The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-27
NEW HERALD. MONDAY JANUARY H. o7s-rRPLE SHEET

sonod out There win he dinner parties and
dancing parties and music parties, and-rare en-
Joyment when well managed-card parties In
afternoon Is inconvenient for everybody it will be
dropped rom society's calendar except
TIE RECEiTl0Ns OF THE PRESIDENT
ana the ladies' OF his family. Unable to mingle
freely In society ike other people, the reception
pure and simple, affords to them rational means
oil keeping up their acquaintance and communica-
ti0n with the outer world OF rank and fashion, and
being founded IN reason in their case the practice
may be expected to endure. But for everybody
else the sooner the custom dies out the better, In
my opinion and IN the opinion, too, OF some whose
As II to hasten the coming day see by the papers
that Q considerable number OF people have gone
tcipstion can only be regarded by the better class
as buriesque OF high society manners, and the
latter will the sooner therefore. leave the field.
fields Of social effort"
Induced, after brief interruption, to resume the
o. net f our o ne and
Washington society:-"l hear" she said, "a great
deal in iaudation OF the composition OF the social
class here-ab0ve the social class elsewhere. l do
not consent to IL at ALL In the first place you have
but one circle, and into that everybody who comes
AZ all comes by right and there Is
NO sELEcTIvE PROCESS RECOGNIZED.
ELMER IN Iact or theory. In any other city large
enough TO sustain social structure there are diff
1erent ana distinctive circles and, so far as the
choice lies with you you choose your own and leave
Others to themselves Some OF them may be neither
In their own sense and from natural causes. Conse-
quently you are ut home and at ease In such social
organization but such is not the case here, where
you are obliged to cOnsort with people who are dis
agreeable to you, II you are not disagreeable to
them You derde, our aristocracy. OF trade, law,
tuTe, art and hereditary culture, and nout before
us your princes Of poliucs, diplomacy and the
united service admit your ownership Of the
their intrinsic value. Never in our political his
tory was there such dominance OF mediocrity-ths
Senate house, and the days OF giants in the places
Of giants seem woiully intermitLed. i do not deny
Anthony, and Sherman and COnkling, and Freling-
huysen and Casserly, and Patterson and the two
and morals OF the country; but they are less than
Almost rom bare memory ry OF, names, OF Cd.
others to take their places between the
two extremes. It is not safe yet with the Credit
any contrast Extremes in The Lower
House, for, New Yorker as am, should be very
likely to start OF with hitherto respected men,
Der rom my own neighbprhood, and until Judge
Poland's committee make their report don't know
at which end to put him. AS you say the
SOCIETY MANNERS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
of your diplomatic darlings are very fine, but to
me they are altogether too suggestive OF the
shop to be acceptable, and undertake to intro
every country represented here II you ever come
to see me in New York. make several individual
would be nVdcas to mention. ne Your military sa
heroes cannot worship, though their uniforms
are becoming and serve wonderfully well to light
pun would say that their 'Of1ence is rank : they
are all generals here, though one seeks for them in
or majors one could view them with interest as
possible heroes OF the future, with history yet to
be made and written In the lace Of the world like
| that OF Captain Grant or Lieutenant Sherman or
| that HOmeric brave Quartermastcr, Hancock. But
such are not your paror generals, who seem to be
pOdding, family men, without ambition apart from
q comfortable life at Washington special duty
| and good position In society. Then there are
other generals, who only wear uniforms
| when they go abroad to sell patent rights
| In breech-0ading guns or to run CONSUL
ates or commercial agencies. Here they use
| only their rank, to which they cannot always show
| title; and when they are not being Generated
at receptions and dinner parties they are to be
found in the Hobbies and cloak rooms Of the Capitol
| Az for your naval heroes they and theirs are so
| laxative about intricate questions OF rank, sea
| pay, shore pay, communication allowances, retired
and volunteers and line and star that one has
never the temerty TO speak Of broadsides and
| young Cushing, of the Albemarle, or talks with
quiet, reflective Porter-deep in questions Of tor.
Jersey ferrybOats into h0ating batteries against
Spanish armadas when Congress has lett us no war
SHIPS Then, for your ,r.1
your queensregnant in politics and the science Of
| gOyernment-the maids Of honor and the ladies OF
my surprise ut their famhary with things so difficult
for women to understand-with laws, parliament
airy customs, the successive chances ana fortunes
OF bill which they desire to see become law, the
| composition OF Congressional committees and the
influence that controls this OF that person in au
| thority, am compelled to believe that, with them,
knowledge Is not reverenced for knowledge's sake
! but sought and used for purely selfish purposes
| every effort tending towards the common end OF
lettering ones fortune and acquiring additional
means to crafty that love for display which has In
vaded and is fast destroying oil that Is enoya OF
Washington social lifc.n
The foregoing is faithful and approved repro
duction OF a society lady's thoughts about Wash
ington society, the writer assuming no RESPONSE
bility except for the opinion that II not welcomed
II Will not be the first time In human history that
the truth has been rejected and denounced as false
hood