New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-05-06
LIVERIES.


Of Cambridge, does not believe that the al
mosphere of America will tolerate livery or
a fourth hand. He points out that IN the
United States a man hardly knows what 10 90
with a large income. "The custom OF the
country, the force of public opinion is such,
"tbat he cannot make his personal expendi-
"ture equal to his income, even if he wished.
ale must not keep a carriage and four, nor
"baye a footman to stand behind his more
"mOdest equipage, nor clOthe his servants III
"Gvery, nor adopt many others OF the
badges by which some persons try to con-
vince the world that they are people OF con-
L" sequence. We do not tolerate gold
"lace, nor cooked hats, nor tall foOtmen with
" gold-headed canes" 1t is to be feared that
Professor Bowen does not study society with
that comprehensvcness which BELTS phil
osopher single promenade through Fifth
ave. in New-York in Winter, or through
Bellevue-ave in Newport in Summer, will
occasion quite q revision OF page 30 OF his
newly-published work on Political Economy.
"NO man must must" says one of those Ger
man philosophers whom Mr.. Bowen despises.
1t is still more perilous to must
"not" good many cOntrivc to do, amid
immense applause, and very publicly,
the precise deeds which our political economist
declares to be impossible. Carriages and four
are daily spectacle liveries are exceedingly
common in our fashionable resorts, even If
those pleasing sins have not reached the chaste
precincts of Cambridge. And if fOOtmen do not
stand behind the more modest equipage," it
is because they are seated, with arms folded,
in "dicleyn and look O shade more misera-
BILE than if they stood up. Cooked hats and
gold-headed canes, perhaps, are still to be inn
ported-the latter, possibly, awaiting the return
of specie payments. But livery Is livery,
whether the lace be gold or silver.
1t is something, no doubt, to have simpliied
the patterns. Gen. Washington's liveries, white
turned up with green, were doubtless as much
more picturesque than ours as was the CONT
mental uniform than the dark blue of to-day.
The snowy English liyeries have never got them
selves transplanted any more than the court
dresses OF the judicial wigs. It's doubtful whether
any native American cOachman ever wore knee
breeches; if he did, he probably assumed
brogue and swOre only in Irish az he tugged
them on. But the English and Irish wear them
readily, and indeed rather enjoy them. We
have known an unliveried servant in
family to demand them as his right, assert
ing that he had as good a leg as Mike
or Patrick, his seniors in command.
Indeed, the arguments in favor of liveries, be
they stronger or weaker, are as well under
stood by the servant as by the employer.
If they are token of subOrdination as
viewed from above. they are mark of
dignity as viewed from below. They
imply certain position of confidence. lie who
wears q livery has thus far kept what he calls
his character" drunken vagabOnd loses
HE livery. 1t is like the uniform of the pri
. soldier-a token of inferioIity as regards
IS captain, but of dignity as regards civilians.
To be stripped Of his uniform is for a soldier
the last disgrace, and the same with the live
red servant Then for the employer, the
livery is guarantee against dirt, rags, and
fantastic neckties-it furnishes a ready means
of identifying ones own carriage in a crowd,
and it also helps domestic discipline. Liveries
are very repressive, here again resembling the
soldiers uniform. 1t was found during our
war that the most troublesome recruits settled
down to obedience the day they were put in
uniform. The trouble with these arguments is
that some of them prove too much and others
are afterthOughts. An American domestic is
not in the position of a private soldier, nor is
it desirable that he should be- that right of
command, that absolute authority which is
needful for war, would in peace be intolerable.
Moreover the millionaire and the fine lady do
not, in America, put their servants in
livery for the judicious reasons just
assigned; they do it commonly because
it is done in Europe. This is shown
hy f1a in, trbt
copy the usages of foreign funkeysm that
have least meaning here; as where a retired
grocer decorates his cOachman's hat with the
high cockade, which in England designates the
servant of civil functonary, or where
young lady rides in the Park with groom
bearing an inexplcable belt such as in En-
gland sustained the dispatch-bOx of men,
Der of Parliament. We knew young man of
fortune, slenderly provided with wits, who
returned from the grand tour with a single
piece of valuable information, namely: that
Americans knew nothing about style, since
they allowed their footmen to wear mustaches,
instead of sternly limiting them, as in England,
to side-whiskers The simple truth is, that
most people put their servants in livery be-
cause they secretly wear livery and are fun
keys themselves.
After all, the line is not so very hard to
draw. In the present state of society "dO-
"mestic service" as it is called, is in some
form inevitable. There can be no objection to
an employers providing the clothes for man
servant, or prescribing what the dress shall be
with this one clear limitation, that he should
require no man to wear anything which he
himself would be ashamed to wear. In our
most fashionable resorts You may generally
distinguish the cOachmen or footmen of people
of sense by plain suit of black or dark blue