The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-09-18
BLUE Blood" vs.. Common Sense.


| Enthusiastically discussed by idlers, are
very like the gushes of admiration
which pour forth from empty-headed
people who pretend to admire all the
old paintings of the still older galleries
/ in Europe | confess that | have found
/ it impossible 10 adore an ancient pic
| ture representing a distorted woman
standing OH the tips of her toes, merely
/ because it was named after n saint by
the perpetratOr. Neither can I fall
upon my knees metaphOrieally or other
wise, before men or women who happen
| to be nobody in particular, but who are
constantly endeavoring to raise the
ghosts of respectable ancestors in order
/ to strengthen their social positions.
! Not long ago | met an attenuated
woman with a sharp face, small chin,
receding forehead, pale-blUe watery
eyes, thin fiaXen hair, and long white
characterless hands, who owned nothing
on earth except an ancestry-and has
band who had married her for her posi-
/ tlOn.
When he asked for her helpless little
bony fingers, he had money and energy,
! but he did not possess sufficient pa
/ tience to wait until he could earn pO-
sition for himself. As everybody is
wanting in something, he lacked that
] SolilGtllliA8f anu lNiAAitu lAii5 hDlIdil
with an ancestry. In the first place she
| impressed him with the belief that She
was stepping down from an exalted
/ height, and that it would take n life
| time of self-sacrifice on his part to COM
pensate her. She began at once to
adorn her position in the most splendid
manner in order to enforce upon her
blue-blooded friends the idea that she
/ had sold herself at high figure, and
| the result was that her liege lord began
after i few years to look as blue Is she
did. He could not keep up with her de-
mands upon his gratitude, and he soon
began to discover the uselessness of the
thing that was eating his life out.
Having spent some time in arriving at
my initiatOry idea, l now hasten 10 say
that it is this sort of female on one side
of the pathway of life, and the newly
rich, coarse and vulgar one on the other
side, who frown upon usefulness in
womans career.
1t is said that q clever detective can
tell any mans occupation by observing
him as he walks the street. Being my
self professional observations" /
find that | can recognize the idleTs
among women in all the various classes
of life. 1t is an easy matter to distin-
guish the gorgeously dressed, red-faced,
Great iAb mus II lill lio5-
sible to work because Of indulgence in
the luxuries of the table, from the blue
blooded female vino thinks il her inner
ent right to loaf the world through. In
. fact, any one can discern the latter by
. unmistakable signs of physical inferior
> ity, and generally by a shabby gentility
/ which emphasizes the shabbiness while
= it fails to enhance the gentility.
Either of these two classes would con-
slider 4 gentlewOman disgraced who be-
came in any manner seryiceable to her
self or family. When such women are
not misery, they are almost certain
eventually 10 come to poverty. If this
misfortune befalls the family, they turn
their pointed noses toward Heaven the
moment there is any suggestion made TO
them regarding the usefulness of femi-
nine digits. Indeed, they appear to i'm
agine that hands are intended as mere
ornamental appendages, and to entirely
! overlook the fact that they are ingenious
constructions for mechanical purposes.
These kinds of people prefer 10 wear
antiquatcd finery rather than to adopt
any of the modern ideas regarding the
reconstruction of old garments. | once
met n blue bloOded creature who bitterly
lamented her lack of means to purchase
a new gown, while she eXulted in the
possession of closets full of sumptuOus
but dfashiOned apparel.
"Why don't you remake the hand
some costumes >" | said.
I al have no money TO pay the cos
tumer,n she replied, in manner which
expresseda as distinctly rs words, 'If you
are generous enough to offer me the
money, | am willing to honor you by
! accepting it,"
| did not tender currency, but like
! advice. / told her how She could do it
for herself, and you should have seen
e her lofty airs, though the blue-blOOd did
. not mount to her forehead, because it
was too weak to get up there. She in
formed me that she was not the kind of
z lady who would be likely to know about
! such plebeian resources, since her life
> had not been spent in performing men,
ial services either for herself or any one
; else.
a "Certainly God did not make such a
> mistake rs to intend you only for an
: ornament to His EARTH" my saucy
tongue blurted out almost involun-
> tarily. "Ifyou choose to represent blue
: blood in shabby attire, have not the
: least objection; | told you where you
e could find suggestions, which coupled
e with a little industry would make you
! somewhat resemble a lady, instead of a
: burlesque on one of Mrs. Jarley's wax
e works" To my surprise color not al
together blue, came TO her face, as
: turned my back upon the hopeless idiot.
4 This is one of the women who furnish
y material for cynical men to write sneer-
Q ing epigrams upon our sex.
: The other sort, the vulgar, ostenta-
u tious specimens of ignorance, also afford
!, such critics amusement, but thank
q Heavenl between these two varieties
u walk the grandly good, the useful, the
e gracious women who are tender and true
in their households, loyal to their friend.
{ aud to their convictions, and whom all
Z men honor.
The millennium ofwOman will be wher
she is able and willing to do anything
: which her duties or her necessities de
mand, with as answering a fidelity tC
IS her conscience and regard for the rights
II Of others, rs should be her faith in God
or her love for her children.
BEECHER's CHuDREN.-Alr. Henry
e Ward Beecher, the pastors eldest SON
p is living with his family In his fathers
e house on the Heights. He is i'm the in
u surance business in the firm OF Beechel
X * Benedict, on Court street, Brooklyn
Is He is past thirty, and was n colonel il
y the late war. The second son, William
3 is a Yale graduate, about twenty-thret
% years old, and studying in Brooklyn
"a law office. Herbert is eighteen, and i
the youngest Of the family, and is al
undergraduate of Amherst College. Tn
ri only dauQhter is Mrs Harriet SpOviiIe