Smyrna times., 1870-03-02
Plated Ware.

The season at Washington, We are told is
now at its hight, before Lent and it is added,
! American society was never SO we'll represented
as at the capital this Winter If this be the case,
| it is worth while taking bird s-eye view of
this social life at Washington, as we find it
mirrOrcd in the newspapers, which, if they do
| not mould the age, aSSuredly reflect it. 1t is
useless to assert that jenkins is not the expo.
nent and type Of our social life. lie is its his
torian. We admit him to our wedding feasts
or dying beds in hopes Of gaining a line of
fame from him; from the fine gentleman to
the sempstresS, we cape open mOuthed tor his
morning revelations. Else-why are they
written
Out of these breathing worlds of living peo-
pie, with intellect, rank, or good or ill breeding,
you come into a tailor shop. You know exact
ly how much the state dinner of the President
Cos per head, an what each Sc tlry's wife
wore, to a fOuncc You know nothing more.
Jenkins, and behind him the American public
present Themselves daily, when they thus open
ly approach social matters, III the aspect of
country pumpkins agape with astOnlshment at
their first glimpse OF fine dresses and fine fur
nlture.
1t is time we had done with this We have
been long enough a laughing stock to older and
) better bred peoples. Have we then no dignity
as a nation? Does it concern us so much ia
at ball dress whose description we can1ot
g understand? Is this the best which our great
D journals can do for us socially? Are we tC
stand with pricked ears to hear how many
) courses were on the Prince table, or that
: certain tea-dealers daughter had married
$ broker S son under the auspices of Brown?
h Again jenkins cries out with dismay. g.
certain lady, pre-eminent at the capital, is thu
daughter of u lager-b beer saloon-keeper; but thu
- EnV,t ho NubI n,
Certainly. We are all the sons and daugh
n ters Of lager-beer salOCn-keepers, or pOrl
,. butchers, or worse. There are very few among
! us (and those are not the most hOnOrable) VIII
+, can take walk back among our grandfather
If without stumbling over carpenter bench or
70 taiIOr's goose And the fact is not kept quiet
a We are nation of plebeans, Of nOuredMr rich
Il es. Let us confess it, once and for all, in tn
s. face of the world, and have done with it.
What is to be done about it? Inherite
rank and generations of refinement and cultur
have their value; we presuppOse in their heiI
- a higher range of knowledge, a more liber;
u outlook. The mind, as well as the manner
a the gentleman, selt-p DiSed and at ease. Fail
"A a ing to give these, the Brahmin blood is wors
~ u. than useless. Now we Americans profess to b
- able to attain them without the Brahmin blood
% How do We prove it? Jenkins and his caS
pass IilCAi llNCS III OuI VI SlSul lut
"a ~ fatal grandfather, in tOadying every 0utcaS
az bit of nobility waited to our shores, in ingin
81 their money bags. Society means 10 them dir
~ ~ neTs OF thirty courses and dresses from Worth
~ =, nothing more. Seething mixture that we ar,
~ -, We are brave people, intelligent, thOughttu
=" with good domestic and religious instincts Car
-, -, not we also be we'll bred? Must we be hop
% lessly vulgar?
Or is it that jenkins and the frothy surfat
" which he pictures cruelty miSrepreSents Il
" true American society which lies beneath?
&C is not all plated ware. The real refinement OF
% cultivated social lite Of this country has new
ar yet been painted; but until Walpole
RS Nine. de Girardiu be found fOrit. let us recei
tiy these horrible caricatures in the daily journa
ID, at their true value. Let the tea-dealers ST
W and the brokers' daughter, with their millic
he of greenbacks, their tawdry glitter and nois
nd go back into their native ob>curity, until tn
I'd. hud some claim for notice. 1t is not enough
lat laugh at them. The social grade o~a nation
Try significant an index to its progress as its na
nSt $ or its government; and that people on
iul deserve honor among whom culture and gO'
re. breeding rule, and vulgarity is held in check.
ith N. !. Tribune.