Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1853-02-28
Che Dailp uireinian.

/ MRS. POTIPHAR'S BALL.-We went
to the brilliant ball. There was too much o.
everything. Too much light. and eating, and
drinking and dancing, and flirting. and dress
ing and feigning, and smrking, and much too
many people. Good taste insists first upon
fitness But why had Mrs. Potiphar given
this balll We inquired industriousy, and
learned il was because she did not give one
! last year. Is it then essential 10 do this thing
biennayl inquired we with some trepidation.
Certainly Was the reply, "or society will
forget you" Everybody was unhappy at
Mrs. Potiphar's, save afew girls and boys,
who danced violently all the evening Those
who did not dance walked up and down the
rooms as well as they could, squeezing by
non. dancing ladies', causing them to swearin
their hearts as the brusque broadcoth carried
away the light outworks Of gauze and gossa-
mer. The dowagcrs ranged in solid phalanx
occupied all the chairs and sofas against the
wall, and famed themselves until supper tme
looking at each others diamonds, and cri,icls-
| ing the toilets of the younger ladies, each mar
rowly watching her peculiar Polly Jane, that
she did not betray too much interest tor any
man w ho was not OF a certain fortune. 1t Is
the cold, vulgar truth, Madam, nor are we in
the slightest degree exaggerating. Elderly
gentlemen. twisting single gloves in very
wretched manner, came up and bowed to the
dowagers, and smirked, and said it was very
pleasant party, and handsome house, and
then clutched their hands behind them and
walked miserably away, looking as atfable as
possible. And the dowagers made little fun
of the elderly gentlemen among themselves as
they walked away.
Then came the younger non-dancing men
a class Of the community who wear black era
vats and waistcoats, and thrust Their thumbs
and forefngers in the waistcoat pockets, and
are called talking men," Some OF them are
literary, and effect the philosopher; have, per-
haps, written book two, and are small
species of lion to very young ladies' Some OF
the base kind; men who affect the EXTREMIST
elegance; and are reputed $50 aristooratic."
and who care for nothing in particular, but
wish they had not been born gentlemen, in
which case they might have escaped ennui.--
These gentlemen stand with hat in hand, and
coats and trowsers most unexceptlonable.--
They are the $50 genllemanly" persons of
whom one hears great deal cut which seems
to mean nothing but cleanliness. Vivian Grey
and Pelham are the models OF their ambition,
and they succeed in being Pendennises They
enjoy the reputation Of being every clever"
and Every talented fellows" "smart chaps"
&C., but refrain from proving what is
generously conceded. They are often men of
"a certain cultivation. They have travelled,
many of them spending year or two in Par
is, and nonth or two in the rest of Europe.
Consequently they endure society at home
with smile and shrug, and graceful super
ciliousness, which is very engaging. They
prefer to hover about the ladies who did not
come ont this season, but are little used to the
world, with whom they upon the most
friendly terms and who crlticise together very
freely all the great events in the great world
oil fashion.
These elegant Pendennises we saw at Mrs.
Potiphar's, but not without sadness which can
hardly be explained They had been boys once
all OF them fresh and frank hearted and full of
noble ambition. They had read and ponder.
ed the histories Of great men; how they resol
we'd, and struggled, and achieved. In the pure
porraiture of gen ius they had loved and hon.
ored noble women and each young heart was
sworn to truth and the service OF beauty, Those
boyish instincts clung to whatever was lovely,
and rejected the specious snare, e,howevergrace.
full & elegant They sailed new knights upon
that old and endless crusade against hypocrisy
and the devil, and they were lost in the iuxu-
ry of Corinth nor longer seek the difficult shores
beyond A present smile was worth future
laurel. The ease of the moment was worth I'm
mortal tranquility. They renounced the stern
worship of the unknown God, and acknowl-
edged the deties Of Athens. But the seal II
their shame is their own smile at their early
dreams. Youths, whose younger days we're
fervid 18th the resolution to strike and win are
content to eat and drink and sleep well; to go
to the opera, and to the balls; to be known as
"gentemanly and 'aristocratic." and elegant;
and to cherish luxurious and enervating indo-
lence. The end ofsuch men is evident enough
from the beginning They arc snufed ou, by
"great match" and become an appendage
to rich woman; or they dwindle off into old
roues, men of the world in sad earnest, and not
with elegant affectailon, blase; and as they be-
gun Arthur Pendennises so they end IN the Ma
ior. But believe ithat old fossil heart is wrung
sometimes by mortal pang, as 1t remembers
those souandered opportunities and that lost