The Feliciana Democrat. (Clinton, La.) 1855-186?, 1855-07-07
FELICIANA DEMOCRAT.
WHAT IS RESPECTABLE SOCIETY?

We heard man, otherwise intelligent
enough, lately sheer ut another, because"
said he, zone never meets him in respecta-
BILE society,"" The speaker did not mean,
however, that the person he affected to look
down upon was immoral, but merely that
his circle Of inmates was not composed OF
the fashionable or the rich.
This notion of what constitutes rcspecta-
BILE society, is quite favoritc one with that
class of individuals whom Thackeray has
90 significantly called "snobs." Empty pre-
tence always making its own characteristics
q standard, by which it strives to measure
the responsibility Of persons ut large. In
community Of mere money-getters, wealth
is the test of responsibility. Among the
proud narrow-minded, effcte nobility of the
Faubourg st. German, responsibility de-
ponds upon being descendants from ances-
tors, who have married their cousins for
80 many centuries, that neither muscles nor
brains are left any longer to degenerate de-
scendants. With the dandy officers who
constitute considerable portion of the
American Navy, responsibility consist, in
having spongcd ON "Uncle SAM in wearing
gilt buttons and in bilking tailors. Every
conceited fool thinks himself in likeway, the
only man really weighted, the only person
who is respectable.
But true responsibility depends on no
such adventitious circumstances. To bere-
spectacle is to be worthy of respect; and
he deserves respect who has most virtue.
The humblest man who bravely does his
duty, is more worthy of respect, is more tru-
" respectable, than the covetous millionaire
among his money bags, or the arrogant mon
arch upon his throne. The fine lady who
back-bites her neighbor, is less worthy Of
respect than an honest washwoman. The
prodigate noble, though he may wear doz-
en- orders at his button-hole, is not often real
ly as respectable as the shoe-black who
cleans his boots. That which is called "the
world" exalts the one and despises the 9th
er, but it does not make them respectable
according to the real meaning Of that word.
Their responsibility is but a hollow sham,
as they themselves frequently feel; and those
who worship them bow down to Fetish,
thing of feathers and tinsel. The selfish
idle dronc, who wastes life in his own graf
HIC"tiou, uHu uiSslPdlco oiic loleu vi HIS
progeny, is not and cannot be rcspecta-
BILE; but the hard working, sclf-denying IA
ther who wears out his life to bring up his
children, is, even though he be but day
laborer. Nothing can make Dives fit to lie
on Abraham's bosom, while Lazarus is well
come there, even with the sores the dogs
have licked.
This false view Of life, which would mea-
sure responsibility by conventional STAN
dard, is totally at variance with our repup-
lican institutions. Itcreates an Emporium
in imperior," for while the law declares all
citizeus equal, it erects social standard
which endeavors to ignore that great truth
The coarse, british, knayish, proaigate Grim
inal-in short all who fall short Of their du-
ty to themselves and their fellow-mcn-are
those who are not respectable. and this,
whether they are rich or poor. While
those who live honestly, and strive to do
what good they can, constitute what is real
ly the respectable class, irrespective of the
fact whether they eat with silver forks or
steel ones.