The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-25
"The Young Man Of the Dny.v

wv" "'e Loh0on L'0N lfdU tIUzctte.
Our contemporary, the Daily Telegraph, has
Ut long time kept its columns open to a set
OF letter writer's who dsal with what they
Term "The Young Man Of the Day" The
game was originally started under the sig
nature OF SAM" person whose father
seemed to suffer from filisl ingratitude. A
legion OF mothers ani daughters joined the
huht, and when the sport appeared to saoken
correspondent with classical name, and of
Leading g-article turn of mind, gave a fresh
impulse to the pursuit. On the whole the
controversy is very dull, as might be expected
when the disputants belong to the class of
people who exchange cdrteS through the
medium of the London journal, but there is
suu something not uninstructive to be
cleaned from it. In the first place, the Young
Man Of the Day himself, the figure round
which the war is raging, is not according to
any account (even that of his mother, who
stands up for him) fascinating one. He is
given to low amusements, unsuitable cloth
ing, and slang company. He is supposed to
avoid introducing his sisters to his friends in
order that they should not suspect him Of
wishing to get those young persons married
be hangs about bars and barmsids and he
turns up his nose at "plain well-cooked
dinner, with tolerable port and sherry, and
the sensible conversation of q modest, we'll
educated girl.' Nor does the catalogue of
his atrocities close here. Never by any chance
will he take the female members of
his family to the theatre or in
dulge them with new dresses. II must
be remem bered that his income is no less than
Gl50 year, on which magnificent sum he is
advised by several lady correspondents of our
contemporary to marry at once Of course the
young man has defense. His language how
ever, would almost require the aid of an in
terpreter, or say waiter in a sporting tavern,
to comprehend. He complains of the "tsn-
ners" and "bobs'' that from his position in
2naintU hn 10 faA ~ law n,1f rhar,4 4ho
girls (lades such as he knows, he means) are
so like the 'Girl of the PERIOD in the .Satur-
day Revtew. We ourselves should not have
suspected, if there was a color of truth in that
famous caricature, that the original
was to be found pursuing clerks in
warehouses; but we have been mistaken.
She even reads the Daily Telegraph. When
Sam or Tom varies the delights of the
musio-hall with the tanner joys Of
picnic or ball, it is this remarkable female
who attracts him. So closely are the two
brought together that, according to sort of
naturalist critic, there is wonderful SINH
larity of costume about them which even the
exigencies of sex cannot conceal. "On the
one hand, you have" writes this acute OBJ
server, 'the invisible bonnet, the chignon OF
false or stained hair, the skirts olinging to the
limbs, or gathered up in a bunch behind; in
the other, the short hat with curled brim
the cutaway jacket open to the waist, the
tight trousers made after the pattern of a
groom's." How could such a pair as this
when the wardrobe Is taken into calculation,
marry on G150 per annum and how are the
quiet ladies to compete with the miracle Of
cosmetic art and millinery skill
We cannot venture to enumerate all the
reasons assigned for the extravaganza and
celibaoy of the young man of the Telegraph,
but there is one put prominently forward
which strikes us as more or less novel. 1t
comes of your journalists, writes parsonage
Tubing it under the inscription of Diogenes.
They were content in Lambs time to discuss
Shakespeare and the musical glasses over a
leg of mutton, with punch to follow; now ('if
. we believe them,' saroasticslly notes the
cynic) they talk Of wines and courses, and
are forever grinnipg at honest people, their
equals, who hire greengrocers to wait, or
drive in broughams taken from the livery
stables.
The serious puzzle is the certainty with
which it is stated that an annual income OF
ESQ is enough for a gentleman to marry
upon. We had great bother about this ques-
tion before, but if we remember rightly it was
never quite determined for what order of mar
the minimum standard was set up. Accord
ing to his confessions in the Telegraph, he can
not write without exhibiting sodden vulga
rity, he neglects his business, and he is little
better than the Tittlebat Titmouse whom we
had thought had altogether disappeared from
fiction-not to say from real life. Is he the
DNSS @SRAS'
sent the majority of the young men Of Londor
who claim to be gentlemen? You go through
the hundreds of city Offices, or where civi
service clerks are employed, and every mar
is Tom or Sam "wearing the new hybrid era
vat, hall silk and half sable, with horseshoe pin
vest of sealskin and velvet coat awfully spffI
And this revolving creature is the Young MAJ
of the Day 1t is mere vulgar libel. TIT
clerks in banks and our city houses would los
their situations if they were like Sam, bu
they are not. Nor are their evenings spent a.
his. They do go to theatres with their mother
and sisters or with their friends mothers ant
sisters, and they are neither habitu6S of music
halls patrons of bus drivers, nor oasin
hunters. They rise in life with manner
acquired in an entirely different career. Maj
riage is difficulty with many of them, but
is a difficulty with compensatory advantages
If they want to marry they work harder, an
reduce their expenses, but they would as 500
think of writing for wife to the editor of til
London Journal as adopt the mode of exstenC
portrayed in the columns Of the Telegraph
Taking the bulk of the correspondence in OF
contemporary to be genuine, we should hes
tate to decide whether Sam, or his parents, G
his employers, or the young women who 9,
press concern about him, are the more pitiab
idiots.