The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-02-25
Fashisnable Life in Washingtsn.

certain critics to hurl at her sundry |
saws about sour grapes and apples hang
ing high. am proof against this, for !
write letters professedly to peck at the
foibles of those about me. Jenkins
praises are to be bought with favors and
smiles, but you cannot cheat me out OF
the conclusions forced upon me BY the
hearing of my own ears and the sight
of my own eyes. 1 owe no grudge to
society. If society does not like me, 1t
at least lets me alone; so it is with its
character, not its treatment that / have
to deal.
The rigid rules Of etiquette forced
upon one here are all right in the way.
People are migratory and overabund-
ant. Social claims are onerous and ex-
hausting. These can well be regulated
by mechanical means. A card cuts Oft
the crowd from the cultivated and rich.
If a woman Of refinement is thrown in
to official station unawares, wherefore
should the multitude cape at her as ut
a painted puppeti But the trouble is
that all women are not refined, and vul-
gar women never do things with moder-
alton. The avidity with which some OF
them, exalted locally by circumstances,
take to the situation, is more than
amusing-it is exasperating. I do not
complain when the system exclusion IS
brought to bear upon strangers. The
disposition to king and queen is, on o
small scale, an infirmity incident to hu-
mainly. 1t began in u age of dolls
and hobby-horses. Bnt when the vul-
gar assumption infringes upon my stan
dard of lofty womanhood, / blush for
my sisters who are 50 weak.
Mrs. A., inflated with the title and
.perquisites Of her husbands office.
turns Il cold shoulder upon Mrs. B., bet
ter born and better bred than herself,
but who married q man too honest to
sell or trick himself into Office. When
you met Mrs. A., in private life, you set
her down as a good natursd domestic
woman, and are utterly taken aback to
find her here q full fiedged woman of
fashion. Your common acquaintance,
whom she has dropped, but you choose
to retain, asks: where is she I" us
she we'll |" docs she go put muchT
You stalnmer lying apologies, and are
ashamed to speak of her weakness. You
see much Of this here; indeed 1t Is the
order Of the day, this cutting aloof from
old associations and thrusting oneself
into circles more exalted for the time
being in social position. The question
is never asked, "What kind of o person
i, she I" but rather "What is her posi-
ton ~ And her position means only
the offices to which she is temporarily
linked. Meanwhile, dropping ont by
tho wayside are life.tried friends who
ought to be endsaredt to her, aud subject
to her amenities, by tho joy Of . COM
mon humanity. By-and-by cireum-
stance, which gave the Office, takes it
away. The friends are gone. Her
heart, which has done violence to it
self, has gotten crusted over BY afini-
ties, and she has come to put . gilded
routine instead Of the sympathetic Of
fees of society. s-. n-a Ia
Moreover it is . poor rule which will
not work both ways. Do ye to Others
as ye would have others do unto yOu,
does not lose its force in Washington.
The very woman who over nicely ad-
.iusts her visiting cards is she who most
readily resents supposed sights. Yes
terday she cut . bashfnl neighbor at q
morning reception; to-day she is indig-
nant because she was left ont from q
frst-class dinner party.