The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-10-29
DscADsxCE or sSGLsu ,ooIsrx.
Hn..sr-itty Promoted ~ sbc Fripce Of Wales
-vtce Rsmpspt IN the Hisbess Circles.


Vice Rampant IN the Htfheet Csrcfeo-
sSom the LONDON World.
Twenty years ago the Court Of Great
Britain was the admiration and envv ~ Europe,
the centre OF Influences which diffused through
all classes OF our population a sslutary aod an
tnviRoratine ieaven. The Queen and the Prince
Consort lost no opportunity Of gratifying the
people by their appearance IN public, and OF
identifying themselves with all the benehoent
social movements Of the day outside the do
main Of politics. On the other hand, the nc
fnttne OF Windsor and OF Buckingham Palace
was known to be model OF domestic excel
lence. TIE result was that the happy mean be-
tween court such as that described for us by
Madame dAtblsy and q court exclusively de-
voted to pleasures snd p leesnts was exactly re-
alixed The sovereign Of Great Britain has q
soleun duty to discharge. In not only gratifying
the nation. but In presenting 1t, on other oooa-
sions than those OF state, with a sp ectscie that
shall st least be ooDsonant with the most pre-
cious traditions OF Its domestic existence.
The Prince OF Wales, II Is now abuudantiy
clear. is incapable OF forming any estimate OF
the duties OF royalty which would at ali conflict
with the pursuit OF his pleasures or tbe indui-
eenos Of his whims. ne works hard. 1t is true
that Is. he appears successfully to have solved
the secret OF perpetual motion. He will travel
night and day to vi ,dden tho public with
Co the utmost system which seems almost Inn
pervous to fatigue. Restless excitement has
become a necessary condition Of his existence.
When his Roysl Hlehness ret,vned from India,
after State dinner. he at once rushed on TO the
0pesa and when, TIE other Gay ne came 70
Immediately to the Promenade Concerts at
Covent Garden. Such an example naturally has
tic life OF Wilton the English Court oDoe
model. and which was ono OF tue chief safe
guards Of the ma ional character.
entering
the period Of middle life, the Heir pparent is
so far as all the acts OF conduct, all the Rraver
qualities Of character are oopcorned-tbe same
self-indulgent, good nat,red, well-mannered.
uncontrolled, and uncomfortable young man
oeption. that ne Is young no longer. In the
present day mon live more swiftly. and aRe
Prince Of Wales cannot, by the mos, violent
stretch OF imagination, DO credited with the at
tribute OF Juyenility Yet he has reiinquished
none OF hts boyish pastimes. The old jokes,
the old indiscretioos, still please him as much
as ever. lie scours Europe In quest OF them he
rushes from an island TO q ointment to vtry
their external form; he selects his companions
and his intimates In the same hapbazsrd and
impulsiyely lish m amer a. a lad at sch ooi TO
whom duty is an unreal sound, and the proptie-
Nothing could be Less TO he desired than thai
Marlborough House should tie tue resort Of
spsotsclsd savaDts. narrow pedaDts, and book
pected that IN the interest OF the public some
attention should be paid to those who are the
q
quarter In which nothing can be hid from the
public eve. 1t might at least have been thought
that he Prince. who Will prob, bly, be, some day
or other, King OF England, would have by this
tine arrived at the conclusion that the pleasant
~ OF wine-dusbed subaiterns and the practical
tests OF undergrad yates at the end OF the term
did not become the dignity Of the midde-sged
heir OF the oldest, tue most illustfious. and the
most powerful monarchy in the world. II might
at least havo been anticipated that ~ guided
youths, who, without fear, are yet scarcely
hall Ia AT a gar0 IN MIR
ties Of Chlswick. the guests OF the other sex
should be proof against the shafts OF Islander.
tached wives, and frisky matrOns, whom. for the
cake OF his own reputation aud that Of his fam:
lily. no person of the upper middle class would
venture TO invite to his house.
