Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-09-07
NO. 2l2.
MISCELLANEOUS READING.
SNOBBISH HIGH LIFE.

The country is running wild. EXtraNa-
gance, folly, and fraud are the great prevail
ing vices Of the times-the grand characters
| tic OF the age. 1t is manifcstly more or less
in our cities and villages and its influence
is seen in the dcbasement of men and women.
and the complete ruin of children. Every
successful speculator or fortunate operator
| must initiate, and if possible excel. his neigh
Dor, the lucky banker or the money making
grocer; and to do this, without regard L.
expense, away they go into the marble aui
satin, the rosewood and silver, keep cx
travagant carriages with horses to match,
and give parties where Brussels and v ilion
outvie in their color the silks and the wine
which make up the chief part Of the enter
tainment. Up goes the new house, with all
the decoration which n vulgar or refined
taste may suggest. Up it goes into the air.
huge pile, or q fantastic residence, bat not
n room in it for the comfort of the owner or
family--all of it for show and the public
gaze. The women tlaunt about in lace and
lazineSs, or recline upon soft cuhsions in fine
carriages, neither knowing whether the
money that keeps them up be stolen or honest
ly gained. They are happy in the fact that
they dash rs much rs the richest OF their
neighbors.
For an American of fortunc-real solid
fortune-to dash into all this extravaganza.
is folly ; but that man is guilty of downright
wickedness who, upon a little money, goes to
vast and foolish expense for he 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 no.
tions Of their father without his money to
give them reality. Out Of all this miserable
life there spring evils wo:se than bankruptcy.
The sins of the father are visited upon tue
children to the third generation. 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,
blematic Of high life. Daughters brought
up by silly, ridiculous mother, who gloricS
in her carpets and curtains. her carriage
and her parties, and the fashionable training
of her children.
Nice creatures, these, for n life battle in
a world where energy and industry and en-
durance are worth to them more than all tIc
airs, graces, and style that they learned i'll
the paternal drawing of foreign masters.
Out of this struggle to excel in this sort OF life
there spring, too, fraud and chicanery, and all
manner of crime; for in the contest gold,
gold is the aim of all-the means are not
regarded. The sensible part of the com
munity laugh at this folly, and laugh loudly,
too, at coarse vulgarity parading itself in gay
equipagcs, and moving about with all the
airs and atfcctations of snobbish high life -
people elevated above their fellows by a stock
operation or rise in town lots, and rejoicing
thereafter in ilashy and in gaudy houses.
If they made fools of themselves alone,
itwould all be proper enough. But the effect
upon their families and upon society Is most
to be dreaded.
In country where the law divides among
mans heirs all his estate after death, un-
less disposed Of by will, and where the chan
ces are that the property will not remain in
the family beyond the second generation, 1t
is utter folly to build palaces to live III; lar
better would it Be to expend the same money
in building schools or founding asyums, the
benefit of which the rich mans heirs may
need On, on goes our American life
Helter-skelter-h y-burly-on it goes,
Dash, make sensation-get mOney-honestly
YOU can-but getmoney-educatc children
after the same fashion, and then die and be
forgotten. .M,mphiS .irdianche.
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