The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-05-27

beautiful baby, Em So glad it's q girl |:
can dress her SO much finer than I could
boy" Q woman.l wpmani 10 what
depths of degradation you have sunk
when you can look into the, face of n
baby lying in your lap,-thes face of a
Child that God has given you 10 train for
the service OF earth and the glory of
heaven, -and have such q thought as that
ind moments lodgement;p your miui
The pity oft, the pity of il, that children
should ever be given to such women It
IS one OF the inscrutable things Of Pfovi.
dence. What can such woman do but
destroy the souls of her children?
i do not think that the girls, or their
mothers, ere wholly 20 blame for this ab-
sorbing devotion to dress. The vanity
Of women is stimulated by tho fool
ishness of men. a young woman who
ia modestly aud plainly clad is much less
likely to attract the notice of young mon
than one who is gorgeously arrayed.
From bright, intelligent finely, cultured,
sensible girls, whose chief adorning is nos
the adorniIg.of braided hair, or golden or
naments, or OF gay clothing, the young
men often turn away in quest of some
creature oil glitteriDg in silks and Jewel.
y, with aduil mind and a selfish heart,
But heseech you to remember, girls, that
. young man who cares for nothing but
"etyie" In woman is young man whose
admiration you can we'll afford 10 do
without. ii That is ali ne cares for in
you, you cannot trust his fidelity when
you and yonr finery have faded ;some bird
in gayer feathers than you are wearing
will easily entice him away from you, and
the sacred ties of marriage and parentaee
will prove no barrier to biB wsyward fam
cies.' The girl who catches o husband by
fine dress too often fRdsl that the prize
she haswoni 10 broken heart. .
Another mistake that ulany Of ourgirls
are making is in deYoting too much of
their time TO novel-reading. The reading
of an occasional novel of pure and health.
ful tone may he not only an. innocent di.
version, but good mental atimulant
but the reading of the lighter sort of nov.
els (which, If they do not teach bad NOR
ality, do represent life in morbid and
unreal light, and awaken cravings that
never can be satisfed), and the reading
of one OF, two or three of themin a weelS'
as ls the common habits of many of our
| girls, must prove grievouslyi ih;arious to
their minds and hearte., It is mental dis.
sipation. of very dangerous sort; its in
huence is moro insidious than, but I
am not sure that it is not quite as fatal
to character as, the habituai use of strpng
drink. Certainly the mental dissipation
OF novei-reading is vastly more preya-
lent than the other sort of dissipation.
not only in "the best society," but in the
second best, as well; and I've women'a
lives are ruined by the one where one
life is wrecked by the other. 'Ruined,'
do say? Yes; 10 weaker word tells
the whole truth. This intemperate crav.
ing for sensational fiction weakens the
mental grasp, destroys the love of good
reading, and the power of sober and ra-
.tional thinking, takes away; all relish
from the realities Of life, breeds discon-
tent and Incidence and solishness, and
makeY the one who is addicted to, 1t q
weak, frivolous, petulant, miserable be-.
ing. see girls all around NE in whom
these results are working themselves out
steadily and fatally.
Another mistake which our girls are
making-or which their parents are
making-is zoo early initiation into the
excitements and frivolities of what is!
called society. Is was formerly the rule,
for girls to wait until their achool.days!
were over before they made their appear
ance in fashionable society. at what
age, let us inquire, does the average
young lady of our cities now mako her
debut? From my observations, should
answer it at about the age of three. Thew
are not older than thatwhen they begintol
| go to children's parties, for which
| they are dressed as elaborately &c;
they would be for q fancy ball. From
| this age onward they are never out of. So
ciety; by the time they are six or eight
years old they are members of clubs. and
spend frequent evenings out, and the de.
mands of social diversion anu display
multiply with their years.
"lt seems to me, writes another, Chat
| one prominent defect in our modern
training of girls is undue haste in MAX
ing. them aooiety young iadies, and cuiiti-
vating q fondness for admiration BY Law
ish display Of dress. Before leaving thc
nursery, many child does penance BY
being made 8 figure on which d vail,
mamma may crafty her taste in elegant
fabrics aud exquisite laces to be eyhibi-
ted at fashionable children's party.
This trait easily becomes controlling
one, and girls scarcely in teens, with the
th1se manner of woman of the world
will scan a lady's dress, tell YOU at once
the qua!;ty of the material, the rarity of
the laces, the value of the ieweIs-eyen
venture an opinion whether or not It be
one Of WOrth's latest designs, showing
what apt scholars they have become.''
1 am sure that the early contact of our
gi:la with the vanities and the iusince.:-
ties and the excitements of social life
. doing great injury TO many of them.
Girls of from: twelve to sixteen years of
age, who ought to be In bed evsfy night
az nine o'clock, are out ut parties It'll
midnight, and sometimes later, thus de-
stroYing their health and keeping their
young heads filled with thoughts which
are not conducive TO healthy menta. or
moral growth.
And as Tor the children's parties to
which my correspondents apply words Of
such severity, / cannot, conceive any.
thing more hurtful than they are, in the
way that they are generally managed.
II little company of children could be
brought together in the afternoon or in
the early evening, all plainly dressed, so
that they might romp and play to their
hearts, content and take no thought for
their raiment-jf they could be healthi-
ly fed, and wisely amused, with no resort
to kissing games, and no suggestion of
beaux--that would be innocent enough
but TO dress these children in silks and
lsces, in kid gloves and kid clippers VIII,
trizzed hair and jewelry--to parade them
up and down the drawing rooms for the
foolish mothers who arc in attendance to
comment on their dresses in their hearing.
saying, 30, you dear little thingi How
sweet you looki What O beautiful dress
H. 4 -. L n .an -. O.