New Orleans Republican., 1873-08-31

sIodeyu Paganism i'm New York.

Naturally the appliances OF luxury have
taken root in the upper class. What were
formerly passing pleasures have become
present necessities; what were occasionally
INDUCED habits have become second nature.
Happiness is bound up with the qualification
of seusuous ss we'll as intellectual life.
There must be no abatement OF the needs
of this life, even for marriage. and the bar
tering has begun over the altar of Hymen.
The man pagan asks il the woman can
proyide herself with her own costly raj
ment, and the woman pagan asks IT he has
horses and carriages and a box at the opera.
An unsatisfactory answer TO such questions
strangles the bantling which may have be-
gun TO live in their hearts. The new born
is given up with a sigh; it is only what poll
ticlans call ''side issue" Ihe requisites
OF full, sensuOus lite grow by what they
feed on. To take away the beautiful paint
ings, statues, bronzes. porcelains, tapestry,
and the general brio Grac which she culti'
waited eye lovingly dwells upon, the Aubus'
son carpet which receives the dainty foot
like bed of eoftest verdure. the inviting
couches and livans which the well-nur.
tured body repOses on, the little and powerful
INSTRUMENTS of music through which breathed
the soul Of Mozart. the choice volumes
which sell Of poetry, and love. and OF art.
the trutfles. mushrooms. Tho golden brown
woodcock. and she champagne--tO take
away all these. would be a privation not 70
be entertained. 10 .se,iice thena for a
romantic passion and .he actual Deces-
saries Of existence is regarded as All acs Ut
folly, but to sacrifice the passion and add
to the luxuries is wisdom. In . word. less
Importance is attached to the lnd1sIdual
than the paraphernais. One person il de-
eirable in heart, mind and body, bu: not
possessing the conditional collaterals, is re-
iected for one who does, and this is The
birth Of new philosophy Of life. and :he
wane OF orthodoxy. Here civilization, en-
couraged by the different sy stems Of theOlO-
CIV and morals, searches no further, but de-
scende in sistic, graceful, and almos. iaa-
pelceptiblc gradations into paganism.
With us, society 10 shaping itself more and
more into distinct classes. The lower class,
more intelligent than any peasantry OF Ed
rope, is the foundation on which Che nation
reposes; the great middle class is tina: which
makes the laws and governs the country;
and the social life in these two classes re-
mains comparatively pure. In the upper
class are several eub-classifcatiOns: The
wealthy, who hold to orthodoxy, the wealthy
possessed of pagan tendencies, the poor rich
who spend large income in living from
hand to mouth. and the refined poor, who
can appreciate the tastes OF the cultivated
wealthy, but have not the means to crafty
chem. In this upper class, all, with the ex-
ception Of the orthodox wealthy, have felt
the paganizing influence Of the age. which
co,nes from it's centre, Paris. This influence
has been travelling westward as inevitably
as fate for thousands of years, beginning at
Babylon and pushing on to Antioch, Athens,
Rome, and at last dwelling with the French
as their legitimate inheritance. With this
paganism come art, science, and the beauti
ful, to make man and woman happy; bu. as
they are u1reasoning. immoderate, sensual
and selfish, theee things after period wear
out the vitality necessary to their mainte
nance, and take their departure in search
of more virgin field Paganism has already
planted itself on Manhattan island, and
when the decaaepce begins in the city of
the boulevards will expand and flourish
here as it low does there. A Thousand
gears hence, peradventure, the inhabitants
of the western coast Of Asia will visit the
great city of the ancient Americans, guide
book 10 hand, to look on the relics OF her
past greatness But before such decay
arrives. the city will live that golden age
which is now beginning to dawn .9on
her.-Galery.