The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-12
OTHER PEOPLE AND |.
Written for the Indianapolis Journal.

Aues one IL nave TO get over that.' ALI unaware
OF the ready ear and pencil of the Washington
correspondent, who must form so alarming
constituent in the population of that CITY, 1t
would be interesting to know the authoress Of
this explanatory prophecy, BIZ. there are some
things that even Washington correspondents
respect and the sanctity of private criticism OF
public clothes appears to be one of them. We
are not permitted to know which senator's wife
she is nor how many bracelets and bangles she
possesses, wherewith to establish her right to
object to steel ornaments on the person Of the
''frst lady" of the Republic. But the fact and
the comment remain for dedication. Peo-
pie have all sorts OF social rights in this
remarkably country, and dare say that if the
Presidents sister felt disposed to receive her
guests in worried dress and a linen collar,
she would feel no uncomfortable precedent
forcing her into silken apparel with lace garnlsh-
ings. But certain canons of correct taste exist
wherever white people do, and while the viola
ton of them in high places may show great
independence Of character, it is hardly to be
expected that the conformists will like it. To
bedeck oneself in ones best bravery of dress
and Jewels in honor of some exalted parsonage,
and meet her clad in sober robes with ornaments
of STEEL is to be tacty rebuked for the frivolity
of ones own attire; and 1 confess / rather sym
pathiZe with the conscience stricken caller,
whose outcry is abroad in the land But it is
sincerely to be hoped that Miss Cleveland will
speedily relieve the American mind upon the
subject of her jewel cases. The breathless sus-
pense Of the Nation over the awful possibilities
of their condition is melancholy to contemplate.
The Cincinnati Enquirer chronicles the fact
that last week some predetermined individual
1oo 1bo4c mt 0f cbo ccp1
over the careful perusal of newspaper details
relating to General Grants illness. Now 1 don't
confront the American press with the awful
charge of responsibility for that woman's sanity
Il think it would have taken it's departure
sooner or later without typographical assistance
but as an illustration of popular greed for
column after column of a disgusting sort Of a
daily diet, and certain journalistic depravity
that panders to this peculiar public taste, it is
significant. The score of civilization against
American journalism is no longer personal, it is
Vivfsectonal. The sick room has no sanctities.
The hero of Appomattox is dying, and the
Nation he has saved waits in reverent sadness
for his last heart throb. In the meantime, every
moan is teegraphed, every contortion photo
graphed This may be in answer to the demand
of sympathetic interest and affection, but to
outsiders it looks like ghoulish kind of peep
fenterprise" find this lingering death far
more to their interest than any speedy
ending, and flock in vast numbers about
the summit of Mount McGregor. The Generals
last gasp will be in type before he has fairly ut
tered it, and if any American journalist has pre-
ceded him to the land whittier he is fastening
he will probably find it in the headlines an
nouncing his arrival. There is a dire penalty
upon greatness in the United States. l should
think that native celebrities would prefer to die
somewhere else to bid farewell to some particu-
lar spot of earth where reporters do not sit upon
the bed posts and the great eye Of the Nation
can be excluded by an ordinary blind.
Talking of journalism, have irreverently
wondered sometimes if the sapient race Of editors
ever reflect upon how fully and entirely they
'give themselves away" in every issue. We
know the editor infinitely better than the author
He has no time to disguise his personality. It
crops out all over the paper-in the editorials in
the character of the correspond
ence, and critiques, and clippings
even in the headlines and the ad-
vertisements 1 fancy it may be detected.
His opinions, tastes, habits of thought and
expressions, even the extent of his good breed
ing. if not palpable are at least discernible His
paper is reflex of himself | have read journals
that have convinced me that the public should
be more exclusive in its circle of unseen editorial
acquaintance, and others whose very unfolding
/ love for the sake of the pleasant suggestion of
cultured individuality that exhales with the
odor of printers ink.
Sweet girl graduates be careful whom you
snub. If your victim belong to the staff of any
publication whatever and it is absolutely
necessary to impale him on the unreenting
hook of your contempt, do it tenderly, treat
him like Isaak Walton's frog ''as if you loved
him"
Otherwise the result is apt to be disas-
trous to the public opinion of graduating girl
hood for several generations. / am thinking OF
an instance of reportorial revenge that ought to
be a warning to US all-that wretched individual
in the Pail Mall Gazette, with his article
about the girls of Girton College. I believe
he has not yet received adequate punishment,
and am pleased to add my castigation. Upon
reflection, however, | will not castigate. The
unhappy scribe probably suffered considerably
at the hands Of some unappreciatiye sister of
mine before he was goaded into calling her
regard to his wardrobe, and if had | think |
should magnanimously refrain from publishing
them in further retaliation. But Girton girls,
/ beg that you will not let this warning go
unheeded There may be no limit to his audac-
fly and no aspirate to his proposal, but beware
how you awaken his wrath who can present you
to the British public attired in pair of window
blinds" the malice and envy. and all unchari-
tabeness that would compare your shining
braids to a 'bunch of twne."
~
At a conference in Washington the other day,
hrs. Susan Spencer thought that if women
would 60 about 20 conventions and get some of
the sunshine Of life, there would be fewer Of the
insane among them" To which male dele
gate"-his name is wisely withheld-galantly
arose and responded that he had a wife who
''staid at home md attended to her duties, and
she did not show as many symptoms Of insanity
as some of the women who gadded about to con
Yentions." ] would not discourse upon the
amount of the sunshine of life" obtaiuable at
conventions, or the possible immunity from in
sanity to be found in staying at nome and at
tending to ones duties l merely desire to call
attention TO the man with the wife who made the
joke, or, more property, the man who made the
A. 81; SC