The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-09-14


BY MISS CAROLINE DUER.
In reply TO Colonel watterson's former
attack on the -Four Hundred, Miss Duer
writes:
There is an aris.ocracy Of money here
and the people Ike it They have been
more or less Instruments IN creating *
and they feel il Is their right TO know
about II. TO read about what II does and
says and how il lives and moves and has It's
being. They want 10 compare their every
day lives with the everyday life Of those
who. 10 them, represent romance and See
where and how it differs. They want TO
gasp and shut their eyes at the extrava-
gance. the splen6or. the l~avishness. the
eccentricity of society They want 10
think that their millionaires are as good
as the Princes of other nations-and they
want the Princes Of other nations 10 think
so. too
And to meet this demand. the habits and
customs Of a few hundred pleasant, pleas
ure-loving. good-tempered. easy-going men
and women have 10 be written up and writ
ten down. and turned inside out and OUT
side IN, and exaggerated and trumpeted
forth to the four winds OF heaven, till their
best friends would not recognize them anc
poor Colonel WatterSon. fearful that in the
general catsclysm certain 10 50
sin-laden q community. the innocent may
peradventure. perish with the guilty. dare
not withhold his testimony
His testimony Is expressed In somewhat
questionable language, and his guile4ess
heart, sober judgment and cn!valroos
Southern temper have been s~candalously
led astrsy. but II is comforting 10 know
that as long as he lives righteousness viii
not go undefended nor w~ickecness unre-
proved. even to the 'shying' of those brick
hats. which his ardent spirit suggests as
the resdiest means Of scattering devils
But If Colonel Watterson should ever
- Z---TA T. - . che AdErTT' n
poor. rich, unfortunately nicked named
four hundred devils whom he seems 10
consider a race apart-he would find them
really very much like other people; led with
the same food-only q little better cooked'
hurt with the same weapons-only a htue
more deeply because they are more sensi-
tive; subject TO the same diseases. healed
BY the same means. warmed and cooled by
the same winter and summer; and he
wcnld also find an astounding proportion OF
charming. amiable. sensible devils among
them
TT is IN the American character TO be e1-
~trayagaat-
-Extravasant in their surroundings. e1-
~trsvagant with their money, their nospt-
tally, their time, their youth. their heaith'
and Il is not confined to any one set or
class, although only one is made TO stano
for II conspicuousiy.
The women, against whom his knigttly
lance Is chiefly laid in rest. are rather
more afraid of conyentionality than their
western sisters. And they are IN no sense
depraved. Neither are the men. 1t would
be impossible to break down the innate re
spect and admiration which most Amen-
can usen feel for women. unless the woman
herself took a very decided step down on
her pedestal. and the American woman
does not take that step
.she Ikes to be petted and spoiled ano
admired and made much Otto be praised
and courted and iattered-what woman
does nct?-and she VIII take the trouble 10
make herself exceedingly pretty and agree
able to obtain what she wants; but not one
woman In a hundred is capable of talking
or thinking, 10 say nothing OF behaving, as
the Colonel boldly declares they ali do The
very openness of their intercourse is its
own best safeguard. and il they discuss
life and the experience of life. which. after
al. Is an the dirt anybody knows, II may
teach them as the Colonies letter teaches
an Of Us. how much there Is TO pity in
human nature