The Wahpeton times., 1891-10-15
! IA II
it Has Social Value Nhloh 10 Not
Easily Ovorostimatod.

/ 4
it Has q Social Value Which 10 Not
Easily 0verestimated.
A great deal has been said of the
charms of the old French salons,
those delightful reunions were the
brightestspirits of asparkling era met
in free and familiar converse, each
showing his own best and drawing
out the best Of others. The peculiar
grace of the old salon has passed away
wit hthe days of the old regime. Even in
France the salon of this century is
not that of the last. "Other people,
other ways" The society which COM
posed the salons of the eighteenth cent
ury waslike a brilliant growth of pop
pies and corn-Aowers nodding and
moving in the breeze upon the roof a
thatched cottage. Beautiful in itself,
this growth is but a token of the
age Of the rotting thatch and
that OF the ruined dwelling beneath it.
1t needed but the tap of child g ham,
mer upon the tottering lintels, and
almost in a breath there was nothing
left but heap of debris, and here and
there an astonished flower left living
and wondering in the midst of the
destruction.
What were some of the influences
which tostered the gay flowers of the
old salon? First OF all was the freedom
that comes from assured position and
social equality. Bowing to the mon
arch as the one supreme, and ignoring
the great masses below them With an
unconscious selfishness incomprehens-
ible to-day, the men and women who
composed the salons were on q
social plane that admitted but slight
inequalities. They understood each
other. II there were chickering's and
jealousies, they were-like the differ
ences in a well-disciplined family-kept
beneath the surface. Every member
OF acircle was known to all the others,
not superiicially, but thoroughly; not
only each in his own person; but each
historically, that is, in the history OF
his ancestors: This sort OF acquaint-
ance is essent ial to the freest en-
change of thought and cpigram. No
slight test allusion or turn Of phrase
is lost. The brightest sallies OF wit,
the keenest flashes of wisdom, are
those which are uttered in q strictly
family circle, where all tine members
are bright and cultivated, and though
often widely differing, are yet united
by an electric touch OF sympathy.
This sympathetic freedom was the
ozone OF the French salon. Its SIM
shine, soft and genial, if not penetrat-
ing was goodhumor.
The society of men and women who
look at all things in the plcasantest
light, who never take unmeant atfronts,
whose presence is always oil upon
the troubled waters, must OF necessity
be agreeable. The French have always
appreciated this, and have cultivated
good humor as polite accomplish
ment.
BY othernations this has sometimes
been deemed token OF incincerity.
Not so. 70 be always good humored
is simply to ignore otfenses wherever
this is possible; to bear no grudge; to
utter no rash criticisms; to respect the
pet foibles of ones associates; to toll
crate all amiable weaknesses; to not
see. or, seeing, to ignor, all the attempts
OF the rudely nurtured to slight or to
snub those whom they care not to
favor; and even to submit to any EN-
durable amount OF imposition rather
than to disturb the general peace-in
short, to think more of the common
good will and happiness than OF ones
own Individual tastes, prejudices, de-
sires, or even rights that are not es-
sential to ones own moral and ply
sical well-being or to that OF other per-
sons.-From Harper's Bazaar.