ois at present the
terror of the frontier. His name is
and he is thirty y-five years
old. He began his career as an outlaw