New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-02-25
PLITED lIllRE.

The season at Washington, we are told is
now at It's hight before Lent; and il is added,
American society was never so well represented
rs Mt the capital this Winter. IL this be the
case, it is worth while taking n birls-eye
view of this social life at Washington, as we
find it mrrorcd in the newspapers, which, If
they do not mold the age. assurcdly reflect 1t.
IL is useless 10 assert that jenkins is not the
exponent aud type of our social life. He Is
il, historian. We admit him to our wedding
feasts or dying beds in hopes of gaining line
Of fame from him; from the fine gentleman to
the sempstrcss We cape open mouthed for his
moruipg 'o',i.'io..s. H. "hy .I'sg
writtenf
How does our American society, then. com
pare with that of other countries and times
Horace Walpole aud Lady Mary were the
chroniclcrs in brief of the intrigues of one Of
the most lcontious Courts in Europe: in prin
ciplcs and manners it was rotten to the core.
oar society in its morale, beside it, is sound
aud sweet. Yet their records are valued still
for their Keen wit. their fine satire, the strong
human element which pervados even their
gossip. Whatever was foul and unsccmly in
the Court over which George the Second ruled.
this much was to be commended. that there
men and women, not purses, were weighed and
labeled wit struggled against wit, culture
against natural power; good breeding Gas they
knew III was the tombstone which betrayed
the pretender
Or To come TO our own time, take the fcuille-
tons Of Nine. dc Girardin, In which Paris passed
for years in vivid miniature panorama. Re-
member the gimpscs into the old established
salons. the stately grace the esprit, tho rever-
cnce for old age, for each other OF these men
and women, who carried the weight OF great
historic names; or in more modern circles, the
flash and sparkle, the art and music, the men
of science OF culture, the women gifted only
with the nobility of courtly and gentle man
ner. Remember the fesh-and-blood people
that looked at you through her pages, the in
finite range of human nature in them, genial,
pathetic, or terrible.
Now for jenkins! Out of these breathing
worlds Of living people, with intellect, rank, or
good or ill breeding, you come into a tailor
shop You know exactly how much the state
dinner of the Prerident cost per head, aud
what each Secretary's wife wore, to a flounce-
You know nothing more. jenkins, and behind
him the American public, present themselves
daily, when they thus openly approach social
matters, In the aspect of country pumpkins
agape with astonishment at their first glimpse
Of fine dresses and fine furniture
1t Is time we had done with this. We have
been long enough q laughing stock to older
and better bred peoples. Have we then no
dignity IA q nationi Does it concern us 80
much to know that woman whom we never
saw wore at a ball dress whose description
we cannot understand Is this the best which
our great journals can do for us socially Are We
10 stand with pricked ears to hear how many
courses were on the Princes table, or that
certain tea-dealers daughter had married
brokers' son under the auspices Of Brown
Again Jenkins cries out with dismay "A
certain lady, prominent at the capital. is the
daughter OF lager-beer saloon-keeper but
the fact is kept quiet" he whispers, his finger
on his lips.
Certainly. We are all the sons and daughters
OF lagcr-beer saloon-keepers, or pork butchers,
or worse. There are very few among us land
those are not the most honorablc) who can take
aiwalk back among our grandiathers without
stumbling over n carpenters bench or tailors
goose. And the fact is not kept quiet. We
are O nation of plebeians, of nouUedur riches.
Let us confess it, once and for all, in the face
OF the world, and have done with it.
What is to be done about i'll Inherited
rank and generations of refinement and cul-
ture have their value; we presuppose in their
heirs higher range of knowledge, more lib
eral outlook. Tho mind, as we'll as the man
ner of the gentleman, self-poised and ut ease.
Failing to give these. tho Brahmin blood is
worse than useless. Now we Americans pro-