The Progress., 1893-04-15

=
he was a farm boy up in Michigan. He used
to wear denim overalls aad thought him
self mighty lucky when he got Il giugham
shirt upon his back with collar oc h"
same for sunday When he first came II
Washington. he occupied Il somewhat ne
NAL position. He has risen since, and now
ne is Il bowling dude. lie wears a biz
cane, hangs his gloves over his stick.
which he carries by the middle and swings
lGnguidly, turns up his trousers, aiwar,
has a crease in his cuffs, the shoes upon
his feet are red and the hat on h> head
was made in London and imported through
Fifth avenue batter He shakes hands l.!
the manner which diSgISted Mr. CleYr-
land with the Office seeker and lISpS a.
much as he dareS. And yet this man j.
brilliant and brainy and has made haa
reputation as Il public servant.
| suppose we are more afflicted with lui
ism than most other cities because, first, CI
orr large population of government clerks.
who h:vn pretty good incomes, no one q
provide Tor but themselves AID plenty OF
time in which To II kke display of their
charms upon the streets, and. second, be
cause OF the presence here Of the dipiomatic
corps, nearly every member 0f which j.
more or less OF Il swell. all the young at
taches without exception being dudes OF
the first water. The latter serve as q sort OF
imported model for domestic dudes. like the
Paris model hats brought over by the
millinerS 20 pattern home made article,
upon for the spring trade. Connecticut
avenue is the principal rendezvous Of these
young swelis. and one of the funniest igh5.
the capital has to present is th, thorough
fare on - sunday afternoon. when thousands
of dudes and dudines OF both sexes and two
cOlors march up and down admiring each
other and themselves. The funniest part
of all the funny spectacle il - see the per
feet manner in which the negro dudes imi
tate their white models. They omit no part
OF the outfit of afTect2tion. Even the small
est detail is observed Ii the style OF colllJ
or the height of the fold at the bottom OF
the trousers changes one Sunday on til,
east side Of the avenue, where the white
and imported idiots hover. those change
will be found echoed to n nicely the follow
ing sabbath on the west side OF the avenue
where the colOred idiots hold forth in ali
their glory.
Washington is not such very large city.
and great many people know grea,
many other people, and consequently these
Sunday afternoon vanity fairs present 10
tlitl VI uOit4uS bt uiti5 Dtl lllc part Oi NuE
swclls. 1t is enough 70 make one laugh tC
see hundreds of hats jump simultaneously
from aS many heads, shoot out straight in
front IN arms length and then drop to Il
level with the wcarer's knees One mar
vels that every one of these hat dOlfev-
should have acquired the art Of doing the
trick precisely like every other one doe, it.
But ii it should become the style 20 greet
female acquaintance by dropping on ones
knees and blowing ones nose or by max
ing IN Indian club ont of the hat and going
through the double back swing with it, in
less than two weeks every one of these
young men who are so industrious in their
initiative diOcy would have mastered the
art 80 perfectly that he would be able to 20
through the motion precisely like every one
of his cOmpecrs.
Another thing that contributes vastly TO
the army of dudsm in this city is the so
called society which exists here. Society is
one of the biggest institutions in this capi
tai city. Its devOtees are mum beTed by the
tens of thousands. About onc-haif of the
whole number of socially ambitious per
sons imagine they are not swell until they
have made themselves ridiculous. Those
who start in at the lowest round of the lad
der observe that most of those who are at
the top round stand forth in all the glory
of red shoes. turned up trousers, big canes
adorned with gloves at the angle of 81 de
grees to the stick. that they have creases in
their cuffs and all the other claims to social
distinction, and so OF course they at once 20
and do likewise.
Take, for instance, Il bright, pushing,
hardwOrlling newspaper correspondent.
Ten years Of industry and hard knocks ena-
BILE him 10 buy house. 1t is nice house
Some of the neighbors are swell people, ard
the good wife becomes socially ambitious
She coaxes her husband little, some at
tentions are shown him by the swells, and
he, too. catches the disease. Suddenly he
blossoms forth AZ a full blown dude He
goes in for everything in sight In three
months he is transformed from a good and
sensible chap, pleasant to run up against
and to pull along with. into an ass This
is the only complaint have to make about
this orgy of dudism that is now sweeping
over Washington. In so far As it attacks
he idle sons of rich men, the diplomatic
do nothngs and the society squirts, it does
not matter. Even the department clerks
poor, humdrum mortals, who have no bet
ter way than with dress to impress them
selves upon their fellow men-may be
DuI WHICH IL COIileS 10 QUESTIONING
men vino arc useful and of some account
and promise in the world / object.
The number of wealthy people who come
from other cities to find homes in elegant
Washington increases year after year
About two-thirds of these people, men and
women alike, become dudes soon after their
arrival. Society is their great hobby, and
in their inexperience and trusting wholly
to outward indications they imagine the
entree cannot be had without dudism So
they sail in. 1t does not seem to matter
much what they made their money in. 1t
may have been manufacturing or mines
or robbing public lands of timber, or pig
sticking, or merchandising, or railroading
or buying cattle. They may be the plainest
sort of people, not many years from the
farm. possibly poorly educated, and all
that. But once this DUDE virus gets into
their veins they go to pieces in short order
The result is that the town is full of swell [
vehicles and fancy turnOuts