Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-12-31
Oscar BunkOed.


The details of the affair are few but
painful. He waspieked up on Broad
way by pseudo Englshmen, who
professed themselves admirers Of the
sun,fower and the stork, were apt in
posing, and were of course old but
forgotten acquaintance in England.
They ingratiated themselves into
Oscar favor, and SO grew upon him
that soon their companionship be,
came a very symphony of delight to
him. At last they wheedled him in
to a brilliant and festive hall of
pleasure. He INDUCED in a
little game, purely esthetic
at first, and eventually
SO wildly enhancing that he went in
deeper and deeper until he had lost
all his available money, and at last
drew a check upon his banker for
$1,000, part of the proceeds Of his
lectures to lorn, lank maldens with
clingipg gowns. He finally, in uns
esthetic language, tumbled to the
little game, shot out of the gilded
halls batless, and with his long hair
streaming to the winds and his long
coat>t; lis flying so horizontally that
two of his English friends declared
they could have played a game OF
seven,up ON them he made for his
banker to stop payment on the check,
But what excuse can be made for
Oscar, who has set himself up as an
oracle of Instruction for the Ameri~
can people? He found everything
wrong in this blarsted country as
soon as he arrived, and he at once
took US under his patronage, and in
private and in public lost no ofpor
tunity In correcting our manifold
faults. He has shown the young
| woman how to dress, and walk, and
talk, and in the process has reduced
some of them to condition not far
removed from lunacy. He has shown
maturer women how to decorate their
rooms with symphonies of color and
soulful arabesques of design, how
to set forth their tables SO
that guests may sup on the sight
of lily, and fill their stomachs with
contemplation and other fodder as
unsubstantial as the east wind. He
as taught men how to build houses,
and stores, and churches, and halls,
and how to paint them. He has cor
rected all our artistic notions and
adapted our canons to the bases OF
the lily and the sunfower. He has
exposed the faults of the theatre, of
the opera, and of fashion. He has
corrected our poetry and our prose.
He has indicated the weak spots in
our form of government. He has
shown up the Atlantic Ocean as a
fraud, Niagara as mere plunge OF
RotRy MDdhta1Gs'as Waiting IN that
harmony of outline which invests
elevations with ravishingly esthetic
ensemble.
It is a little pathetic that this
apostle of the beautiful, who has SET
himself up as the mentor of the
American people, and has sought tc
shed the light of his theories and
cano, 5 upon their ignorance, shoult
hiinse If have been captured by til,
bunko steerer, and to be seducec
from the paths where the lilies gros
and sunfowers blow, and only IL
ravishingly beautiful spreads itsel
out in constantly,shifting symphonie'
into the den of gilded allurements
OF what use or value are all hil
theoris of the good, the true, anc
the beautiful if they cannot preserv,
him from tie temptations of the bun
ko man, who is neither, good, true
nor beautiful? With all his knowl
edge, Oscar hereafter should onl,
trust himself among the lorn, lanl
maids with the clinging gowns, an,
content himself with their admira
ton and worship. They will not de
ceive him. Let him hug his mantle
piece and pose in rapt attitude, Will
the medieva maidens hover abou
him and contemplate the symphoni
sunfower. There is safety for hin
with them. While we sympathiz
with him in the loss of his money
we cannot but regard the chuckline
satisfaction of Teddy, the Kid, as b,
relates to his companions how b
took in ''the hesthetic cove, yo1
know" with something like feeling
of personal revenge, as we recall tn
manner in which the victim has hel,
Americans up as ignoramuses.