Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-09-09
lNKLlNes or NEW YORK.
Ninnies who vaiue Themselves on Their
Idieness.
Especial correspondancc.,

tSpeclal tOFFeAppliusuce.l %
New YoRK. Sept. 6.-The assertion is con-
tinually made that we have no leisure class
in this country. But we certainly have in
this city, though the class may not be as large
as in the leading capitals Of the old world.
It's members are constantly and rapidly grow
ing, and part of the. growth is not a healthful
sign in n democracy, the true prosperity of
which rests on labor, and where every worthy
citizen ought to do some kind of work. There
are thousands here who delight TO speak of
themselves as g%entlemsn of leisure, the idea
of gentlemen being associated in their minds
with sufficient money TO preserve them from
the need of any sort of occupation. 1t is this
financial idea which prevents them from I'M
derstanding the true character of the order to
which they imagine they belong.
AT some of the clubs, notably at the Union,
the Knickerbocker, the Calumet and the st.
Nicholas, you will always find during the sea-
son any number of fashionably dressed min
MES who value themselves IN their idleness.
They are, for the most part, the inheritors of
wealth, which they never could have earned,
or the sons of rich men who have given them
an allowance. 1t is repulsive to hear them
talk. They positively think it "vulgah'-this
WOlul IL ttlft1o OIL tilcn -llpS-lO cdIn I1OIlGy
by any kind of work, although they consider
it quite the thing to win money by betting at
cards or billiards, or on horse or yacht races.
Their conversation, if one may call it such, is
as empty and frivolous as possible. 1t is all
about games and sports, eating and drinking,
London and Paris, Newport and Monaco,
with an endless deal of twaddle, interspersed
with drawls, diluted oaths and puffs of cigar
cites. Their morals are manifestly as loose
as their nne are stiff. They regard the
cut and style of their clothes, the ability to
distinguish between Chateau Laftte and
Chateau Margaux, the mode of entering a
drawing room, the proper way to ed;;stc, as the
mcsU Important things in the world. Their
life is q monotonous round'of self-indulgence
and dissipation. They usually spend little
more than two or three months out of the
twelve here; they go south in winter, to the
mountains, the seashore or Europe in sum-
mer; they are always coming or going, telling
what they have lone or will do. Hoy can
they subsist IN such thin diet? How can they
preserve even a semblance of sanity by fol-
lowing the tread-miI round of fashions
All men of leisure are not so empty-headed
and empty-hearted as these. A good many
business men now retire after they have made
a fortune and reached 80 or 90. They may
CONTINUE 10 10 SoHebnllS. All capitalists
find employment in looking after capital, but
they study pictures, read a number of books,
travel much, and enjoy various intellectual
| pleasures. This is shown by the fact that al
most half of the LOO members of the stock
exchange are temporarily or permanently
abroad. A goodly number of professional
men abate their zeal nowadays when they
have acquired a handsome independence.
Indeed, the withdrawal of men in various
grades of life to privacy or semi-privacy is at
present quite common, and is beneficial to
them as well as to the community. This class
is totally different from the brainless dandies
and modish profligates of the clubs. There is
a marked difference between mere idling and
resting after years of hard labor. In twenty
years more cur leisure class will probably be
three-fold what it is today. Americans work
too hafa and too long; those who live here
have found it out and are trying to correct
the, habit. Tho healthful custom will spread,
and 1 an very glad of 1t. 1t can no more he
said, here at least, that we have nc: time to
ami public questions and political bear
inss. The metropolis has begun to stop for
breath, ind the sooner other cities follow the
better 1t will be-.
I rJx ~ ryr fI-.-