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232 THE TOMAHAWK. [October 12 , 1867.
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THE MODERN THEOPHRASTUS.
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No. 4.—THE YOUNG LADY IN SOCIETY. I HAVE...
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NEW AND ORIGINAL!
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We believe that, encouraged by the immen...
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the Strange late Go , ve hut rnmen True ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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232 The Tomahawk. [October 12 , 1867.
232 THE TOMAHAWK . [ October 12 , 1867 .
The Modern Theophrastus.
THE MODERN THEOPHRASTUS .
No. 4.—The Young Lady In Society. I Have...
No . 4 . —THE YOUNG LADY IN SOCIETY . I HAVE found it somewhat difficult to invent a proper title for this character ; I can not call her a girl , for girl she is not , still less a woman ; since with that word we associate certain qualities , with which the subject of my sketch has nothing to do . I wilL endeavour so to
describe her as that none shall fail to see for what sort of persons my portrait is intended . This young lady is generally in age from seventeen to twenty-seven years ; she does not reach perfection till after two or three seasons at least On her first entrance into society she is rarely quite without
some obsolete prejudices in favour of truth and honour and purity , of which not even the unwholesome Ufa ( both morally and physically ) which young girls lead now-a-days has been able to rob her . But these quickly wear off in the constant turmoil of her life , and she is soon able to compete --- in — stup - ¦ £ idity 3 impudenceand immodesty — with any of her rivals— .
The daily life which - j , she t leads , in London is too 0 * , well known * to need much description ; it is nothing but one round of bustle and excitement , which leaves no J 2 isure for thought or study of any sort , and which is lived among a crowd of acquaintances , but not friends , most of whom she knew but yesterday .- - & * , and — — will — -- have - — --- — forgot — y ^^ — - to — — -morrow - — — — — — -- ; she - — — — change — --- f ~^ —— s ^
her dress at least four times in the day , which is about the most intellectual employment she has , for at least it exercises her ingenuity to conceal her defects and to parade her charms . She is rarely in bed before two or three in the morning , having spent the last four or five hours at least in an atmosphere made of gas , and other persons' breath .
If you wish to see how this improves her complexion , you may compare carefully her face when she leaves the ball with her face when she came there ; and if you have been dancing with her you need scarcely look further than your coat sleeve for the colours which you miss . Such , briefly , being her daily life , a wearisome succession of crowds out of
doors and in doors ( but chiefly the latter , for the practice of afternoon parties , so much increased of late , has cut still shorter the time which the young lady in " society " can afford to spend in the open air ) you will not wonder at that expression of listless fatigue which her features wear when in repose . Indeed , as she has little heart and less intellect
there is nothing for her face to express but vacaiicy . Some will say ** the London season does not last all the year , and in the country these buds of fashion must find some leisure to bloom into healthy flowers . " I would it were so , but the country life which these persons lead is little better than their town life . The same
constant craving after excitement , continual dinners and parties , the same feverish restlessness as surrounded them in town . Of true quiet family life , they have very little ; and when left to themselves , they are too peevish with fatigue to do anything but quarrel , or discuss the intrigues that mother and daughter have been hatching during the past
season , or , may be , contemplating for the future . Th ey have intellectual been di state pped , of as these it were young , in a ladies solution is as of low accomp as it lishments can be . by various masters , the only result of which process , has been to leave a thin varnish on them , which will not bear the test of time . If they playit is in a mechanical meaningless manner i ; if *™ they qr singit is in a
flashl ^ ^ m , g y , unfeeling — — " — ^ — sty — — le . — ~~~ ~* ^ Th —~ ~^ ™~ ~ ey ^™ " ~~^ ™ love ~~ ™~ ~ " ~~ m ^^^ ^ * no ^»~ —» ~^ m art ™~ - ^ —™ w , ^»~»»^ else ™^™ *^™ r *— ^ m they — could ^^» ^^ v j t r ^ ^ not ^™ B ^^ , *^ ^^ live ^™ -ir ^ " the ^ ^ v ^^^^ wretched life they do . Indeed it is a fortunate thing for mortals that the intellect redeems some natures from corruption , in which the soul is dead . But with our young ladies , all " accomplishments" are but regarded CB as the gas O -lamps L . which lig J *^ ht up — y the g ^ 3 inshop IT , and — attract ^^ , by
their glare , the customer within the doors . A successful marriage is the object of all their desires , aims , and hopes . Dancing is their one passion , since it affords more opportunities , than any other so-called amusement woul one mi d g hard ht say , ly for covet , that the the pursuit tho title ugh , of some since their they women laborious would may scarcel profession be called y feel . angels at And home , , the here in se a place where we know there is no marrying , or giving in marriage , and
where we may surmise there is no waltzing . indeed The , conversation adopt a " fast of " these style , and fair pret ones end is to rather betting weary —as ing they . S neve ome r , pay when , they lose , but rather expect to be paid , in that case , more t petty their han talk gossip if they ordinaril , or won refers y — is they to as balls harmless cannot to which find as it this they is stup pursuit are id invited ; it unprofitable chiefl , or y hope cons . to ists be of Hut Ignorance does not always go hand-in-hand with Modesty and I
have often heard one of them interrupt a man , whoso years and talents claimed the greatest respect , with some foolish remark , as irrelevant as i st was ics ; impudent they turn th Indeed eir back s Ins on olence you when is one you a Iheir re spe main aking character to them ; make audible remarks on people near them ; talk loudly at concerts , disregard or at the opera of the ; feelings and otherwise of others disp which lay that no perfect w seem self to -possession f orm the main and characteristics of fashionable society , .
