The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-05-31
BETTER THAN OUR FATHERS.
Nov. Butler. In mn Ancr-Dinncr Speech,
1umorously Praises Modern
Ways,

Gov. Butler, of Massachusetts, dincd
with the Saturday Night Club Mt the
Hoffman House, New York. Mr.. Clark
Bel presided, and after dinner Uov.
Butler spoke.
1T takes away all tie pleasure for
a dinner" he said, "whcn one knows
that he has to make a speech after it.
Whence arose this purely American GUS
tom of spelling a good dinner by making
ntollectnaG or, rather. unintcllCctual,
remarks after it? How absurd it is, too,
our all being attircd on th"sc occasions
III white cravntS and swallow-tail coats.
while the servants who wait on us are
clad III carlcatnrCs Of Our costumes. The
latter, TOO, arc SO well bred that it is
difficult to tell who are the gentlemen
and who are the servants.
"Now, II IN p,n"c Of making stmid
speeches. We would do as oar fathers did
tell good Story, or sing good song,
how much better it would he. Ard, in
that case, we ought to initiate our
fathers simplicity of dress. Now, sup
pose we Ind gone back 60 the plain SIM
pllclty of our fathers, and were clad as
Thomas Jefferson wae when. rs Secrc-
tary CT State to George Washington. he
| went to a ball III Philadelphia. This
republican and democrat were on that
occasion al deliberately pni1ird and pow
dcrcd wig, blue satin coat, Il purple
waistcoat Of velvet, yellow plush
hreechcs, white silk stockings and silver
hucllcd shoes, and carried cooked hat
under his arm. How much simpler is
such a costume than that of our day.
J Nay, how even moro simple were the
| tastes and habits of our father, WASH
lnGton, the great father of his people. ]
Will say nothing as to his desire to he
called Your Serene Highncss, and will
merely alludc to the fact that he never
went to Congress except in an orna-
mcntcd coach drawn by six white horses
| whose blackcncd hOofs were SO polished
that they shono like the boots which will
he left at our bedrooms tomorrow morn
ing. His secretary followed in n coach
and four; and when the immortal WASH
m8ton assembled the steps of the build-
| ing III which Congress then held its scs-
sions, he stopped and turned around in
order that his admiring countrymcn
! might see the Father of his Country.
As he disappeared within the doors, too,
he put out his shapely leg i'll order that
they might see the last cf him. How
much indeed, have we drgcncratcd from
the republican simplicity of our mcrs-
tors! We are even different from the
generation which has preceded us.
81 can remember when, at n night
session of Congress before the war, many
of the N, mbcrs, because they had been
dining rs we have been dining here
tonight, were unable to perform their
duties.
Tho world is growing bctt"r. Now
| n Il Of 10 6
other there, hut it is not that there are
I more defalcations in proportion to the
| population, but that we hear of them
through the newspapers as soon as they
occur There are only moro on the
SOCIOLOGY principle that white sheep give
more wool than black, because there are
more white sheep than there arc black
| sheep. There arc more thieves in ma
ton of so, 600, 900 of people than in one
of ten, and we ere really moro hOncstcr
than our fathers, and don't any one for
get it. OratOry, too, is growing better
except III the case of the Governor Of
| Massachusetts. Were NOu, Mr.. Bell, or
to make speech ii the language and
manner of forty years ago, our friends
| here would think rs dCmcMtcd. Let me
| repeat one which / can remember Vprba.
| tim:
"T rise, Mr.. Speaker, to present a
petition of merchants whose sails whitcn
very sea, of merchant princes whose
stately mansions ornament the city that
contains FaDcuil Hall, the cradle of
American liberty and palladium OF our
most cherished institutions, to have the
tax on the raw hides of Bornco reduced
| 10 per ccntum.
After repeating these concluding lines
in the Wcbstcrinn manner, Gov. Butler
Hat down to the accompaniment of uni
vcrsal laughter.