Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-21

oh tAO ciAC oA o A2AAA hooy HUI tuc COAfCh-
 fence of millionaires, come to be regarded
 as hill top; otherwise there would not
 begin to be tops enough to go round.
 For some days, of course, you are
 whirled about from hill top to hill top and
 find no time for reflection. Finally there is Hull and you have leisure to think it all over, to compare and to criticise. Eve " New Havener has had the inestimable advantage of more or less intimate &C., quaintance with Litchfeld. He therefore
 brings to the study of Lenox a mind in which lofty rules and elevated principles of social life are fixed. He has @ most pure measure of comparison already es- tablished. The questions he will natural ly put to himself are: Glow does Lenox compare with Litchfeldp 'How remote is the approach of the former to the per factions of the latter2" (Which are the most salient defcienciesi" If in addition he have been favored with Litchfeld let ters of introduction, and have been enter tained by English dukes, French marquis es and German barons, he can bring fur ther experiences to the comparison. Thus fully equipped the first thing that will strike him, and which will continue to strike him, is the painful lack of Lenox aborigines. When a Litchhelder is at home he is in the home of his ancestors.
 W ucu cutcEtdlucu Uy a 1OfclSh hobioilAan the surrounding nobility and gentry are their respective families. True sristoera- cy must be by descent. It cannot be by purchase and it should be local. There must have been time when there were Lenox aborigines, but they have disap- peared. If they have not entirely disap- peared they have been so obscured by out side millionaires that they are never seen but as menials and servants. At such 8 discovery the Litchfelder would stop short. He would refuse to permit any comparison between Litchfield and place without aborigines, and he would be right. The suggestion of the possibility of com parison would be insulting.
 The outside barbarian, however, may be permitted to see that in the disappearance of aboriginal names and families there may be advantage. Not to the sborigines, of course, but to outsiders. Any million aire coming to Lenox, buying 8 hill top, building palace thereon and supplying champagne becomes as great Lenox swell as any other hill-topper. Having no local aristocracy with which to compare them selves, Lenox swells can only compare themselves with one another; and in that sort of plebian comparison one man is just as good as another. Where there is no existing standard comparisons are flu tile. If ancestry be left out of the ques- tion it makes no difference how the mil ionaire made his money; in Standard oil, carpet shaking; in shaving notes, or in shaving chins; in Wall street, or in Chat ham Square; in manufacture, or in mani cure; in bogus railroad bonds, or in bogus bosoms. .s.-
 ' How blessedly different in Litchfsld! Though ten times over millionaire, though he were to cover all the vacant lots on North street with palaces of solid gold, with sheet diamond window panes, the outsider would find no admittance to the charmed circle of Litchfeld society unless he were in some way connected with Litchfeld aborigine. He might have the pen of Lucisn and have used sparkling wit for decades in the service of the vil- lagel All in vain could he not at least point to a maiden great aunt of Litchfeld birth or percentage!
 It necessarily follows that the ways and manners of Lenox swells will not bear close scrutiny. They are not to the man. or born; for there are no ancestral manors to be born to. Your host bothers you; will allow you no liberty. You must stay with him and his particular people; yoQ must praise him; you must not speak ap- provingly of others or of other hill-tops All this is very far away from the best form. There are lots of f1unkies, but the f1unkies are not well drilled. They get into one ansther's way. Think of fun ky lifting dish high above his head as would a darkey at third-class restaurantl It takes ones breath awayl Where such thing is possible true swelldom is in its infancy.
 On inquiry and investigation you will find that Lexox swells are not necessarily swells elsewhere. Many Lenox hilltop per from New York has found to his sor- row that his Leno1 hilltopping was of no advantage at home. To quaff his cham pagne in Lenox is one thing; to do so in town is quite another.
 On the other hand Litchfeld or 8 Newport swell is cosmopolitan swell, and is known and recognized everywhere. No in Christendom are better conducted than Newport entertainments. Details are as perfect as if derived from the cherished experience of hundreds of ancestors. Flunkies are as well drilled as they are at Marlborough House. Lenox in comparison is raw and uncouth. It has no head. There are too many competi- tors, too many hill-toppers showing them selves off. Exceptions there are, and de- lightful ones, large, cozy mansions filled with quiet yet rich comfort, where wealth is not displayed, but hidden beneath dig nifty and grace. These places must be sought out. They are not conspicuous, nor are their doors opened to every conner. They are in Lenox but not of it. Topo- graphically Lenox resembles Litchfeld in some particulars and falls behind it in oth- CTS. Litchfield established centuries ago the proper layout for New England vil- lage. It must have North street and South street, and subordinate East and West streets. Moreover North and West streets must fork at no great distance from the center of the village to add to the ex- pression of conveyance. In Lenox South street tumbles down a tremendous hill and fails to count in the make up of the village. West street also turns, tumbles and disappears before you can investigate it. North and East streets form the skel- eton of the place. The place has there fore a very Unbalanced and lop-sided to- pography. North street is known as Main street. A fearful name, shedding vulgari- ty on every side; recalling Bridgeport, Hartford and other strictly commercial centers and driving completely away all idea of rest, comfort, enjoyment. If New York millionaires knew what the name conveys to the Litchfield mind they would banish it at once. The church in Lenox, that is the Congregational church, the only church that counts in New England town, is way up North street, half mile from the center of the village. It claims an altitude of twelve hundred and eighty feet. As Litchfeld attitudes are not marked in material feet and inches. but are allowed poetic expansion, the Leno8 church may claim any altitude 1t plesses, but it can never reach the altitude of the humblest Litch6eld cot. Besides it is half a mile from the village. The highest land in the village proper is on East street. East street is called Parker street. Parker is the typical name of an English lady's maid. The first millionaire to arrive so named the street to commemorate his wife's English acquisition. Think of itl A short distance from the center Parker street forks. Between the forks is the old Haggerty place, lately purchased by & new conner. He is tearing down the old man sion to make way for his palace, with which he proposes outshining all his neigh bors. On the right of the right fork of Parker street are the superb Frelinghuysen and Haven places, overlooking the Sloane imitation of an English manor in the val ley below, while towering in the back ground is the Lanier place on its half million hill top. On the northeast corner of Parker and Main streets is Curtis hotel, an old brick tavern in front with 8 large