The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1895-04-20
ESTHETLSCISM.

A few years ago estheticism, as ad
vocated by Oscar Wilde, was very popu-
lar with certain persons both in this
country and England, and this class
were distinguished from other members
of the human family by sort of
snobbery that was particularly disgust
ing to. sensible people. In manners, in
conversation and in dress they were so
artificial, and practiced so much affec-
tation in the unpleasant as well as the
agreeable relations of life that one
could hardly believe they maintained
an existence on the globe by the usual
natural processes. If one were not
acquainted with the facts the belief
might be inculcated that these beings
were peculiar creation of the Almigh
ty, and for their sustenance the deity
prescribed means which were inacces-
sible to others. After an acquaintance
with these followers of estheticism, and
a careful analysis of the elements of
which they were composed and of the
causes which led to their peculiarities,
it was readily ascertained that they
were insignificant beings in every sense
of the term; that their ethereal notions
and hysterical affectations were the
result of weak or dwarfed intelects that
did not possess the inherent strength
to grasp in perfectly sane and
sensible manner the affairs of this
life, and were therefore forced to exist
in an unreal and ethereal state and
assume habits peculiarly their own. Of
late years these beings have been
known as dudes, and they had many
representatives on both sides of the
ocean. The. English dude is well
known over the world, and his Ameri-
can cousin is equally famous. But es-
thetiscism and dudeism have received
a severe shock during the past few
days, and Oscar Wilde, perhaps the
brainiest and brightest of the entire
class, is imprisoned in London Jail
for crime revolving to humanity. In
speaking of the downfall of Wilde, and
the natural tendency of estheticism,
the New York San says:
''This deterioration is not inconsist-
ent with the possession of high degree
of intellectual brilliancy, of the super
fetal sort more especially, and it fire.
quently accompanies the refinement
carried to an extreme, of which we
have so many examples at the present
time. People who imagine themselves
superior to their fellows in sensitive
perception and requirement., so that
they turn away from them revolted by
healthy expressions of human nature,
are really the victims of this decay.
They are morbid and hysterical, and
not of the finer and deeper and more
exalted quality of mind and emotion
by which they hatter themselves they
are distinguished. Very much of the
impulse which nowadays is looked upon
as reformation comes from that NOR
bid and degenerated source. 1t has it's
origin in a diseased discomfort and
with conditions and passions and am
bitions which are inseparable from
social health and Indicative of normal
human nature. The natural instincts
and the ruggee virtues of the people;
the invigorating spirit and the hearty
sentiment necessary for the preserva-
tion of the strength OF the race, are
treated as the evidences of an infer
riority of development. Patriotism is
and impulse. Partisanship, or the sem
timent which binds together kinship
and friendship, and brings men into
loyalreligious and political associations
in great masses, is denounced as a
vicious instinct to be eradicated. The
flag of the country and the symbols of
party union are hated and ridiculed.
"Allthis is symptom of degenera-
tion in minds deluded with the notion
that they are of an exalted superiority
before which the rest eff mankind
should bow. 1t is Indicative of moral
and intellectual deformity; of varia-
tion from the rule upon which depends
the perpetuation of the race in sanity
and vigor. Oscar Wilde is an extreme
and abominable example of the per-
verting possibilities of a type of de-
generation which must be resisted by
all the uncontaminated moral and nor
NAL influences of society,"