The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume], March 20, 1892, Page 11, Image 11

About The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
THE MAN OF FASHION.
Has a Hard Time Competing
With Foreign Titles.
THE EASTER WEDDING SEASON.
■nropean Marquliei and Barons Making
Klrh Hani* With Foolish Americas
Glrli-Ilon They Manage to Do It.
NEW YORK, March 16.—[Special Corre
•pondence. ! —The beginning of the Easter
season will witness a rather deplorable
,exodus of society ladies irom the gay cir
cles of New York, and, as a man of fash
ion, I feel the prospective departures
keenly. My remarks will be appreciated
IS entirely apposite when I add that
five scions of noble ho\jses will figure
prominently in this Sabine horror. There
is the Marquis de la Tour du Villard,
who will marry Miss Julie Chapin.
Bsron Seilliere will lead Mrs. Liver
more to the altar. Marquis de Roda will
get a firm grip on the hand, heart and
fortune of Mme. de Barrios. Colonel,
the Hon. W. E. Eaton, of the Grenadier
Guards, son of Lord Cheyleamere, will be
betrothed to Miss Bessie French, the
daughter of F. Ormonde French; and
Count Johannes von FYencken Sierstorff
will marry Miss Knowlton, of Brooklyn.
When to this list is added the name of
Count Rudolph F"estetics von Zolna, of
Austria, who, just before Lent, was mar
ried to Miss Ella Haggin, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Louis T. Haggin, I believe my
fjegrets will be seen to be justifiable.
But much is atoned for by the magnifi
cent manner in which these spfigs of
nobility have arranged to spend their
honeymoon. I made it a point to ascertain
all the facts I could in this connection, in
order to give American men of fashion an
adequate account of how the titled Eng
lishman, the Frenchmen and the gallant
Bpaniard I have named have arranged for
MAKQriB t>t LA TOUR DE VILLA RD.
the fashionable events in which they are
announced as principals.
The liaron de Seilliere, a striking look
ing personage, has spent $12,000 in fitting
himself out for his marriage. This start
lingly large sum was not thrown away on
trilles, but in the purchase of the very
richest of clothes. He has one peculiar
addition to his wardrobe, a sealskin coat,
which he will probably have occasion to
wear during the coming winter, although
he imagined that the trip to Canada,
which he contemplates in April, will all'ord
him opportunity for its immediate use.
In fact, as is well known, the 'baron is in
the sugar business in the Dominion. It
will be remembered that the gentleman's
fourteen trunks were seized at the request
of a number of alleged creditors. Well,
the wardrobe of which I speak was con
tained in these. From his valet I received
the following statement as to the noble
man's honeymoon wardrobe, and I repro
duce it, in part at least, as it was given me:
Four overcoats, coat estimated, $240;
four topcoats, cost estimated, $200; one
roXIIALI. KKENF. RKW-ltN WHIT*.
sealskin coat, cost estimated, $1,100; eight
spring morning suits, cost estimated, $010;
'.live afternoon suits, cos! estimated, $480;
*>tir full dress suits, s+4o; twenty-live
white shirts, $73; ten silk lounging gar
ments. SPX»; two smoking jackets, $100;
one bath robe, S'JOO; ten robes de unit, $500;
silk undergarments, $400; sixty ties. sso;
miscellaneous "wear and tear,'' SI3OO. Total,
SS.7.V\ This leaves over SB,OOO unaccounted
for, and I presume the bulk of that went
in to costly gifts fortlie bride. Nor has the
baron stinted himself in preparing to give
the prospective baroness a honeymoon
such us uirls and rich widows dream
about. The story that the baron is not
wealthy in Ins own right is, of
rourse, all bosh. He inherited $11,000,-
000 and has almost. $1,000,000 to go
through with yet, so that the stories that
Mrs. l.ivermofe paid the debts contracted
here some years ago are ail untrue. It is
the chateau at Meila, near i'aris, to which
the happy couple will go immediately
after their return from Canada. There
the sister ol the baron is supervising the
• decoration of a magnificent bridal cham
ber. Its celling is being painted by a lamous
young Amen, an artist now in France, and
panels on all sides represent the most en
ilr.-.' ng - ,-sses from a famous love story,
'which is said to resemble very much the
romance that led to the engagement of the
couple. The baron himself is tall, finely
bu;lt and has handsome features. He is
Dot old, at least not if his looks are to be
taken as a criterion. After a stav at Mella
the couple will live in i'aris, w here a new
home is being arranged for them. Tliat
is the programme ot one of the Easter
Ksrriages.
