Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-07-19
DAILY EVENING STAR.
sNoBIsM IN NEW YORK.

sEoBIsM IN NEW YORK.
The fate. of Mr.. Schuyler, saws tb,
Buffalo Advertiser, furnishes whole ser
mon to snobs everywhere, and especiall,
IN New York, which may be listened 4
with profit by that large and increasins
class of persons. The family of SchuyS
ler is one Of the most respectable in III,
country, and so far this man differs from
most of these who build extravagan
houses, drive expensive equipages, and
dash and spend the money of other peo
pie, in that most snobish of all cities
the great, noisy, dirty city of New York
Occasionally one of the aristocracy'
comes down with rush, and thcu there
opens scene of extravaganza. folly and
fraud, that appals the public who live in
quiet country villages, or dwell upon the
broad farms in the rural districts, who
have heard with wonder of the noble
mansions, and the many servants, and
the gold and silver of these city lords.
And SO it is that extravaganza and q
foolish desire to live in large houses, and
own grand carriages-to outdo one an.
other in these things, besides being ridic.
ulous in itself, brings the miserable fam.
lily that try it down to bcggary and ruin,
or entail upon their children habits and
notions of life that utterly destroy them.
1t is the great prevailing vice of this time;
it may indeed be called the grand char
acteristic of the times. 1t is manifested
more or less in all cur cities and villages,
and its influences is seen in the debase-
ment Of men and women, and the COM
plete ruin of children. Every successful
speculator, or fortune operator, must i'm.
itate, and if possible excel, his neighbor
the lucky banker or money-makins gro
Ger; and to do this without regard to ex-
pense, away they 60 into the marble and
satin, the rosewood and silver, keep ex-
travagant carriages with horses to match,
and give parties where Brussels and Viii.
ton outvie in their color, the silks and
the wine which make up the chief part of
the entertainment. Up goes the new
house, with all the decoration which a
vulgar or a refined taste may suggest
Up it goes into the air huge pile, or a
fantastic residence, but not room in it
for the comfort of the owner and his fam
ily-all of it for show and the public
gaze. The women faunt about in lace
and laziness, or recline upon soft cush-
ions in fine carriages, neither knowing
nor caring whether the money that keeps
them up be stolen or honestly gained. -
They are happy in Fifth avenue glory,
and the fact that they dash as much as
the richest of their neighbors.
For an American of fortune real solid
fortune-to dash into all these extrava-
gances is folly; but that man is guilty
of real wickedness who, upon a little
money goes to such vast and foolish ex-
pense; for be must rob somebody to
carry out his plans or if he has enough
to warrant it all, his children, when his
fortune is divided among them, will have
all the silly and extravagant notions of
their father, without his money to give
them reality. Out of all this miserable
life there springs evils worse than bank
ruptcy. The sins of the father are visit
ed upon the children TO the third gene
ration. Of what use to society are the
children of such people +? Sons who have
been educated to believe that all this
splendor constitutes the best of life, and
that fast horses and champagne are en-
blematic of high life. Daughters brought
up by silly, ridiculous mother, who
glories in her carpets and her curtains,
her carriage and her parties, and the
fashionable training of her children.
Nice creatures these for a life battle
in a world where energy and industry
and endurance are worth more than all
the airs, graces, and style that they
learned in the paternal drawing of for
eign masters. Out of this struggle to
excel in this sort of life, there springs,
fiaud and chicanery, and all manner of
crime for in the contest gold, gold, is
the end and aim of all-the means are
not regarded. The sensible part of the
community laugh at this folly, and laugh
loudly, too, at the coarse vulgarity pa.
rading itself in gay equipages, and NOV
ing about with all the airs and affecta-
tons of snobbish high life-people ele-
waited above their fellows by stock ope-
ration or a rise in town lots, and rejoic-
ing thereafter in, fashy vehicles and in
gaudy horses. -.
If they made idols of themselves alone,
it would all be proper enough. But the
effect upon their families and ON society
is most to be dreaded. In a country
where the law divides among man S
heirs all his estate after death, unless dis
posed of by will, and where the chances
are that property will not remain in the
family beyond the second generation, it
is utter folly to build palaces to live in /;
far better would it be to expend the same
in building schools or founding asylums,
the benefit of which the rich mans heirs
may need. On, on, goes our American
life! helter skelter-hurly burly-on it
goes. Dash make sensation-get
money-honestly if you can-but get
money-educate children after the same
fashion, and then die and be forgotten.