The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-03-05
wAsHIEGroE NEWS.
How Lent is Observed la Washington
Religion Fine Art-"ErOin Grave
to Gay"

How Lent is Observed la Washington
Religion as a Fine Art-"s'rOin Grave
To Cay
Frcm Oar Gegulsr orresr ondent.
WASHINGTON, Feb. %, 1880.
Although we are in tile midst of Lent,
there seems to be only pretended sns-
pension Of gayety. There is. of course,
stricter observance Of the forms of re-
ligion- The orthodox young lady will
leave her bed at Z O'Clock in the morn
ing, after having entered ii three hours pre-
vIously dead tired with ball, and, after
a hurried toilet, will go out into the chill
damp air, thai she may be present at
morning service. In The fashionable
west end, the milkman going hs~early
rounds is sure to encounter succession
of these fashionable nymphs, perform
ing the pilgrimage to the altar on foot,
and carrying two ur three devotional
books in her hands Husbands and
lovers are snoring between the sheets.
while she is on her knees in the dim
religious light Of church. The act is
one Of pcrance, and she is profoundly
convinced of its efficacy. Tie pefsever-
ance with which this custom is observed
suggests considerations on which the
Fmoraiist might have good deal 10 say.
Slfe-aiheisls who have years and ugliness
ON their side may scott to their hearts
content, but if Suppho would keep her
self unspotted from the world, she must
be content with proclaiming her skcpti-
cism in her rhymes. and observe her
I Lent most scrupulously.
This truth has been consistently acted
upon at all ages of the church; and The
six penitential weeks that Ne are now in
the mids; of are celebrated in many po-
lite circles with show Of devotion
: which, proves oonclusively how wei re-
ligion as 70 fine ari is understood n the
present day.
= Entertainments and supper parties, al
> which Lucullus or Apicius might have
assisted-luxurious entertainments of all
kinds are ofnigh,ly occurrence. Anoth
! er NJ Daupiin might arise to write Z
5 fresh essay upon the "tHf9 etre.e dc,
: tsmnlcs," and it would no longer be il
t Paris. but in Washington, that his sting
ing sermon would have To be preached
10 unhecding ears Many of the fashion
=, able and dazzling beauties OF Washing
ton represent in each case an eXpend
. !ture upon their toilets of thousands O
dollars, "us they stand up in q ballroom
while, simultaneously, the shops Of Nj
r Gait aud of Mr.. Semkcu, the chef jewel
i ers of the capital, are crowded by cage
e purchasers of diamonds, emeraldz an,
sapphires Fortunes. lightly accumulai
II ed, are nowhere spent more Lightly thai
d in the United States; and the hun
:; Of prosperity. which began u max
ri Itself distinctly heard ono
Il more in October last la
led, naturally, to that "cnter,ainmer
n boom" which "a, This lRomcnt occupie
Washington to the exclusion of unwc
come thoughts about The lnany toiier
white and black, who, throughout III
. length and breadth of the Great Repul
> lie, but in far more literal seise, are
the sad condition of Miss F!oi0 McFlin
- sy whn rhad nothing 10 wear" To sd
Is and sober minds ihp thought migl
occasionally occur that, us AIistot
Il prophesied more than twenty centuri
- ago, democracies have an irresistib
tendency 10 merge into plutocracies, ar
s that the existence of opulent families
in Republican states leads naturally, in
ly few generations, to craving for mo
10 archial institutions with their enEobiiI
81 titles, their aristocratic distinctions, an
&C as Thomas Jefferson phrased it, Wi
tt, the tinsel and glitter of the etfete o
~ World.