The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1871-03-23
Society in Washington.

heuL upou en0 oVSAoA S"JSsssS@~
tional capital, says: =
If any one entertains doubt as 70
the virtue of certain regulations OF the
Holy Catholic Church, winter in
Washington would 60 far TO dispel the
doubt, especially if the winter included
that period when the festivities, raging
at their highest, are suddenly reduced
to ashes by the extinguisher OF Lent,
in which case the forty days Of fasting
and prayer will be seen to loose bali bal
their ritualistic significance aud become
sanitary provision, and certainly no
Lent was ever more needed than this
| one has been; for the season has not
been a short one, and its exaction have
been severe. Matrons, martyrs to the
morning visit to the extent of two hum
dred or three hsndred week, have
ioresworn home and taken, not to their
beds, but to their coaches, 50 long as it
lasted. The doctor has become the
bosom friend of half the. world, and
matinees dansantes and receptions have
fed its fame furiously; while as its
end approached, as the custom is, it
blazed like little Gehenna.
You think the term is strong but to
what better can one compare thing
that absorbs life add strength and beau
ty and health, into which mothers
fling their daughters asthey used to
fling thom into the fires Of Moloeh,
from which the blooming girls come
out too often little different from .
painted beldame, and which isthe
kinder of fevers and fits and Diseases Z
The Washington season is indeed q
generic thing. Women come to the
place for the sake Of il, as they go to
no other city. The ridiculous assnmp-
tiun that the wives of politicians have
no right to any Privacy renders official
society accessible TO all, while the 10. u !.
trod uctious obtained there to people of
the more select circles, when fortified
by wealth and pertinacity, open the
whole charmed round of pleasure; an !,
beginning modestly with . single
public reception, and enticed to VEN
ture further, one is soon plunged in
three deep for every night, and over
head and ears the last half dozen.
Not to be seen at Mrs. Carlisle's
evenings is to be parvenu; MOTTO
attend Mrs. Bryan's dancing alter
Moons is to be plebeiau; to have been
absent from Lady Thornton's parties
was to have been ignobls uninyited;
not to have been . part Of the Peruvian
Frcyre's ball was vulgar unaequaintence
with. diplomats; and if You went to
Pomeroys, where the diuing-room Of
the Arlington was the only place large
enough to banquet the guests, how
c"u'd you refuse to 60 to the Hallidays
on the same night, where a daughter
ofthe house had just becomea a countess,
aui meanwhile, the hops at the hotels,
the theatres, and the dinners, hurryipg
Oh " a.
BALLS and masks begun at midnight burning
ever to mid-day. $. - - :
When they made up fresh adventures for; the
morrow, do you say r. :.
as if time were to be no more.
Pleasant things these: balls, too; one
must be anchorite to deny it.; delight
full booths for the wayfarer through.
Vanity Fair. When you entered their
atmosphere you found it something vast
ly other than that Of the real matter-of.
fact life, of every day that pursued you
outside; It WAS q region Of encbautmeut;
the staireases, from basement to roof,
" ,und with towering shrub, where art
concealed everything but the branch
and blossom; wreathes and balls and
baskets of flowers swinging from Intel
and window and picture and bracket;
roses crowniug the statues; sprays Of
dropping vines wreathing the chande>
liers that shed the, soft brilliance Of
wax lights overhead; mantels covered
with moss and bedded with violets
tall vases on precious pediments lifting
an ovoraowing wealth of asalias and
hcliotropes, and rare clusters Of scarlet
passionsAowers, and cold eamelias, and
burning geraniums, and great white
orchids hising a honeyed breath in
their golden hearts, and daphnes dying
Of their own sweetness, encircling the
fern-flled basins where tiny fountains
cooled the air about them; music muir
INJURED there too; a stream of gorgeous
hues aud tissues, bare bosoms and
blazing jewels, ascended and de-
scended the stairway; down one vista
dancers flashed in and out their mazes,
down another tbs crystal and gold and;
silver of a table. shone, red with Bur.
oundy and Bordeaux, tempting with
stsrraniu and .trufies, with enormities
of spiced meats and pastries and con-
fections aud fruits.
Perhaps the President was in the
smoking:room, aud two Or three Of his
Cabinet ministers were not far away !;
the general Of the army, the admiral
Of the navy, were sare to be among the
guests. There we're the foreign minis>
ters, whose whole life is:in party.going;
there were distinguished strangers and d
world known women, too; but the ball
was given for none ofthem, not for
any enjoyment of wisdom or learning,
or ,wit-these people we're but
accessories along the wall--:it wa,
] given for the display Of beanIy and