Washington Letter

Washington, D.C., Jan. 1, 188S. Tlie ouly eventa of importance since II Christmas and the first of Jannary, 1888, I have been the passage of the Civil Ser1 vice Reform BUI in the Senate. New I Year'í Day was marked by the usual re¦ ceptiona, official, non-official, diplomatic, I and militiiry. Every man arrayed himI se If in liia best elothes, and culled on the ¦ ladiui whcrever they were prepared to I receive. The ladieswerc all dresged most I exqulsitely, and many of thera stood unI der gas lightcd cbandeliers, wlth the I blinda of their parlors closed. Instan ¦ tancous photographs of the tableaux of I pretentatiQii on that day would be interI esting to tinne who deligïit in study in r I modern manners, and who discern iit I bows, and smiles, and dies.", and ¦iilitudo. I the material Chat ia the Imsis of ao lunch I psychological dlssertation in the modern I novel. With the beginning of the new year, Ij the social peason, as it U rulled, wlll be I fairly opened in Washington. Many I memoere of Congress, who h:ive been I home during the Holidays, will leturn II with their" familie., and many others unI connected 'with official or public lile, but I! to wliom wuilth lends means, will come from distunt city and town to enjoy the II gaiety and excitenieut that RdMun at the ¦ Capital aftords, and wlik'.h will continue I from t-day uutil the commcucement of I Leut. Our way of pretcndlng to enjoy otirI selvt;" " -'L -rly American, but, liku ¦ Jacques' melanohoij, ., -omiud nf I raany samples,'' l'rench, English, Ger. I man, and Heathen, - of which dancing ia I the chief. In Washington nearly everyI body and her husband dancea, in spite of I age, dignitiea, and rheumatiam. General I Grant, during his presidency, was seen I on more than one occasion to tread a I measure with ease and grace. General I Banks went through the square dances I with a guit half military, but with a techI nical skill that has for its expianation ¦ that, long before he was Governor of I Massachusetts, Speaker of the House of I Krprcscntativtis, or General of ene Arurj-, ¦ he was a teacher of the Terpatchorean I art. General Sherman, bitriing a slight I rheumatism, which gives liim a peculiar I jerking aait, may be seen in the evolu¦ tious of the bal! room, and always with a ¦ young and pretty partner. I am told ¦ that he is also a proñcient in those round I dances against which .Mis. Shermau I wielded lier pen; but in the matter of ¦ round dances I do not speak from obaerI vation, I believe the American habit of danc¦ ing comes from no passionate love of the I amusement, but is persistid tn because no I great baden of tone have the genius to ¦ invent anytliins; better to do. Among the I elite in great European capitals the gen¦ tlemen are accomplished, wbile the ladies I are domestic and only slightly accompI lished. With us women have all the ac¦ complishments, and men, as a rule, are I valued only for their capacity to mate I money. The result is that in every social I circle, whiíe the ladies may be able to I co:: tribute music and to talk intelligently, I and even brilliaiitly, on a variety of subI jeets, the gentlemen with their exclusiveI ly utilitarian education are unable to hold I the foil upon which all real conversation I dependa. The dancer is a man or woman I of actiou ratber than of ideas, and dancI ing is a common democratie plañe tn I which the etherially miuded condescend, H and in which the heavy witted find a I coarse stimulant to that aesthetic Ufe of I men'and women.