| Show CLASS distinctions A parent solicitous for the welfare of his own children and those of others has a communication muni cation in to days NEWS over the signature of Ink bottle in which he calls attention to a practice lately adopted by a morning paper of this city which he and many other good citizens are by no means prepared to endorse the custom which arouses his apprehension is that of aping and pandering to the ways of babylon by publishing in a commendatory manner the details of social gatherings of various titles held about town including the names of those who attend them and alluding to the latter as society people we shall not to answer our questions as to who are entitled to the distinction of society people being opposed to class distinctions among the latter day saints the NEWS never makes use of this term not that of our best families the upper ten or any such expressions as would indicate that such distinctions exist or were desirable we do not wish to impugn the motives of our enterprising in encouraging card parties and such other convivial gat gath brings as are usually attended by pe pert sonson sons of various creeds and grades of respectability and tickling the vanity of those who attend by publishing their names and alluding to them as society people but we have no hesitancy about expressing our condemnation dem nation of sucha such a practice for we feel assured that it will lead to evil to be cuti convinced vinced of the demoralizing effect of such parties one need only oily carefully scan tile the names and inquire into the enar character acter of those who frequently attend them however harmless the nature of the games indulged in at such parties the indiscriminate association of mormon and non mormon mermon innocent and designing chaste and immoral cannot be other wise than bad in I 1 its ts results and t they hey ought to be frowned down and discouraged cou raged by latter day saints generally and every publication that claims to be in the interest ot morality and we would advise our correspondent and all others who value the purity of their sons and daughters to keep them from the contaminations of all such badly mixed gath gatherings er ings i we cannot help viewing wit apprehension any departure among the lat ter day saints from the primitive innocence no cence genuine sociability and absence of style which characterized the early social gatherings of these valleys would that we could see a complete return to those old customs so far as the latter day saints are concerned would that the barriers between the pure and impure between zion and babylon might be rendered stronger and if possible impassable but that class distinctions among the people of god and any tendency thereto might be abolished entirely |