I turn trom this account to touch upon,
»s delicately as the subject permits, the
Commendable way of spending the houey
feoon. "Tne best advice 1 can give an
i 'Easter' couple is to travel extensively dur
ing the honeymoon days," said a gentle
man to me. "As you are aware, I was
niarned last Easter time, and those
delightful spring days were just the thing
for travel. 1 will give you our route, so as
to show other couples the w ay. \V e went
for a few days to Old I'oijit Comfort and
Asheviile; but that was a mistake, as we
Were ;<>.> well known there, and you see a
bridal couple never likes t<> be too near a
numerous coterie of New York acquaint
ances. t-o we took a leisurely ro.ite north
west to Chicago, -[lending a delightful
Week sightseeing in i leveland and Detroit;
then down to St. Louis and by the South
ern route to the I'acitic coast, coming
Wk a month later by the Northern route,
Wd cau hing a tine climate at a delightful
|Stason each way."
• lam treading on very delicate ground
here, but I know the man of fashion and
kis pretty atlianced will both thank me in
their hearts for what I am going to say.
lne newly-married man should never
allow his bride to become the cynosure of
too many eyes on a bridal tour. Thai
change from girlhood to wifehood is not
one easily passed without some sacrifices
to an innate modesty. No attention tlie
new husband can show is too much, n<
care too great. He must remember thai
the basis df married happiness is laid dur
ing those tirst days, when idosvncracies
and peculiarities come glaringly before the
eyes of each. Attention i-* love and it
atones for much with a woman.
Hut to revert to some of the prominent
Easter marriages and to cull another pagf»
from the romance ol' a toreiun love epi
sode: Marquis de Roda, the member
from Grenada, who is to marry Mine, de
Barrios, is a typical lover, llis afternoons
are spent in the society of the famous
beauty, and he has arranged a home for
XARQUIS JOSE MARTINEZ DE RODA. BARON DE
SEILLIERE.
her in his Spanish domain for which Bui
wer Lvtt in's Claude Melnotte must fur
nish the description. And yet—
The palace lifting to eternal summer
Its tnarble nails
Is not quite as ephemeral as Claude's. It
is in the center of a vast grove, where, in
fact,
Kvary air is heavy with the sighs
Of orange groves, anil music lrom sweet lutes,
Auil murmurs of low fountains that gush fortl.
In the midst of roses.
The Marquis tie la Tour du Villard, who
will marry Miss Chapin, is perhaps, th
richest of the trio, and lie, I understand,
has arranged a tour to California before
taking his happy bride to her Paris home.
Colonel Eaton, who is to marry Bessie
French, will travel abroad, and yet the
d.scomforts of a week's ocean travel
as the beginning of a honeymoon
are anything but desirable. I can
think of nothing so disenchanting
as a very seasick bride or bridegroom.
Then, too, imagine the crowds which
always begin to rush to Europe during
April and May. I visited the steamship
offices this week, and found that every de
sirable berth on the big boats has been en
gaged from April to the end of June.
I understand that another Easter wed
ding will be that of J. Langdon Ewing to
Miss Edith Shepard, daughter of Colonel
Shepard. From a friend I hear that Mr.
Ewing has bought himself a spring wed
ding outfit for something like $2,000.
I had almost forgotten to say a word oi
the Easter wedding of Count Johannes
von Francken Sierstorfi', of Berlin, to Miss
Knowlton. of Brooklyn. Yet the count, 1
understand, has surpassed the famous
record of ex-Senator Tabor, of Denver,
who, it will be remembered, revelled in
the possession of a SI,OOO robe de nuit.
