The Progress., 1893-04-15
DUDES AND DUDINES.
EXPOSITION OF THE SPECIES IS CX-
EMPLISIEO IN WASHINGTON.
The Drainy and Brilliant Dude and the
Dude Idiotic-Senators Who Are Affect
ed-President CIeveland's Opinion of the
Dude Handshake-TheS Swell Eow.
Special Correspondence.

Especial Correspondence
WASHISGToT, April 10. - Pity It's. It's
true, that the American capital is becom-
ing center Of priggery and dudery. 1t is
evident 10 me that there is a greater mum
Der of dudes and dudincs in Wa>huss on
than in any other city Of its size in he
country. | lam almost willing TO aver til. ,
the number of such creatures found here i
larger even than the number to he found in
New York, big as New York is and filled
with that sort of thing as it has the rcpu-
tation of being. lido not wish to be classed
among those severe critics who put down
upon their lists of dudes all the men who
wear fashionable clothing Nor am | will
ing to join with those who sneer a; the
dude as creature utterly useless and
abOminabe So far as Washington dudes
go, many of them are valuable citizens
But they have become so much imprcC-
mated with the ruling weakness Of the dav
which is affectation, that they make don
keys of themselves in a small and luckily
a harmless way.
What is a dude: 1t is rather late in the
day to discuss n question like this And
am writing about dudes 1T all only for the
purpose of placing on record some fact : and
observations concerning the development ot
character and of customs in this perhaps
in many respects the most interesting as it
surely is the most typical of all American
cities \ dude in my classification j. "A
man who aSpires to social distinction or Cl-
egant personal appearance ard seeks It
through the mediUmship of affcctation in
dress or speech. lie is dude or something
akin 10 one, who initiates the apparel and
pronunciation of words supposed to exist
chiefly in some foreign city, notably Lon
don He i, n dude who puts on a box coat
and buys himself large cane and pair OF
red shoes and adopts certain mode oi
wearing them, this mode being obviously
an affectation or imitation He iS dude
who lispS or who makes an effort To broad
en- his ''o's' and To lengthen his as or 10
ape an imaginary aristOcrGcy in any Other
manner. Washington is full of such
dudes.
One cannot 20 out upon the street in this
town without coming upon hundreds Of
men who carry their canes in their left
hands, grasping the sticks 10y the middle.
never permitting them to touch the ground
and swinging them with a certain swing
that you will recognize without myatteinpt-
ing to describe it, This is only one of the
rudiments of dudism. To carry a cane in
this manner is an affectation. and if "A man
indulges il this style and adopts no other
attribute of dudism he is entitled to be put
down us one of the class of whom | am
writing. a sensible, we'd balanced man
carries a cane because it is cane ora walk
ing stick. He puts it on the ground part
If not all of the time. In other words, ne
uses it as it was intended to be used and
for the purpose for which it was designed.
Just as soon as he adopts the plan OF carry
ing it by The middle, never touching the
ground with it, he confesses that he is not
natural; that he is not using the stick for
convenience or for the comfort which al
most every man finds in having sonnet hing
in his hand. but for show; for ostentation.
SO it is also with the gloves. | was
brought up in the country and was there
taught by my plain old mother that neither
ones handkerchief nor ones gloves should
be made an article of display or adornment
y collar, cravat, even n bOutonniere IN
spring or summer, is a rational adornment
1t is a finishing touch upon the toilet Of n
man. 1t may be pretty or neat or becom-
ing, and a wide range of fancy may be per
mitted in its selection. But no one of
these is an article of absolute necessity as
a garment, like the coat or the trousers
Gloves are. At least this is the supposition.
the pretense One wears gloves in order to
keep the hands warm. Whether this is so
or not in fact, it is in theory, and therefore
glove cannot be made an article OF dis .
play without violation of good taste. Dis
play upon the hands, in the natural place
for gloves, would be bad enough, but it is
not to be compared in Nervousness with the
practice of wearing gloves upon the cane
thus assembling twin denominations.
Hundreds and thousands of men NAV be
seen upon the streets of Washington wear
ing gloves over their canes. Imean by this
the gloves carefully hung over the stick,
lying parallel, at certain angle which
must not be varied from at the risk of be-
ing accused of bad form, and if possible
with the fingers of the gloves showing by
their small and unruffied appearance that
they have never been upon the hands Of
their owner. He is surely dude who wears
his gloves in this way.
A man is not necessarily dude who
wears red shoes. In warm weather red
shoes are entirely rational, being light and
easy upon the feet. During the last winter,
however, a set of extremely fashionable
young men In this city have worn their red
shoes right along. Besides, they have
turned up the bottoms of their trousers.
The man who turns up the bottom of his
trousers in sloppy weather is a gentleman.
He wants to keep his apparel clean and
dry and doesn't care who knows it. Plenty
of men would turn up their trousers in wet
weather if the dudes hadn't made the turn
ing up of trousers ridiculous by turning
theirs up even in dry weather. 1t follows
as matter of course that the man who
turns up his trousers in fine weather-par-
in the streets of Washington.
where ordinarily one may walk over the
asphalt pavements with feet AS clean
and dry as if he had remained within his
dude or an ass, and probably he
is both.
For some reason or other, which am not
sure THAT | shall be able satisfactorily to
explaiR Washington is full of these dudes.
In addition to the forms of affectation
which have mentioned, they shake hands
with their fists on a level with their chins.