Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-06-07
PETTY ARISTOCRACY,
REV. THOMAS DIXON, JR., ON so CALL
ED HIGH SOCIETY.

NEW YORK, May 2S.-Rev. ThOma.
Dixon. Jr., delivered this morning the
Bixth sermon in the series on "The Gates
of He'll In Modern Babylon" The sub
ject of today's sermon was $50 Called
High Society" The texts chosen vert
from Isaiah iii, 1925: x, %:
1t Is We that have eaten up the vineyard. TIL,
spoil of the poor is in your houses. What meat
ye that We crush my people and grind the face
of the poor? saith the Lord the Lord of hosts.
Moreover, the Lord said Because the daugh.
tiers of Zion are naughty, and walk with
stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walk.
ing and mincing as they go and making {
,inkling with their feet. therefore the LORD
will smte with scab the crown of the head
Of the daughters of Zion, and the Lore
win lay bare their secret parts. In that day
the Lord will take away the bravery of thei
anklets and the cauls. and the crescents: the
pendants, and the bracelets. and the muffiers
the headtires. and the ankle chains, and the
sashes, and the perfume boxes, and the anu
lets; the rings and the nose jewels, the festival
robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and
the satchels the hand mirrors, and the fine
linen, and the turbans, and the wells. And II
shall come TO pass that instead of sweet spices
there shall be rottenness; and instead of CIR
die rope; and instead of well set hair bald.
ness; and instead of stomacher a girding OF
sackcloth; branding instead of beauty. Thy
men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty IN
the war.
A consumption is determined, overfiowine
with righteousness.
There is a certain coterie or clique OF
people in every great city who arrogate
TO themselves the title society" This
30 called society is in one sense insignifi-
cant; in another sense it is practically
omnipotent. The little clique so far
from constituting society is simply a
mob Their arrogance is something sub
lime The impudence with which they
assert their right to the title which des-
ignates the solidarity Of the race is some
thing amazing. They assume that they
are the aristocracy of the world. AS
matter of fact, they are an aggregation
of all sorts and conditions of light head
ed, insignificant people. They could all
be dropped from the world tomorrow,
and the worlds business would not suf
fer. They are so insignificant in the
sum total of the race that they can be
left out of account in considering its
problems but for the fact that their
ideals have reflex action upon the
masses of the people
The pretensions of this set are accepted
by thousands of people as facts, and their
ideals are bowed down to as though
they were the deliverances of the oracles
of the Most High God. This insignif- |
cant, light headed set of people are only
worthy of study and discussion because /
of this tremendous influence upon the |
ranks below them. 1t has been force
cof1 flat cociofx- IixriIaJ int 1,,,f
two classes-namely the masses and the
asses. The more we study this state
ment the more absolute we see its truth. /
The so called high society of our great |
cities is IN its pretensions a hunibug, an |
its customs the incarnation Of Uulgdrity, |
in its standard Of life essentially i'm
moral and corrupting.
We observe this:
First-In the atmosphere surrounding
this clique. 1t is of the earth earthly.
1t smells of the lowest ideals possible to
rational men and women. Money is the
foundation ON which its temple Of wor-
ship rests. Mammon is the god they
worship. whom they serve, and little
insignificant fop, with superannuated
European title, is the angel of which they
dream. Marriage is made question of
alliance for the multiplication of fortune
or of chicanery for the gaining of for
tune. 1t becomes strictly matter of
bargain and sale. 1t becomes strictly a
commercial transaction, and mothers an
gle for desirable men as the faithful
fisherman bats his hook and waits for
the victim.
Not more than q year ago, it is said,
an enormously rich whisky manufacturer
died and left one daughter, heiress to a
couple of millions and as ward to his
partner. The girl was only 16 and at
fathers death her guardian received not
less than a dozen letters from men of IL
tie in Europe, coolly requesting the girls
age, the exact wording of her fathers
will and his consent to an immediate
marriage. Two of them desired to know
if she possessed beauty, amiability and
what was her religion. The guardianI
threw the lovers letters into the waste
basket and punctuated his remarks with
language that is scarcely admissible in
the Sunday school or the pulpit.
The question of brains, of capacity, of j
talent, of power, in manhood and wom-
Anhood do not enter into the ideals that i
govern this coterie of men and women. /
Life is for self. Self is the center around ,
which the universe revolves. The tri- |
umphs of this world for them are the {
mighty questions that center about the {
color Of a cravat, the tint of dress, the I
twist of bang, the style of spring gar /
ments, summer garments, winter gar t
ments. The man or the woman who has {
money-it does not matter where it was q
made or how it was made-if he is per- /
sistent and is willing to pay the price, |
can buy his way into this circle. There +,
is no ethical law known to their stand
ards by which any individual can be ex- !
cluded if he wear as good clothes and
knows how to articulate ordinary Eng
hsh We see this fact. !