The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-07-10
Social Contrasts.

OnC S1lcChOl CuuCdl1O4 anu DLOCNlAAAtS
is to make their possessor shrink from |
intimate contact with those so beneath |
him In rank as to retain their rough ma
lures and hence the cold and exclusive
bearing of the general mass of educated |
Englishmen, Englishmen more especial
" than Irishmen or Seotchmen; for |
among the latter there still exists sort
of feudal respect for rank and birth,
which is only partially represented In
our counties, and in our towns not at
ALL Thus it is that the Englisman in
trenches himself within his reserve;
the social equality which prevails in
France, and even IN more aristocratic
countries, being among US unknown.
In France, even under a republic, there
is less political liberty than In England;
but there is far greater amount of So
cial liberty, and the people, in. conse-
quence, are more free and more self-re-
speeding. Take, as a general example,
the manner in which nearly all classes
in France meet, if they do not mix, In
their ordinary life, in their recreations
especially. Along the boulevards you
will see curriers' taking their books of
beer next to some of the most preten
tious handles In Paris, men of rank per-
haps, of position certainly, and nobody
is so exclusive as to be annoyed by their
presence. Inside the restaurant and
cafe there is the same mingling and
there also You may see, not, perhaps,
ladies in the society sense of the term,
but sufficiently respectable members of
the sex, to which the most exclusive
ladies must belong, who are not at all
discomposed by the presence of their
humber neighbors, who play their
cards and dominoes in a saloon full of
mirrors and gliding, and consume their
cheap refreshments with a full sense of
having as much right to be there as
anybody else. Consider what would
happen in London, in, say, st. Janes's
Hall, if a couple of British workmen
took possession. of a table next to a par
ty of ladies and gentlemen eating Nea-
politan ices, called for two half-pints of
beer, and proceeded to discuss that bey-
erage in the interval of discussion of an
oral kind. Surprising that the waiter
served them, which he certainly would
not, the ladies and gentlemen would
feel highly scandalized and annoyed.
and would leave the house as soon as
possible. And not only would their
sense of the outward proprieties be in
vaded, but they would be influenced
somewhat by dread of the conse-
quences. Fer a couple of Englishmen
of the class in question would, I am
sorry to say, not be quite safe company
for ladies, even at another table. All
working-men do not get drunk, but
some of them do and it would be
quite on the cards that there would be
more beer ordered, and more after that.
and that the tone of the conversation
would not be suitable for ears polite
The British workman is a fine, manly,
honest fellow, but he has a broad way
of expressing himself, particularly af
ter little beer, and he is very apt t.
use words, in a perfectly harmless
sense, of a very offensive character. Ii
this respect he has his representative
among French workmen, the least civ
iized of whom do not venture int
mixed society, but it will be certainl..
found that the class generally in Franc
have great social superiority over tn
class generally in England Gentle
mans Friend