The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-07-15
Good Breeding Mt Watering Places

Good Breeding at Watering Places
contemporary, in an article on this subject
says:
at il related of the landlord ufa watering place
hotel where the visitors made especial pretcnsUns
Ia exclusiycness aud fashion. that. on being asked
what kind of people his patrons really were, he
answered bluntly, the biggest fools ever saw, for
they're not sociablc with themselves nor with any
body else
a great many persons. We fear. come under the
landlords category. II one would prrtcnsiur
in all its pomposty. -ocn ronr"it in all its super
CiiOusness, one must ." Ia some fashionable hotel
Mt the shore the springs, whore tiaUnts newly
acquired wealth. where Fictitious fashion snc"rs, or
where the so-,acd f. rs carry dsintcCtants t.
keep off the faint of humanity shrothcrhOUd. Ncy
er do the foblcs and tollies Of poor human nature
in reference to riches birth, or presumed social
standing, exhibit themselves ridiculously as a,
public resorts Of this character, where true polite
ness should dictate affahlity, and where the best
bred man is really be who assumes the least. The
vices of American society are there magnfcd, espc-
cially it's pretence and its love of display so that
cultivated foreigner, who should judge Of our man.
ncrs at such place, wouldjustly pronounce us Il
nation of snobs.
4 watering place IL but daguerreotype of life in
general, except that its discordant elements are
there brought in more immediate, and, consequent
w. disagreeable proximity. Every human plea
sure has its drawbacks, and going to the Springs
Judging from such articles rs the above, seems moi
their sulphur, salts and magnesia i'll brotherly low,
and peacei Why can't these fine aperients oper
their bowels of charity and compassion towards
each other. Why can't the snob be happy without
making other men uncomfortable, and, strangest o
all why will men of sense permit themselves to b,
made uncomfortable by snohs!
II is useless, We fear, to attempt reform of the
manners of the latter class, class which has ne
manners to reform, and which would have to be-
born anew, and go through years of severe disci
pine, under competent instructors. before il
would be able to comprehend the first principles OF
politeness But, surely, il requires great phlo-
sOphy. in persons of brains and merit, however in
digent and obscure, to receive with equanimity the
sights and even sneers of the unworthy and igno-
ble, in whatever rank and station of life. man
who respects himself cannot be made uneasy by
the superciliousness which wealth rank always
engenders in weak or vicious minds. The desire OF
social equality il doubt stronger passion with
most men than the love of civil liberty Louis
Napoleon, or any other aspirant, could build up a
solitary despotsm in France with greater ease than
restore the old aristocracy. But men who really
believe that rank Is but the guinca's stamp the
man the gold, and who feel themselves entitled by
virtue and refinement 30 the courtesy and de-
ference which they extend 10 others cannot be- hui
Inflated anu ought not To De Irfltatcd by the af
fected preeminence or social msoenre of any indi-
vidua or cotcrie.
Such considerations as these have their weiyht
even in countries where there il old recognized
and in respects, venerabl" srStocracy, such.
for example. that of Great Britain arstocracy
which often combines illustrious traditions in the
council and camp with eminent personal merit. both
intellect and heart. IT, in such a country a man
of worth and talent can be admitted 10 the society
of kings, and by manly and modest demcanor com
pei royalty 10 feel itself in presence Of its peer
how much more in this country ought moral
worth and intellectual culture torePose in the calm
dignity OF conscious strength; in this country
where no social distinctions recognized whore
there is sristocracy of birth, where the pret.n-
sions of wealth, often allied as il is to ipno
rance and vulgarity, are so palpably absurd and
grotesque that they are calculated rather To pro
woke merriment than rage.