The count has two, on each of which the
lace edgings are alone said to have
cost that sum. Count Albert Carstairs,
ot the Irish Rirtes, is an En
lishman who has captured the heart
of the enemy. He is to marry Miss
Fanny Bostwick, whose father made his
fortune in Standard Oil,and is said to have
thirty millions to fall back on. They have
very wisely decided to spend their honey
moon in traveling South, perhaps as far as
the City of Mexico. Another notable
Easter marriage will be that of Secretary
Kemsen White, of the American legation
at Rome. Then, too, there are rumors that
Lispenard Stewart is to wed Miss Leiter,
but as another report has it that he is on
his way to Japan, perhaps the still later re
port that he will bring home a Japanese
Mrs. Stewart is to be credited. There are
reports that Foxhall Keene has won the
heart of an Irish heiress, at whose home
he visited during his convalescence. But
even this may not develop into anything
tangible before Easter. True it is, how
ever, that the American man ot fashion
will be able to learn a thing or two on how
to treat a wife from the foreign noblemen
who have come thousands of miles to cap
ture American hearts, and, as some one
has said, an Easter harvest of twenty mil
lion American dollars.
WOMAN OF FASHION.
Gives Much Thought nml Care to Her
Children's Attire.
NEW YORK, March 14.— [Special Corre
spondence.]—We women change our
fashions almost as often as we change our
minds. In truth, every time we change
our minds our fashions get a touch of the
departure. The thing we regard one day
with affection and delight we push care
lessly away the next as old-fashioned and
worthy of nothing but to be discarded.
We watch eagerly for a shadow of change
in any of the prevailing styles, and if we
see anything on another woman which is
a slight advance upon our own gown, we
immediately go home and have the gar
ment changed; or, if that is impossible,
get a new one. This progressive and
emulative spirit in women is the secret of
the ever-appearing new creations both in
material and cut.
Hut what about our children? Do we
watch them with equally jealous oyes 1
I)o we ever fret or worry for fear that they
may be a little behind the style? Not so
much, I fancy. Not so much, I believed.
TWO or THE TRUTTJEST SLITS.
when I sat in the parlors of one of our
fashionable dressmakers, as she showed
nie some children's gowns which she said
were designed for Marguerite Shepard.
Tbey were beautiful, indeed, but I was a
little surprised at their simplicity. It
was, however, a great point in their lavor.
to niv mind. The style that prevailed of
dressing young children in quaint ami
curious costumes has utterly died out.
They look much more like human beings
than they did then, and it is a matter of
congratulation.
Auotiier commendable thing about them
THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 1892
•s their length. It is a good thing, I was
nformed by the same dressmaker, to have
their gowns made a good length. The
aw kward age in a child runs from 8 or 9 as
far as 1.3, and a long, very I'QII skirt will
hide numerous deficiencies. It is the same
with the waist. Pull's, shirrings and
loose folds, with great putfed sleeves, will
altogether transform a thin, awkward
lookinggirl.
Keep children in white so long as pos
sible. It is the most becoming color, and
, 8 a y° un P and childish-looking effect.
And surely that is what we want. They
grow old and fashionable soon enough,
neaven knows! There are so many varie
ties in white material that it is not hard to
do this. After they seem to have passed
the tine white muslin and lawn age, there
:e dainty China silks and heavy corded
- ;ks and surah, and bengalineand numer
ous other materials that make up charm
ngly.
But let me describe some of the dresses
that I saw. First, two white ones; one for
a young child, the other for a littie older.
No. 1. Fine white embroidered dress. The
-kirt was simply plaited into the belt,
■vhich was a narrow band of embroidery,
ihe yoke wa: embroidered with a beauti
• ul bunch of daises, and bow knots, and on
ach sleeve at the top was a similar bunch,
ihe work was very fine. There was a pufl
■->n each side of the yoke, which disap
eared under the arm. The little cuff was
aneiy tucked, trimmed with a row ot in
sertion, and edged at tha top with em
broidery.
No. 2. White faille, made a little in coat
-tyle, with large box plaits at the back,
fhe collar was the prettiest part of it. It
>vas a deep sailor, of faille, and edged at
the neck with moss trimming, from
which fell a shorter, fuller collar of
guipure point. The bottom of the sailor
collar was also trimmed with this lace,
headed by another row of cream moss
trimming.
