Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-01-10
From the Philadelphia Times.

Fashionable Vulgariay.
From the Philadelphia Times.
Men and women exhibit more or less yulgarity
In all the various classes into which social laws
divide mankind. Many are measurably excusa-
bic for vulgarity. because they have had little
or no opportunity to become ANYTHING better;
but even among those who have been denied
the advantages Of culture or refining associa-
lions there are many who, however uncultured,
are never vulgar.
The vulgarity that is most conspicuous and
least eXcusable is that often ostentatously ex.
hibited by men and women who have enloyed
the advantages Of what they call the best cul-
ture and surroundings who claim to be gentle
men and ladies par excellence. Ii would be
most unjust To say that exhibitions of vulgarity
are common among cultivated men and women;
but 1t is undeniably true that some of the most
offensive exhibitions of yulgarity are made by
men ana women who assume TO be leaders OF
refined society.
One Of the most common and objectionable
vugarisms is that exhibited by fashionable men
and women at places of public amusement.
There is hardly week that some of our best
theaters are not disgraced by the brazen yul-
garity of fashionable parties. Sometimes they
occupy the boxes and by their loud and inces-
SAINT conversation and ordinations deprive q
full hundred quiet spectators from hearing or
enjoying the play. Sometimes they take q
prominent row Of seatsand disturb actors audi
ence and orchestra with their loud conversation.
vulgar criticism and more vulgar exhibition a
contempt for the better people around them.
Sometimes the yulgarity Is heightened by men,
miscaled gentlemen. who are intoxicated: not
too drunk, but just drunk enough to he enter
tanning to these women, mscalled ladies' and
excessively annoying to scores OF people around
them. Questionable people don't exhibit such
vulgarity, for the very good reasons that, as 9
rule. they have too much self-respect to be
guilty OF 1t and they would be admonished OF
ordered out by the ushers fthey so offended.
Another fashionable vulgarity exhibited at
places OF public amusement is one that IL COM
mon only in America. In Europe, no lady
permitted to enter theater or opera houA
wearing bonnet or hat that may I'm any degree
obstruct view of the stage by those who sit
behind them. In this country. and especially in
this city, II is not uncommon for a lady to wear
a fiarng hat or poke bonnet that practically for.
bids score OF spectators from seeing the stage
except by bopbing around the sides of the OBJ
structive head-gear. This nuisance is not con-
fined to fashionable people but well-brec
women should know that II is Extensively vul
gar, and II they would Danish the fiaring hat o.
bonnet, and appear at the theaters and at opers
In suitable head-dress, the imitators Of fashion
would speedily follow them I'm the reform II lie
simply an exhibition of vulgarity for an inteli-
gent woman to appear In public with hat or
bonnet that fnterferes with the enjoyment Of
those around her. Respect for others. high or
low, Is the first attribute or the gentleman or
lady, and any violation of the rule In public or
private, is simply yulgarity.
Another exhibition of fashionable vulyaritv
may be hourly witnessed I'm our street cars dur.
Ing the portions OF the day or night when fashion
able women are passengers. Not one-half the
s0-caled ladies' who expect gentlemen To sur
render seats to them I'm crowded cars are sum-
GENTLY well,bred to thank the gentleman who
n Gva lox-c pr,aho Nh
market-wOman and the toi-bent washwoman
will give thanks which are Enthusiastically sincere;
but the lady who affects to be of better blood
and culture in many cases poses az the embOdI-
ment of vulgarity 10y accepting gentlemane
seat without the decency of a courteous ac-
acknowledgements. So much have men been Of
Tended 10y this form of vulgarity, that many re-
fuse TO tender such courtesies TO women because
the civility is not recognized 10y those to whom
1t Is extended. There can be no truer test of @
lady than In crowded car or theater. The vul-
gar VIII always be vulgar; the refined will al
ways be refined and courteous and void Of Of.
Tense to even the humblest about them.
IN
The Advantages Of Dyspepsia.
Carlyle, like Johnson and Swift. had pow
erful, but dsordered, body. which from youth to
old age never seems to have given him day Of
serene joyous health. Dyspepsia. his malady
was called, but it must have been of q peculiar
kind, involving the whole nervous system The
slightest noise hindered him from sleep. which
he sometimes could not obtain for three weeks
together He describes his suferings. as might
be expected, with graphic force-a sensation as
y rat gnawing at the pit of his stomach" his
nerves all infamed and torn up: body and mind
in most hag-ridden condition. After a tourney
he says he felt like ''mass Of dust and infiam-
matory ruin" He speaks of six weary months
of which he can remember nothing but AGO
nized nights and days-of having suffered the
pangs of Tophet almost daily: that his torrents
were greater than he was able to bear. Neither
carefulness as regards diet nor constant exer-
else seems to have done much more than mlti-
gate his suferings. Yet he was powerfully
built and really very strong, capable of enduring
much bodily fatigue and such protracted mental
labor as few could surpass. He never seems to
have been acutely and dangerously i'll. but was
always ailing and suffering. a condition for
which people with stout and rather blunt ner-
yous organizations have often imperfect sym-
pathy and comprehension. 1t Is by no means
the most dangerous illnesses which are always
the most painful. Car;yle's maladies. no doubt
seriously affected his temper. which may well
have been somewhat tart and hasty TO begin
with, and his irritability has become prOverbial,
a serious defect which. with one or two Others,
we shall have to consider presently. But still
worse result Of his ill-heaIth was the settled
gloom and dependency in which he habitually
lived-another well-known effect OF gastric dis
turbance. Probably with radiant health he
would have been a melancholy man; his mind
was naturally somber and disposed to seek the
darker side OF things. Even before dyspepsia
appeared, when he was a lad not 10, in the first
letter of his which las been preserg ed, we find
him speaking OF this '-dirty planet" i'm a style
worthy of his atrabilious moods Of later years.
II this was his sentiment when In health, wbet
could be expected when he fell into chronic
disease? That which really happened. The most
profoundly wretched and cheerless spirit to DO
found i'm history or literature. Carlyle lived ina
cavern of black thoughts only lit mp by occas-
iOnal CLEANS of fantastic humor which served
but to show the vastness of the pit In which he
dwelt. Never does he seem to have been
visited by q ray of warm, genial sunlight
James Golfer Morrison, in Macnaslans Maya
zine.
A LEGISLATOR CHARGED WITH ArT.nPrED BKI.
BERY.-The New York assembly committee fnves-
t1gatng contested election cases was on Monday
the case OF Michael J. Coney. VINO
clains to have been elected IN the NTH district OF
Kings county 70 the seat now held by Thomas J.