The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-03-28
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BELsHAZZAR.
rhc sign at the Feast in Washington
An Era Of Ostcmtn ton ana Ruin.

nc SIkH Nv NUe FeNst III
An Fra Of OstentatiOn ana Ruin.
From the Special Correspondent Of tho World
WASHINGTON, March IS. Nothing to
which the fall Of Secretary Belknap has
attracted the public attention SO de
serves it as that offensive and ridiculous
social plant called Washington society,
which has sprung UP since the close OF
the civil war, in which a large number
Of American men and women are
striving for nothing, giving themselves
up to nothing but riotous, ephemeral
luxury, revelry and show.
The Republicansm and Federalism Of
Washington s time was not lax in social
state and dignity. It was never marked
by promiscuous and vulgar intercourse.
In Jefferson Madison's Monroe's,
Adams, Jackson's, Van Buren's days,
incentives to responsibility and honor
were held out by the restrictions put
upon social intercl ursc between the peo-
pie and men and women in high station.
IGNORANCE, VICE AND TRvoLTY
were not offered the premium Of an easy
admission to the most distinguished So
cial circles, nor was every low politician
and place-hunter, or every gaud1ly-
dressed female adventurer, awarded the
honor Of crushing the Presidents hand
ut levees and soiling his wife's gloves
and good nature at the same time.
From the time Of Mrs. Washington S
arrival at New York, after her husband
inauguration as President, the extrava-
gance and dissipation in that city which
followed the war appears to have been
rebuked by her example. Surrounded
by that
CIRCLE OF BEAUTY, INTELLIGENCE AND WIT
which won for itself the appellation of
4 l. Il.
fine and gracious hospitality The din
ner given at the Presidents house the
day succeeding that Of her arrival is
described as the least SNOWY Of any
that Washington ever gave. The Presi-
dent said grace, and dined on boiled leg
OF mutton. After dessert one glass of
wine was offered to each guest, and
when it had been drunk Washington
rose and led the way into the drawing
room. Two days afterwards Mrs. Wash
ington held her first levec, the
President continuing to receive
every Tuesday afternoon. At
his own receptions the Father Of his
Country never shook hands even with
with a dignitied bow and passed on.
At Mrs. Washington's levees, ." he ap-
peared as private gentleman. convers-
ing generally with ladies'" A chronicle
OF that time says the levees and recep-
tons were numerously attended by all
that was fashionable. elegant or refined
in society, but There were no places
for the intrusion Of the rabblc in crowds,
or for the more coarse and boisterous
partisan. the vulgar electioneer." Mrs.
Washington was careful in her drawing
room to exact those courtesies to which
she knew her husband to be entitled.
Democratic rudeness had not then SO
far gained the ascendancy us to Danish
good manners. None were admitted to
tho levees but those who had either a
right by official station or by established
merit and character, and full dress was
required Of all. :"
Only II short while afterwards Els
worth wrote from New York to Olirer
WalcOtt (who had been appointed Audi
tor of the Treasury and was anxious
about the cost of living that $1,000 a
year ought to supply him and his family
THE EXAMPLE OF THE PRESIDENT
and his family" said Ellsworth, will
render parade and expense improper
and disreputable.
The home of Washington at Mount
Vernon was celebrated for hospitality
and taste Brissot, who visited there
before Washington was chosen to the
IIeSldeUCy, WIolcol ~ llllL everything
about the house has an air OF simplicity
the table Is good, but not ostentatious
and no deviation is seen from regularity
and domestic economy. She Mrs.
Washington superintends the whole.
and joins to the qualities Of
an excellent housewife the simple
dignity which ought to charac-
terize n woman whose husband has
acted the greatest part on the theatre Of
human affairs" On her return to this
charming home Mrs. Washington was
accustomed to speak Of the days of pub
lie life in New York and Philadelphia as
her lost days preferring home com
forts and seclusion A short time before
Washington's death her room was thus
described by Mrs Darlington 'On one
side sits the chambermaid, with her
knitting; on the other. little colored
pet learning to sew. A decent-looking
old woman is there. with her table and
shears, cutting out negroes winter
clothes; while
THE GOOD OLD LADY
directs them all, necessarily knitting
herself. She points out to me several
pairs of nice colored stockings, and
gloves she has just finished, and pre-
sents me with q pair half done, which
she begs | will finish and wear for her
sake"
Glimpses like these of the combined
elegance. simplicity and rigor Of high
life among men and women
from whom so many Americans are now
proud of their descent. are peculiarly
to-day. 1t would be well had
we even initiated the social virtues and
refinements Of the early American era;
we ought to have vastly improved upon
them. But, in fact, we have refrigerated
from such social standards in the cen
tres OF official power, and vt this day the
spectacle is presented of the best, most
learned, elegant and scrupulOus society
in the Union withdrawing itself into
lotteries in the various cities and towns.
association with many men
and women Of the loftiest public station,
and mingling occasionally in the routs
1t the national capital only as
CURIOUS AND CYNICAL LOOKERs-oN.
There is no partisanship, but there is
mere truth, in the assertion that the
vicious state of society at Washington
has grown directly and inevitably out of
! bad system Of political government.
The Government itself set the first ey
lmple Of spendthriftism in the wastefuI,
mad issue OF paper money. The plum |
ierers of the Government during the
var, of whom shoddy contractors were
he most conspicuous, spread the exam |
Die OF an ostentatious show Of their i'll |