I was very .much pleased with a pale
blue nun's veiling that had a fine white
-amp and a narrow lace ai the neck and
sleeves. Sleeves were white also, and
there were three graceful bows of narrow
white ribbon down the front.
A somewhat similar one was of delicate
-Teen, with a deep collar of very open em
broidery; white sleeves were almost con-
OF CniNA SILK.
cealed by big green puff's at the shoulder.
Between three feather-stitched plaits at
each side was a small green velvet bodice,
curved in at the top.
I saw a little gray beauty. The material
was heavy faille —which, by the way, is a
great favorite in children's garments—and
over the gray silk collar hung a big gray
bow right down to the edge. The sleeves
were puffed.
This is pretty, is it not? China silk, in
pink, flowered, belted in at the. waist over
the shirring with a broad brown velvet
band, collar of guipure lace, which is all
in vogue now, and white sleeves, with
pink over-puffs. Brown bows make it
light and airy looking.
This one is more suitable for fifteen years
—material, old blue; style, a la princess.
It is striped at the bottom with blue and
white rows that have a satin finish. The
bodice is made surplice fashion, trimmed
with a wide plaited white ruffle. Then
over this the waist is cut coat-style, and
the stripe is brought into pfay here with
very good results. Under the coat laps
comes a loose belt of blue velvet ribbons
tied in a long bow.
Here's a pretty hat to go with it—light
cream straw, trimmed in the front witti a
big old bine bow that is caught down with
little pearl tlies. There is a little guipure
lace introduced with the bow, and a little
knot of the ribbon and lace at the back,
CI.OAKS IN FAWN AND GRAY.
which is turned up in fluted fashion. A
srreat crescent, made of pearl, is stuck
through the bow.
A soft brown China silk looks welf this
way—gathered in soft at the belt, with a
silli band ot silk a few shades lighter. A
big puff of this lighter material, reaching
from the neck quarter way down to the
waist, and trimmed with a" deep rulHe of
full lace. A tine gauze straw of brown
and cream intermingled looks pretty with
it, trimmed with an Alsatian DOW in front
that stretches wav round to each side.
On top of the crown is a graceful spray of
yellow blossoms.
It is surprising how much black is used
for children. It would seem to be the
last color in the world to put on them,
and yet their dresses are in many cases
trimmed with deep ruffles of black lace.
Materials for cloaks vary very little from
what we big folk wear. Kven the cut is
very much the same, except, perhaps, that
box plaits in the hack are used more.
The soft fawns and grays are the prevail
ing colors, and the capes, if capes there he,
are usually lined with soft silk. The two
coats in the illustration are for very young
children, and therefore, of course, are
quite distinctive in style. For young boys
colors are worn considerably, and fur is a
good trimming. For very young lads
white serge i* very pretty and becoming,
made with blouses under their jackets.
1 iie blouses may be qu :e fancy, of dainty
China silk, feather-stitched, and even tine
lace is not out of place. The littie fel
lows are quite as vain as the girls and like
to have pretty clothes until they are
grown up sufficiently to Morn them be
cuuse they are "only for girls."
EVA A. SCHCUCBT.
WINTEK OX ritilCT SOUND.
Amusd about we pipe the reeds
\\ iiicb stand MI brown and tall;
tvtiie :ar across tbe dismal marsh
1 »c ■ is snowy wail,
Wberc angry waves arc riline high,
A till bleai winds loudly ca.l.
A parting ship with full blown sails,
Is on thestormv bay:
Tr.e cr.iw .mth it leaves behind
Is white a- flowers in Mar.
Through .Irsits of £o»m the vessel Sin
And LOW :t iaJes away.
Above, the tlyiug ducks and geese
Secisi dots the sky:
Bc.siath dwirf willows slowly creeps
The tawav river by .
A crer r-nst hides the distant hill.
And, hark, how seagulls cry!
-Herbert B<u\}onL
If you are nervous or dysjxptio try Carter's
Little Nerve I'ii.s. liyspeps.a makes you ner
vous. «:id nervousness wake* you dyspeptic:
cither one renders you miserable, and these
little pi lis cure both.
GOSSIP OF NEW YORK.
Colonel Cockerill Laments the
Interest in Pugilism.
