The Wilmingtonian, And Delaware Register

Mr. Noah of the New York National Advocate calculates that in the year 1823, the imports of Jewelry amounted to $263,667—the exports to be $22,613. This appears from Congressional documents; deducting exports principally sent to Cuba, a balance is left of more than $200,000 which to use his own language—

"Our pretty females have cost the nation in ornaments to their person. This is a monstrous sum to give for a little glitter, certainly far inferior to the brightness of fine eyes, which do not require the exportation of a single barrel of flour to pay for their brilliancy.

What a pretty foundation the half of this price of gaudiness could make for a literary institution, or a bunch of charities for educating young orphan girls. Instead of spending so much good value in hanging the ears full of pendants, or thrusting rings on their fingers, or sticking the hair full of brilliancy—it might be of as much utility to fill the youthful mind with correct impressions, to snatch the bud of female sensibility from the storms of a rude world, and give them all those qualities which would adorn the mothers of the next generation. A pair of brilliant ear-rings cannot be put in competition with a virtuous sentiment, or the tinsel establishment that dangles from the fob of a dandy be preferable to information, knowledge, and the opening of a solid character."