The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1894-09-14
eNcLIsH ARIsTocRAcY.
II ss Slowly I.ettlng Down thc Darn Of Glass
ErnlAnIVe,iana.

Not SO long ago tho limo between tho
aristocratic aud other classes of tho COM
munfty was very decidedly drawn at
trade A poor family might lay claims
to gantility, and ono or more Of its mem-
bers might now and then figure ~, say,
& county bali, but q tradesmaa'a fans
ily--neyer Now il is otherwise, tho
aristocracy themselves having stepped
over tho dividing limo. Lord Shrows-
bury and Talbot, for instance, who takes
precedence Of all other earls, unDlush
ingly became q cab proprietor; Lord
Rayleigh'' ID tho inscription that may
be road on the signboard of one or two
London dairics. The Marquis Of Lon
donderry Is prepared to deliver coal by
tho ton. mo agents''--such arc the
final words Of thia nobloman'a adver-
tisemont, put in just as any trader born
aud brod might put them in. This de-
scent from aristooratic seclusion into the
arena Of commercial conflict is not con-
dned 10 the malo portion Of our nobility.
Titled ladies under disguiaed names
carry on millinery establishments and
run cafes, Their dainty fingers too are
not above manipulating howers fog
profit 30 generally indeed has the
sacred thirst for gold infected the upper
ten that, whereas they were wont to DO
accused Of living in idleness, they arc
now accused Of taking the bread out Of
the mouths of those who depend entirely
upon business fer their support
Far beneath these noble ranks can be
traced similar descent Street music,
for instance, used to be disooursed by
the utterly nbject and broken down,
Now men and women warmly clad and
we'll fed 60 about with organs. Troops
Of men sing, rattle the bones and do a
breakdown in public thnroughfares to
the tune Of not less than the better part
Of q sovereign a day per man. Two hum
dred pounds year in an assured situn-
tion was the salary that one young man
threw up last summer to join a niggef
troop at the seaside, and he doesn't re-
greG it AT the end Of the season he had
more money than he ever had at one
time before, and during the season he
ate better dinners and drank better
wines than he had ever eaten OF drunk
before, Hawking matches or laoes OF
any other trifle in public house bars
used to be and still Is q way Of evading
the law against begging. Indeed the
custom of singing on the streets arose
out Of the sane necessity for those IN
want not to incriminate themselves.
Now you will be in tho saloon bar Of 0
first rate Tefroshment house In comes
q top HATED, we'll dressed man with q
bag. Some successful stockbraker, You
think, II it be in the city, You fancy
You are tbs victim of q delusion, Here
Is this man, as well dressed as Your
principal, holding his open bag before
you aud asking You to buy q box Of yes-
tas. Well dressed women are going
about from public house TO public house
pursuing similar cailings, They speak
we'll, too, do those people, betraying u
fair amount OF education, II tradesmen
have any grounds for complaining Of
the aristocracy trenching ON their terri
tory, surely tho poor and needy have
grounds of similar complaining OF hayy
ing the instruments OF their profession
thus contscated by an apparently supe-
rior class OF course, with such 0 gem
eral downward trend, the poor and
needy are driven lower still, aud this In
measure is seen IN the ever increasing
charitable institutions, relief agencies,
soup kitchens and SO forth, and the ever
increasing strain ON the resources Of
such establishments. --Casselp 70 Journal