STILL, HE ADMIRES SULLIVAN.
Jay Gould's Subscription to tha Presby
terian Church—Educating the
Metropolitan Folic*.
NEW YORK, March 14.— [Special Corre
spondence.]—l was very much surprised
the other day when I received a telegram
from John L. tullivan's manager inform
ing me that John L. has issued from St.
Paul a sort of omnium gatherum challenge
to the professional fighters in America,
and had expressed a desire that I should
act as stakeholderin the eventof a combat
taking place. While I have always felt
an interest in athletics and manly sports
of all kinds I have never been able to work
up any enthusiasm over prize-fighting. I
certainly have never done anything to pro
mote that species of human amusement,
beyond recording and commenting on
ring events. I very promptly declined to
act as stakeholder, but I must say that I
rather like the way in which Sullivan has
served notice on the assumed fighters of
the country that they must step up and do
some fighting before they can longer
claim championships or large shares of
gate money.
I am specially anxious to see Mr. Sulli
van administer a good thrashing to that
insolent stall-ted English prig, Mr. Charles
Mitchell, who under pretense ot being a
prize-fighter, has used this country as a
sort of happy hunting ground for the past
ten or fifteen years. When in this coun
try, in search of silver dollars, Mr. Mitch
ell affects to have great admiration for
American institutions. When he gets
back home with a handsome addition to
his bank account, he makes himself
especially offensive to Americans, and
does not hesitate to cast reflections upon
us as 3 people. He is a little more intelli
gent than the average professor of Fistiana,
and he is better able to write and talk
than most of them. But he is a carpet
knight of the first quality, from all ac
counts.
Whatever else may be said of Sullivan,
he has a stout heart along with his giant's
strength, and he is not afraid of anybody
who makes lighting a business. I hope
that with a little kindly assistance on the
part of the American public, Mr. Mitchell
may be induced to meet Mr. Sullivan
somewhere on this soil, and that Mr. Sul
livan will administer to him the most com
plete and scientific drubbing that has been
meted out to a supercilious Englishman
since the days of Bunker Hill. While on
this subject of prizefighting and stake
holding I may remark that the New York
World, is now acting in that capacity for
the proposed match between Sullivan and
Corbett.
The business of promoting and encour
aging prizefighting and stake-holding
for that pastime used to be pretty well
monopolized by Richard K. Foi, but now
conspicuous newspapers, which claim to
educate and lead the masses, are anxious,
it seems, to engage in this felonious busi
ness. How a newspaper which pretends
to be seeking for character, and which
assunles to exert some moral and political
influence, can openly violate the statutes
of this state by acting as stakeholder for a
prizefight is something which I cannot
understand.
That a newspaper which pretends to be
the "handmaiden of justice" can lend it
self to this sort of thing is incomprehen
sible, but journalism is rapidly advancing
in these parts, and while the lofty editors
discuss the ethics of things with great
gravity, and lay down morals for the
guidance of the general public, the boys in
charge of the news downstairs are devising
ways and means to sell a few more papers.
While they are particeps criminit in viola-"
tions of the statutory and moral codes,
they accept with due humility the painful
rebukes administered to the corrupters of
youth and the promotors of immorality
!>y the able editors in the altitudinous
towers.
Speaking of professional boxers and
sham lighters, I naturally recall some of
the recent exhibitions in this city in tho
fistic line, which go far to establish the
fact that thpre are more fools in New York
who are willing to part with their money
on slight provocation than in any city in
the world. There is. perhaps, more money
and less intellectuality in this town than
any city on the Western Hemisphere
Theaters which present "hoss" plays and
variety acts are packed and crowded every
night, while the sweet, intellectual plays,
such as "Alabama," wither and stale in
about eight weeks.
The newspaiier press which seems to ap
peal least to the intellectual part of man
meets with the greatest favor, and alto
gether we seem to be passing into that pe
riod which distinguished Rome when it
exalted stomachs and muscles and left
brains to take care of themselves. In the
Madison Square amphitheater a tew weeks
ago Mr. James Corbett, of California, a
professional tighter, essayed to knock out
three of his partners according tothe rules
of the Marquis of Queensberrv. He could
just as easily have advertised that he
would thump and pound a platoon of the
same kind of people, as they were all en
gaged by him for that special purpose. A
crowd of at least 7,0(10 or f ,000 people as
sembled to see the performance.
