The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-06-22
CAPITAL NOTES.

CAPITAL NOTES.
l dinel with a foreigner the other day. and
after dinner, as we chatted over our coffee,
asked which of our manners and customs she
was most impressed with when she landed on
this side She looked at me brightly for mo-
ment and then burst out laughing. "Iou will
be much amused,n she said, ''when | tell you
but the thing which made the first and deepest
impression on me was the horrid habit your men
have of using their penknives to clean their
finger-nails in the cars, on street corners in
stores and restaurants, yes, verify, in the parlor
itself. OF course gentlemen are all alike. A
gentleman in England, France, or Germany is
not different from a gentleman in America, but
one learns the habits, the tendencies, of ma
tion from the great middle class, and these are
the people who clean their nails in every posi-
BILE place, and do it with the utmost noncha-
lance, as though they thought it quite the most
proper thing in the world" Twas staggered for
moment 1t did not seem possible that this
custom could exist to any extent and not no.
ticc it. For the next few days went staring
around at every one to see if he was indulging
in the luxury of making this part of his toiletin
public, and l am almost ashamed to sayto what
an extent the custom obtains. 1t is not pleas
ant to see, much less to write about, but the
grim fact is the most unpleasant and mortifying
thing about it, My foreign friend intimated
that gentlemen were not affected in this way,
but during the two or three days / devoted to.
investigating the subject | saw men doing their
own manicuring in public whom one would hes
itate not to call gentlemen. | think when one
is brought to a realizing sense that he possesses
a bad habit, one not only hurtful to himself but
unpleasant to others, he generally tries to cor
rect it. ga word to the wise--''
The craving for excitement is the root of all
the evil of life in America, or of life anywhere,
for that matter, though, perphaps, one finds it
here in its fullest development. 1t is response
BILE for suicides and MURDERS for the death of all
moral sense, for the dwarfng of mental powers,
and for the birth of all sefshness. II must
have excitement, | mus. be amused are the
cries of American young men, who, to find eX-
citement and amusement, rush into all manner
of designations without an idea of responsibility.
At the outset lis thoughtessness, and thought
lessness it remains to the end. One does not
consider his obligations when as a school-boy
he first becomes the slave of his desire for fun,
and parents and teachers are both to blame for
bringing him to a realizing sense of them. The
craving for pleasure and excitement grows,
killing all mans better instincts, until the
moral nature becomes so warped that conscience
is not recognized \ man frequently iustifies
himself by saying: "What difference does it
make as long as what | do hurts no one else.'
AS if it were possible for an unclean thing to
exist without communicating everything it comes
in contact with, a man has sunk low indeed
when self-denial becomes an impossibility; for
such one there is no discipline more whole
/
ing. go to an extreme. perhaps, but believe
that practicing athletics, with the training which
is of necessity accompaniment helps men
not only physically, but mentally and morally
Since self-denial has always been recognized as
the best discipline, why should not the practice
of training which athletics makes necessary and
which is calculated to give man absolute con-
troll of himself and his appetites help in the
emancipation of the moral and physical nature
held in slavery by indulgence? For this reason
| believe the Columbia Athletic Club will fill a
long-felt want in the community. Most
thoughtful people will be convinced by Mr.
Roosevelt's letter, wherein he says the profess
sional is the worst enemy of the amateur That
is the only argument that could be used with
good effect against Sullivan, unless it is true, as
stated, that he tried to make catspaw out of
the Columbia Athletic Club to pull his Missis-
sippi chestnuts out of the fires.
X X
One excellent feature about the club is that
the children of members can practice in the
gymnasium every Saturday forenoon, which is
not only source of great pleasure to the
youngsters, but excellent for their physical de-
velopment, and gives them an interest in the
club and sense of ownership which will make
them loyal members when the time comes.
What source of congratulation It would be
to the poor residents of this beautiful Capital,
whose happiness lies with Congress and the
President, if the authorities could be per-
suaded, at least during this insufferable hot
weather, to keep the streets clean. They have
never been in worse condition than they are
now, when every care and precaution should be
taken, because Of the intense heat, to prevent
the spread of disease There is no more noble
endeavor than to try and improve the morals of
community, but 1 would suggest to our
worthy Engineer Commissioner that cleanliness
is next to godliness and that dirt promotes
wickedness, Let him make clean the He'll
Bottoms and the Goat Alleys, and he will find
a marked improvement in the morals of the
people who inhabt those localities
X X X
Driving on Pennsylvania avenue a few days