The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-12-09
INCONSISTENCIES OF SOCIAL LIFE.

Jeweler watched one afternoon with amaze.
ment the proceedings of very common
looking woman buying, to use the phrase
ology Of the most enowned auctioneers,
regardless of expense" Rings, brace
/ lets, and earrings were selected with as
much carelessness as ordinary persons
might buy yards of ribbon, and his aston.
lShment grew when, on the shopman's pre-
pairing to wrap up the purchases with all
the dizziness of his calling, the customer
exclaimed: "Oh, never mind all that
BOTHER and opening a handkerchief
placed the goods within it, knitted the
ends together, pulled out bundle of 500
bills, paid the demand, nodded familiarly
to the man who had served her, and left
the shop. Inquiry proved this valuable
customer to be the wife of an Oreconian
lumber dealer who had made his pile"
and could afford his wife diamonds to any
amount.
Probably there are only two countries in
the world where such a scene could have
occurred-the United States and Austria
liza. The incident is an illustration of that
want of harmony which more than any
thing else in our social life strikes the OBJ
servant foreigner of the highest class, who
Is for the most part entirely ignorant of the
mode OF life prevalent among the lower
middle class in his own country and con.
sequently supposes that peculiarities he
observes among those who correspond with
it here are altogether except ,nal But
very similar traits, although less conspicu
Gus and pronounced, are certainly found in
England. Given a man rising from the
position of Il tradesman or a country attor-
ney to considerable wealth, much the same
lack of harmony will be found his sur
roupdpgs. For example, his table will
be alternately inferior and profuse. while
the plate placed upon it on gala DAYS
will be gorgeous, but probably vulgar in
design. The house will be gilded all over,
but the servants Inferior to those at the
rectory. where the whole income is 900 a
year. The contrast between the house and
the establishment is, however, decidedly
stronger here than there, and this, it must
be confessed. is not always confined to
merely nauredur riches There are estab
lishments in New York belonging to edu-
Gated people where, duly allowing for the
difficulties incidental to domestic arrange
ments, the appearance of the servants espe-
cially certainly presents a ludicrous incon-
gruity with the pretensions in other re
spects 1t is NOT very long since a gentle
men went one morning to present let
ter of introduction at a house in Madison
dred and fifty thousand dollars year. He
rang and rang. again. At length there ap-
peared dirty slattern, wiping on her
apron hands wet with soap suds. He pre-
scented his card, on which she impressed
her autograph, and leaving him standing
in the hall, disappeared. Presently she
returned, saying, shes busy and can't
see you" Now, the lady had in fact said,
"Give my compliments to the gentleman,
and say that very much regret that can
not see him this morning, but | am spe
cialy engaged" Again, the same want of
harmony is very common in the matter of
the table. If those persons who look envi-
ously at many of the great brown-stone
houses imagine that luxurious fare is al
ways to be had there, they may console
themselves with the reflection that they
themselves probably dine quite as well. A
lady who has a thorough knowledge of the
nj
cook who had lived with a family inhabit-
ing one of the largest houses in New York.
When she came to order dinner, the first
day after this treasures arrival, she said
that she would like some pea soup. The ,
artistic seemed bewldered Thinking that
she had perhaps expressed herself too bar |
barously for cordon bequ of the cuisine,
she put the order in French The bewil- |
derment was intensified, and the artistic
bnrted out, 81 don't know much about
soups, mum why, surely You made !
them at Mrs IS? "Oh, no, never" !
The lady raised her eye brows and passed |
on to the fish. Having carefully given her |
order, the rejonder was. Il don't know |
ublulnp dDouI HSN : w ny, WndI III me |
world did they have for dinner at Mrs. |
-s?, why, mum, you see there was
no regular dinner except early on Sundays |
Then sometimes there was roast beef, and |
sometimes boiled mutton. On other days |
the ladies just took lunch like and the
gentlemen only came home to tea She |
parted with the artistic The fact is that |
harmony in the formation of an establish.
menu is not to be learned i'll a day. People |
unaccustomed to wealth, who quickly be-
come possessed of it, no more perceive alb
sence of a harmoulzing whole than does a |
man who has no artistic taste discover the |
absence of 1t in statue or picture. Such |
persons cannot comprehend how utterly |
homogeneous are Narcotics furniture and |
Tiffany's costliest plate with an ill-assorted |
meal and a slovenly waitress. Yet there is
nothing in new country which more pain
fully CRATES upon the cultivated, whether
native of foreign. 1t is, in fact, this want
of harmony between the parts which helps |
to make 50 many rich, highly educated |
Americans absentees. They get to feel as
Europeans feel-that lady in clothes and |
Jewels worth $4,000 is SO utterly ridicu-
lous in concert with disappointed surround
lnss that they turn longIngly to Paris, and |
iiually are off. Sure the newly rich might |
condescend to follow rather more closely in |
the wake of those who have right to be |
regarded as good models, aud there are
many such here before their eyes. BY do. |
ing SO they would help to remove IA large
and painfully conspicuous blot on our social
life.
s8 The ways of the buffalo, as described
by travellers in the far West, are as strange
as those of the Heather Chlnee. If herd |
of these animals gets on the north side of |
a track, it will stand stupidity gazing,
though the locomotive passes within a !
hundred yards of it. But if two miles |
from the track on the south side, the whole |
herd is thrown into the widest commotion.