The tone Of society is determined BY the con-
duct OF liza women. IL wife Is what her hus-
band makes her-a doctrine that at least admits
OF discussioD-the moral atmosphere OF the
drawing room and OF all places OF fashionable
gathering Is what English wives ana daughters
choose thai It shall be. Tho mothers Of Eng-
Iish girls cannot complain tn 4 they are without
the model OF a perfect motherhood. Deeply as,
on public grounds, IL Is to be trusted that the
day may be far distant when the PRINCE Of
IL not less earnestly TO DO hoped that English
women may not have lost the spectacle Of the
personal and domestic character OF their = Ieen
before they have roapcd from IL u larger mea-
sure Of profit. How lar distant even yet is the
oav when English mothers will decline to nur-
ture their w hters am I'd associations OF IN oral
mischiefs II not OF moral pOllution-when they
will recognize that there can he no more certain
manner OF iDsuring and acceleratiug their de-
pravation OF character than 10y introducing
them. while yet they arc the merest children,
into an atmosphere taiuted with the breath OF
scandal. and poisonous With the subtle inslira-
tiUn OF vice-Dy tenehIng them, both by precept
ana examule, when they have Yet scarcely
emerged from the nursery, the dangerous co.
quetries Of adolescence and the more pcrlous
tastLess Of maturity Marriage Is the destined
end OF woman, Just as theatres are made to be
burned ana ships TO be wrecked. IL would,
therefore, perhaps he unreasun !bie TO protest
against the painfully apparent frequency with
winch the m ttimoniil necessity Is tnculcated
into the childish mind, against tue offensive pa
rade 1T preposterously 6edecKed and bedizened
iIfints often seen IN London drawing rooms
and public places. in order that they may watch
their elders carry on the risky game Of Imitation.
Who can wonder that the sentiment of feml-
nine reverence is extinct In the manly heart,
when mothers do their utmost To sap the fOun-
cations Of mHidenIy shame2 Who G IN wonder
that young men and old men IN society talk with
the same freedom on much tue same subjects,
though with more fopperies OF phrase. To their
femae connd ntes In London ami county house
drawing rooms as the ApollOs Of music nails to
-Le Hebes OF the bar or that women, married
and unmarried, receive a. their most favored
guests men whose lives are VIGOROUSLY those OF
professed libertines2 VINO, we ask, can worder
at this, when the pLinciple whicn mothers in
ssil into the MIND Of girlhOod. long before girl
mood has left It's ROverness, Is that blush. save
when II adds TO the charm OF complexion, Is the
sign OF ndurdls ton, aud that 10 be shocked ~
sensation unknown outside the region Of
prudish hypocrtsy2 Who can wonder that girls
grow uptO womanhood with ilno contempt for
modesty. wnen they are tadght from infancy to
WORSHIP and angle Tor men to whom modesty Is
superstition ana purity shdmY Lastly. who
can wonder that these gifls make bad wives
and worse mother when the conjugai counsel
Is "A combination OF the maternal advice. and
their lords aud masters tell them to scOri orit-
cism and DEFY scandal II they can make their
rivals jealous by winning the temporary favor Of
an exalted personage1
Where Is tho mother to be found who will lay
her veto upnn the present style of feminine
costume. which appears T. be designed for no
other purpose than Uf displaying the lnes and
curves OF the feminine figure, ana which, To
judge from the shauhllng gait inseparable
from Its Gus, neutral zes the attractions Of in
cecency by Ungrdctfulness OF movements 50
long IA English mothers encourage or permit
their daughters 10 dress IN n style suggestive
equally OF the ser Clio and Muoillc-the oda-
li,que aud the grset,e-they may reflect that
they are doing their utmost to depraye the
society Of their own and OF "A future day. 80
long as they stimulate the discussion among
themselves ana their daughters aud their
daughters admirers Of themes which twenty
years ago no decent person would have dared
To name IN drawing room so long as they
allow their daughters to frequent resorts
whether undesirable waternR-places or even
more undesirable skating rInks-wh here all that
Is coarse and vulgar In mankind comes to tho
front as naturally IA scum rises TO the top Of the
water-they IRE doing their best To secure for the
husbands and children OF tho future, mothers
who will make the name OF home the symbol
not OF blessing but curse.