The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-12-18
From the Philadelph;a News !

From the PhiladelphiaNews.1
My text is the South woman Of
to-day. Of the woman {, genera
ton ago; of her who ned it over
i hondreds of slaves, and ;urn shaved
81 sos Tue soldiers of the nth of her
Who, born in luxury, 50 4 privation
and want without frnur, snd
& &cheerfully donning homespun
dress made her silks satins into
battle-fags; Of her W delicate fin
& gers, used only to silRsathreads, wove
her womanly tears into the warp and
Woof OF rebel gray-I have nothing
here to say except, God bless her!
As hydrogen and oxygen rush to-
gether with explosive force and develop
liquid clear and white and pure, so
out of the shock of the mingling of old
aristocratic forms and ideas with a
modern civilization the woman of to-
day has been developed. Nor does the
figure cease here, for she is & compound
radically different from its component
elements and, to my mind, superior 10
both.
One notable respectin which she has
the advantage Of the woman Of ante
oeilum days is the lack OF prudish-
: ness which characterizes her deport-
ment. It is true that few old towns,
like Charleston and New Orleans the
unmarried girl is still treated as If she
were a creature morally, mentally and
physically Irresponsible and the word
at large a horrible monster ready TO
gobble up the tender morsel at the first
yfraction Of chance. But in the new
settlements which have sprung up
about US and in most CT the old q
woman is-weli, she is generally &C.
knowledged to belong to the race of
mankind.
8 I do not mean to say that in any in
stance she is treated with less gentle
Difference than We're Southern women
of yore; but that, recognizing the fact
that her innate modeSty is her SureSt
protector, the world allows her free
: dom Of action which, I honestly be-
ieve, is not enjoyed by any other class
Of women on the globe. Scornins a
chaperone, she walks, rides and drives
with any gentleman OF her acquaint-
ance.
Not even ''the cenSorious world
now objects to her going alone with
her escort to a ball or the theatre, or
lunching tete tete with him after the
play.
And the girl Of to-day is superior 70
her mother in that she has had and
profted by the advantages OF adversely
OF course there are a few moneyed
ones who affect lady-like Incidence,
but the great majority Of SouthernerS
D are poor, and being 100 proud 20 &C
knowledge how poor, the women Of the
land have developed 4 perfect genius
for making both ends meet aud keep
ing up appearances. AS hyperbolical
instance I heard 3 girl friend laughing
" declare that she cuI down her
brothers discarded clothes 70 s; her
self and made biscuits ou, @! his o.ci
boots. I must acknowledge that the
woman il question would c:l- : sad
figure as 2 waSGe-w oman. cuI she
can cook and do a.! So-;S 0: bouSewo-:k <
quite Is we'll IS heC sisters Q: 2 colder
cline.
: In many instances She hasn't much
taste about the style of dress for the
streets, and often makes q shopping
tour in a costume which would he
much better suited to the opera buc
she is not often dependent on dress
maker, and can make an old dress
over, hind part before, wrong side out
and up side down !; knock a last season 5
hat into an unheard-of shape, anG
look a. sweet and attractive in them as
any Worth-dressed girl in the Empire
State.
We have the advantage in Summer
dressing because Our climate is largely
summer, and the Southern woman is
in her glory AMI fluffy white dresses
the greater part 0; the year. And Oh :
how she hates co,ored uaGercIothes
and all sorts OF economic schemes
which would deprive her Of Eer snow
white linen and l;:ceS. 81" IS also an
enemy to dress ratDrla-the divided
skirt would extingui>h her-she hasn't
common sense enough to ike The
shoe Of that name she holds Madame
Jenness-Niller her personal enemy,
and grapples her friend, th= corset, 20
r. her side with hooks OF SceeI.
And it is notal0 with her wa-I7D1c
that she has to co:trive ana ecamo-
n1ize; there seems 70 1e three cnd. 10
everything that has - GlaEe meet. ana
if she is the hoUs-seepcr, her wEo::
life seems 70 De made Up q s,U- a:lG
minus-ur cortuHateiy mostly minus
Ny heroine can be brave and jo:!: liz.
der all circumstances She : =cI5~Iu
red headed, and seldom stil!-cross.
! I once dropped in Oh a friend f.:
! dinner, with lot Of other unexpected
J