The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-06-01
PETTY ARISTOCRACY.
REV. THOMAS DIXON, JR., ON so CALL
Ed HIGH SOCIETY,"

IN lts Bretenstons n Humbug, In Its Gus
toms the Incarnation of vulgarity, In Its
Standard Of Life Immoral and Corrupt
ing-sloughing Mt the Top.
New York, May 29.-Rev. Thomas
Dixon. Jr., delivered this morning the
sixth sermon in the series on 1.-THE Gates
of He'll In Modern Babylon" The sub
ject Of today's sermon was $50 Called
High Society" The texts chosen were
from Isaiah iii, 14-25 X, %;
II is ye that have eaten up the vineyard. The
spoil Of the poor Is in your houses. What mean
ye that yo crush my people and grind tho face
of the poor2 saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts.
Moreover, the Lord said: Because the dnugh-
ters Of Zion are naughty, and walk with
stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walk
ing and mincing as they go and making a
tinkling with their feet, therefore the Lord
will sInite with scab the crown Of the head
OF the daughters of Zion, and the Lord
Will lay bare their secret parts. In that day
the Lord will take away the bravery Of their
anklets, and the cauls, and the crescents; the
pendants, and tho bracelets, and the mufIlers
the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the
sashes, and the perfume boxes, and tho amu-
lets the rings and the nose Jewels, the festival
robes, and tho mantles, and the shawls, and
the. satchels, the hand mirrors, and the fine
linen, and tho turbans, and the wells. And IL
shall come TO pass that instead of sweet spices
there shall be rottenness; and instead Of CIR
die a rope; and instead of well set hair bald.
ness; and instead OF stOmacher grding OF
sackcloth; branding instead Of beauty. Thy
men shall fall by the sword, and thy MIGHTY in
the war.
A consumption Is determined, overhowing
with righteousness.
There is a certain coterie or clique of
people in every great city who arrogate
to themselves the title Society" This
so called society is in one sense insignif-
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 a
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 a reflex action upon the
masses of the people,
Tho pretensiors 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 insignih-
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
| fully said that societyis divided into but
two classes-namely, the masses and the
asses. The more we study this state
| ment the more absolute we see its truth.
| TIE so called high society of our great
cities is in ats preteRSions a humb1tg, in
ats customs the i7cGrndtion of Uulgartty,
IN its standard Of life essentially i'm
moral and coyruptinJ.
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 a superannuated
European title, is the angel of which they
dream. Marriage is made question of
! alliance for the multiplication Of fortune
h 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
/ ,,1n L. c.sA c.1
| fisherman bats his hook and waits for
| the victim.
Not more than 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 10 and at
school, but hardly two months after the
\ fathers death her guardian received not
less than dozen letters from men of t.
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 guardian
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
| talent, of power, in manhood and worn-
| anhood do not enter into the ideals that
| 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 tho
| color of q cravat, the tint of a dress, the
twist of bang, the style Of spring gar
| ments, summer garments, winter gar
| meuts. The man or the woman who has
| money--it does not matter where it was
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. Their
| 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
lish. We see this fact.
Second-In the manners of this circle
of people. The customs of their dresS,
of their amusements, of their daily life,
are sue h that only wealth and the trap
pings and fnery which go with it save
them from infamy. A distinguished
woman says most forcibly, speaking of
this modern circle of society; "There 10
an indescribable expression of the eye
every fine observer knows it--which dis
tinguishes modest girl from matron.
Look for it in the eyes of the girls of to-
day-it is missing SO often. II is re-