The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-02-23

Column of the Richmond Standard Of
Saturday last.
In recent number of that paper THE CEN
TRIAL PRESBYTERIAN the senior editor takes oc.
cason-no, he makes occasion-to saw that the
lack of literary atmosphere, of general informa.
ton and of intellectual pursuits among the
ladies OF Richmond Is a most lamentable feature
OF our society; that the reading of our young
people is an alienation of trashy novels and
Harpers Bazaar and that the latter production
forms the staple of their conversations; that,
compared with a Boston woman, Richmond
girl is simpleton.
Now this is no insignificant matter the wide
circulation of the paper and the high character
OF Its editors make it an important one. Every
good Presby terrain family in the country CON
slders it part of its religion to take the Central
Presbyterian, and it is impossible to estimate the
damage done to this community by such de-
scription of 1T.
Fortunately we are not without defender
No less champion than Rev Dr. NJ D. Hoge
has made the cause his own, and we owe him
hearty thanks for the letter in which he has
brought forward many facts to show that we do
not deserve the discredit put upon us. This
letter appears IN the last number of the hesby-
terrain. and touches. though lightly, upon the
city, upon the refined and cultivated converse
ton of many ladies of his own acquaintance and
the extensive and varied reading of others
With his strong and graceful pen employed in
our service, 1T may seem unnecessary to make
any other reply. Nevertheless, when the lark
is singing in the binding. sky" the humber
warblers do not hush their mathis; the crested
bird that claps his wings at dawn" does not
think himself absolved from his morning duties,
nor suppress his " lively din," because higher
and better voice than his is filling the world
with music. We may, therefore, be pardoned
for adding few words on the same theme, and
without desiring to contend with Mr.. Southall,
nor aspiring to supplement DR.. Hoge, we may
with propriety embrace the opportunity thus
given of reviewing our intellectual progress and
our attainments in general culture
We must say that we were very much
surprised to see our article in the CEN
TRIAL PRESBYTERIAN of the 9th inst. de-
scribed in this way. 1t is certainly a
very unjust and incorrect account of the
character of that article, and conveys an
entirely erroneous impression of its con-
tents and spirit. When the above pas
sage is read by scores of persons who
never see the CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN
and especially when it is copied Gas it
probably will beg in other papers, those
who see it Eve would remark with all
courtesy will have about as much idea
of the picture which we drew as the
reader of Froude's Bunyan would have
of the Pilgrims Progress.
The correspondent of the STANDARD
from some cause failed to apprehend cor
rectly the scope of our article probably
from the momentary excitement pro-
duced by too hasty reading.
The subject of the article was Female
Conversation, and the whole strain of the
piece was an attempt to give expression
to the idea, that our ladies, especially the
young ladies, in the United States at the
present tine converse very little about
literature or weighty matters, but chiefly
about what they wear, about the fun nj
ture of their houses, about the theatre,
the ball, the opera, and the like. This
was the characteristic and fundamental
proposition of the whole article-with
only one passing and solitary allusion to
the ladies of Richmond. AS incidental
to the character of the prevailing CONVEX
sation, we referred to the character of
the books which, as rule, occupy the
attention of the ladies of the United
States We see no occasion, either in
view of the reply of DR.. Hoge,* or since
the criticism Of the fair writer in the
Standard, to modify the statements made
in our article or the views therein pre-
sented. We felt it to be our duty to raise
our voice against the all-prevailing levity
of the age. We knew that we were
breastinga strong current of opinion; but
that is always the case. We could not
be restrained by that consideration.
We have given above, in the extract
from the Standard, the description of our
language as given in that paper. What
we did say precisely latter an allusion to
Boston was this:
In some parts Of our country there is very
little, either of heterodox or an orthodox char
acter done in this line in the conversational way
by the ladies. Philosophy is not studied at all
We suppose that even here in Richmond there
are very few ladies who have read Sir William
Hamilton and not one who has read Kant or
Schopenhauer. We suppose that even such a
work as Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Ro-
man Empire is not often read now by Young