The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1881-11-03
THE SOUTHERN WOMEN.
Contrast Between the Ladies' OF the
south and Their Northern SiHJeru-


It is useless to bring Northern stand
ards 10 bear in such Judgment. The
girl of to-day owes her chief
characteristics to forces set In motion
200 years ago. The delicate hands owe
their dimples and baby-llke softness to
generations of immunity from any per-
sonal labor. The tiny feet have small
knowledge of the uses of feet, and falter
if urged to q walk Of mile. The slender
figures are corseted and made still
more slender in a fashion now happily
nearly unknown for the North, and from
babyhOod up, deicacy, fragllity, help
lessness, are taught rs the proper eI-
precision of wOmanhOOd-the only eZ-
preston that can insure the interest and
sympathy of manhood. The first duty
Of every woman, from childhood on, Is
to make the most Of every personal at
traction. Paint and powder are brought
into requisition long before girlhoOd Is
passed, and with the love Of cOlOrs and
the passion for dFess is general, q set OF
girls from even the "frst families OF
of Virginia have a slightly Bowery or
shOpgirl expression, which they, how
ever, would be the last to recognize.
The slender hands are loaded with rings
Of varying values; gold chains, lOckets
and every imaginable possibility OF gilt
and tinsel for hair or general ornament
make the breakfast table In large
school more suggestive Of an evening
party than 6 quiet work, or the simple
ity Of genuine girlhOod. Each one
bears with her an immense g slat sun
bonnet, 4" into whose depths no ray OF
sun can reach, and which helps to pre-
serve the waxy pallOr dear to the lem
mine Southern mind. Brilliant color
ing, or the least tendency toward en-
6OnpOt7lt, are deadly Ofenses against
the unWritten but powerful code
under whose laws all women must come,
There are exceptions, Of course, but my
generalization comes not from the
knowledge of q few here and there, but
from long Watching Of many represent
ing the best blood of the South, and
gathered into great schools, In which
the chief aim seems to be to give as
many snowy accomplishments as posi-
bic, and rush each one through the
course of study quickly enough to allow
graduation at 16 or IL.
These gentle, emotional women have
few or no interests beyond their own OF
their neighbors' houses. What the
world is doing means to them nothing
and less than nothing. Their religion
is that of their fathers fathers. Their
mental food Is In magazines like Frank
LesLie'8 or PeterS0n'S. They glory In
the encyclopedia winnOwings which
make up Miss Evans's novels, and buy
them from admiration of her learning,
and because she is a " daughter Of the
SunnySouth. And these " daughters
are providing more and more furniture
for bOok-shelves, some 800 names being
found in dictionary Of Southern authors,
unknown save in a few notable mstan-
ces, beyond Mason and DiIOn's line.
The life thus far given is that Of the
country alone The city holds much the
same type, modified by different cOndi-
tions. The Southern woman Of society
is very charming, often finely accom-
pIished, and always with a cOrdinal
grace and courtesy, even to her own sex.
They pose q little, it is true; their love
of appreciation Is q passion; they
devOur compliments with the undls-
guised relish of q child for sugar plums,
as with their country sisters, the MAIN
spring of all thought and life IS mar
rage; marriage early, and marriage
often, if widowed at an early enough
date to still be fascinating.
IN short the faults of Southern women
are precisely the faults Of uneducated
and undevelOped women the world over.
''To be coquette in every movement
and action is the studyO Of three-quarters
of the female population of the globe"
and if coquette be too strong a word for
the mass, their own adjective ranks
next as distinctive of all the Southern
desires in man, woman or child. So
sweet is the characterization one hears
of everything desirable, and the woman
who thinks Of something else than her
foot or her hands, or the prettiest thing
to be said next, runs the risk Of hearing:
Yes but somehow she isn't sweer,
you know"