tm BHito Same.
PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 14, 1804.
SUITABLE FOR A GENTLEMAN.
T)ROBAIiLY there are few things among the
ricli anil vast varieties exhibited at our
Great Fair, so difficult to find as a present
“suitable for a gentleman.” We are not pre
pared to take very high ground on this sub
ject at present, and to attribute the difficulty
to the superiority of the male sex in being
entirely above the adventitious aids and re
quirements of the fair; we are content to
state the fact. Nobody ever was at a loss for
a present to a woman. The only question to
be considered is the amount you desire to ap
propriate for the purpose,—given that, as the
mathematicians say, and the problem is easy.
Diamonds and cashmeres float high up among
the thousands; corals and crapes are among
the hundreds, while the vulgar fractions of
those sums represent to the bewildered vision
every thing that is “ neat and appropriate.”
There are things, too, which all sorts and con
ditions of men can, with propriety, offer to
all sorts and conditions of women. You can
present something expressive of gratitude,
love, approbation, esteem, friendship, or even
colder sentiments —mere politeness, for in
stance. There are abundant things which a
man may want, but they are awkward things
to present. You may send a man a cow or a
piece of beef, not at the present time unaccep
table, but certainly ungraceful. So, too, a pair
of boots are not a pleasant thing to press into
the hand of a friend in parting, nor is it quite
delicate to order a ton of coal to be put in his
cellar. A suit of clothes is by no means to be
despised as a present, but so arbitrary is fash
ion, that although a lady might accept your
suit, you could not with much delicacy accept
hers.
Women, however, are not to be thwarted of
their right to be generous by such slight ob
stacles as these, and they have, by common
consent, decided that certain things are suita
ble for a gentleman, and they persist arbitra
rily and obstinately upon it until the man has
at last yielded and admits that if the articles
in question do not suit him, it is his misfor
tune, and by no means their fault. What is call
ed an “Afghan” would, to the uninstructed
mind, appear, perhaps, as absurd an article
as ever was devised for the use of man. Not
so, however, to the person of enlightened in
telligence. Few things, lam told, are more
essential to a gentleman ; in fact, life is a bur
den without one. In being very dear and very
useless, it, in fact, unites the qualifications
which have raised the diamond itself to its
peerless position among gems.
Ouk Daily IF 1 _a :r, ll
An observing female, having noticed that
when a chimney smoked, a cap was immedi
ately put upon it, suggested to her sex, that
man should, under peculiar circumstances, be
treated in the same way. This gave rise to
what arc called “ smoking caps,” articles
worked by ladies and worn on the stage by
dissipated and designing characters. In fact,
what is called the “get up,” technically, of
the bold, bad man of the melodrama, comprises
the articles generally pronounced by female
authorities as “suitable for gentlemen.” The
elaborate dressing gown, the smoking cap, and
the worked slippers, present Captain Jlawks
ley to the audience as the prince and type of
the accomplished swindler and man of the
world. There are also traditions that the
clergy, in the bosoms of their families, and
sometimes in the presence of the fair donors,
array themselves from their stores of these ar
ticles, of which they have an unfailing supply.
It is high time, however, that the male sex
generally should accommodate themselves to
the necessities of their position. Why should
they continue to deny themselves the use of
what the highest authorities in matters of
taste deem appropriate for them. The articles
may be disagreeable, they maybe uncomforta
ble, but their adoption will now not only
please those whom we most desire to gratify,
but at the same time make a demand which
will soon fill the treasury of the Sanitary Fair.
Look around you, approach any table, and you
will be supplied with articles exactly suited to
your wants. It is only necessary to abandon
your own vitiated tastes, and lay aside the
prejudices of early education, to find something
precisely “suitable for a gentleman.”
BOUNTIES.
During the American Revolution this subject
claimed the early attention of Washington,
who, soon after he was chosen commander-in
chief of the army of the United States, wrote
the following admirable letter to the President
of Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia:
“ llaaelem Heights, Sept. 4th, 177(3.
“ Something is due to the man who puts his
life in your hands; hazards his health, and
forsakes the sweets of domestic enjoyment.
“ My opinion is, that a good bounty should
be offered, aided by the proffer of at least 100
to 150 acres of land, and a suit of clothes;
and a blanket to a non-commissioned officer.
However high the men’s pay may appear, it is
barely sufficient, in the present scarcity and
dearness of all kinds of goods, to keep them in
clothes, much less to support their families.”
His suggestions were approved by Congress
soon after the receipt of the letter. It is
equally applicable to our brave and gnllant
soldiers at the present time.
If you once make a rule that a man cannot
be gay, and at the same time godly, you *ill
be more apt to decrease godliness than to de
stroy gaiety.
A NEW AND INTERESTING FEATURE.
In yesterday’s number of our little journal
we published the first of a series of letters
from the army, written by a gentleman sent
to White House for that special purpose.
These letters are designed to explain the
system and methods by which the Sanitary
Commission carry on their grand work of
benevolence. They will show every operation
of the Sanitary from the time a package of
goods is received by a branch office or.society,
to the time when the goods are distributed on
the field or in the hospital; how the contri
butions are collected together in depots, re
ceipted for and recorded; how they are sent
forward on requisition; how they are taken
care of both in the depots and on the field ;
how the quantities of the various articles re
quired are ascertained; how they are issued,
and the issues are recorded; how they are
dispensed to the suffering soldier, and, in a
word, how all the vast and multifarious pro
ceedings of this noble organization are carried
into effective operation.
To give these letters a living interest, the
proceedings and actions described are those
going on now at the White House, on the
Pamunkcy, among the sick, wounded, and suf
fering soldiers of the army of the Potomac—
now while that army is in actual conflict, and
now while our Fair to give them aid and com
fort is claiming public attention and patronage.
This feature of the Fair journal, in addition
to the history of the Fair movement in the
loyal States, now in course of publication in
these columns, and the full report of Our Own
Great Central Fair, will make Our Daily Fare
a complete record of all such matters down to
date, and give the series of twelve numbers a
permanent value.
SCHOOLS FOR VETERANS.
Among the maimed soldiers returned to us
by the war are many young men who, though
disqualified by' the loss of a limb from pur
suing mechanical callings, might succeed as
teachers or professional men, and, in fact, in
many “ higher pursuits,” were they well edu
cated ; and thousands among them are still
cnpable of receiving the proper degree of cul
ture.
Let there be an organized “movement” for
the purpose of educating such mbn. Many
are trained gratis to become officers for war ;
why should there not be education without
price for the arts of peace ? Their countryman
can well afford to support and teach these brave
fellows any calling which they may see fit to
choose, and it will be found, in the end, that
our industry has gained by doing so. After
all, “one brain is worth two pair of hands—
any day.”
The geeat object of an American is to die
rich; of a Frenchman, to live rich.