Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1882 — VIRGINIA SOCIETY. [ARTICLE]

VIRGINIA SOCIETY.

Aw Amusingly Snobbish Plctore o t a Ho* cayed Provincial Aristocracy. [From the Washington Post.l The term “good society” means much more in Virginia than elsewhere. It means a scheme the most powerful that could be organized, containing in itself all the elements of success. There is not, nor never has been, a plutocracy in Virginia. Money has its influence, but it is neither strong nor immediate. The people who rule society live in shabby houses and ride in antiquated carriages, but their word is law. The moneyed class look to them for recognition; they offer no competition to wealth and style, and consequently there is little-to be gained by wealth and style. But while it is in some respects the most aristocratic form of society, it is in others the most democratic. The aristocracy of talent, not having the aristocracy of money to fight in its upward course, finds the admission into tlie freemasonry of well-bred people comparatively easy. A certain con-’ tempt is expressed for the vulgar, in the very act of admitting some man of humble origin but uncommon talent into the charmed circle. A promising young lawyer or doctor maybe forgiven for having a mechanic for a father and a work ing woman for a mother, and be made welcome by his social betters; but he may by no means bring his brothers and sisters into his new associations, and even the anomaly of admitting a man and excluding his wife is occasionally seen. But the great body of aspiring men, without conspicuous abilities, find the door resolutely and arrogantly shut in their faces. General Mahone himself was the most striking example of what good society would and would not do for a man. His social ambition is as great as any other ambition, and by his exploits during the w r ar he found himself, a man sprung from nothing admitted into the association of the great and ruling families of the State. But he was not a man to be satisfied without being a power wherever lie w as placed, and that he could not be. He was with them, but not of them. His influence could not at any time have brought any man into good society. He was himself there on sufferance. He spent money lavishly, and afterward complained bitterly of the men who came to his dinners and drank his wines and then shut their doors in his face; but lie forgets that he paid coui’t to those men to come, and considered it a triumph when, by long endeavor, he got upon a friendly footing with them. In the upheaval that followed upon readjusterism he was sharp enough to turn the social machine to account. A few'—a very few —men of good family joined his party; these, he used as a powerful lever. He picked up men from the country cross-roads and vil-lage-tavern, burning with ambition, who had judgeships and seats in the Legislature and offices at once presented to their view, w'liich they had seen engrossed by tlieir betters. Tlie few meu of good standing amongst General Mahone’s follow ers took them up, And it w r as a great day for Jones of Jones’ store, and Smith of Smith’s cross-roads, when John S. Wise and Lewis E. Harvie and Colonel William Lamb were willing to sit at the same mahogany with them.