The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1891-06-16


. necessitato singing authorizations 0
caste, or lead to false prctensions an:
: ignoble rivalries; compelled to draw
from the resources of her own min(
; that recreation which the unvaryins
, uniformity of her existence did no
afford; cultivating year by year tn,
spirit of generosity and forgiveness
OF softness and forbearance, that each
acquaintance might become a friend
and where friends were so rare that
not one should ever be lost; unrough-
ened by manual exertion; unruflled
by needless excitement; guarded in
her purity by the pride and devotion
OF men ever sensitive to the slightest
touch of dishonor; the unconscious
object of universal Difference, she
grew at once into the most exquisite
proportions of form and heart, and
flourished for generations unspoiled,
unsullied, in the grandeur of her sim
plicity. Simplicity! simplicity of
heart, simplicity of soul, simplicity in
every walk, that unbought grace of
life, that loveliest inheritance from ma
ture to her daughters. Simplicity has
always been to me the distinguishing,
as well as the most beautiful, charac-
tcristic of Southern women. In every
trait that ought to win admiration
and we'll with love the heart of man,
we sec il in that assuredness of her
own rank, so uninsinuating in that
quiet dignity of speech and deport-
ment so unobtrusivc; in that unrc-
served and frank address towards all
associates, in that unpatronizing con-
sideration of all interiors in that in
nocencc of the false in life and the
fictitious i'll fashion; in that unre-
strained expression of honest impulses,
in that answering Fidelity TO the
home circle and the house affairs, in her
ingenious modesty, in her sim
cerity, in every grand and noble
purpose-it is there. The conditions
which produced this fairest emanation
of her own sunny land have passed
away, but we will never believe
though we sometimes tremble-that
with ease of inter-communication the
introduction of stranger elements, and
stranger tastes, the sudden accumulation
of unexpected fortunes, foreign travel
and more frequent contact with artii-
cial society and the fads of the great
world, that this dear trait of Southern
life will never cease to be tiN distinct
i've badge of Southern women.
The present woman of the South,
aud her position-her position since
the war-admits of much curious
thought and much careful invcstiga-
ton. The literature that has been
produced concerning the South so CO.
piOusly during the last decade and a
half gives us no fixed and definite |
idea of the part woman has borne in
the social reorganization, or Of the
that now surround her. |
Not that this literature has been de- |
fectivc, either from want of inherent
power or in inadequate treatment of
subjects. Mr.. Allen in a recent lee
ture has shown in a most delightful
and convincing way the mission that
the literature of the new South has
performed in correcting a mistaken
idea of our actual social state but its
most serious efforts have been directed |
against the prejudiccs created by the
war, and handed down as a legacy of
the old anti-slavcry fanaticism that so
wrought the passions and distorted
the judgment of the North and West
of thirty years ago. The burden of
its song has been the negro. For
twenty years the Negroes position in
the South has been described and ana
lyzed and the negro himself idealized
and lifted to the level of hero, TO the |
exclusion of other subjects. The
woman unfortunately has been made
subsidiary to their treatment. Mr..
Cable, Mr.. liearn, Miss Murfee and
others have written of somewhat diff.
erent phases of life, it is true, but have
likewise confined themselves to the
peculiar and exceptional, rather than
the general type. And from the I'M
natural and unlovcly heroines of Miss
Rives, and the vacuous and misplaced
coquettes of Miss Woolsen, from the
sterile and unfamiliar pOrtrayals of
TOurgee and Mrs. Stowe, we are not
able, even if we had the desire, to
draw any light. The true Southern
woman of society, of family and edu-
cation, we know only by occasional
glimpses. These glimpses, however,
are of such exquisite beauty, that we
can but depldre that they have not
been made the basis of more sustained
efforts.