The crush was so great that people were
trampled upon and had their ribs fractured
in efforts to get at the box office. As a mat
ter of fact, there was about as much light
ing and bone-breaking in the vast crowd
of fools as there was in the exhibition on
the stage. The following night in the
same place a dozen or two vulgar, com
monplace negroes of both sexes 'clad in
tawdry habiliments, gave an exhibition of
what is known in select plantation circles
as a "cake walk." This drew another
magnificent audience of cultivated New
Yorkers, and the wily agent who en
gineered this catch-penny scheme pocketed
something like s*,ooo and smiled at the
gullibility of this great metropolitan
center.
The following week the negroes de
scended upon Boston with their vulgar
exhibition, and, although Boston is push
ing New York vtry hard for the lirst place
as a "su.-ker" town, the management
cleared onlv about $2,500. So we still hold
the championship belt for idiocy, and Sir
E l'vin Arnold can read his sweet and ce
lestial poems to cold and uuappreciative
theater benches whenever he chooses to
visit us.
I'nxton and lilt Parishioner.
Mv esteemed friend, the Rev. I)r. John
R. Paxton, who preaches Presbyterian ism
to Jay Gould, Kusseli Sage and a number
of extremely wealthy people in what is
known as the West Presbyterian church
in West Forty-second street, has been
getting himself in trouble on account of
his recent exalation of his patron, Mr. Jay
Gould. Two-thirls of Mr. Paxton's con
gregation could hardly get into heaven
under a strict application of the divine
theory that it is easier for a came! to pass
through the eye of a needle than for a man
ot wealth to enter paradise. A few even
ings ago Mr. Paxton induced Jay Gould to
give SI'i.OOU lor what is known as a fund
for " church extension."
Later, through his Kind offices. Mr.
Gould wa* induced to part with $25,000 in
the lorra of a contribution to the Univers
ity of the City of New York. This amaz
ine liberality on the part of Mr. Gould
and the softening of his heart toward
religious and educational work induced
the newspapers to interview Mr. Parton
und to draw from him the expression that
Mr. Gould "is one of the loveliest men in
the world in his home life." Of Mr. Gould's
Wall street career the reverend doctor
said he knew nothing, and didn't care to
know, but he was prepared to say that Mr.
f)ould was as Rood as the rest of those
Wall street fellows, or words to that
effect.
As a doctor of divinity this has brought
upon Dr. l'axton a tlood of adverse criti
cism, and we are all reminded of how Mr.
Gould laid the foundation ot his monster
fortune some years ago. Mr. Godkin, of
the Evening 'J'ost , whose associates are
Henry Viliard, who manipulated the
Northern Pacific railway, and Horace
White, who manipulated the original
whisky ring when a clerk of a House
committee in Washington City, Is very
much shocked that Dr. Paxton "should in
dorse as a lovely man mid a good citizen
an individual who stole the Erie railway
some years ago and made restitution to
the amount of $9.000,00J at one sitting.
It is my opinion that Dr. Paxton will
keep right on cert it to Jay Gould's
true goodness and ising his certified
checks for the various r;eneficent objects
which he exploits. Dr. Paxton has a
salary of $15,000 per year, a handsome
home and one of the prettiest little
churches in the city. He i 9 not more than
45 years of age, and he has a physique like
a Constantinople porter. He is a Penn
svlvanian by birth, and when a boy, in
1861, entered the army. He was in the ar
tillery in Sickles' corps and fought like a
hero in the peach orchard at Gettysburg
on the 2d of July, 1563. He is known here
in town as the "lighting preacher," al
though he is in every sense a man of peace.
He has a strong," heavy-marked, intel
lectual face and he talks with sledge
hammer force. At times he is eloquent,
but in the main he delivers his facts from
the pulpit as a carpenter would drive a
nail. He is an excellent atter-dinner
speaker, and those who know him esteem
his blunt, frank ways and his great com
mon sense. He has magnetism and, next
to Colonel Ingersoll, who differs some
what from him in orthodoxy, I know of
nobody in the city whom I would sooner
hear talk on any subject, religious, moral
or military. I would especially, though,
like to hear him descant upon that Scrip
tural story touching Dives and the arid
lands to the south of us.
