Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-04-25
DUDES, CADs AND BOYS.


From the New York Tribune.
Some OF our contemporaries have been vast
ing good deal Of breath latelyin signing over
the decadence OF the yOuthbf America. A
foreigner would infer from their lamentations
that our yOung men were all. In the slang OF
the day either Dudes OF Cads OF Boys Perhaps
it would be as well for the benefit OF the non
slang using classes of the United States to state
that Cad is an importation, being an English
word and thing nearly synonymous with the
snob. whom Thackeray delighted to torture
He is vulgar minded fellow in any rank who
makes pretence5 to position and breeding to
which he has no claim. He is the iackdaw in
peacock's piumes, the impostOr wearing the
stolen clothes Of gentleman over an unwashed
skin He is the shop-clerk who brags of in
timacy with the tony swells" of Murray Hill;
he is the youth of Murray Hill who affects
familiarity with foreign dukes and princes But
the butchers boy or the day-larbOrer who is
sensible genuine and self-respecting is no cad.
The Dude is an indigenous American growth
He is usually rich. partially educated. with nice
little tastes. tie appreciates himself too intensely
to become an imitator. and he is sufficiently
well-bred to know that all display and ciamorous
pretense are vulgar. Hence. having spent his
energies in bringing his own clothes walk and
accent to the point which he considers perfec-
ton. he lapSeS into an abnormal quiet There
Is nothing more TO be done. Heneeforth like
Budtha. he has naught to do but to suffer the
gaze OF the world.
THE AMERICAN BOY.
The Boy" is totally different species of the
young American There is no sham, no apin@
no lackadaiscal eXclusiycness In him. His field
Is politics. not fashion. He is apt to be loud
mouthed in his contempt for your city swells;
indeed, he Is loud and vociferous and dogmatjc
about everything. He is pushing. sharp. tricky
He and his cOn@eners are hurrying into this
city by the hundreds every year to ''show the
people of New York a thing or two in trade. -
or are rushing by the thousands to the west to
get the reigns of management of the new states
into their own hands. There is nothing which
he does not know better than you. He can give
you the latest gossip concerning q popular
prina donna; and he is 50 well acquainted with
the workings of the universe that he has no use
Tor the Almighty i'm it at ALL and so leaves him
out. He tends naturally to politics; he is the
outspoken hearty delegate to the primary cleo
tions-already he is fOndly dubbed Jack or Bill
IN grog-shOp caucuses-aready he pockets his
plckings and stealings-in a word, he Is an in
cipient Boss.
Now, have we cause for discoura cement when
we sum up the number of our young men
enlisted IN these three troops? There they are
lndlsputably; and they show, as does the erup-
tlon III fever the noxiOus diseases attacking
our social life How shall we account for them
OF hard working, sensible. God-feariny parents.
instead of developing into quiet cIear-sighted,
neipfui men, as would be expected from their
parentage, and as the world needs, should limp
weakly forth Cads and Dudes taking their
standard of perfection from the tailor, the Eng
ilsh Top or the professional athlete, and their
religion from Colonel IngersolI5
We would have right to be discouraged if
this condition OF things were likely to be perma-
nent. But it Is not; it is a disease which inya-
riably breaks out lii the youth of prosperous
nation, Just as the humps or measles do in the
childhood of the individual The Dude and the
CAD are but the symptoms of too high feeding
and too little exercise of mind in certain classes
They have appeared under other names in every
generations the Dandy and rIncroyable and the
Macaroni and the toad eaters were their
progentors. Here. in American cities. a boy
born with good honest blood and average
Common sense is liable to become Dude or Cad
for a few years, simply because his knowledge
OF the world is so limited. He knows that the
esteem and homage of a certain college or social
clique Is won by particular kind of clothes or
accent. Hence his ambition and energy are
limited to clothes and accent. He knows moth
ing beyond. and therefore attempts nothing.
The world says Andersen's hero, 'extends
quite to the fence on either side Of the yard
And red rag around the leg is the highest dis
JUNCTION chicken can enjoy in the world. Strut
well with your legs then, my children" Should
the world be widened and opened for these
lads as it was for the boys of 1776 or 1860 their
good blood and good sense will enable them to
rise TO meet the demands of great emergency
as braveiy as did their fOrefathers and they
VIII be ashamed of their little youthful strut and
red rags.
THE BOYS ALL RIGHT IN TINE.
Even If no great crisis like that of civil war
OR financial depression should occur to startle
these lads to an apprehension of the rea! world
about them, there is no ground for the jeremiads
concerning the enfeebled and eliminate state of
the youth of America. In the first place, these
three classes fortunately represent an exceed
ingiy small part of the young men of the coun-
try Aud In the second place. in country
where the social condition of every class is so
iluctuatin@. the chances are that the pampered
Dade or vulgar Cad of to-day may twenty years
hence be grave, earnest man. working hard
Tor the bare support Of his family AS for the
Boy and the Boss of whom is the embryo. the
cure OF that worst and fatal disease is still in the
hands of the people, to use if they will