The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-04-29
PAINTED DANDIEs OF LONDON,

Bedlzened Male Creatures Made Up Like
Secondhand PrIma Donnas.
london Leiier N NE Boston Herald
They exist. They are to be seen in
London, They are the newest freaks OF
melancholy. They have exhausted
other forms OF beauty and would now
entertain the world with their irescoed
visRges.
The fret OF this species that ] en-.
countered dlaused soft scents. He sat
opposite me toying with soup spoon
and murmuring the platltudes Of Picca-
dilly to an amazed apinster at his right.
Before the dinner was finished he had
whipped out u silver-mounted fan and
was waving IT gently before his orna,
mental brow. Over the cclee he pro.
duced periumed cigarettes, and the at
mosphere became like that Of Rlmmels
shop on a hot day in August, His fin
gera were covered with jewels, and he
wore a dainty bracelet on his left wrist
He was creature Of most exquisite
decoration, and / watched him through
out the courses in silent wonder. Once
in the clamor OF general talk Il whis'
pered to my host question as to the
identity OF this marvel, and the answer
came that the painted being was the
son Of a Scotch peer.
That anything so frail could DO Scotch
made amazement greater. The creature
was inetlable, and he purred at the
company, never openly addressing it.
lie had, perhaps. three ideas in his
head, but he adroitly concealed them,
His finest accomplishment was in look
ing ut the ladies'. He fancied that he
made captive every fair heart at the
table, but learned afterward that the
eek mimicked him in the drawing room
while we were smoking, and that their
laughter, which rippled down tho stairs,
was at tho cost OF this decorative person
who was boring US over the walnuts
and tho wine.
Soon after this l saw another speci-
men OF this new fashion in trousered
humanity. Strangely enough. the sec
ond painted man was encountered at an
oratorio. They were doing Gounod's
Redemption" at tho Albert Hall, and
Tho Thing was in the box adjoining
ours. What it wanted there; what sat
islaction it could capture from an ora
torio Gun never guess. II did not lis
ton once in the three hours. It CAB
bled. 1t was for all the world like
hybrid OF turkey and peacock. 1t gab'
bied and chuckled (; it spread its superb
tailoring; it extended its ringed hands;
1t admired itself in pocket mirror; 1t
posed; it languished; it never smiled;
and it was thirty years old, If o day
and fat.
Having encountered two OF these
creatures, / kept a vigil for others Of
their kidney. Was it possible that a
new fashion in man had been projected2
Evidently yes, because my watch has
revealed companions to tho primary
pair. Alta reception the other night |
espied being more wonderful than
either OF the two who started my quest.
He was "made up" like second rate
prima donna. His cheeks had an oven
pinkness most delicately laid on, His
neither eyelids were penclled, his hands
here undeniably lined. He was pat
tern in rouge, and he looked for all the
world like one OF Nine. Tussaud's wax
images, except that he was much bet.
ter dressed than any doll in Marylebone
road. He is, am informed, a man Of
wealth and forty summers. It is al.
legged that he has culture, and that he
shows it in his writings about art and
music. Wherefore the wonder in
crcases that any cultured being can
paint himself.
But it is to this that the dandifed are
coming. l have seen dozen painted
mon OF an evening at the play and they
arc not on the stage. Strolling in Pic.
cadilly OF an afternoon these gentlemen
disport themselves. 1t is getting to be,
in the language OF the time, quite the
proper caper for dandy men 10 paint
themselves. A new horror waits on
metropolitan life. And the worst OF it
is that these bedizened males arc now so
numerous that they are tolerated. In
what is called the Smart set" they will
soon cease to be conspicuous, because
they threaten to become general.
Two years ago half the women in
London society were painting them
selves out of all semblance to respecta.
bility But they seem to be giving up
that trick now that alleged men are &C.
ot,iripu n