The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1873-01-18
Rank and RGinent.

The last relic Of glory is dropping from the
masculine raiment. Until the last year or so,
the gentleman's full dress has kept one little
scrap of decoration, as reminder of the splen-
doris of other days, in embroidered shirt-fronts
and ornamental studs. But these, we hear,
must go, for fashion now commands her choic
est cavaliers to appear at dinner or soiree Sc
verely simple in the plainest of bosoms, with
mother-of-pearl buttons at two for penny
1t only remains to condemn sleeve buttons, and
make gutta- -percha or leather-twist the "cor-
re ct thing" for watch chains, and the manly
attire will be reduced to its ultimate expression
of funeral plainness, beyond which lies no fur
ther depth, unless it be good plain sackcloth
and ashes.
Morally speaking, the innovation is we'll
enough. In democratic country it is right
that social usage should give as few chances as
possible for caste and class to invent badges or
insignia, or offend the self-respect of their more
modest neighbors by any needless signs of su-
periority But rich toilettes are just such signs;
for ornament and splendor in dress afford the
best of chances for the display of wealth and
that artificial taste or caprice which so often go
along with it, and are supposed to indicate So
cial position or refinement. Men do not think
much of these things, but women do. Angus
tus, with his more than modest professional in
come, has yet been used to move among the
most gorgeous "swell" as well dressed, and ev-
identity as we'll bred man as any in the COM
pany. He thinks his sweet little bride amaz-
ingly tasteful and correct in her plain orna-
ments and modest toilette, and looks forward
with a certain pride to comparing her with the
nsilLionairesses at Mrs. Cresus soiree. Butwhen
poor little Jenny sees her pretty light silk and
simple ruches side by side with Mrs. Cresus
last Worth costume, on which the lace alone is
equivalent to about all of Augustus's yearly
income, her heart sinks within her. She is
classed and judged. She sees at once that,
q
address, to say nothing OF her own youthful
grace and prettiness, there is not the slightest
use in their trying to pass for "swells"-and she
feels with the half-angry, half comic resent
ment of sensible woman in false position,
that every parvenue in the room has set them
down at first glance as only "three-thousand
dollar people,"
fication and annoyance, we may rejoice that
the trouble, serious as it is, is limited to the
feminine half of humanity. A hundred or
two years ago, Augustus would have not mere
ly shared her vexation, but had just the same
to endure on his own part. The rich velvets
and sstins, lawns an6 laces, swords and gar
ters and Jewels of the finished exquisite under
the Georges or the Grand Monarque, made cor
rect dress impossible without money, and
good deal of it. In those days man carried
his income returns blazoned on his back. The
quiet scholar or poor artist was as easily dis
tnguishable from the grandee as II he had
worn badge or placard, like railway con-
ductor or Broadway advertising medium
What vexation must have gnawed the hearts of
mum berless good fellows, in those days of ex-
ternal distinctions, at having to go about tick
eted as the poor devils they were, in worldly
sense, one does not like to reflect and though
we smile at poor Goldsmiths fussy embarrass-
ment over his famous bloom colored suit, our
amusement is tempered with pang of pity
and sympsthy.-Ho and Society; ScriJner'S
for January.