The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-06-25


Town.
Our summer carnival in the country of
health and pleasure-seekers, of the moths and
butterflies of fashion is again upon us, and by
next Sunday the July exodus from all our
great cities will begin to be realized In the
diminished attendance at our fashionable city
churches. 1t is the opening harvest season Of
railways, steamships and steamboats,, hotels,
faro banks, keno, travelling menageries,
circuses, concert troupes and jugglers Of
hackmen, baggage-smashers and dock loafers;
Of pickpockets, Jeremy bidders and adven-
turers and vagabonds Of every description.
1t Is the opening Of our summer season at the
seaside and the springs, and the imps of dark
ness rejoice, and saints and angels veil their
eyes and weep over it as if 1t were the carnival
Of Beelzebub. Newport, Saratoga, Long
Branch, the White Mountains, Niagara, the
Great Lakes, the Pacific Railroad-with all
the wonders on the route to the "big trees" Of
Mariposa and the alpine glories of Yosemite
will have their crowds of summer pilgrims;
and birds of prey and liberal representation
Of "white chokers" at all these places and at
others too numerous here to mention, will be
among the worshippers at Vanity Fair.
Very well. "All work and no play makes
Jack dull boy" even in the pulpit, and so
even the fashionable dispenser of the bread of
life must have little recreation after the
manner of the fashionable world, whose dainty
silk and satin gospel he breaches. How
beautiful, too, is the entente cordiale between
the fashionable parson and his fashionable
flock Of merino sheep and cashmere goats.
He is getting delicate and pale the heavy
labors incident to one sermon every Sunday
for nearly six months have been undermining
his precious health, and so purse is raised
for him and the indulgent shepherd is sent of
to Europe, without disturbing his ten thousand
year. ''When the cats away the mice will
play" and you may depend upon 1t that if the
health-seeking shepherd among the attractions
of Naples becomes charmed with them, or that
If in Rome he does as the Romans do, his flock
will enjoy their carte blanche in the country
as sort of general dissolution till their return
to town.
Poor Paris 1t has been called the para
disc of women, of coxcombs, cockneys, funkies
and opera 6oute, in high life and low life, the
delight of sanity travellers and the DEVILS
headquarters. As the 'capital of civiliza-
ton" and of fashion it has left its impress
upon New York, and has certainly enlarged
fol- horo for ofi 1oL 4
our parsons of all our churches. Down to
1870, from 1860, how many millions of New
York money were swallowed up every summer
in the pleasures of Paris it is impossible to
tell. We knew, however, that the Germans,
last September, on their approach to the
doomed city, scattered some hundreds Of our
lingering birds of passage from the Boule-
wards, the Mabille and the Bots de Boulogne,
and sent them flying homeward. We know
that some scores who still remained within the
city's encircling wall to enjoy the fun Of the
German siege, when reduced to horse steaks,
cat outlets and dog chops, were glad to get
away on any terms; and we know that the
Paris Commune, with its cutthroats and in
cendiaries, has made the late capital of civil
cation and of barbarsm and buffoonery a
stencil in the nostrils of Christendom. We
are strong in the opinion, too, that Paris, in
its present condition, will not be very largely
patronized by pleasure-seeking Americans this
summer, and that our own summer resorts will
be the gamers thereby in fashionable parsons
az well as in the articles known as Monsieur
Mapt;lr; opd Flora McEIiuoov
So far, then, we shall be gamers from the
misfortunes of 'poor Paris" though, indeed,
with the breaking of the spell which made
New York a servile follower of the gay French
capital, we expect our city to rise to some
thing of the dignity of American independence.
We are almost persuaded that the American
flunky and tuft-hunter in Paris is abolished,
like negro slavery, and that the poisonous
vanities of Paris will no more make fools and
slaves Of Americans with more money than
brains. But what are our ''stay -in-town"
people to do in the absence of our fashionable
parsons and their fashionable followers? We
understand that few of even our most stylish
point-lace churches will be entirely closed
during July and August; but that where the
regular parson is missing substitute will be
provided who will answer very we'll for the
cheated term" Of course our Catholic
churches will go on as usual, and SO will the
Methodists; for they are not disturbed by the
movements and vanities of the world of
fashion. These supplemented Christians
know nothing Of Mr.. Brown, and some of them
have never heard of him.
The Methodists, however, from the first be-
ginnings of their Church in this country hit
upon system of combining business with
pleasure In their summer camp meetings, which
is of the secrets Of their great strength in all
parts of the United States. They open before