The Hawaiian gazette., 1871-05-03
Dash.


the habit of doing Of certain people as being
@dashing" or cutting dash" it conveys a clear
and distinct general meaning to those it addresses
which it would take great many words aud Q
good deal of time to produce in any other way
The people spoken Of have been content to plva
along, and take 70 some course Of life or fashion
which betokens that they have stepped up to q
higher rung in the social ladder. Perhaps but
tons take the place of cotton print at their door
when you leave your card, CT seated at their hos
pitable table you find that the brilliant champagne
has gained an entrance, and fzzes and gurgles
where the modest sherry had before stood in silent
and respectful attendance. Then Few drawing
room carpet invites your attention, and picture
hangs where a print had been, and sundry other
significant signs tell you very plainly indeed that
the Browns are cutting a dash"
Dashing people are always surprising their
negbbors in some way or other; they step q little
outside the conventional boundaries that hem in
staid and sober society, and occasionally venture
to indulge in the luxury Of slight outrage on pro-
Pnety without losing that quality of respect and
admiration for which they crave and which they
SO much value To be exceptional to the common
herd, to be remarkable and generally remarked,
to have name for certain audacity 10 social mat
tiers, and to keep with all this free from the tai
ons, even if they do sometimes feel the velvet of
scandals treaeherous paw,-these are the good
things of the world which the dashing people hear
tily enjoy.
Who does not know the dashing woman of the
day, handsome, healthy well-tO-do, dressed so that
every article she wears shall come triumphantly |
out of the scrutinizng appraisement of an envious
sisterhood, more fond CT mems than woman's so
ciety, the leader in every new scheme for driving
the demon ennui from the doors of good society,
the promoter of every plan for dragging fashioDa-
bic routine out of Its ordinary and tedions high
way, and turning 1t into those "fresh fields and
pastures new" which a fertile and ingenious in
ventlOn can always keep in a state of novel and
pleasant cultivation. The dashing woman prob
ably numbers in the mental inventory of her pos
sessions such Insignificant and unimportant items
as husband and children, but they are chiefly con-
sidered by her obstacles to that full develop
ment of the spirit Of "dash" in which she longs to
indulge free and unfettered The fact of her hav-
ing husband does certainly give pquancy to :
some Of her actions which they would not other ]
wise possess and it affords her frequent opportu-
mites for demonstrating to society how lightly she
bears yoke under which so many women live in I
patient and accomplishing servitude. Her chill
dren, however, if she is so unfortunate as to have
any, do not bring with them these advantages, {
for society, although tolerant of connubial indif. S
ference, views with dsfavor the neglect of moth
ers duties, and she is therefore obliged to assume
virtue il she does not possess it. So she lavshes
upon them an extravagant and demoustrative af- b
lection when others are by, and leaves them to b
the Punishment of the nursery at other times. e
AS they grow up they become so many dates n
from which calculation can be made, which no y
arts of the toilette can disprove, and they are $,
therefore sore trials to the dashng woman who Il
would keep her youth as long as she can, and T,
like Aurora, renew her beauty morn by morn" n
What this evil desire to "cut a dash" does for It
he sex which boasts itself superior to the frail-
les aud trivialites of their weaker companions, Il
s far too well known every where and to every "
,ne. Well is it for the family whose records do not sa
how the havoc which its member has made upon OF
Is resources. How much pnching and self-denial dl
there not at this moment going on in little coun
ry vicarages, or modest suburban cottages. be- an
ause Tom in War Office, or Charley at Alder en-
hot have thought fit to try and be fellows How de
lauy grave and sober-faced parsOn in bis quiet tn
ectory far away in the country has to put off from vi
ear 70 year his marriage with the girl he loves be- an
luse SO large portion Of his pensioners tithes pc
ave to be devoted to paying for the dash" as
hich he cut during his three years Of university pc
fe The obituary Of dash" is to be read every on
ny in the records Of the Bankruptcy Court. 1t wi
the goal to which most of il reaches at some eT
me or the other. Dash leads its followers on
pilgrimage the very reverse of that which the
raelites of old had to undergo They turn their -,
lcks upon the promised land of honor and pros cat
,rity, and find themselves among the Egypt ant
ms, and spoiled by them before they are aware lint
And we, too, who serve her Majesty with our are
ms, have frequent opportunities of seeing the ma
dding, the sprouting, and the full Towering of ma
e poppy dash" Our brother scribe, perhaps, tran
mes down to the Office with gradual little al con
rations in dress undesirable to the casual be- pap
lder, but easily marked by us who know in m ~
nately every button on his waistcoat. We see ~
e beginning Of that awful abandonment TO color an
choice Of garments which makes US long for o
e establishment of q council of taste, without max
lose approval nine-tenths of our young men six
ould not be allowed to dress at all. Then the UNI
ndy season of gold aud gems-cheap and nasty sna,
sets in, and the complexion and the eyes at pap
A N. begin to tell their little mysteries of the witt
ngs of the night before, and we gradually and sent
rowfuy fOd our pleasant cheerful and Jolly co., pige
que turning into moody vulgar, specimen of mag
estable oudness, the result of a stupid at -
lpt to get the character among fools like him of
of being fast man and dashing fellow. succ
ID when he has run through the various ages the
dash, what does be come to? Why, that last sma
ST lamentabe stage Of all which finds him sans Inn
Sc sans health, sans everything Cirilian va, -
FROM Sydney we learn that the Government he >
e declined to entertain the proposal submit bOol