Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1889 — The Growth of Lnxury. [ARTICLE]

The Growth of Lnxury.

K. Y. World. As a Centennial contrast it is instructive to note the difference between the style of living and of entertainment in Washington’s time and in his own household in this city and that which now prevails here and in Washington. In an interesting paper in The Century Constance Gary Harrison recalls the fact that Washington, “goaded by the criticTsms' of Iheanti-Fei!erallets upon his taste and splendor” (as she puts it, bpt, as it would perhaps be more just to say, in deference to public sentiment), “mounted his first establishment in New York upon what would seem to us very simple lines.” No more servants were kept than were absolutely required. The large retinue and the abundant living of Mount Vernon were both curtailed. And it is narrated that “the

purchase-by the steward of an early shad for the sum of $2 was the occasion of a stern rebuke from the President, who upon ascertaining the price of the dainty ordered the steward to carry it from his table.” At the first family dinner after the arrival of the President’s wife from Virginia, Washington contented himself with a repast of cold roast mutton and bread, washed doWn -with a generous • upp’y of Madeira. There was plenty of stately ceremony, dignified demeanor and emarff dressing at the first “republican court.” But compared with the costly decorations, the lavish display and the luxurious living of the present time, the balls and banquets of those early days were really exhibitions of the “democratic simplicity” that we hear so much about but see so little of in high official circles to-day. The decay of the early republics was preceded and accompanied by an ostentatiousand enervating luxury. Let us hope that history has lost the habit of repeating itself.