AMERICAN SOCIAL LICENSE.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2855, 9 April 1878, Page 3

AMERICAN SOCIAL LICENSE.

There is no civilised country in the world where so much license is permitted in the intercourse of young men and women as in the United States. Tho young women are so Unbridled in their lives iS|£ at the first opportunity they commit acts at wlriph mothers Would stand aghast. A handsome actor Appears on the stage, and they write him tender letters, send him flowers, and seek to make appointments with him. They even form a society of admiration in his honour, not on account of the excellence of his art, but of the graces of his person. A foreigner of distinction takes a carriage drive at Newport, and they surround the j rehicle, each one on horseback, seeking a. ; smile, a word, or a. look from him. They •w-tp some of whom he has^ never been presented—send him invitations to dinner or to drive. If common report may be' credited, the wife of a certain handsome actor, during an engagement, is obliged to be with him constantly to keep young women of society from approaching to make tender advances, and that he is in the habit of receiving a number of love letters every morning, which, being a faithful husband., he and his wife read together and destroy, and which, if rea<sby the fathers and mothers of the lenders, would be tho cause of much pain and apprehension- Two young women in sparse bathing-costumes swim out to a yacht, get aboard, and without any other clothing, sit on deck for a cpupje of hours, drinking champagne with, a group of roystermg young men, and still the social position of these two young women remains unquestioned. More, they are spoken of among their fashionable acquaintances as two of the leaders of their " set." In the flirtatidus spirit which prevails, in the abience of the chajptron,

love matches are entered upon with little previous acquaintance According to a New England journal, nt a social entertainment in a mansion of one of the chief cities in tho East, ihoiv was a beautiful young woman, handsomely attired, who was happy in being just engaged to a distinguished gentleman from New York. " She wore an antique bracelet, a presenl from he lover, which, the latter avid, was an heir-loom of his family, brought over from Holland. A lady from New York recognised it as tho bracelet of her mint, which had been stolen from her in the lobby of a metropolitan theatrei She asked the bridegroom whether the bracelet enclosed a picture. ' Yes,' ho said, ' that of my sister.' 'My aunt's contained a picture of Miss C., 1 observed the lady. Tho bracelet was opened, and there was the portrait of JVliss C. The bridegroom vanished." As soon as an attractive young woman enters where there is a social assembly, there is a general desire to be "introduced," and in less than an hour a score of yonng men have passed through that ceremony; and the jump from "Happy to make your acquaintance" to the " My friend, Miss Arabella," is great. In half anhourshe is probably flirting with one of them in an obscure corner of the stairway, or under the folds of a window curtain, knowing nothing of him except his name. He may have vices, and a reputation that would not for a moment-bear examination. She is probably ialone, or with companions of her own age; or she may, be with with one of those indulgent mothers who will not or.cannot restrain their daughters from pursuing their own, idea of duty and pleasure. Miss Arabella sets the mauvuis sujet a few times; her.heart speaks, and she loves. Then, as a rule, it is too late to reveal the short-: coming in his character,, for if he be black with infamy she will, see,in him. nothing but an angel—this being one of the tricks of Cupid. Yet if such a revelation had been made to her the first time Bhe saw him by some worthy chaperon, she would have turned away from him with comparatively little effort. For the mother to remain in an upper room yawning and talking with other chaperons, while her dangbter, with a laisser aller manner of three or four o'clock in the morning, ia whirling around in Boston with a young man heated with wine, can hardly be" called serious chaperoning, for if there is any time at which the mother should be with her daughter, it is at that time—it is then that she assuredly needs her. Ordinarily, the mother who chapcrones, as she calls it, separates from her charge at the ballroom, and doos not see heir -again, until the twain depart from the house.—Galaxy.