OCR Text |
Show SOCIETY IN WASHINGTON. What Co I. Put Iman 8nyk About It. j Tlie Vulgarly Kleli. , Washington society is peculiar. Jt takes Its tone from the While House, where nil i clas-M-.s, colors, creeds and conditions meet : I upon a sort of leel, however uneven it j may W. The national mansion Wlongs to the people and they leeJ they have a right j i to it and in it. At a presidential reeep- ; tion high and low, rich aud ioor, white, j black and pumpkin colored, dignitaries, exquisiutt and 1ki, wiiges, cranks, wiints, : sinners ami rinKcallions, punch kuuck- ! holes with their ellxiws in each other's i ( sides and tread on each other's heels or i trail.. T'abiuet olllcinls, foreign ministers ! 1 and blacklegs, supreme court judges aud i prize fighters, generals, admirals and I corner grocers, senators, congressmen, j ! lobbyists, peddlers and bootblacks, tilled i i and brocaded dames and tatterdemalion ! ! crones, reigning Indies and nameless women, Indian braves, pigtmlcd Chinese and nappy pa ted negroes, all crowd in motley procession tosliake hands with the president and his wife, who owe their temporary tem-porary greatness to the votes of the sovereign sover-eign mob. 1 1. is very democratic, very republican, very American. It gives U all capital I society a live and easiness to be, found j nowhere else. It has its charms, but. it ; has some drawbacks. lo. The gushv local Jenkinses have lately gone into hysterics of soft squash over young Mrs. Cleveland Wcause she has discarded gloves on these omnium gatherum occasions, occa-sions, and meets nil the legions uf miscellaneous miscell-aneous visitors "with a cordiul clasp of her warm bare hands." My advice to her 1 would he to wear sheet, iron gaunt lets or , promptly add a liberal supply of mer- cuv in I ointment to her toilet equipage. All oltlcial recept'otis are modeled on ' these chief maglstratic affairs. They are : open to nearly every body, and a decent suit of clothes and a let ter of introduction from i some back county wirepuller to his senu-i senu-i tor or representative are generally enough to oil the hinges of moreexclusive portals. This brings here hordes of nolnxlies, whose highest ambition I to be mentioned in a society report or newspaper paragraph ils mixed up with the somebodies. The. newly and vulgarly rich have Hocked to a Held where, what seems lo tlieni, social dis- tlnction is so cheap. Their pretentious mansions overlook the most aristocratic squares and circles. Their gorgeous turnouts, turn-outs, with gold tipped hubs and gold plated harness ontthishing the sunlight, j spin along the most fashionable avenues. Their epicurean free feeds draw throngs of well bred and well known feeders, and ( their blunders and absurdities m-o tho laughing stock of the town that feasts at their expense. P. Donan lu GloUfuLU-mo-crat. |