Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-09-12
BETWEEN OURSELVES.


| the sfoolish fat scullon," they all speak of
each other and are called by the public prints
| gentlemen and ladies' 1t ia free country
and titles are prevalent. Az a people we may
be said to run to them. II 10 Colonel, and
Judge, and Captain endlessly until our nick
names and titles beget considerable derision
| for MS. Every man's letter is superscribed
| ESQ" or he is affronted. mr. as an alb
| breviation of Master and Monsieur, used to be
considered we'll enough to describe the kings
brother in France. ToEus it is humiliating
appellation, which we eschew as much as pos
sible.
Underlying all, and descriptive of all classes,
is the universal epithet, lady and gentleman.
It is an amiable republican weakness and q
perpetual expression of constitutional equal
ity.
Ladies' to the right of us, and gentlemen to
the left of us, until the enormous superiority
thickens into unpleasantness. Ladies in the
kitchen are more tenacious Of. their American
prerogative in this regard than those who hire
| them. The fact is laughable until it comes to
bloodshed, and couple of gentlemen" fight
to the death about couple of lady" chamber
q
at hate hour of the night with their murder
GUS gaIlants. The newspapers called them
| ''lalies" and gentlemen" as if it was the
most ordinary thing in the. world for that class
of representative peraons to be found in such
circumstances. The question would seem to
be mixed, and the good cid terms shorn of
their best significance, when they are banded
as loosely as this.
We all know that there are multitudes of
people who are called ladies' and gentlemen
without any more real claim to the distine-
ton than the lower down class, SO dubbed.
But 80 much the worse for them, too, when
some prosperous fate places them where all the
deficiencies of gentle breeding are mercilessly
exposed, and notwithstanding fine clothes,
and eveyy gorgeous setting money has created,
they are yet poor enough for pity. What then
can be said for the claims of those who have no
| basis, no leisure, no associations. to make
| them ladies and gentlemen in any worldly
sense of the terms7 OF course it is rank nom
sense, this inversion of names and dignities.
Every right-minded person is convinced Of it,
| The letter of democracy is rife in the lard.
but the spirit is scarce, even among politicians.
| The designation of lady and gentleman is
cheap, but the essence, the reality, is SO rare
that when you are pinned right
down to illustration in every day life.
You are astonished at the few persons
honestly qualified for the distinction in spirit
and in body.
| First, the body: What volumes the teeth and
finger nails are to the initiated. Even as Agas-
| -, f.orc a otro1 homo coul1 &rare an animal
through the ages, SO the condition of the teeth
and finger nails proclaims with much of the
same exactness the social status of the human
being .and the early influences of his existence.
p Apparel may oft proclaim the man. In some
countries it is useful in determining thu ques-
ton of caste. as in France. The wineshop is
| the club of the workingmRn who wears blouse,
while the cafe is the haunt of all men one de-
! gree higher in the social scale than mechanics,
| of those who ''wear coat az the saying is
among the French.
1t is the ambition of every artisan to ss"wear
| . coat" for in it he might pass muster as be.
ing gentleman, or at least man of means
and leisure. Cardinal Newman has defined the
gentleman. but is is rather the definition of an
Intellectual saint than the every day
| possibility of common flesh and blood. EN-
| erson and Wendell Phillips have each told us
about manners. and their best exemplars.
There is no halting of authorities, and the
| characteristics of gentleman are always
1 mapped ont in the same directions. Yet every
male American fondly believes that he is on
| exhibition each day of his life as the very
model Emerson and the rest are trying to show
| up. His intention may be good but the tooth
pick is in the way, or the spittoon, or his hat,
or fitting chair, and host Of inanimate
| things which illustrate what he is. Perhaps
he is best defined in the slang dictionary as
| s'Gent" which is given as "a contraction of
| gentleman in every sense. a dressy, snowy
man, with a little mind who vulgarizes the
prevailing fashion,"
| But of course this fits no one of our circle;
our set is exclusively composed of gentlemen
ethics like Chesterfield or Count
| D'Orsay. It is the other crowd whose &C
| qoaintances are lacking. They are the social
| inposters who do all the harm, and bring the
good old names. lady and gentleman, into
meaningless absurdity. At least, that's what
we think. if WEI do not always say it, while we
glow over the rechsrehe quality of our associates
But pity it is hat when we are challenged to
name ONE perfect specimens, we hesitate, de-
muir, and conclude with misgivings that they
are depressingly few.
| Time was when the word gossip meant in
honest Saxon. sponsor. Now it is utterly
swerved from that sense, and is degraded and
offensive. Perhaps the same innovation, OF
perversion is happening to the terms lady and
| and gentleman. It is not too much to suppose
that in view OF the rapid decentralization of the
meaning, the terms will in time become imper-
tinent-perhaps insulting as the word gossip
which was erewhiIe the responsible Ind repre-
sentative title of sponsor.
Before that ignoble doom comes upon these
dearly priced words it might be q salutary be
ginning to get used to the plain but very sig
ni6cant designations of man and woman. The
highest dignity in this wsrld cannot get be-
yond them, and in the next they alone will
hold good or bad for eternity. They are the
only titles the recording angel will recognize,
and it's just prudent to make them as valid as
possible. This peculiar peerage is open to all
in the development of essential worth, DIGNITY
| and truth.
At present we are thin-skinned and sensitive
! about the nee of these words, man and woman,
as being harsh and literal
1 - I'll: