The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-03
tisSy and the DIXIE.

II IS worthy Of note that the sharpest
lesson the great American toady has re-
ce.ved Of late was administered by that
nimble little high-kicker Miss C!ssy Fitz-
gerald, 50 we'll known 70 the front row or
this and other metropolitan cities. W nat
makes il specially notable is the fact that
C.ssy is herself as honest and undisguised
a cockney as was ever turned out IN he
east end of london She is pretty and
shapely and all that, huj she IS unmis-
takably Of that class of which Thackeray
declared more than once that IL dearly
loved a lord" and which is composed
largely of flunkeys. whether they wear
plush in the halls of great houses or sell
hsberdashery over the counters of shops
along Cheapside. Nevertheless, we ind
Cissy leCturing Americans v no are IN good
society and ought to have self-respeCt
enough 10 live up to the dignity Of their
position. While our society reporters
are giving us columns OF silly gush about
the Duke Of MarlhorouEhs clothes, mis-
hair his footgear his habits and his most
unimpOrtant doings. while society IS
gulping this dreary chronicle of small beer
and wondering when and to what extent
the thirst for more viii he assuaged; little
C.ssy Fitzgerald who. by every law of
reason and probability. should be among
the most devout of his idolatOrs, is saying
20 reporter Of the Washington Post that
''tuft-hunting Americans do the worship
iIS. not the f4nEfl@N- I2du iii ltit @aititA -
can papers column after column devoted 10
the color of the Duke of Marlborough
hatband and the amount of chocolate that
Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt consumes with
her morning chop. Why, when Il was an
nounced that Marlborough and Miss Van
derbilt were betrothed the London Times
odd ThundererD had a simple, dignified
few lines about it. and let it 90 az that.
This little pettlCOate coCkneE evidently
does not believe in doing things by halves.
She thinks that the American toady needs
2 good talking to-" and goes on to explain
that:
The Duke or Marlborough was rather an
insignificant person in London. so far as
publicity went ~ the theater or in any
public place he passed almost unnoticed.
! have often seen him from the stage, as
ne sat in 4 box at Mr.. Hollngsheads
Gaiety or the Princess theater. lie wasn't
any greater than any one else, and we
never paid any attention 20 him. Were
he a man OF brains. such as Anthony
Hope. the writer. or Sir Frederick Leigh
ton the painter ne would become imme-
diatey impressed with the importance OF
the parsonage.
IF Sir Frederick Leighton or Anthony
Hope occupied a box in an American thea
ter You may imagine ,hat ne wouldn't
monopoize such curiosity and attention
as a sprig of blue blood like Marlborough.
Why the duke never knew that he WAS
q person Of importance till he came 10
America and read what the newspapers
said of him. and contemplated with stage
fright the open-mouIhed crowds that gazed
on him.
1T is American dollars. not English ado
ration, that is fostering the encourage
ment Of the artificial class that they call
nobility. ] may be too severe on English
nobility, and if I am. then my prejudice
IS due 70 the idiotic samples of English,
Scotch and Irish blue blood that I have
seen tagging after burlesque actresses in
London"
instruction such as this from such
source is obviously opportune and sig
niicant, coming concurrently with the Ia
borious efforts Of great American ueWspa-
pers to inform their !nnumerahle readers
as TO the exact color OF Marlhorough's