Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-07-16
SOCIETY ANALYZED.
a Georgia Lady Compares Society of
the O1den Times with fhe Present.

! golden long ago, still clngS with
1 holy reverence to the custom of her
| fathers, and AYERS that society of the
present day is not what 1t used to be
that it has sadly @egenerated from
the high moral and intellectual STAN
| dard TO which it attained in her time /:
that the old, grand manners, courtly
grace, and brilliant repartee have, in
a great measure, passed away. Society
now is all a sham, a glamour, and
vanity of vanities nothing but
husks.
Being familiar with the society peo-
pie of the present time, their ceming
and going, their private and public
life, paTtske largely of my grand
mothers view and heartily indorse
the verify Of her sayings. In her
time they were too regardful Of social
convention to lend countenance to a
person without weighing well the
pros and cons, and to gain entree into
the best society your moral and intel
lectual worth and social position were
questioned, Now, all that is neces-
sary to admit one into the so-called
best society" is to dress in the pre-
valling mode. dance well, be fully
conversant with the latest gossip, and
speak glibly all the fashionable slang.
Popularity in such society can not
commend itself; it savors too strong
of the mob,
1t is a sad fact that society degener-
ates AS the age advances. In the old
en- time girls were educated with
IN ht~bar oVI ,,Oh1au .,,,n,On~oe
and to fill useful positions, and the
boys for men Of integrity and indus
try. Now, the former are.educated
20 make a show, and the latter to aid
the exhibition.
Having all the advantages of learn
ing which our colleges and public
schools can bestow, these are cast
lightly aside or perverted to ignoble
purposes. A girl now enters society,
1t seems, with but one aim or ambi~
ton, and that is to try to manage to
extract the greatest amount of enjoy
meat from her life. 1t soon becomes
continued round of excitement; no
sooner is one festivity over than she
begins to plan for another. She finds
it dolce far niente. Her hours of
leisure are either slept or idled away,
or spent in planning some fitting
dress in which to appear at the even
ing party. Occasionally she aceuaints
herself with the plot Of the latest nov
oil or the notes of a fashionable piece
of music. Dwelling much on the
contemplation of such little things,
they soon lose the intellectual appe-
A. fAr N,,taf 4 t,naetfa fo1,a,t.v
society girls never dream of it. They
soon become wholly dependent upon
excitement for happiness, and.unless
they have something of this kind con-
tinually in view they soon sink into
apathy, and at home are utterly
wretched. The parents of such girls
usually practice strict economy in do
mestic affairs, the mother doing all
the necessary work, and denying hers
self many comforts that her daughters
may have a succession of silk and
satin dresses to enhance their beauty,
and fly about from one place Of pleas
ure to another, hoping that they may
make wealthy alliance. In nineteen
cases out of twenty they fail to do so.
Seldom can we find a society girl of
our day who can reason, reflect, feel,
Judge, discern, discriminate, or fur
nished with a stock of ideas, princi-
Piles. and qualifications ready 10 be
applied, as occasion may demand, to
each of their respective situations as
daughters, wives, mothers. Dwarfed
by society and fashion, and leading a
life of idleness, dims the mental per-
I'D fae- f.o +.
urally vigorous. Society now is heart
less and shallow, with its silly amuse
ments and soulless rivalries. Parties
are stale and Improbable. with the
same bowling, grinnlHg nonsense, the
same bosh talked, the same tiresome
routine from beginning to end.
Commend us to the society of
women who have higher and nobler
aims, whose horizon is not bounded
by the coming man, and who has a
purpose In life whether she meets him
or not, to those who make life worth
living.
The society mer OF our day must
not pass unnoticed. Few men live
through the first period of manhood
without strong TEN ptations to be con-
sidered society men, 1t becomes their
ambition. The idea looms grandly
among those vanities that hedge a
mans approach to maturity. He soon
becomes IN adept in society tactics,
which match him with others of the
same stamp. He conquers all such
annoyances as truth or sincerity,
which may sometimes sting his con-
science. He studies moral sparring,
makes it his art to be admired, but
seldom to be trusted To keep up with
the fashion of the times, to be ignor~
ant of plan things and plain, honest
people, "who do not go with their
set, and whom he stigmatizes AS the
dangerous "second-class, . to be know
ing in all gossip, familiar with all the
figures in the german, dance well,
and wear ballroom honors with in
difference, to hold fair place in the
sillv nOthinors usually discussed. TO