GIRLS OF THE PERIOD.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4794, 3 August 1876, Page 3

GIRLS OF THE PERIOD.

■ ; • ~',. '■■■:'■ (From'lhe World;)- )■■ ;,-i!ii.•.-.-.ill Even in these free and easy days'Span, is generally quite enough to.appreciate at' once the sort of a womah; to whom he ing, and there is : but ' littW- danger of his coni*' mencin" a doubtful story without some decided '' : Th'e' girte 'caught theinfection, from the faßt ; young married; worneni 1 and endeavor to emulate" them in-freedom of | conversation,ijealbus s o£ the manner in which'' their partners are ruthlessly • lured away from them ; eager to be quoted as exceptions to the dictum of the day that'"girls -are* so heavy in hand." And. their mothers; who should be wiser, are w'eak e'nougn to argue that it is the fashion.; that if-their'girls are quiet and dignified they, will ■• be voted' prudish and slow,- and - that -it;; will,; diminish , their; chances of marriage!' ..Indeed, so'great is the force of custom;'that topics qf conversation that' once ■ would have ■' appalled I them, now appear perfectly natural, and they ';' see n© harm" in their girls talking like others. But even in purer atmosphere, where the tairit.; of the fast set has not as yet penetrated, conversation, though free from indelicacy, is still liable to the\indictment-" of being probably slang and certainly inane. Polo and " rinking" rinking and polo,—on these the changes;are, rung ad infinitum ; while it iB surely'a devß-J lopment peculiar to modern days tohear young men gravely discussing' toilettes in all their details with the keenness of appreciation formerly believed to be peculiar to. milliners.'-; The reason of the frivolity of general discourse' is not difficult to discover.' Deeper subjects.; require to be read 'about and thought over, and the young people of the day. would grudge an hour to what they would consider, such uninteresting pursuits': /Formerly.; a', girl who knew nothing that was going on; in the world beyond her immediate circle; of friends and round of amusements would have been considered exceptionally, illinformed. It was expected of her that she, should be able to converse at least on sijch simple subjects, for instance, as the loss of the Deutsohland, the tragedy of the Mosel, the Malay war, or even the result of th?e last election that may have taken, place. ; Now, TuhlesV the information is imparted to her by her; partners in the ballroom or the skating-rink, she knows nothing whatever of what is passing around her, save, indeed, the newest piece of scandal, or the last announced marriage. She has no time.evenif shepossessed the inclination. In London those morning hours that once afforded at least the possibility of quiet reading and intellectual growth have been ruthlessly swept away by the. Juggernaut of fashion, and crushed beneathi the wheels of the Plimpton skate ; in the country she is walking with the sportsmen, even if she herself does not shoot, riding to hounds, rowing in the nearest piece of water when the weather is warm, or skating upon it when frost confines the hunters to their loose boxes. Naturally she is too tired for any literature later than a light and probably fast novel to prove attractive to her ; and, indeed, if physical fatigue did not insure this result, the incessant excitement of the life would have much the same effect. If the muscles of the body are long unused they become stiff and comparatively useless; at least as much may be said for the powers of the mind. If day after day and week after week girls are allowed to live in an incessant whirl of dissipation, never opening a book graver than a novel, and seldom reading even that, never speaking of any subject deeper than- the last skating fall, the next polo match, or. the most remarkable dress of the day, what hope is there that their brains will ever mature into the capacity for better things? Rather, will they not go on from bad to worse?