RAPID DAMES AND GIRLS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 81, 22 March 1876, Page 4

RAPID DAMES AND GIRLS.

.(From thelWorld.) r %Bgep hewho he may, who first developed the modern creed that it is the duty of woman to render her--Bel| tjbe of man Jby sharing Bis^evWjr pursuit, no matter at ;;%hat cost of discomfort to. herself «r to him, haa> muc]b, • very much 5 , to 1 answer' for. The evil influence of the doctrine has been incalculable. Like all theories it Bounded passing well; . men yfere tojbe softened, and refined by the influence and, s the r constant companionship of w&mani wbile'the latter were 1 to have their thoughts. ennobled and their minds enlarged %f ;'j'ihW 'edifying ' converßatipn of. "the" superior sex. All those who mingle moqhjin.the^ fashionable society of the day know, tolerably well how these < .fair • visions have been reaped j how, in their impatience of the restraint thus attempted to be imposed upon their manners and their conversation, men have broken bounds altogether, and, instead "of 1 'curbing ! th f eir speech ' in . deference,^ to, r the women , who „ thus IfhWn^thißinß^lV'e^''' upon' them, have taught t'beWi to tlse a' slang and to speak of subjec.tß ,pf ..Wjhich t^eir motherß woul^'notbave understood a syllable. . It is ' '-not 'the- men who have been softened ;^ i£' is the women who have been coarsened and emboldened" to a pitch that foMnsla sad subject of contemplation to a thoughtful mind. The averager of /the ; day . is .never happy out of the Bpciety- of men. Formerly girls met young men at balls or parties, or when riding in the Park, always T . under proper surveillance and cKaperdnage; now from early dawn they,^,are, in each other's company, skating unchaperoned in the morning, riding attended only by a grnom, and jointed' 'bty. Jviiif favored cavaliers, and entertaining the same men at confidential kettledrum tea; or, if in the country^are 1 walking with the guns, rowing in the boats,~or riding to hpunda. • BVt^tbs : constant companionship of the day is all top little, and the more enierprißing Bpirits now deny their^ malefriendfi i'a respite from their pref eence even the smoking-room. At first it was only the very fastest of frisky matrons who ventured on this somewhat de^eirmHed act of aggression ; . indeed,, so irisky were they as to be inhabitants of that debateable ground where fastness ,>and faultiness are convertible terms, accord ibg to the animus of the speaker, and even they were only able to accomplish their wishes and exhibit their superbly-embroidered dressinggowns in exceptionally fast houses. B u t grad ually it began to be fel t that these rapid dames could not be allowed the monopoly of what those envibuß of then^jwere, wild enough to believe an exceptional advantage; and, first, young married women of less pronounced character, and then gradually some of f|e v iripre audacious spirits among the girls, found their way into what had heretofore been considered a purely masculine eymposium — the last harbor of'-reftige left to the persecuted male. The quiet spirits who resent the inva-sio'i^-and they are more numerous than it at jiil flatter the enterprising dames to fancy— -must often feel a sardonio satisfaction in the thought of the figbnies that must have been endured by their persecutors before. habituating themselves' to the use of even the mildest cigarette. But a woman's determination once aroused is not easily "forgotten ; sickness, headache, and every other discomfort are born witH : -ik'> heroism worthy of a better cause, and firm possession of the innermost line of defence has been attained. ' : It must be allowed that it has not yet become so much the custom as not to be considered fast, and that in many hduseß ■ where ladies appear in the smoking-room,, "they, do so sub rosa, tkkd ioiMy 'without the knowledge of themißtress of the house, that worthy chatelaine^ fatigued with the entertainment of,, her friends, being wrapped in ihs sleep of the just before her lively guests have indued,, themselves with th'ei£ gorgeous-smoking properties; and perhaps this element of Becrecy lends a still greater cbaTm to the entertainment./, But] we should greatly like to know whether these emancipated datmeß'thinkrr-if indeed we may ven•turg ni tq;;BUßpect a fast woman of ever doipg anything ; so slow and old-fasnionedy-rtbftt they in anyway commend "ihemselvee to the affections or the, adm^ratioQ of their male friends by Buch' intrusion on their domains. However slangy or fast they may be, most men, in some secret corner of their composition, cherish an innate re.specj tor l 7emio ! ine purity and modesty,' and one of the very •"'best, tests of their ojpiiiion) of v any given proceeding iei to suggest it for the adoption of their sisters. As a:rule, they are in arms at once; suggest it for anyone else, they " cannot see the harm ;*' but hint at Julia or Alice doing the very same thiog, and they at once regard the matter in a very! different light. It must be a strange brother who would be found to approve ef his Bister's presence in the Bmoking-room : he knows too wellj how/freely its frequenters are invariably -.commented on ; how, camara^erie being substituted for due respect, many matters are common topics of conversation that should never reach a woman's ear, and also how cordially the intruders are voted a nuisance. fify really seems impossible to persuade some women tbat they can ever 4Je c in'the way, or to make them understand .that having walked, ridden, rbWed, played at billiards, and danced with them all the lawful and: orthodox hours of the day, men. would fain be Mt^^ifM^J^W^ij wd their (>wn.

congenial' topics of conversation for o te brief hour out of the twenty-four. We \ fear that .they do not /.properly appre[ciate the compliment implied ia their ; fair friends' openly avowed disinclination to live without their ' constant comipanionsbip.'but are apt to account -for.. it by the irreverent observation, thai; •"women are stupid; and; bore each i other." •" It ■ has become so much the' :, fashion with . a certain class of writers to sneer at purely, fern «Aine gatherings, and to depict in such glowing colors (the dullness which they choose to ; imagine inseparable from the conversation of women when alone together, that those who do not happen to have, the courage to think for themselves imagine that it would be an evidence of frivolity to admit that they were contented in the society of their own sex, and are wont to rush into the opposite extreme of never-— if they can i avoid ik—talking to any one but men. > They would be wiser if they remembered that ''.variety is charmibg," and j left their male friends occasional intervals of repose, from which to return j with renewed zest to the delights of their society. ' . "■"