New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-08-14
TIE APOTHEOSIS or DRY C0ODS

TIE APOTHEOSIS OF DRY GOODS.
Blessed be dry goods Nobody can On into
hotel, railway car, or steamboat cabin in
these days when all the world is out of doors.
without discovering the enormous part which
they play in the lives of IA certain class of
Americans. Dry goods are the basis and sign
OF their aristOcracy. Dresses from Worth and
rivers of diamonds take the place which coats
ot arms ana ola mansions serve in England or
the Continent. How convenient tool Your
claim TO consideration and patent of nobility is
packed up Ill your trunk and can be produced
az any moment. Genealogical trees are not to
Oc carried about IN the pocket 10 awe the pas-
SehgerS IN II railway train, and as Tor genius
ana learning and good breeding, though these
Jules To social rank are personal and portable
passengers IN railway trains do not always
recognize them when they see them. The
greatest saint or philosopher or the brst-bred
man In the States may be that shabby little
fellow III the back seat whom the conductor
bangs familiarly the back rs he shouts
Ticket" But s. b. Flagg ESD of Flagg-
vile. and lady" out on their wedding tour.
splendid in jewelled shirt buttons. gold -tipped
crutch cane and travelling dress of marvellous
velvet and satin, he will not bang them ON
the back! Everybody understands the Jewels
and hnery which the Fiaggs parade in hotel
parlors and on the street. They are necessary
as the index to the money behind. which is
their one soisl social foundation. The Flagrs
and their class are sure that the world cf hotels
and street is anxious to know what is tbcIr
social foundation. But there are times when
one would suppose they would not trouble
themselves to assert their money. When Flagy
dies, for instance it is not Ia be supposed that
God and the dead whom he has gone To meet
are much concerned about his social position.
Yet the time of laying the dccayng body out of
sight Is the hour of supreme triumph for dry
goods with this class in America. The flowers
the lines OF carriages, the sweeping trains of
mourning. There is Il balm, a consolation in
the outlay Tor these things which asSuages- the
heehest grIei IN the bosom of a feminine Flagg.
wedding with people of refinement is of all
seasons the one when the pecring curiosity of
the public or n display which would attract
mat NOTICE., Is most obnoxious and most care
fully shut out. But in the Flaggs's class thero
are no weddings; they are alliances We read
now and then with awe and envy the details OF
one of these great social Events in the ncwspa-
pers. Particulars are invariably furnished by the
hlgh contracting parties to the newspapers
They are usually especially strong in statistics
*
given of the mansion in which the brides
father resides Gar he it from such pcople to
live III a house. The mansion from base 10
great overshadowing dome shines at the hour
of the nuptials with 10000 lights of varying
hues. Al imposing spectacle of 10000 spec
tators surgng for six long hours, is seen outside
the IRON ratings; the gifts amount to s 90 900
ten gigantic pyramids of cake and flowers
IN ol,ra. Ia
coloredD servants attended the guests and the
assistance Of 100 white laborers was required
To arrange the grounds. a Gordon of 40 DO
liccmen kept back the surcng masses from the
1000 invited guests Sometimes the display
leaves this sordid mathematical basis and soars
into regions of spendor, half Asiatic and half
Chcagoan. We hear that the hall in which
the wedding takes place was CONVEX ted into a
Moorish temple, a glorious lath and wall noner
Alhambra; Egyptian elnbroiderers are aston
ished by imposing designs furnished by Mr..
Jones, OF Grand Rapids elephant heads and
date-palms as large rs life are arranged under
the direction of Thompson, of Detroit utterly
regardless OF cost; the very newest dados. pot
teres and drapcres are imported from Asia
and Europe; it is the very elimination and
triumph of dry goods.
Now, why is all this The people who Tins
frantically display pretcntous clothes to call
attention to themselves in hotels and ears. are
at heart not lacking in the good sense and deem
feeling which go so far to make ND what we
call good taste. These young people who are
going to marry have probably much real deli
cate feeling in the matter, and know that il
should be sacred and quiet point in life; why
should they go to such enormous expense in
order to make it topic for discussion in the
papers and by the vast curious public outside
who read the papersf Simply because the
Flaggs or society are not old enough nor cul-
tured enough to have outgrown the belief that
they and their fortune and their deaths and
their marriages are the objects of supreme in
tcrest to all the world. The question is how
many of us are Flaggsq Every man and every
woman's affairs inevitably appear to them
selves of the highest Importance, but how MANY
of us have good breeding enough to keep that
conviction out of sight7 A leader in society
laughs ut the diamonds and ovcr-dressipp of
her neghbors, and then inflcts a history of her
baby's collie OF her opinions of tho scenery mon
the dinner-ts.ble. What do all these people
care for her baby or her opinionsf 1t il th 9