The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-10-24
.WATTERSON TALKS
ON SOCIETY
CONTINUED from First Page.)

Continued from First Page)
duty as writer for the press to say
some exceedingly plain and it may have
been thought some very harsh things.
about the nouveaux riches--the idle rich
the God forgetting, world defying, pleas
ure seeking rich, who set themselves as
n law unto themselves, who submit to
no restraints except those fixed by nature
and the surgeons knife. who have no
intellectual perspective, except that the
longest purse brings down the biggest
titles, nor rule of conduct except that.
impelling them to eat, drink and be
merry for tomorrow 1t may be some
one else's turn: code which am told
became altogether the rage in Babylon
some centuries ago.
They society? Has Caliban grace? Is
Tom Thumb manhood? Must the monkey
and the swell be accepted as inter-
changcable types, as alternating measure
ments. of human breeding and beauty?
Indeed, one would thing SO reading some
OF the reports that conc to us from the
inner circles Of that apotheosis of bore
dom. that incarnation of stupidity and
affectaton, which takes it's cue from
Leicester Square and the Corintlnan Club
in London-which emulates the demi-f
mondaine OF Parls-which edd!es round
the abodes Of luxury and alimony at News
port, and thinks no more of running down
an ordinary pedestrian in It's automO-
bile than you and would think OF brush
ing away spider or a fly.
Sursum Corda. lift up your hearts! i
at least, have never wasted many
thoughts, or nursed any serious fears.
about such cattle, nor shall do so until
monkey dinners become as popular in
Pennsylvania rs they seem to be III Rhode
Island.
VERY NALL NUMBER.
know that In each of our centers Of
population and wealth there is a little CO.
terie Of silly women and simperng John
MES which would initiate the imitators; but
they are too shallow and too scattered
to make much Roadway against society,".
and by society," mean not merely those
who. by their character. their genius and
their good fortune, have earned the right
to dwell In great houses. without the sus-
picion of the ostentatious display OF
wealth-to have picture galleries and Ii
brarics and horses and carriages, and. II
they please, yachts and automoblles-bu
behind them that great army of the Well
bred and WELL to-do-that noble American
commonnlty, clean of birth and clear Of
grlt-those cultured men and women,
who live without scandal and travel with
out adventure-not rich indeed, but quite
able to pay as they go-the rose and ey-
pectancy OF true manhood and woman
hood the very buttress and bell-towerl
OF our free republic. M
These constitute what I call society.
Radiating from the home-thrice blessed
In dad" and mann and granny" yea.
in bill and joe Sis and Colts nfl,-
ence penetrates the dark and the light,
reaching from the flreside to the counting
room, from the counting room to the
asylum and the hospital and, somehow.
finding It's way back again to the roof
tree and hearthstone via the school house
and the house of God; never a thought of
the divorce court-not so much as the
shadow Of "a nobls lord"-to disturb It's
serenity. or to frighten It's dream-l May
that society be ever true in its politics
to the lesson of the greatest good to the
greatest number: In its religion. to Christ
and Hin crucifled.