Year: 1866

the Close OF the summer and Opening OF
the Fall seasons.


With the advent Of September the summer
season practically closes As the weather
seems likely to be as sultry as that of August
for several days to come, few guests may
still linger at the watering places and rural
retreats, but the large majority are coming
home at once. On the whole the season
has not been very lucrative to the summer
landlords. The extortions and inattentions
which have distinguished them for the past few
years have been amply revenged by the gen.
eral public. Many Of the springs which used
to be quite crowded have scarcely been heard
Of this season. Saratoga and Cape May have
been noted only for the number Of fast men
and women collected there. The fashionables
Of New York have deserted the former, a. the
fashionables Of Philadelphia have abandoned
the latter. New resorts like Rocky Point
have been opened and have done pretty well;
but the average attendance at the watering
places has been just about one-half that Of last
year. Long Branch has had an excellent busi-
ness, on account of its proximity to this
metropolis, and certainly leads all competitors,





people, however, have not been at Long
Branch nor at any other popular summer vii
lage. They were to be found only in the cot
tages at Newport and the elegant suburban
villas near all our great cities.


To be sure the ubiquitous and irrepressible
Jenkins has reported that the society at all the
summer hotels has been most fashionable; but
to1,x Il ~ H.
real fashionables are, and great many SEN
sible people share his ignorance. To be fash
ionable it is not enough to be rich, to be re-
spectacle, to live and dress well, to give par
ties and to entertain many acquaintances. All
this is requisite, but something more is neces-
sary. Fashionable society is organized by .
clique of wealthy persons who, having nothing
else to do, make it their business to give din
ners and parties. They are generally intelli-
gent, reside in handsome houses, dress richly
but in good taste, drive fine but not fast horses,
and can trace their ancestry as far back as
their grandfathers, although their great-grand-
fathers are often enveloped in dim and ro-
mantle mist, through which it Is impossible to
determine whether they were shoemakers or





society Of few hundred young ladies and gen.
tlemen, divided for convenience into half
dozen cliques. Most American ladies are in
hurry to get married young; they know that
time is 6eeting and want q man to pay their
dry goods bills. Fashionable young ladies arc
in no such haste. With rich parents and an
assured position, they do not care to marry be-
for fuyou uous Ansuh al
their education at fashionable school they
pass the interval until their marriage In dane
ing the German, attending the opera and re-
ceiving the attentions Of the gentlemen, with
whom, however, they do not go so far a. to
firt These fashionable gentlemen are also
a peculiar class; they toll not neither
do they spin, except in waltzes; but
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like unto them. The German ia their sole oc-
cupation. They rise late, breakfast at noon,
and then come down stown, ask the price Of
gold and drink cocktail ct the lower Delmon-
ico's by way Of business. Fatigued with this
exertion, which they perform with great solem-
nifty and regularity, as il the finances Of the
nation would be disarranged should they omit
II, they then ride home and dress for dinner.
After dinner they 60 TO various parties, lead
the German and retire at two o'clock A. NJ, to
lie awake for several thoughtful hours trying
to invent q new figure for their favorite dance.
Their Only ambition, like Won Bismarck's, is
TO be the German leader If the dance goes
Oh well no prince could be prouder II the
couples get confused, the leader Is exiled, like
Napoleon after his Waterloo When they grow
too old to dance they marry fashionable
women, and when they die they expect to
enter fashionable heaven and dance the Ger
man throughout eternity upon floors Of pure
gold and to the music Of angelic harps.


It may be fortunate that the world Is not
wholly composed Of such people; but they are
the real fashlonables, and to apply that term
to any other class is mistake. They set the
fashions in dress, in amusements and in society,
and host Of admirers and imitators are al
ways ready to follow them. They did not
patronize the watering place hotels this sum-
mer, and consequently the season was CON-
parative failure. The fact Is that these fashion
ables have been crowded out Of many Of their
old haunts by the newly rich people, who have
more money and spend II more extrava-
gantly The true fashionables never waste
a dollar. They have the best things, but
buy them at the lowest possible prices. Only
the shoddy people give their carriages to their
coachmen and light their cigars with greenbacks.
1t Is AZ uniashionable to throw away money
foolishly as 1t Is to earn 1t by hard work. The
newly rich may flourish at the watering-plsce
hotels, pay enormous bills and make the for
tunes Of rapacious landlords; but the fashions
bles have quietly withdrawn to their neat cot
tages and secluded villas, where they are more
comfortable at a much cheaper rate. Whether