Bridgeton pioneer., 1908-04-09
LOUNCERS IN LUXURY.
The Life of the GiIded Youths of
Great Britain.
FADs OF MODERN sYBARITEs.
They Surround Themselves With the
Highest Products of Civilization and
Make Idols Of Their Bodies, These
Twentieth Century Epieures.

Highest Products of Civilization and
Make idols Of Their Bodies, These
Twentieth Century Epieures.
In a case that came before the bank
ruptcy court recently the debtor. a
young man in the early twenties, gave
in his accounts an item of $4,000
which. he said. was the amount he had
lost owing to the compulsory sale Of
the furniture in his fiat. The original
cost of the furniture in question is left
to the Imagination. The truth Is that
our golden lads" do themselves re-
markably well Ito use their own ex-
pression) and think that nothing in the
world is too good for them. We are
always reading in the papers illusions
to the luxury and extravaganza of wo-
men Of the smart world. Now and
then we may come across some refer
ence to the elaboration of self indul-
gence in which the young men of our
wealthy class luxuriate. Some years
since we had description of the
wardrobe of a New York dude" 1t
appeared in an American paper, and
much of it had been communicated by
the young man himself, especially
some information as to the prices of
the garments he affected Not long
after paragraph went the round of
the papers about certain Italian poet
and the little comforts with which he
loved to surround himself. They were
described as in no way inferior to
those of the New York young man. 1t
is not alone in England that the dandy
surrounds himself with the highest
products of civilization and makes a
god Of his body.
The luxury of woman of fashion
pales almost to insignificance when
compared with that. for instance, Of
her brother in the guards or heir to
the family estates. The young man who
was $4,000 to>the bad in consequence of
"the bankruptcy sale" of his furniture
is a case in point. He probably Law
ished between fS,0O0 and 10000 on the
plenishing of the rooms. This is not
much beyond the usual with young
men of the kind. Carpets alone make
large hole in f1,00O. Something very
special in wall hangings is proportion
ate in cost. Each piece of furniture Is
gem in its way The tradesmen know
the kind of customer they have to deal
with and that-for the present-there
Is plenty of money. They bring forth
their richest and rarest and not in
vain. The high ambition of the young
man is to ''go one better" than any
other fellow he knows in every detail
of his surroundings. The civilized
world is ransacked in order to provide
him with the latest refnements of cost
~ righteousness in such appointments
as bed and bath, glass. china, orna-
ments. silver and dexterously shaded
lights. His florists yearly bill would
keep two or three poor families.
AS to dress, single fact may throw
some light on the relative values of the
young mans wardrobe and that of the
smart woman. The valet of one such
gilded youth having complained to his
master that in his large and luxurious
west end fat there was no proper ac-
commodation for his clothes, the re-
source of renting second fiat equally
large for the housing of the wardrobe
was suggested and at once adopted. A
small room is devoted to clothes and
brushes and certain preparations for
the treatment of shoe and kid and boot
leather. A larger room is given to the
boots and shoes themselves and their
familiar trees, and so on with the more
important articles of dress. Country
clothes have spacious quarters devoted
to them. They include riding gear,
cricket and tennis suits, sporting get
up and travelling kit Here are his
portmanteaus and travelling bags. an
imposing array. A large wicker basket
standing among them elicits smiling
inquiry from the interested relatives
whom he has invited to tea and to
whom he is showing his new "dig-
gings." "Oh, that?" he says. "rhat
basket ought to know it's way to
France alone. 1t goes every fortnight
with my washing English laundries
ruin silk things. We tried 'em. Tore
them to pieces and made the sheets
yellow in no time"
"Silk sheets?"
h "Oh, yes! No one ever has any 9th.
er now."
"And You send this huge basketful
once fortnightT
"Every week." he corrects us. "One
Is on its way back now"
1t Is interesting to see the young
men of the day at our smart restau-
d, rants, each seated alone at one of the
tables, intent on doing himself thor.
! oughly well. His whole mind seems
occupied with the menu and its COM
ponent parts.
In a novel written by man the
! opening chapter shows US ruined
youth leaving London for Monte Carlo.
| He gives the guard shillings to keep
the rest Of the world out of his first
class carriage and regards with salts
faction three small hampers with which
he has provisioned himself for the
journey. One contains his dinner for
that evening. another his luncheon for