Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-11

How They Act I'm the Prrsence OF womeD-
They Are Lazy and Selfish.

How They Act I'm the Presence Of womeD-
They Are Lazy and Selfish.
A careful and--so far as we have been able 10
compass tan impartial study OF the young
man of the present day, says tine London F4e-
graph, has convinced many persons that he is
abnormally lazy and that his sei6shness e with
out parallel in any other period Of our history.
concurrence Of the two vices is 10 be traced
they think, of the fact that he has almost csssed
or at any rate he is rapidly ceasing 10 dance.
II is in vain that he will plead the absorbing
occupations of modern life or the ssddening in
fuence Of the philosophy OF schopenhauer.
The plea is idle. Ii is not the overweight
student or the pale pessmist alone who declines
nowadays to join in the may dance: il is the
dashing or once dashing ''militaire." The
singular boast which once the monopoly
of the Tenth Hussars will soon be the common
property of every cavalry and infantry regi-
ment of her majesty army, while. for the
learned professions, their members make fresh
contributions to the row Of wall flowers every
season.
Yet there seems to be no ground for saving
that girls are any less fond of dancing thaa
they used to be; the partner difficulty IL created
by the male sex alone. In other words. the
young man of the present day. having ceased 10
care aboIt this particular amusement himself
Is in the majority of cases too INDECENT and too
selfish to take part in il for the sake of grtify-
ing other persons Of that sex which it j. sup
posed to be mans duty. no less than his de-
light to attempt to please. Such self-sacrihee,
however. finds no votary in the I'm de sie-
Gle youth. To use his own expressive phrase.
il is mot good enough, don't you know, and
he declines it accordingly. The wretch con-
centred all on self looks on at few dances.
and surveys the rows Of forlorn and unasked
maidens who lines the sides Of the ballroom
and leaves early for cigarette and q lemon
squash at his club. We are prepared, OF course.
for the answer which our young man OF the
period, thus roughly but righteoGsly han
died, }" is likely to make TO MS. He will say that
this is word for word-except o. 10 the cigarette
and lemon squash--identical with what his
grandfather and repeated some thirty years
after to his father.
There is a speciousness about this srgument
which might, perhaps, deceive the unthinkiug,
and it is therefore well TO remind them Of the
well-established fact that the grandfather q the
youth of the present day, although worthy
people in many why's, were extremely preiu-
diced Whereas their sons. the fathers and
uncles Of our contemporary young men, are Cd
mittedly capable Of instituting Q fair and i'm
partial comparison between the men snd man
ners Of the present and the past. lnstesd Of
resorting to plausible but fallacious retorts Of
the ad hominem description We counsel our
youths to resolve with the new year 20 cultivate
the virtues of courtesy, kindliness and sef-sac-
rifice to others. TO determine that they Will dis
play in future Q chivsirous attention 30 lsdies
and register o vow that elders Of their Own sex
shall never fail to receive from them Is g.
tribute Of Difference and respect