Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1857-08-15
Fops--Their Utility.

UAlOo PSpuiioi A"o"A'S " rNtSe"-o " to'N'-
everything" thus discourscs CT fops, with
we must confess, some sound logic:
Hdrpsr's M,gnzine has an anecdote, in
tshded to be very witty and pnngept, .ahou
a certain Western merchant and Ga fop' will
aa eye-gisss,; The fop, we. sarc, told, seatee
himself 1t tic tahie.cf his hotel oppost,
the mercha1t,ard tv'o ladies with the latter
and leteftsd his glass first at one and then al
the ether lady. Whereupon tie merchant
from Tennessee it was, seized @ tumbler
and was, according TO the arbiterr elegantih
RUM who tells tie story, apparently on the
point CT throwing the glass sat tire scamp;
but no = the merchant with exquisite humol
placed it to his eye and star, at 'the fellow,
neither breaking his skull nor kicking him
from he table. but so putting him out of
countefiance chat he retired amid general
laughter We dllude to this little history
az. in the columns OF our newspapers gencr-
ally there is no class Of anecdotes more ea-
gerly paraded than those holding 'fops' up
to contempt, and there are magazines it
seems that follow in the wake to procure
applause'for such tid-bits Of literature. But
let us look at the top in particular and fops
in general, land see with what justice they
are held up to ignominy. - -
persons withweak' eyes, IN eye-g1ass is
an agreeable and wholesome substitute for
spcctaclcs. Suspended, it leaves the eye
free to look at objects requiring no exami-
nation, while it may be put on and off in
stantly, as occasion requires. Among gen
tlenen in Enrope, a glance through the
eye-glass is not considered insulting, any
more than q gaze throughla pair of specta-
cles; and, directedat aslaey,'i it is held to be
a'compliment. Indeed, with persons who
are near sighted, the use Of it is habitual,
and it is much better as a matter of taste,
and for the eye, too, than the use Of spec
tacles. 1t is probable that sthe fop' in auos
tion was well-dressed gentleman, whose
clothes were not cut or colored like an un-
dertaker's, and that he sat down modestly,
and being near-sighted, gazed' ,passingly
through the glass at the ladies' opposite. 1t
was no ill-breeding, then, nor would it
have been SO considered if he had had spec
tacles on or looked with his naked eye. But
not being Western, it was received as an
insult,
What we need in this country is more and
not fewer gentlemen called fops men who
dress with taste, arc scrupulously clean,
wear eyeglasses if near-sighted, and use
them rs they choose, do not chew tobacco
and spit in other peoples's faces at hotels,
/, theaters, saif-cars and steamboats,. "a fop'
ia in the United States universally we'll bred.
We haven meyer known an exception. Ms.ii,>
ncrs with him arc q study until the: become
polished, and dross a pursuit. until it be-
comes an excellence. y ,st assuredlv the
South and West need 1ops. Such men are
ctten models of industry. If men of busi-
ness, thayy a.e accurate, and to be relied on;
| II artists, Or literary men, eminent for their
! tcsre. No man who ever lived was great
er fop than Washington Ii, ordered his
clothes of his tailor with curious particular
ity He dressed with extreme care. He
was exact and elegant with his horses, car
riages, and all eognate details. He was
therefore prorortionally accurate in other
things. Had eye glasses been In fashion,
IS his age increased, possibly he would have
sported enc, and looked across q table at
the woman opposite. Pitt, Canning, the
Duke. sof !. Wellington, Charles Dickens,
would al DO considered fops by vulgar men.
,Amongthe men to whom England and the
civilized world owes much is Brummell, the
king Of fops. Hei found society outrage
ously dressed, and he left it,,so far as il
could initiate him, well dressed. He laid
dawn.as a rule for gentleman-sfresh WA.
ter, and plenty of it, when hardly house
knew the luxury Of a BATH Indeed, SO
dirty and barbarcus even was New York re-
Gently, that the Clarendon Hotel, not long
since built, was the first hotel which had
bathing rooms in connection with sleeping
chambers1 andihe idea came from fop, tc
our certain knowled &c. !, We wish t.,his coun.
try nc worse iir3ih ;;,,lan the multiplication oI
fops-o of men who arc clean and elegant il
dress, mild in manners, eschewers Of filth,
tobacco, gallant to the sex, and incapable
of committing an insult. If they. aboundet
among sthe chivalry,' tobaeco splitting ant
street fighting would become ihcontinentl.
obsolete; if they could be established il
the Bowery and Five Points, liquor bars ant
d rows Would become unknown.