The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-11-22
DEBUTS OF MALE BUDS.
SOME AMUSING GOSSIP AS TO
How IT is Done.

My DEAR LOUISE know 1t Ia not the Gus
tom to write up the young men OF society,
but why should not a beginning be made
Masculine youth have to make debut Just as
we'll as the girls, and truly believe 1t is ac-
companed by almost as large an amount of
preparation and a much greater degree OF
trepidation. They have uppish aspirations
and just as much snobbishness as women
folks. | have heard of the case of man, now
well on his feet in social sense, who made 1t
worth the while in past years to an elderly
woman, fully established in Vanity Fair, to
push "the gates ajar" for him. 1 have also
been told Of an instance where young pro-
fessonal man OF an entirely respectable but
obscure family made bargain to furnish the
Impoverished relict OF a once prominent man
with carriage for the season provided she
would take him along when making the
rounds and secure him invitations to the best
houses. He didntwant any second or third
class invitations, but bids to the small gath
erings when only the elect were assembled. He
was shrewd one--a man who knew how to
grasp opportunities, and his success was such
that he soon had no remembrance of the
plain friends Of ''childhood'S days" In fact,
their recognition annoyed him, and he was
contemplating having a side door made to the
pretty house in which his sisters dwelt go he
could escape all possibility Of encounter with
the family friends-they had such provok
ing way Of calling him ''Bob" and referring
to past events, as If he had past in common
with any but the elect! "Pride always goes
before fall'i-the alteration was never made
to the house-and ''the rest is silence" The
tnveterate gossip who gave me this sad tale
OF the past also related very amusing little
instance of snobbishness of later date A
young man, whose condition of comfort and
plenty of dollars resulted from his progenitors'
thrift and success lin the crockery line, was
asked IL he knew Miss Blank. For moment
he looked little uncertain and then said,
"Ah, yes-but, you see, she doesn't belong to
our set" (which set-dinner or tea ?'
1t tDas mean to make such an obvious allu-
sion, but this cold world is full of mean peo.
pie. For my part think snobs should be left
to enjoy their fancied exclusiveness. There is
ample compensation to the lookers-on in the
fun that is gotten out of their capers.
There is much in the reply to the socialist
who argued that we all sprung originally from
the same clay, 'True; but in course of time
some are porcelain and more are still only
pottery" 1t seems strange that In this demo-
cratic country where every boy is born pos
sible President and every girl may have a
chance to become 'the first lady" there should
be such a yearning for blue blood-but the
historian Gibbon tells us in his entertaining
biography that "a lively desire of knowing
and recording our ancestors 80 generally pre-
walls that 1t must depend on the influence of
some common principle in the minds of men,
AS for knowing and recording. that depends.
There is usually very lively desire to ignore
and cover up the tracks Of ancestors who
earned "their bread in the sweat of their
brow" One of the most aristocratic women
In the swim here was born and bred in a
tavern and her father before her, but her
guests-particularly her dinner guests-must
make no illusions to inn-keepers. l mention
dinners particularly, because 1t Is In these
feasts that the genius Of her ancestors mani
tests ITSELF
10 go back to the men novices In society, /
found recently in an exchange some words of
wisdom addressed to those who ''keep a regu-
lar book OF things to say' when dining out
The consul is so much to the point that
give it verbatim: 'To keep a book of bon
mots Is not enough, since 1t is not only the
things one says, but even more the way in
which he says them. 1t is the tact and the
appropriateness Of remark or story which
makes its force Fffrench may say all
manner of clever things, but unless he is
capable of leading up to them properly they
will be no more effective than unset Jewels.
He must consider time, place, and hearers To
say the thing at Mrs. Adams which would be
appropriate at Mrs. EYES would be fatal to
success. To tell story before Cain with
fratricide in it would be so unpleasant that
not even dozen successful tales of injured
virtue related after dinner to Abel over the
wine could balance the account. Fffrench
must be endowed with a semi miraculous
kno"ieuSe VI lue nlsIory, lne preJu0lces, Gne
affiliations of his fellow guests, and he must
be endowed with marvellous fexibility II he
expects to shine as champion diner-outn
l have taste for auctions-I admit that
when cannot attend one, take an interest
in the advertisements of such sales. Following
my invariable custom of glancing over the
columns OF the Star containing these, | was
greatly surprised to find the personal effects
of the late Mary Clare Parmell, of the Louise
Home, advertised for SALE Thursday, November
IL, at public auction. Unlike Mrs. Dombey
l made an effort and | was there while the
greater part of the contents Of ten trunks and
three boxes We're disposed OF. Shade of the
gentle, proud Miss Mary l felt like Offering
apologies TO her ghost as l saw her valued
bracelets, her priced books-particularl
those OF prayer and devotion, her wearing
apparel and all her household treasurers
exposed to view and knocked down to utter
strangers! There YVES scarcely an acquaintance
In the crowd, and, as far as / could see, only
one friend who cared to possess memento.
l could not helpsaying with old Rip; "Are we
then so soon forgotten ?" Miss Parmell had
been notable woman all her life-a Norfolk
beauty and belle in her youth and though she
lived to extreme old age, her personality was
so unique and interesting that her apartment
at the Louise Home wac nearly always filed
with callers. Everybody in Washington had
an eye-sight acquaintance with her, and In
summer, her 'get up" was something
wonderful. She usually wore hat covered
with big pink cabbage roses, two sGshes, one
tied in front and one behind, and a gown
flounced and be-ruffled In tho style OF a
by-gone day. She was an interesting talker
and retained her intellectual faculties to the
very end. Having been born and bred a
Southern lady of the old school, do not SUD-