Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-19
07ood Old Times

..cood old times is a popular SUBJECT
There probably were good OLD tinies a"u
there probably were bad Old times. "ooo
and bad were doubtless mixed IN ABOUT lne
same proportion then as now. IL theie Is
any difference there is perhaps now nioi
good and less bad. The world has speHs "a
riotous living, extravaganza ana aruhciai
-,tv hut II has spasms of morality, REFORM
and economy. very much as the STOCK
market has periods of imitation and pane
even though the permanent trend OF VALUES
is higher.
lust as there are men who live so eA-
tremely in the present that they nave no
patience with the past. there are ehose
who quarrel with everything that Is ana
laud everything that was.
In the current Fortnightly Review
writer is so much dissatisfied with the
world generally and society spec1ncaliy
that he would turn back the hands or the
clock to the days of Louis XVI. 1t may De
that the writer has as intimate personal
acquaintance with society today as OF the
days of Louis XVI, but there is some doubt
about this. He says:
'Ten thousand people in the days OF
Louis XVI were housed under the roof at
Versailles during the royal fetes Let US
assume that take it all round. three ser
wants waited on each. what hostess OF most
of today could make anything but a hurly-
burly out of over two thousand guests!
For shame upon the hostess or host of to-
day who could not give little dinner party
to 1000 guests with 5000 or 5000 servants
to wait upon them! We have so decayed
in the art of wholesale hospitality that a
good many housewives would have to Dor
nI1nS
from the neighbors to entertain a cozy,
sociable little bunch of 1900 guests A.
tended by 5000 or 5000 servants.
The magazine writer says "they were the
flower of an old and noble civilization"
about this .old and noble civilization"
Much of 1t was founded in brigandage,
rapine and in unwise and unfair taxation.
The beneficiaries of the loot and their de-
scendants refined themselves by soft living
and good food and called themselves cul-
tured because they learned to play the
lutte dance the minuet and wear a pow
dered wig.
The Fortnightly Review writer becomes
positively indignant at the American mil
lionaire who buys pictures. books and tap
estries. 1t is likely that some rich per-
probation of them. but very good way to
learn appreciation of them is to own them.
The very fact that man is willing to be
extravagant for these things indicates that
he suspects there is something in them
somewhere or somehow.
1t is useless to berate the American mil
lionaire. He is here to stay. Every sane
American who can become a millionaire is
going to do so. The average American mil
lionaire is good fellow. He may In some
OF his types be little loud in his clothes.
a little boisterous about the mouth or
little strutty in his walk. He may smack
his lips at table and in rare instances eat
with his knife. but he is more of a man
than the pale. sappy. Ianguid creature who,
because he had hardworking grandpa,
never created a dollars worth of value.
never invented machine or a process,
never thought of a way to direct the en-
ergies of other men. never dug for gold Or
iron-never did anything but sit around
with the ladies. talk nice and look neat
When a poor man by hustling makes
million dollars. it is almost a certainty that
in addition to the factor of luck he has
brain and will power and grit