The Democratic advocate., 1881-03-26
Our Olio.
Social Boston.

Social Boston.
There are many delightful people there,
but in general its society exhibits the or
gans of social nutrition in a state of ar
rested development. Manners are con-
strained, hospitality is too reluctant, and
! the women, with hundred times more in
! formation than their Southern sisters, can
not rival these in conversation. Among
the people best worth knowing there is a
temperate elegance of life which is admi-
rable; aud the presence of many persons
genuinely refined and almost free from the
local affectations, diffuses an atmosphere
of general good taste. But there is no
spontaneity, and not much warmth. Bos-
tonians know how to dine exquisitely, but
they do it with half clandestine air The
purely typical iuhabitant, you are convinc-
ed, is furnished with an icicle in place of
a spine, aud he is in terror if he thinks a
new person is really going to know him,
l have known the invitation, "You must
dine with me some day. coming from
persons otherwise apparently of good breed
ing, to remain in that form for years, with
out ever ripening into defniteness An
accomplished gentleman, now dead, who
had accepted the attentions of some friends
in another part ofthe world, dining, break
fasting, going to parties at their house,
which was opened to him as his own-on
meeting the lady of that house years after
ward 10 Boston, expressed himself delight
ed that she had come thither. He might
well be, for she was every way his equal,
and they had been on terms Of the most
agreeable and intimate friendship; but, by
way of showing his boundless aud hospita-
bic cordiality, he invited her to call as his
house on a Sunday evening after tea, when
his wife and himself would 20 with her to
church and give her place in their pew
This is hardly an extravagant instance.
\ morbid reserve, a eonteuted sei6shness,
aud distinctions set up with an arbitrari-
ness that is ludierous, hamper intercourse
at al points The social world divides
itself into a number Of air-tight compart-
ments If prophets are without honor in
their own country, all but few hundred
individuals 10 Boston should seem to be,
socially considered, prophets. Merit is
sometimes recognized more quickly here
than elsewhere, aud sometimes more slow
". Birth as a form Of merit is overesti.
mated Wealth, so far as my observation
goes though il eanno, open all doors any
more than it eau in New York, is quite as
important, as much worsiipped, as in that
metropolis, the mereenary tone Of which
the capital on the Charles affects to de-
spise. In the matter Of hospitality it is
true that the corporate dignity, already
mentioned as motive to conduct, some
times leads Bostouians to entertain stran-
gers especially foreign visitors With slid
cordiality aud consumma,e grace. But
as a rule they show no generous interest
in those Of their own kilh and kin who
have d0ne something noteworthy, some
thing which in New York or Washington,
or London, would lead to their being mod
erately sought for in agreeable circles
Such interest, at least, arises only after
very marked reputation has given these
persons definite conventional value. 1t
follows that between what calls itself by
distinction society, aud the literary world,
there is no intimate relation. "If We only
knew how to get at you literary people,
said one Of the leaders Of the fashionable
genealogical coterie, to an author whose
fame and habits made it far from labor
i0us task TO find him, I'VE should be run.
ming after you all the time. But the per-
sons who cherish this ardent longing con-
time to defer its qualification. They are
proud Of the city's fame in literature, and
some Of them even cherish amateurish am
bitions in the line Of writing or painting;
but the truth is that they look upon the
artistic world a triae askanee, Us a region
from which intruders should not be ad
mittsd with much freedom. \ gentleman
Of undoubtedly meritorious descent and
ample fortune, finding it needful on one
occasion to call upon q well-knOwn author,
announced afterward, with pleased sur
prise, "0h, he's gentleman; perfect
gentleman = Another member Of the
class usually recognized as aristoeratic sit
ting for his portrait to young artist of
great talent, who was not conscious of be-
ing pariah, said to him with a benevo-
Iencc that failed to draw out responsive
gratitude You're getting on now to
point where you ought to marry, should
think you'd look around for some young
woman IN your O'cR 'caM Of tte, and settle
dorn with her ri H0rnsr's Hg01-tys