April, 1865

Check out this bit from Harper's Weekly, April 22, 1865:

"Probably no one will dissent from me when I assert that, of all unpleasing members of society, a disagreeable girl is the most objectionable. I may with safety opine that not one who glances over these lines can affirm that he or she has had the good fortune never to have met with one of the

class. A disagreeable young man is bad enough, but then he is more readily to be pardoned, as it is

not his vocation to render himself attractive, and one does not feel so much delicacy in snubbing one of the ruder sex as in hinting to a disagreeable young lady that her room would be infinitely preferable to her company.

There are many varieties in the genus disagreeable girl. There is the sulky, the giggling, the defiantly ugly, the spiteful, the stupid, the forward, the prim, the loud-voiced, the affected, the—nay,

dictionaries might be ransacked for terms whereby to designate the multiform aspects under which the disagreeable girl presents herself."

But wait, there's more!
How about an example of the things "spiteful" girls say?

“You made that dress yourself?” she says to a friend. “Ah! I thought so: one can see directly the difference between a thing made by a dress-maker and an amateur.” Or, if the dress has passed through the hands of a

dress-maker: “I must say, dear, that she has by no means done justice to your figure. What a pity! How many yards did you say you gave her?” Then, with a look of incredulity, followed by one of compassion, “My dear, she has certainly robbed you. She has not given you half your stuff. We all know how these people crib. Why did you have blue? It is horridly unbecoming to you. Why did you let her put in that sleeve? that shape has quite gone out,”

This struck me as quite funny when I read it. It reminded me of the advice we received from The Best History Teacher EVAR, Dr. Carlanna Hendricks. Prior to the first big dance (!), she sent out a tipsheet with advice about things to say at a party. It included statements like, "My dear, your glasses are just atrocious." I think she'd been reading Harper's, don't you?