Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-05-31

Virginia has contributed generously
! 10 the genealogical myths and fic-
. tons of America, for 1T is n common
place that Virginia was settled exclu-
slvely by noblemen ana cavaliers.
There are. Of course. bilious and
skeptical folk who win ask YOU Of
what earthly value the Idle, ruffied,
staggering loafcrs Of E~llzabethan
and Jacobite days were In cleaning up
the wilderness. Those that came to
jamestown with Raleigh wore out
the charity of even the generous say
ages; they wouldn't and couldn't
work. and died orr. The farmers,
woodmcn 2nd other Common persons
who did open the wilderness, the re-
demptioners and black slaves who
t0iled and swoatcd, must have left
some descendants: and IL must be re-
WONDERED that the legion Of ladies
and gentlemen who started from
British bridewellc end jails for the
Nirginias were adorned with more
balls and chains than stars and gar
ters. Distance may lend enchant-
ment to a few, but social cminence
based on the passengers Of early
colonial ships is apt to be a bit
dubious.
The fathers of the republic, with
foolish austcrity. condemned titles
and ran counter to human nature;
but the common snob Of America was
not TO be foilcd by any foolish repub-
lican theories. He loves titles, and he
gets them by 100 or crook. Every
year state governors add 1T least a
thougand generals and colonies to our
stock of titles; and once q general or
colonel. always one Secret societies
have titles too humorous 30 mention
to confer on their members, titles
worn with a solemnity that an arch
bishop or g field marshal might envy.
1t is a peculiar or eccentric society
which has not a military degree, each
member of which vas a title, n sword,
a uniform and %feathered hat. and the
small snob, be he motorman or bar
tender, lawyer or merchant, who will
not unbcnd and warm to you when
YOU hail him as captain or colonel Is
the exception.
Tho existence all over the country
Of sham soldiers, bogus brigadiers.
and all of comic dignitaries
only shows how widespread Is snob-
berry; and they also remind us thai
the noisy, ill-mannered ruck OF par
venus who fin the press with their
bad enner and worse morals, who
are scoffed mt ut home and laughed
at abroad, can be duplicated n thou
sand times from the raw material
awaiting its time ana opportunity.
Sham missionaries spurious ances-
tries and bogus titles are peculiar to
no county; they are comic in Amer
lea because, though so many seek
them, no one believes in their valid
'ity.
Snobhery has few convictions. but II
has peculiar religious preferences.
The snob Is q religious chameleon;
he goes to the church which he be-
lieves saves the souls Of the best peo-
pie. He would have burned incense
on the altar Of Jupiter while the Naz-
aiene WAS being crucificd: he would
have hunted heretics in Spain with
Philip ana chased Catholics in Eng
land With Elizabeth; today he is an
Anglican ,a London. u Lutheran in
Berlin. an Tltramontaine in Vienna,
an Asnostic in Paris. In America you
find him in fashionable churches.
The church Itself has q good many
snobs In It's pulpits-shepherds more
emulous 10 please the wolves in The
front pews than the sheen under The
gallery; pastors more interested in
the golden calf than the lucre-lacking
lamb. These fat, well-fed, well-paid
ecclesiastical snobs pray to the sleek
and w~ell-gioomed god. Respectable
ity. who Is Mammon modernized,
muffled, manicured and merceiized.
They tell the story Of an Irish snob
whose good old father, illiterate. rude.
hut sc-lf-respccting, vas sacrificed on
the altar OF %snobbery for years, In
time the old fellow died, and he lay
in state at last in the parlor, awaiting
burial. Custom was stronger than
s%nobbery, ana Snob end his wife
opened the house to the dead mans
humble friends, who came TO say a
beside his open coffin.
One old woman who had known 1
the snobs all their days, came in
softly, said q few prayers by the side
of her dead neighbor. rose and, look
ing at the dead, still face, said quietly,
Yet audibly enough for all to hear:
We'll, Pattick-God rest o u soul
they q to bring YOU into the parlot
At last" The snohs skunk out of the
room, and the old woman walked out
of the house With q toss of her heat
only an Iiishwoman ran give. a
toss more eloquent than a volume of
contempt and invective.
II has been said that hypocrisy Is
the homage that wickedness pays to
and in many respects snob-
to insolencc. %Snobbory pays the
pays to i~nsolence. nobbery pays the
price willingly, eagerly, for il knows
1t win be repaid IN the same luscious
currency some day itself.
Snobbcry Even in Mourning.
The International marriage of the
Is %pitiablc. rs "a rule, for the
daughter OF Snob Is too often sacri-
tced 10 her mothers social ambition
and her own vanity. But the record
or wrecked lives, OF happiness ex-
changed for titles, OF youth and
wealth given in return for some bat
old spcndthrift and his dubious
dignittes. does not seem TO have any
effect upOn the latest batch
Of daughters in snobdom. the gloryl
Of going TO court, of touching elboVB
with barons who were brewers, mar
quises who were money-mongefs. and
dukes whose grandmothcrs threw ,
their honncts over the windmill. and
JOY of returning to the republic. j
To patrontZe those who
her, are compensations enough for '
lavishing youth, beauty and riches ,
a fellow who. stripped of his
title and compelled To- pay his debts.
he Glad Ia S4lKe i'm -naHs., f.,,a.r {