Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-11-14
ITS SOCIETY
SECOND HAND
WHAT COL. WATERSON HAS TO
SAY ON THIS INTERESTING
SUBJECT.


en- as applied to groups of people hav-
ing no tangible organization and dis
cipline. yet herding together and ex-
ercising a certain jurisdiction, it Is
variable and means much or little, &C.
cording to the point of view, writes
Henry Watterson in the November
Cosmopolitan. Society in Vienna and
Berlin is not as society in Paris-nor
yet as society in London-whilst soci-
ETY. in New York is second hand and
initiative, the reflection of what it
imagines society to be in the Euro.
pean capitals.
But in Vienna and Berlin and Lon
don, sOciety-that is to say, a limited
body of persons intrenched in certain
claims to superiority by caste distinc-
ton and supported in their pretention
by inherited fortune, great or small,
as the case may be-is subdivided in
to cliQues and cOteries, and intersect-
e by cross currents of one sort and
another. These cross currents are
sometimes bridged, and sometimes
they are not, the outsider having Of
ten to swim for it.
Room for Adventures.
Hence, there is room for adventur-
ers, which the adventurous are not
slow to improve, and, as conse-
Quence, European society is more pic
turesque, it's happenings more dramat-
ic, than society in America, where it
is only spectacular when it is seen
at all, the best of it being invisible.
Everywhere environment is every
thing. From environment spring not
merely conditions, but characteristics.
1t is a truism to say that in the ma
ture of the case society must be a
close corporation, though never a
blind pool, it's doors half open in Lon
don, a little ajar in Berlin and quite
| closed in Vienna to the approach of
the stranger. Scandal, which respects
not the obscurity of the village beauty
dearly loves a noble lady, and yet 1t
required the tragedy of the crown
prince to throw mOmentary flash
light upon the most self indulgent
| albeit the most exclusive, society in
Christendom. The crown princess of
Saxony made a good second to the
| crown prince of Austria.
There can be no genuine aristocrary
| where titles are bought and sold; none
where there is lack of money and no
| legislative power or dignity.
Bourgeois France.
The government of France is Bour-
gOis. The wealth of France is bOur-
geois. 1t is shrewdly surmised that
many of those carrying the noblest
names are the great grandsOns and
great granddaughter of the Wallets and
maids, the 'Oslers and sculliOns, who,
coming into possession of the family
papers, the documentary survivals OF
the houses they served, exterminated
ty the terror, turned up 20 years lat.
Ell these evidences to support their
claims, and nobody living to dispute
them. Be this as it may, nothing could
be more ignoble than the titular nobil
ity of France. Paris long ago ceased
to be social capital. It is a cosmop
OILS. Gold bricks are as common on
the st. German side of the Seine as
marked cards in the gambling houses
which, under the pseudonym of clubs
make even baccarat no longer a game
Of chance. The rich foreigner, chief
ly the American girl, and the English
foreigner with more money thar
brains-keep the little ball, metaphor
1cally speaking, going round and
round and round, twin stars of hope
to the Latin fancy and sometimes &C
tual windfalls.
Man for man and woman for WON
an, there has always been as much
wickedness in London as in Paris
But the Latin makes less conceal
ment of ais wickedness than the Brit
on. He Is not so much a pharisee
Reputation goes for something. PEG
pie will do in Paris what they woulG
not dream of doing in London. The
respect of the Latin is not greatly
priced, is rarely courted by the for
eigner. In England regard is hat
for appearances, if not for propriety
to say nothing about the decent opin
ion of decent people.
Burn Money in London.
Since the Franco-German war, the
downfall of the empire, the siege o
Paris, the commune, people VINO have
money to burn go to London to burr
it They get their clothes built in thu
Rue de la Paix, but they drives thei
coaches through Hyde park and New
Rcnd street. Among the English smar
set following the cue of the king, it il
CL1C " 81 W IdI1o llCOSulIO. Inc Icd
thing is to hire a house and flOwe
out in the west end of London, an,
what the Englishman does as a mat
ter of course, the American seeks t
do as matter of fashion.
There is plenty of scandal in Lon
don. But it's subjects do not shine il
society. After little they begin t.
be dropped, and to drop out, some t.
South Africa, and some to the Unite,
Srates-a few to recuperate by luck
marriage, or a mine, and return, lik
the prOdigal son, to be forgiven; TIL
greater number never to be seen again
never to be heard of more.
Money is, not unnaturally, the touch
stone. He must be either very vulga
or too i'll known, who can not buy hi
way into a certain recognition in LOI
don. English titles, however, mea
something, whereas French title
mean nothing.
On the European continent title
are often bought and often sold. N
man can buy an English title. If h
even shares one, "ne must marry tn
girl" If he falsely lays claim to one
he is likely to find himself in Jail.
The English still dearly love a lore
but they insist upon having thei
lords, as some Americans their liquO
straight
Society everywhere, hardly less ina
in Belgrayia and Mayfair, is becomin
the merest parade-the merest pr
CeSsiOn, | mean-an endless chain {