New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-02-01
SOCIAL SILHOUETTES.
exrSe THE IMPRESSIONS OF Mr. MARK MAN
HAITIAN.
XIII.
A TYPICAL, NETWORK GIRL


usually, on these occasions pretend to medita.o
before answering A reply always seems to gain Ill
trustworthiness if not too giby spoken. But theie
"a no necessity for any meditation whatever My
response is really quite at the tip of my tongue
For the country at Large" say. . should iihd
II hard TO speak know Boston, rhi''ue'p 30,
Baltimore and all those important citcs' ous IN
NV soiourn in each has been only 1or u pri'i VINO
a., Nsw- York know very we'll. have reason 10
40 50. And | believe il to be aoont az poS''i'eiS
sh p''t once was asked whether tho young ladies
If New York were specially marked by THIS same
Yes" / replied much more, as rule, than onr
married women. Youth is the imaginative period,
aud all ideas connected with caste appear W y .o
Emagina atom The patrician element III New-forR
sncety is to-day principally made up from the
descendants of Dutch immigrants There are very cry
few cases in which these Dutch foreiathers OF our
so-caled leading families were people Oh tns d
note their country Tue ATsterdhms ane
and if the deusicn were harmless one thefe
would be no objection to their hugglng IT,. so,,,u
And why is it not harmless asked my aor" n
friend who was most relentless qqestlonei, anu
who snterta ned the secret project, am sure, OF
Writing a book about this country after he re-
" aIt Is ~ not harmless deluson," answered,
@because these people, by assuming 70 represent
an aristocracy ofbrth strike an ironlca blow at tne
Emroneans in the year l776, would have cont
IDENTIFY prophesied for an almost IDEAL society
when century had passed Anu no" '0"''
That is not much for nation"
1t is great deal for ours 10 were ee ss meSe
C"Inny in another a usurpation, and in a third an
inheritance. We had no language 10 aev t 9 10
Garbarism to civilizc no fcudalism to break down
We have named thousands of our towns and
few of onr great cities las, for example. Ne". iolh'
NcrOreans Boston etc. alter lUre eat v p weSs
TO ancient Rome, Politically; our air was tnii OF
warnings we had nothing to live down and every,
thing to live up to. Socially, we had uncounted
European blunders admonlsh US and Keep us on
our guard. Yes, our century should have mean. az
least half al tS a. 1af pTe 'o OF S had
place in our great metropolitan centres III Is
absurd it is prcposterons. 1t Is sencohtradictory
"'a b st Is Il pride Of birth =" asked my friend
Unqnestonahy. New-York society Is 3, con con,
santy called or s s 1 Money feeds
and stimulates its arstocIatc energleS-that Is az
Aud every year makes affairs worse VERY wear
credtabIe grandfather. mans or a womans
genealogical tree-tbe old souvenirs the rietr gallons
and more matrimonaly salable. 'saiable is a
horrible word 10 this connection l ADMIT. gu, can
think of less bruta. and at the same time less
expressive"
SThs brings us to the original subject Of our dis
CUSTOM said my friend, with SMILE.
sAh you, mean the Young ladies' answered
aYss3Hof your !" And here he paused
aof our aristocracy.o said finishing his SEN
one, and don't blame you that you can not l
v,sh that we were only unable to concede it to
ourselvesn unused for q moment Just here. and
then continued "1he vision OF a certain very
typical NewYork girl, of precisely the class which
you mean. rises before me at this moment. And a
crstty story because it has SO picturesque and I'M
Expected an ending"
II should DO charmed to hear i" said my friend.
with show of interest which needed no vanity
a Hfis' heroine" i began, awas one Of my in
Vulnerable female cousins. Her name, like mine,
was Manhattan. She was the daughter of my fathers
ELDEST brother. man who had received from ms
father the bulk Of really enormous ps nf I.a ade
share of large heritage to the eldest son of a
family is far more common with us than yon proba-
bly, suppose. and grows more general as Anglomania
strikes deeper roots into our soil.
"Mr. Augustus Manhattan, my uncle. mad lived
for ten years in England and France when he at
length returned TO this country with daughter
aged nineteen. and son OF about nine Three
wears previously his wife, who had been Miss
Fairfax, of Virginia, and a noted beauty, had died
In Paris Immediately upon his arrival here my
part of Fifth Avenue, which had remained vacant
during bis absence. Cards were issued to all his old
friends, and many more people besides Georeine,
his daughter. was about to make her dtbt in the
fashionable world | expected 10 find her
Thoroughbred foreigner III every respect. But 10
my surprise found her nothing of the sort. She
was Just as American if she bad spent the last ten
years in New York instead of Europe. She had met
many, Americans in Paris, and had principally asso
she il ID spent exclusively in the great capital
You are typical New-York girl, Georgine'
isss ossseT hoss recall wee nav pecse
words and they rather pleased her. for she had las
you will afterward think SINGULAR great respect
a'That is what should like to he Cousin Mark
she replied. a belong here you know by birth and
antecedents. l like to wear the mark Of my
nativity, so to speak. . But why do you call Inc
what you have just called me 2
You ask 80 many questions. / said about who
10 data tnaI haxo ,ltr
and such people at your house; you've such a pro-
dgious horror of not being select
and Hps oTpy In the G OF an eye sSs
could make herself naughty and even austere But
her beauty tgiven her ia all its rare bloom by the
dead mother of which she was an imagel clad this
mood in most bewitching entccment She
veritable little tyrant, was Georgne; her father
had spoiled her and nearly every friend whom she
had Endorsed his Indulgence. She was the most en-
chanting creature to look at she was like swan
her neck and bust had curves to set sculptor
dreaming about them; her cOloring was the lilys.
rather tinted than blended with the roses her
gold-shaded chestnut hair fell about her delicate
head with splendid natural wave and lovely
abundance. She had almost created an enthusiasm
at the one or two balls TO which her father had thus
"She vas without exception. the most absolute
little snob it is possible to imagine. But you did
not think of her as ONE, you paid her an invol-
untary homage as you would have paid il to some
at her rst few balls Of the opening season. $50 She
would enter the rooms. loaded with bouquets Gid
ing along in the most exquisitely graceful way,
between her father and myself She would not
permit us to leave her for more than half an hour
at time. We were her royal guards, so to speak
the sentnels who defended Der approaches. She
would constantly murmur little questions in my
ear Who is that = she would ask. | like HIS
way OF dancing; there is something about his smile
that pleases me- and words to this effect She
remembered all the names of people who had been
prominent here In past days. her recollection in
This respect was extraordinary but besides recolect
ing she had studied and investigate lists Men
beseged her hostesses for introductons to her and
she was sovereign belle before she had been in
her FIRST public salon ten minutes But though She
refnse1 IN hav Mr. A.