Ed uniting the Police.
It appears to be Mrs. D. W. Bishop's
opinion that the proper place for mission
ary work is right here in New York
among the police. It is hardly in accord
ance with eternal fitness that the repre
sentatives of law, order and justice—the
guardians of peace and the hope of so
ciety—should be selected as an element of
humanity that should be lifted up and
ennobied, as it were. Yet this is the good
Mrs. Bishop's view of it. Furthermore,
she has the courage of her convictions
and has been spending her money in proof
of it.
Believing, as this lady docs, that the
police are walking in mental and moral
darkness, she has set about to place books
in their hands, and thus let the lamp of
knowledge shed its bright rays over their
dark pathways, otherwise their "beats."
It is Mrs. Bishop's plan to convert what is
known as the "day room" of each station
house in the city intd a library where the
policeman can always turn for intellectual
light and life. Under this plan twenty
five station houses have been supplied
with bookcases, and the shelves stored with
good books. Believing that the police
were particularly weak on moral philoso
phy, the arts and sciences, including as
tronomy, etc., Mrs. Bishop's first batch of
literature was largely devoted to these
branches.
History was also represented in Motley
and Bancroft, and altogether an intel
lectual feast was spread out before our
Metropolitan police force that should have
made its teeth water. And yet it did not,
I regret to state. A police commissioner
informs me that it was positively painful
to watch a "cop" eo through a newly
installed library to find mental pabulum,
reject one volume after another and then,
with pain and disappointment painted
upon every feature, sit down and tish a
well-thumbed Police Gazette out of his
hip pocket. One day a car load of new
books was received at one of the station
houses.
A "cop" in from his beat looked over the
pile with ill-concealed contempt. Taking
up a volume of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall
ot the Roman Empire" he "leafed" it
through mechanically, and asked: "Say,
wot's all dis rot about, anyhow?" This
and other painful incidents of the kind re
called to Mrs. Bishop's mind the wise ob
servation of James Freeman Clarke, that
"the taste for reading must begin with fic
tion," and so she tempted the "bobby"
with the choicest romance, as she thought.
But even "Ben llur" or Bjornson Biorn
stjerne's "Synnove Solbakken" would not
woo him into delightful paths of literature.
It is said that a patrolman in the Ten
derloin district thought, from the title of
it, he might lind something worth while
in William Black's "That Beautiful
Wretch," but after reading a few pages,
threw it away as being tiat. stale and un
protitable. These things have a tendency
to discourage Mrs. Bishop, of course, anil
yet, when a woman will, she will, and so
Mrs. Bishop is still persevering in a highly
commendable way in her mission of police
enlightenment. Already she has dis
tributed more than 5,0C9 volumes, and,
while her educational campaign may be
slow, it ought to result in much good.
Anyhow, her opinion that there is room
for missionary work at home has been con
firmed by the very discouragements with
which she has met in this present under
taking.
City Castles for Millionaires.
There are signs that New York may be
entering upon a sensational era in house
building. Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt's de
termination to erect on Fifth avenue a resi
dence to cost $2,000,000 according to
present estimates, and, therefore, perhaps
twice that much betore it is completed, is
pretty sure to lead other multi-million
aires to do the same. It seems to be Mr.
Vanderbilt's present plan to buy a large
p art of a Fifth avenue block not already
owned by him and erect thereon a resi
dence that will eclipse some of the imperial
residences of Europe. The rich and liberal
gentlemen of New York are keeping pretty
close wateli on each other of late, with a
view to taking notice that one of their
number does not secure any great advan
tage over the other one in the religious,
financial or social world.
This was observed when Mr. Rockefel
ler's recent gift of $1,000,000 to an educa
tional institution was quickly followed by
one from Jay Gould for $10,0(» lor church
extension, which has since been
supplemented by $25,000 to the
University of the City of New York.
