The Osceola times., 1880-06-05
Extravaganza.

The luxury Of the present day as far
exceeds tke luxury OF 1866 as the arts
which minister to the senses have gone
far beyond the invention and ingenuity
of that time. Never in the history of
this republic has wealth been able to
procure such an infinite variety of mat
ter to please the eye, adorn the person,
and tickle the palate as now. The
newly-rich man, who could have spread
his table in 1866 as rich man can
spread hisin 1880, would have so far out
shonc all his comrades that they would
have been ready TO die with envy. The
devices now employed for the display of
wealth were utterly unknown ten years
ago. "The newest thing" in what we
may call social art sets the town agog
only for a day. Tomorrow brings a
fresher and more costly invention to
spur the iaded fancy The trades hat
hive on the extravagant whims and the
vanity OF men and women thrive apace
Professional caterers say that there
never has been a season in New York in
which SO many costly dinners and simi-
lar entertainments have taken place as
that which has Just now passed. The
customary old-fashioned dinner party
has given place to what is called fete.
The guests sit down to a table which Is
AN elaborate work Of art. The decora-
tons and service are brought together
from the four quarters of the globe, and,
above all, they must be different from
any tmng ever seen or heard OF before.
There is limit to eating and drinking,
as well as to the variety of the provision.
E;ery social "rounder' knows the ever
lasting and invariable recurrence OF
oysters, soup, fish. roast, entrees, sorbet
and game. The changes are rung ON
these courses with needless multiplica-
ton and "damnable iteration" from
December 10 Easter, with scarcely a
pause for the pretended fasts of Lent.
But lack of novelty in the menu Is made
up by the prodlgality and gorgeousness
of table adornments. The bill of fare Is
painted on satin, and each guest is pro
yided with a souvenir of the iestivity
which takes the shape of work of deco
rative art. In some instances, as if in
despair of being able otherwise to outdo
the latest extravaganza, the guest is pre-
sented with gay knickknacks, artistic
trihes, and even articles of jewelry.
"Favors for the german" are made to
puzzle the good Sense of their recipients
with bits of costly bijouterie, the accep-
tance of which will make high-spirited
people blush with modification. Or at
some festivity the host, amid other ex-
rellent fooling, invests hls company with
crowns, robes, stars and garters, making
little carnival of what might have been
pleasant social reunion. Ladies' lunch
parties, or dJemGs as they are deli
cately called, are made to outvie the
heavier ieats of mere men, for the love-
liest of Gods creation refuses TO be dis
tanced in any possible extravaganza.
Children's parties are quite as sumptu-
Gus as those OF the grown people.
Though these may be held in the day
time, they must be under an artificial
light; and the tender darlings, who
should be nourished on simple food, and
dressed in comfortable attire, are decked
in silks and laces, bewiggled and becurl-
ed, diamoned, gloved and laced within
an inch of their lives" To these poor
little butterflies will be fei the same sort
of indigestible stuff which their elders
regale themselves withal. When these
wretched children are grown up, il they
survive this cruelty, life will have been
exhausted for them. They will squeeze
the orange dry before they are out of
eading strings.
Extravaganza is always yulgarizing.
The tendency of the time in which sem
suous pleasures dominate is inevitably
downward in respect to manners, morals
and real refinement. The painted, gid
ed, art-decorated and Notwithstanding
social extravagance of the present time
has nothing to commend it but the plea
that "it makes business for somebody,
and keeps money in circulation" But