Those whom I am describing need not necessarily be noble or rich . does They not are exclude often of the but m from inferior Society origin , , which and but now ve -a r - y days poor ; , but at leas this t cosmopolitan . ,
No. 4.—The Young Lady In Society. I Have...
ing If and they importunity have enough , get meanness a card for and the impudence most haug , they hty may Duche , b ss y ' toad s ball yand be received in the house of one who would as soon think of , " speaking to them , did she meet them next day , as to her dressmaker ' s apprentice . And here I may be allowed to say , that those who wealth having y insufficient , are led not means so much yet , into imitate extravagance , in every respect , as into , the the life most of dis the - , !
fashionable in graceful self homel -respect meannesses y , appearance hosp for they itality . will , Every ; or and eat humble more farthing such dirt persons charity they to have , save know is spen , a which not cab t in fare the should keep than meaning ing be would up used of a i suffice to build a monument to their humility . ladies converse all It , no may to harm spend rationall seem ; and to a y life some that on of they any constant that subject are these none amusement are for the trifling five worse minutes and evils for excitement not , ; or that being for for , knowing is able , young after to j j j desire nothing for of intellectual housekeeping cultivation , or for and having no aim fondness in fact for hiher any than art , no to be presented at Courtand to marry , a title . But , such , persons g forget
that these young ladies , will some day , in all probability , become wives likel and mothers to . For them no for one the , I presume duties of , will either pretend . that such a life is I I Even y in prepare this age , when millionaires are rank as fungi , there are ! hardly enough prizes for every competitor in the struggle for a good settlement . And I hope I am not irreverend when I sayHeaven
have mercy on the man of moderate means , who takes for his , wife a lady in society . But there are graven faults bred in these creatures by the lives they lead , upon which I must briefly touch . So thoroughly do they learn to worship the Moloch Fashion , and that triune idol £ s . d . that insensibly all truth and purity dies in
them . Of unchastity , I , do not accuse them ; for they have no passion ( except for waltzing ) ; they are not human enough for that ; but it is not because they are modest and chaste that they do not fall . It is self-interest that keeps them from falling . Marriage is altogether more profitable , and more respectable than concubinage .
These might yield to wealth , but never to love ; for their hearts are kept empty that they may serve as purses . And as for modesty—go to a ball , and see with what care young virgins bare their figures at the command of Fashion . Were it to become the fashion to-morrow to go naked , and to worship Venus , I cannot but think their modesty
would yield to their docility . And do not think that Religion would restrain them—for I doubt whether they ever thought , for ten minutes , on this or any other subject ; and were it supposed vulgar to go to church , or had they to sit on a dirty seat , they would make a shift somehow , at whatever cost to their feelings , to spend their Sunday
morning There some are noble other way hearts . and loving natures , which even twenty London seasons could not corrupt . We wish there were more . But chivalry let not some and respect wonder which , that they in society once women received . are 13 not ut the treated homage with which the is woman's right , as long as she is woman , she can scarcely expect to she retain clothes when , herself instead with of modesty impudence , truth , , h tenderness ypocris ) ' , , heartlcssness and self-sacrifice , and , selfishness .
New And Original!
NEW AND ORIGINAL !
We Believe That, Encouraged By The Immen...
We believe that , encouraged by the immense success that has attended the production of M . Octave —( we beg pardon ) Miss Bradgen denton tleman 's —( in we question beg pardon j ^ m again 'poses ) , Mr publishing . Babington the White following ' s " Ci new rce , " and the original novels : —
Dedicated to M . Eugene Sue . The Perambulating Hebrew ; or , a World-wide Wander . The Secrets of the Capital of France ; or , the Story of the Floioer of Mary . Dedicated to M . V . Hugo .
The Wretched Ones . The Workers in the Ocean . Our Mistress of Paris ; er , the Hunch-Back oj the French Cathedral . Dedicated to M . A . Dumas . The Three Musket Shooters .
Tivo Hundred and Forty Calender Months After . Five Hundred and Tioenty Weeks after that . T / ie yournal of a Medical Man ; or , Mr . JSalsamo .
The Strange Late Go , Ve Hut Rnmen True ...
the Strange late Go , ve hut rnmen True twho . —We re are se told nts that a lar a disappointed e constit member in the of , preguency street neigh . bourhood Perhaps of London after all , , has this recentl may turn set up ou t shop to be a St ( Nineveh James's ) " bull . " ,
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Citation
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Tomahawk (1867-1870), Oct. 12, 1867, page 232, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_12101867/page/2/
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