The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-04
PAGES 9 TO II.

son receiving the invitation has not sense
enough TO answer it An invitation TO din
ner, after all, is nothing more nor less than
personal note, and personal
note demands an immediate re-
Spouse and nobody who has any knowledge
OF good fora would fail to make that an
swer Just as promptly as circumstances per-
mitted. II the invitation is for a larger
entertainment than diuner, for a recep-
ton as an example, the hostess does not re-
quire an answer, because IL she invites
anybody TO call ON her it is taken for
granted that they will call. The call
may not be made in fact, bub
may be hundred reasons why actually
it cannot be made, but these reasons can
not be formulated, and the invitation must
be taken as accepted. r. S. V. p. is now
almost obsolete, and when 1t Is finally
relegated TO Oblivion | tremble TO think of
what will become of those ingenious gem
tlemen who have been filing out the initials
at their own sweet pleasure for the funny
columns during the long succession of years
since it was first introduced.
A man of my acquaintance once said to
me, said Mr.. McAllister, thoughtfully, that
gentleman can afford TO walk, but he cam
not afford to drive in a shabby carriage.
The man have quoted was not only a
shrewd man of the world, He was a man
who, all his life, had compared his observ-
atoms and drawn from them philosophical
reflections. The axiom just quoted had
much wider and deeper significance
than appears on the surface. What he
meant to say was that q gentleman can
do almost anything il he does it as well as
any body else. In other words, gentle
man must not attempt to do anything and
fail. But Just as soon as a man appears in
In shabby equipage, aud the coachman
has battered, hat, he demonstrates that
he is Intellectually reaching out for some
thing which he cannot grasp, either because
of want of means or want of taste and In
telligence, and it Immediately puts the man
in ridiculous position. !
What is true of the equipage is of course !
true of the clothes which man or woman
wears Clothes do not make the man, and
in consequence gentleman can afford to
wear shabby clothes il he can afford no
other, but ii he does SO he refuses at once to
bring his shabby clothes in comparison
with the handsome costumes of other people. /
He knows what he is without reference to
his clothes at all, and his good sense
teaches him that he cannot afford TO chal-
lenge comparison with man who does not 4
compare with him In point of manhood,
but who outshines him SO far as his coat
and veat are concerned. That is to say he
may not outshine him because the older and
shabbier the coat the more shine there is to
by throwing 1t in the shade.
What is the attitude" l asked, ''of the
fashionable man toward men whom he con-
siders his social equals and men whom he
considers his social inferiorsF'
WELL" responded Mr.. MoAllister, with
a smile, "a very accomplished leader of the
german in town, who Is deemed by many
people to be one of our most fashionable
men, is credited with the statement that he
would cut his own grandmother on the
street IL she was shabbily dressed. This
was, Of course, an exaggerated way of say
ing that no man Of fashion can be seen
bowling to people on the street whose
appearance proclaims them as belonging
outside the fashionable world. The rule that
fashionable man shall not be seen in pub
lie places except with men and women as
fashionable as he is is a rule to which he
accords the strictest allegiance. II man or
woman accosts him on the street and he is
slightly acquainted with them he will stop
and hear what they have TO say. II they are
shabbily dressed, or their inferior social
position is indicated in any way whatever,
he will not under any circumstances permit
them TO walk along the street with him,
even TO the extent of half dozen steps.
If the man thus stopped answers the
questions addressed to him and thinks the
conversation is over and resumes his walk
and the person who has accosted him starts
to walk with him, he will Immediately stop
again; or, If he finds it necessary, will hail
passing stage or car or go into conve-
nient shop. He will not permit himself for
moment to be seen walking along the
street with anybody whose appearance
would excite criticism among his friends.
This of course states his attitude while out
in the world to people of inferior social POI
sltion. The idea of accompanying suoh peo-
pie to public restaurants or to theaters, or
indicating in any such unmistakable way
that he holds social relations with them is
out Of the question altogether
III. s. HEWITT.