Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-09-25
The Sissy Earl and HOrsey Girl.

Henry Watterson in a recent issue
OF the Courier Journal impaled tie
London Smart Set" and the New York
'.Four Hundred" upon the pen he used
to dip in caustic for the benefit of the
silver lunatic and the crank who per-
sisted In following the leadership OF
Mr.. Bryan. The article overfows
with the keenest satire, the most biting
sarcasm, the most bitter invective that
aver corroded q pen or scorched fair
white paper. But to what end is Mr..
Wattsrson's lurid. rhetoricP The sissy
earl and horsey girl are creations Ut
the new conditions that were old con-
ditions 10 the time OF Nero and Cali
gula. The society that regards virtue
In a woman as . blemish, and inno-
cence as q defect TO be blushed at, did
not grow up in a night. The women
that conceal the results OF their lewd-
ness on a yacht or make with their
male companions a seraglio OF their
ocean palaces, the girls that make
Delmonico's and Sherry's hum, that
know all the evil that men know and
that exhibit q moral abandon that
makes the demimondaines of the
tenderloin stare, are not spontaneous
products OF the present, They are
not the sudden d~ispensations Of a
mysterious and fathomless Providence.
We have been getting ready for them
for a long time. The laws that have
created them are immutable and fixed.
The conditions that create an enor-
mously wealthy class create men and
women of the kind that Mr.. Watterson
deplores as certainly as decaying flesh
breeds maggots.
The man who accumulates great
wealth is OF necessity a busy man; all
of his energies are strained to their
utmost capacity. His whole attention
is taken up in getting rich along par
ticular lines. He may have a heart Of
ice, his pursuit may cause him to be-
tray a friend, it may make him cruel,
but the fact that he is busy prevents
the wheels OF his life from becoming
clogged with the grosser forms Of vice.
His life, ike the running stream, is
cleaused by its self activity; but it is
different with the son and daughter.
The riches that the father accumulated
from the labor of his countrymen for
In its last analysis labor is the sole
source Of wealthy has become theirs
without effort. They have no incen-
tive to either hurtful or helpful ex-
srtion. The power that goes with
great wealth is theirs by inheritance.
They have the lamp OF Aladdin. II
they wish to see the pyramids, in q
dozen days they are sitting In their
shadow and the wonders OF antiquity
soon become as familiar to them as
flint arrowhead to the urchin who
wanders over our fields aud through
our woods. Do they wish to behold
the wonders OF the Orient, In a month
they are upon the streets of Yoka-
homa. Do they wish to look upon the
midnight sun, 10! as II by magic, they
are at Hammeriest or North Cape.
They devour the earth as a boy eats
an orange, and the skin Is thrown
away. The power their wealth gives
them places them above the law.
Their lives, because Of idleness, be-
come stagnant pools, agitated only by
the winds Of passion and caprice.
The life Of the father never looked
beyond sell. Wholly given over to
securing material good 1t taught the
child that IT was the only thing 10
seek. Under such conditions what
wonder is 1t that the Smart Set and the
Four Hundred are rotten through and
through What wonder II the man or