Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-11-01
on THE OUTSIDE.
Lie In Great City, and Its Ceaseless
Masking OF Conditions.

|
Masking OF Conditions.
That istachment to the external j,
shown in the city's architecture. Near
ly all the residences i'll the good quarter.
look well, if narrow, and are preten
nous on the outside. Anyone might bt
the abode of wealth and refinement
and the denotements are to this effect
A family of fortune and position may be
neighbors to family of unknown ante.
cedents and entirely precarious income
A widely-known millionaire may live
across the street from a mysterious, sus.
picious character, whom he could not
be persuaded to recognize. But, super
ficially, there is little difference between
them. One carries himself as bravely
as the other, and wears almost as fine
feathers. There is an enormous diff
ference, Of course, though not in seem
ing, and it is seeming only for which the
average New Yorker CARES.
The outward resemblance here of
blocks in the residence streets to one
another has often been remarked. The
dissimilarity is inside, with which but
few make acquaintance. One house
may be superbly furnished, full of fine
pictures, engravings, marbles, bronzes,
books, bric-a-brac the home of afflu-
ence, culture AMI taste. Another house
may be shcwily but cheaply and vul gar
ly, adorned, indicating the quality of its
occupants. A third house may contain
next to nothing; may be little else than
form in brown stone. A fourth may
be an ordinary boarding house, as desti-
tute of attractiveness as comfort, empty,
untidy, repellant. A fifth may beihired
to dodgers whom nobody knows; who do
not know one another; who come and
go, when and where is not asked, the
sole requirement being that they should
pay their rent. A sixth house may be
enigmatic. Strange men and strange
women are seen to enter, and there are
arrivals and departures at all hours.
No one notices these, no one thinks of
such thirgs in New York, except the
police, and they are silent, for their own
interest, until publicity demands their
evidence. All these houses are in the
same block, and so much alike that they
could not be distinguished by any Or
binary observer. All the houses but
one, with their inmates, are keeping up
appearances. But no one can tell who
IS who or what is what. Glitter is there
tha. is not gold, as well as gold that does
not glitter. Pretens2, sham, falsehood,
and knavery enter more or less into
every place. No spot on Manhattan is
land, is or can be, guarded against coun-
terfeits of the better sort. Appearances
will be and must be kept up if the hea-
vens fall. With the end of appearances
chaos would begin.
This ceaselpss masking extends every
year, not in pecuniary conditions only,
but in all kind of conditions. Our minds
and manners have grown as artificial
as our houses. We all feel here AS if
nobody or nothing is what is assumed.
Feint and fraud lurk in every nook and
strut in every promenade. Monetary,
mental, commercial, and. moral humbugs
are rife in every block. There are sham
lawyers, sham physicians, sham Clergy
lnen, sham merchants, shaun bankers.
sham philanthropisis, sham sinners and
sham saints. Most of us are afraid of
one another, unless we have positive
evidence of genuineness. We are. get
ting TO be like Londoners-we mistrust
him who speaks to us except after a
formal presentation. Here introduc-
tions are not common, as In most Ameri.
can towns. We are unwilling to incur
the responsibility, and we avoid giving
or receiving introductions are long as
we may. Where conventionality de-
mands them it is usual for the intro
ducer, unless he or she is secure of the
new acquaintance, to say privately, 81
do not know about this person. Under
stand that | do not IndorSe him-or
her. You must protect yourself. l
should not have done it, but it would
have been very awkward otherwise
This is particularly true of bearers of
title. The best people avoid them until
they have presented unmistakable
credentials. We have been deceived
so often that we have grown cautious
ard conservative. Many stories are
published of the success here of noble"
impostors, but they are generally in
ventions. New York has grown to be,
socially one of the most cautious and
sensitive of capitals. 1t is far more so
than London or Paris. The game of
keeping up appearances has been, and
is still; so widely played that we insist,
in serious matters, on going below the
surface. New York Letter