The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-06
lie FAUB0URG" 400
The French Special Emissary Won
ders at the New Worlds
Aristocracy.
American People Warned Against
"Regrettable Tendencies"
Of the Older Races.
Lazare WELLER In Harper's Weekly.

What astonishes the foreigner upon en-
tering into American society is to find it
like that of the Old World, divided into
carefully sifted clans. In Paris we have
the Faubourg st. Germain, or, as we
usually call it, lie Faubourg. It is a cote
RE formed mostly of TITLED families who
keep to themselves and allow no ''bour-
geois" intrusion. Yet it is possible to
enter the Faubourg without belonging to
1t. A foreigner, a politician, a prominent
man of any kind, may be received If he
champions the Faubourg's news and ide-
ais. AS these adoptions, which have al
ways been rare, are becoming still more
So one may say the world at large does
not count for the Faubourg. If, thru some
peculiar circumstances, few atoms of
the outside world are admitted into the
noble institution, they are accepted as Gu
riosities, as phenomenons or distractions
In New York the Faubourg is repre-
sented by group of American families
constituting the aristocracy and called the
-Four Hundred. The Four Hundred are
very exclusive. One belongs to the Four
Hundred as one belongs to the Eleven
Hundred OF the Stock Exchange, except
that one neither needs to buy his entrance
nor walt for some to step out in order to
take his place Some are born Four Hun
dred, some achieve Four Hundred, some
Chose are many have Four Hundred
thrust upon them. The number of mem
bers is not limited.
1t is a pity that events have prevented
the ancestors of the Four Hundred from
making glorious name for their descend
ants but ancestors have not all had suffi-
Client leisure to protect their grandsons
against physical degeneration and medi-
ocrity. It is precisely because theirs Is
newborn nobility that the Four Hundred
are obliged to keep it alive by culture and
fortune. Most Of the Four Hundred are
We'll qualified to play an ancestral part
with the exception that they are exclusive
enough to be their own great -grandchid-
rem. They have not yet the vices of the
old and worn aristocracies, and If they
succeed in avoiding them, there Is no rea-
son why they should not succeed in Great
Ing corps d'elite. It is the privilege Of
| those who are sincerely attached to Ameri-
can people to warn them against the re-
grettable tendencies which draw them to-
ward the older races; altho we well know
that their fondness for ancient tradition
will never predominant over their prac-
teal sense. I will never be the one to re-
proach them for marrying into our nobility
especially now when experience is teach
Ing them to be more circumspect. But thew
sometimes go too far in their enthusiasm
over a famous name.
Iawell remember the excitement caused
by the arrival Of Prince Henry, the brother
VI EIAupeIOI w MOSL OF the Four
Hundred looked upon his coming more as
q social event than as matter Of inter-
national politics. have not forgotten,
either, the exclamation of a very plump.
middle aged lady seated next to me at
dinner: 20. my dear sir, I cannot tell
you how fond am Of nobility" I smiled
at the candor of this remark, which, after
all, expresses the public feeling of a
country where the opinion Of women, even
| tho they are very plump and middle a ped
| is always taken into consideration To
be just, it Is necessary to say that Prince
Henry's simplicity Of manners astonished
Americans and also surprised those who
CHANGED to cross the ocean with him. He
told me himself, when we were together
on board the Deutschland, that before go
| ing to the states he made up his mind
to forego all etiquette, and accordingly
he welcomed most graciously the numer-
GUS hand shakes and very glad to meet
you" by which he was assailed during the
course Of his visit.