Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1872-03-23
smart Young Men.

dub tho editor Of u journal who
venturcd to tel! them that they
were not quite perfect, n "deuccd
impcrtincnt fellow.nI And if the
benightcd j6tirfialist were reckless
enough to point out their faults,
they would so further, and say that
he deserved TO be "cut," and ban
ished from decent society, 1t is his
business to attend to Mr: Gladstone
and Mr.. Disraeli, Mr.. Newdegate
lind Sir Charles Dilko, and, by no
possible stretch of authority, has
he any right to cast ridiculc upon
the idiOsyncracies, and expose the
delinguencies, of the class to which
the smart young men belong. But,
all tho ridicuIe in the world, and
all the exposure in the world, would
not induce them to mend their
;tays, for the very simple reason
that, in their humble opinion, they
are rs near perfection as it is possi-
bic for them to be. Their eccen-
triCities are virtues, their delinquen-
ces things Of which they have rea-
son to be c%trcmcly proud. Walker,
| Webster, ana Johnson compiled, at
an enormous labor, in words which,
in their opinion, constituted the
English language. The smart young
men are not Gcntenc to accept tho
ruling of such ",nu'sty. old buffers, "
as to what the English language
shall not consist. So they set to
work, and coin new words and al
ter old words. For instance, "cuss,"
"cheel," "mi4sie," !" funk" and nu-
merous other euphonious and cx-
pressive nouns and adjectives are
in daily use. They do not. object
to do II little good round swearing,
such as the proverbial trooper was
want TO indulge III, whom by them
selves, and in the company Of kin
dred spirits but when in society
which imposes some restraints upon
them, they have to rest content
With swearing BY "gum," "jove,"
gosh" ahd ".gihgo.". Every one
who is brought in contact with them
is edited by their Establishment
and cnriclment-accordng to their
opinion-of the English language.
They do not like oldfashionnd terms,
and so their fathers are dubbed
governors cold boys and, occa-
! aionally, by t1o more Particularly
smart young fellows, "old blokes."
or cotrsc, the smart young men
know more upon every subject than
their fathers, whose opinions ar6
antiquated, and whose convictions
are crotche,s~ Naturally then, they
never seek advice from that quarter,
and never take it when offered.
They also know more about the
science of politics than the states
men who may be guiding the des.
tinios Of the nation. This much
will they imply under the most IA
voreble, circumstances. But when
that states man happens to be OPP
posed to th6ni he is %. fool" San
ass, and a "consummate sooun-
drel" 1t is worthy ofremari that,
although the smart young man
holds in supreme contempt the
opinions and 'trctchots CT his faith
er, ho generally, as q matter Of
course, subscribes to the political
programme which that father hap
pens to advocate. And though he
has never taken the trouble to think
the matter out for himself, ho is
fully persuaded that he is right
This brings us to fresh evidences of
his sharpness When. other mon,
have to work hard to be able to do
so, he can do without any working
at all. If he chose to take the trou-
bic, he could pen q better book than
ever Charles Dickens or Sir Walter
Scott wrote, or paint q better pic
ture than ever Landsecr or Etty
limned But, unfortunately, he
does not care to devote his time to
such pursuits, and so the books re-
main dhwritten and the pictures
uppairted. Tho smart young man
does not object to be amused, and
so he goes to see dramas, which he
declares are miserable failures, and,
reads the books which are lawful
dull" He will, at times, be good
enough to be condescendingly crit
ical, but he is not slow to mrke it
evident that he considers tho peo-
pie, whose work he is praising, very
stupid and very SLOW in every res.
pect but that fer which he is COM
mending them. He is the last to
speak good word in favor Of
now, man, and, if the new man had
to wait till he kicked it. his ball of
fame would nsvcr get into motion
at all. ,..-,,.lgs a.
The smart young men are, in
their own opinion, very attractive
fellows. Their implicit confidence
in. their. innate attraetiveDess, how,
over, docs not prevent thonR from
increasing it by all the ways and
means open to them. Their tailor
is their Bosom friend and conidante,
unless he makes misfit, then, Woe
bctido him. It should be mentioned,
by the way, that they are, in many:
instances, fonder OF Wearing, :, his
clothes than of paying him his
money, and the consequence is that
there is often trouble in this quar-
ter for the smart young men. Their
haberdasher, too, is not slightly
unaequainted with them, for varI-
city of collars, ties, and shirt-cuffs
are necessary to enhance their at.
tractivcness. Their conversation,
they fiatter themselves, is what no
sensible girl could listen to and not
be enchahtod. 1t is SO piquant and
spicy. and contains just sufficient of
naughtiness to make it irresistible.
This being the case, IL is not SUR
prising that they believe every
vor,r lady they cncountcr falls in