The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-03-20
TIE BOY OBJ THE PERIOD.
From the Round Table. ]


From the Round label
He is sort of asteroid in the social sys-
tenn. He and his kind move in the widely
elliptic orbits OF large inclination, cutting So
ciety at certain modal points like those hum
dred and odd vagrants Jumps Of cosmic mat
ter that if put together would hardly make
up the mass of respectable planet. FER
haps, equally like them, he may serve to de-
nonstrate some NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Bodean
law ruling the little universe OF which be
forms so numerous yet 30 trivial part. FER
haps he may have use, as all Things
have; but then the designs Of heaven are m
scrutable and not to be found out Dy
searching He is q boy OF the period'
hut not the boy of the perlo1, ior, un
like the periodic girl, whose generic and
snec;fc types have been somewhat ungen-
erously determined in the able monograph or
the Saturday Review, the boy is protean aud
belongs TO a class rather than to Species.
The girl can hardly be looked upon as mere
makeweight, like q printers leads that serve
to space out the leading article more pro mi
nsnttv' ue % that high distinction being reserved
for the society boy and unhesitatingly accept
ed bv him. The society makewelght is not
always such by virtue Of brains, wealth or FAM
ily,a weak and lpane gentlliJy of dress and man
ner being shout all thas is wanted to separate
him from the herd that lies huddled together
one grade lower. He is maE;festly step above
the urbane shopkeeper, and, % things go with
us, equally remored, contrary-wlse, trem the
fast young man who lnherlts we'll cram
med deed-bo1. lie Is most frequently pro-
fessonal and of professional ancestry.
college course, by mixing him with young
men of money, gives him his first insight into
that complex and unsocial scheme misnamed
society, in which it is speedily his aim to
revolve, although insignificant, IN any orot.
tal ldcund that may be open to him. He
dances, and this enables him to nj up q
"German;" in fact, dancing well is about half
his social capital. He can talk, if not bril-
liautly at least intelligibly, and this brings
him into demand to help to ill parlor
and perhaps save from wall-fowership some
poor thing around whom the cold Dlasts
that hurtle in the zone the wrong side OF
thirty have blown roughly: He is not a!-
ways fortunate enough to loll in the tropl-
cal iuxuriance OF society in its teens; for he
is generally understood not to be marry.
ing man-hls means being limited. This
keeps the social nakeweight out of the two
extremes Of model domestlcity and model
viciousness in fashionable way. With
him O. CHEEKY wife and u fast nag, costly club
vnd chubby curly pate o fondle on his knee,
are equally remote objects OF amoltlon. e ae
Wanting the wherewithal to do so. he makes a
virtue Of his fate, limits himself to billiards
and cigars, and Gcks up the crumbs that fall
from the social table with uncommendable
lack Otto use a humble word -spunk. And
so ho drifts along, gradually developing cynl-
cal turn toward the girl OF the period, and ls
notably eloquent on her extravagance and un-
fitness tor witehood, meaning. OF course, unfit
ness to be the mate of such as himself. Yet he
sees the girl of the period at her best, and she
charms him in direct ratio to her extravaganza
and wifoly unftness. Her parlors are open to
him, her dress aud jewelry as coqueitishly
worn for him as for nobler quarry, nor
tolerates him more perhaps than II he
we're young Van Dollab or Foozleoyle the whs-
keyist, aud her papa believes in his entire in
extends the pudsy grasp OF
friendship and at odd times patronizcs him by
buying his freshly daubed canvas, or sending
hlm hopeless note for collection. Ho endures
all this without wincing, for the brea IN OF So
ciety has become vital IN his nostrll5. Ho Is
somewhat refined, even o little OF Sybarlte;
30 what wonder that he takes kindly to women
Who speak low and dress with an eye to har-
mony of color; who waltz ethereally and are at
the1r ease with him, because there is no neces-
sitv of keeping him al m's-lengtb. He blooms
out OF an evening-not In hiuntinS way, for
your makeweight knows the value Of modera-
Jion in dress, and ties, and bosom studs-and
eujoys easy chairs, and softened lights, and
lainty voices, and all the other allurements OF
company parlors to the full as much as
their owners, and pays therefor in small
.alk and general usefulness. And his reward
comes when he receives some thick and
creamy card Of invitation to all the tangling
delights CT crash hoor-cio,hs and Strauss
music and gldces ndpot'dtnes and chairs Knot
ted lovingly in pairs with the hmlest OF hand
kerchieis, and-slx hours Of society and bliss.
He is not domestic animal. How can You
expect it OF him in his hall bedroom in Mrs.
MYERS fashionable brown stone mansion in
rbi1ty-leventh-stroet not a stones throw from
his loved avenue? he sleeps therein and
dresses therein-ls Is chilly and freless at
gets out OF 1t as soon as he can.
Hls waking hours fuetuate between the studio
Or Office desk and society; but in the rarer
,yent Of his being in small way person OF
eisure his time Is wholly given to the ono anl-
oItlon Of his life. On Sundays you may soc
hm before some stylish church, blandly facing
the out-com,ng congregation, with natty
gloves and faultless lappes, and figure JUS;
gently limiting and underlying corsage, him.
self pleasing himself, until his smile meets
kindred smile and two radiant beings drift along
ed, each conscious at heart-if they would but
take the trouble to think it out-that there is
nothing in 1t, that their intercourse is q sham,
q burlesque on the true relations OF llfe. Inc
same couple arc not seen together agaln-thls
phase Of the society man being emlnently I'M
lead in any one set, 80 ho must needs move
over limited ares in several CIRCLES. In this
connection another aspect OF the social make
Weights character loom ~; he is vain OF the
argeness of bis social acqua:ntance-hls New
Years list is Tar in the hundreds, with dcnl-
zcns of the talismanic avenue numerously re-
presented his evenings are pre-engaged for
weeks ahead, and by his own showing no man
IS harder worked than he or more relieved by
- kha
many acquaintances, though few friends, and
ms conhdances are apt to be with tho other
sex. In fine, az one who would describe gem
by it's facets must at last call IL by lts name,
80 the specification OF an average second-rate
society man must be reduced to this-that he
is nothing moro nor less than what he is- "a
Society Makeweight.
But Que of the saddest thoughts growing out
of this examination is the question that must
rise in every thinking mind. what
becomes OF all tho makeweghts? 1t ID anala-
cous TO the old query about the pins, and
equally incapable of answer. Does nc eVor
grow old? Docs he ever marry, and, II 30, IN
what sphere? Does he over accomplish any
u,u. y purpose in life besides beng gentle
man, or something very like it, by virtue OF
his gentility? Who ever heard OF him as other
than society man2 He and his congeners
are nuplbered among us by thousands;
their faces grow familiar to US night after
night in the ''German," they jam tho Academy
at the Charity Ball. they fling occasional bou-
DUETS to the blonde sirens OF the stage, and
after a decade or so of this sort of thug they
are not! They hang on to socletYs skirts for
) time, partaking OF its dizzy whirl without
aiding 1t, till at length the tired hands relax
their hold and the society makeweight drops
off into obscurlty, perchauce that OF careless
,Id-b ,chelorhood Of drudgerv. perchance that
ot growing family and slatternly household