The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-03-05

Correspondence OF The True Northerner.

Correspondence or The True Nortnernor'
Although we are IN the midst OF Lent, there
seems to be only pretended suspension OF
gayety. There is of course stricter observ-
ance OF the forms OF religion. The orthordox
Young lady will leave her bad at o'clock in
the morning, after having crept into 1t three
hours previously dead tired with ball, and,
after hurried toilet, will go out in the chill,
damp cir, that she may be present at morning
service. In the fashionable West End, the
milkman going bis early rounds is sure to en-
counter succession OF these fashionable
nymphs performing the pilgrimage to the
altar on foot, and carrying two or three Gevo-
tional books in her hands. Husbands and
lvvers are snoring between the sheets, while
she is on her knees in the dim religious light
Of church. The act is one OF penapce, and
she IS profoundly convinced OF its efficacy. The
perseverance with which this custom is observed,
suggests considerations on which the moralist
might have good deal to say. She-atheists,
who have years aud ugliness on their side, may
scott TO their hearts content, but il Sappho
would keep herself unspotted from the world,
she must be content with procaiming her
skepticism in her rhymes, and observe her
Lent most scrupulously.
This truth has been consistently acted upon
at all ages OF the church; and the six peniten-
tial weeks that we are now in the midst Of, are
celebrated in many polite circles with show
OF devotion which proves conclusIvely how well
religion as fine art is understood at tho pres
ent day.
Entertainments and supper parties, at which
Lucullus or Apicius might have assisted, luxur-
ious entertainments of all kinds are Of nightly
occurrence. Another NJ. Dupin might arise to
write fresh essay upon the "ture e6rene DIES
tea,mes," and 1t would no longer be in Paris
but in Washington, that his singing sermon
would have to be preached to unheeding ears
Many of the fashionable and dazzling beauties
OF Washington represent in each case an ex-
penditurs upon their toilets OF thousands OF
dollars, las they stand up in ballroom
while, simultaneously the shops OF Mr.. Gait
and of MIR. Semken, the chief jewelers. OF the
Capital, are crowded by eager purchasers OF
diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires. Fortunes,
lightly accumulated are nowhere spent more
lightly than in the United States and the hum
OF prosperity, which began to make itself dis
tlnctly heard once more in October last, has
led, naturally, TO that entertainment BOOM
which, at this moment, occupies Washington to
the exclusion OF unwelcome thoughts about
the many toilers, both white and black, who,
throughout the length and breadth Of the
Great Republic, but in far more literal sense,
are IN the sad condition OF Miss Flora Nc
Flimsy, who chad nothing 10 wear" To sad
and sober minds the thought might occasionally
occur that. as Aristotle prophesed more than
twenty centuries ago, democracies have an
irresistible tendency to merge In plutocracies,
aud that the existence Of opulent families In
Republican States leads naturally, In few
generations, to craving for monarchial insti-
tutions with their ennobling titles, their aristo-
cratic distinctions, and, as Thomas Jefferson
phrased it with the tinsel and glitter OF the
effete Old World.