Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1904-10-12
SOCIETY IN ENGLAND
POWER OF CASTE AND iNFlugNcs
OF TIE lANDowNINc CLASS.

The Number OF Thugs .aat ssGen-
tiemsn'' Cameo DO yyStlous Losius
social PRESTIGE u Too Gress sy
Far Go Catalogue.
An interesting book might be writ
ten on the influence of the English
landownlng class. Even in lats,s. days
OF ubiquitous manufactures. when TO
look at map OF England is Il wonder
how il is possible for halownhls
class even TO exist. the social aud Po-
htical influence OF that class Is some
thing moro than maintained
The ambition OF every successful
Englishman is 10 have "a place IN the
country" to get foothOld ON the as
piring territorial ladder. and the ranks
OF the landed gentry are continually
being REINFORCED. more SO perhaps to-
day than ever before. by recruits from
the Industrial army. The immense util-
ity OF the English country gentleman
will not be questioned 10y any one who
really knows England.
But ut the same time IL il equally IN
dispctable that the sort OF life he af-
fects-the endless Indulgence In sport.
the salmon stream. the grouse moor.
the hunting box. the pheasant preserve
and so on-is on the whole one OF more
or less harmless and often irresponsi-
BILE idleness aud that the nCighborhOOd
in which he lives is rarely apt 10 re-
gard him as an apostle OF strenuous
ness.
The country" everywhere stands for
leisure. and SO long as the country"
continues TO represent the supreme OBJ
jet OF an Englishman's ambition and
his social ideal so long viii England be
leisurely.
Again, in an old and stable land. with
social standards as fixed as the social
foundations and governed 10y a mon
archy, the conventions play an enor-
nous part, and the conventions i'm Eng
land are all against hard work II is
the leisure class that rules. that makes
up society. that holds all the positions
men naturally covet
sort OF -Four Hundred" atmoS-
phere permeates England. In America
one gets Whit Of ii on Fifth avenue
and at Newport. but In England one is
never away from IT, The number OF
things. for instance. that gentleman"
cannot do without losing social caste is.
In England, 50 prodigious n TO form
almost a schedule ~ forbidden in
dustries. There are some trades and
professions that are respectable. and
those that are not
only an Englishman knows which is
which. why a doctor ranks socially
above a dentist. why man who sells
should be irretrsevably below the man
who manufactures. and he the Eng
lishman, knows IL by an instinct which
IS born in him and which he never
examines and so cannot define. Any
one who can tell why the merchant
should consider himself and he con
sidered by others the social superior
OF the biggest storekeeper in the king
dom will be well OH the way toward
understanding England.
The daughter OF wealthy manufac-
turer OF kettles marricS the owner OF
the largest dry goods store in London.
Why should she be thought and spo-
ken Of as having married n little.
though only little, beneath herr Per
sonally. / 90 not know | merely OBJ
serve, without attempting an eXplana.
ton, that the man i'm the Wholesale
business is more looked up 10 than the
man in the retail business, that while
the former is not averse TO talking
about his affairs. the latter is only too
anxious 10 sink the shop" and that
social position in England is regulated
by a host OF perfectly Fictitious and
ily felt than expressed.
Such graduations exist OF course TO
some extent everywhere, but nowhere
are they so stereotyped, nowhere do
they strike so deeply, as in England.
have never yet been able 10 discover
an Englishman who had not the social
privilege OF despising some other Eng
lishman, and the lower one penetrates
In the social scale the more complex
and mysterious and the more rigidly
defined do these lines OF demarcation
become.
The point is that throughout England
the sense OF the nobility OF work for
It's own sake. If not actually lost, has
become so confused by the intrusion
Of quite alien factors that the sphere
OF action open 10 4 young man Of what
ever rank Is sensibly circumscribed.
The country. while democratic in form,
is not democratic In spirit. II has not
accepted and does not subscribe TO
that gospel Of work which lies at the
root OF American strength. American
success, American democracy.
ANY one who has looked into English
trade unionism must have realized how
largely II is mixed up with class spirit
The wOrkingman who knows that his
employer drives down 10 the office at
half past 10. takes a couple OF hours
for lunch is home again shortly after
8 and thinks himself somewhat OF a
hustler" If he Is content with three
months holiday in year is not likely
TO have a keen appreciation of the dig
nifty OF labor. His ideal insensibly be
comes that OF doing as little as he can,
OF striving TO reproduce on his own
plane his employers mode OF life and
OF regarding work as an unpalatable
interruption or the real business Of ex-
istence. Hence the "ca'canny" policy
or English trade unionism.-Sydney
Brooks in Harper's Weekly.
Signs of Genius.
Il reckon John must have been cut
out fur one o these here eeniuses that