Vulgar Distinctions: T.S. Arthur’s Short Story, ‘Going to the Springs’

When a family values fashion, rank, and wealth above anything else, they lose everything that is worth having. "Croquet Scene," 1866, by Winslow Homer. (Public Domain)

When we judge others’ merit by their fashion, rank, or wealth, rather than by their morality, we become vulgar. Morality and purity of heart prove our worth, not status or fashion.

In his short story, “Going to the Springs,” T. S. Arthur shows that morality is far superior to rank, riches, and fashions. He shows that, when some of the Ludlow women value fashion, rank, and wealth above anything else, they lose everything that is worth having.

The Ludlow family—Mr. and Mrs. Ludlow, and their daughters Emily, Adeline, and Florence—is a wealthy merchant family whose summer tradition is to visit Saratoga Springs, New York. However, Emily announces to her Uncle Joseph that they will not visit Saratoga this summer, since the springs have become so unpleasant, with an increasing number of “vulgar people.” Emily, Adeline, and Mrs. Ludlow wish to go to London instead; it is, of course, far more fashionable.

Puzzled, Uncle Joseph asks what Emily means by vulgar people. She responds: “Why, I mean merchants, shopkeepers, and tradesmen, with their wives and daughters, all mixed up together, into a kind of hodge-podge.”

However, their father disappoints them by stating that they will not be able to make any summer trip at all this year. His business has suffered, and so they cannot afford a trip.

Unhidden Shame

In a fit of anger and embarrassment, the Ludlow women shut their windows and doors and hide in the back of the house. They do not want anyone to know that they are not traveling and “hope to escape the terrible penalty of losing caste for not conforming to an indispensable rule of high life.” Only vulgar people do not travel for summer.

While hiding their imagined shame, a very respectable young friend, Mr. Armand (who admires Emily) visits. Hearing that the Ludlow women are alone for the summer, he desires to give them company.

When Mr. Armand arrives, he rings the bell for a quarter of an hour, but no one answers the door. Such a fashionable friend must not know that they cannot afford to travel.

When Mr. Armand understands why the Ludlow women, specifically Emily, did not answer the door, he realizes that Emily is “a slave to fashion and observances” and that such an outlook indicates “a weakness of mind.” Not admiring such vulgar manners and morals, he leaves for better company.

In this story, Arthur shows us that, when we constantly pursue trends, rank, and wealth, we lose that purity of heart that truly measures one’s worth. As G.K. Chesterton says: “The vulgar man is always the most distinguished, for the very desire to be distinguished is vulgar.”

When we rate the vulgarities of others, we degrade ourselves to a vulgarity that pushes true friends away. When our morals and manners are vulgar, everything else about ourselves loses its beauty and importance. Only through purity of heart can we truly become beautiful.

Rather than judging others by wealth, status, or fashion, we must look to their morality. A pure heart, good manners, and strong morality are of the highest fashion and make us richer and raise us higher than ever before.