While Mr. Gould did not exactly cover
Mr. Rockefeller's ante, his action never
theless illustrates what I have said. These
rich gentlemen do not like to see any par
ticular gentleman get too far in advance of
the procession. So, if Mr. Vanderbilt
erects an expensive habitation in New
York, where ground is scarce and exceed
ingly high priced, other rich men are
more than likely to follow his example,
l'erhaps it is because they intend to put
tip these imperial palaces that these gen
tlemen have been endeavoring to make ar
rangement" through the legislature to ex
clude the vulgar public from the use of
Fifth avenue.
A Test for Paresis.
The correct pronunciation of "truly
rural" is Dr. William A. Hammond's test
of paresis, as promulgated by him from
the witness-box. in which he sat as an ex
pert in the Fieid case. But the New York
experts by no means all agree with the ex
surgeon general of the l T nited States array,
who went from here to Washington City
poor in purse and refutation some years
ago, and has since secured both money
and fame galore. Our own alienists say
the true test of incipient paresis is Aa
ttonal Intelligencer. If a man can say that
without ilinching or mincing he can laugh
at paresis. For, seriously enough, this
curse of men who delight in turning night
into day—wotnen are comparatively free
from it—seems first to affect the muscles
of the tongue and lips, and to prevent the
distinct enunciation of all words of which
labial sounds are characteristic.
TEST GIRL DANCERS.
The Parts That Children Fill
on the French Stage.
WELL PAID AND WELL TREATED.
The Parents Frond t« Rave Them la
lh« Ballet Behind thi ScsDes
With the Actors.
PARIS, March 2.—[Special Correspond,
ence.] —What sort of a life do the little
creatures lead Tis the question that rises
in every mind as a multitude of tiny girls
in fantastic costumes are seen tiling upon
the vast stages of the i heater de Chatelet,
of the Theater de la Porte St. Martin, or
of the Theater de la Gaite.
In front of the footlights and under the
white electric glare these mites of women,
who are scarcely 10 or 12 years old, already
frisk about in their little characters, or
dance mad farandoles that make the boxes
smile, the pit clap their hands and the
gamins in the gallery utter the wildest of
their meaningless catcalls.
But before and after the play, what do
the little things do? Where do they come
from? Are they following the profession
of their parents, having been born and
brought up to it, or are they precocious
workers whose dancing supplies the needs
of a frail old father or earns milk for a lit
tle brother?
Many times I have asked myself these
questions. Tired of being unable to an
swer them, I finally decided to ask the
divinities who preside over the destinies of
thesfl young girls, and to ask the young
girls themselves, and 1 have found out.
I learned that it is no more true that
these little dolls, these artists in embryo,
are the support of their families than that
they are the children of the figurantes (or
supernumeraries on the stage).
While at the opera scene-shifters and
musicians in the orchestra, box openers
and chorus singers zealously vie with one
another in urging their children to dance,
and at the same time the administration,
on its side, is pleased to see all these chil
dren, whom it considers its own, come
into Mile. Theodore's classes; quite the
opposite is the case in the spectacular the
aters, where daughters of figurantes,
dressers and box openers are rare.
There is not the least desire, and rightly,
to admit young girls of doubtful charac
ter, who would quickly contrive to cor
rupt the entire company, or at least to in
jure their dicipline.
No pretense of training up great artists
is made; figurantes are wanted most of all,
figurantes, it is true, who dance accept
ably, but who perform many duties and
are ready for transformations of every
kind. •
They are trained wonderfully well, too.
At the Gaite Mile. Mariquita, a retired
dancer who held first rank at Covent gar
den, and who puts a ballet on the stage
with the skill of the late Meraate, and, at
the Chatelet, M. Balbiani, give courses and
organize classes, receiving into them little
girls of 8 years, whom the theater pays
with comparative liberality.
At the opera children receive nothing.
They study four or five year 3 for glory.
Occasionally, when they skate in the
"Prophete" or impersonate gnomes in the
"if'reyschutz," they are honored with 40
sous an evening.
At the Gaite, at the Chatelet, the little
women are paid regular salaries; 30 francs
a month, without counting their extra
pay, which varies from 10 sous to 2 francs,
according to the importance of their roles.
The first of the month they receive both
perquisites and fixed salary at the desk, like
regular employes. There is no middle-man
for them, happily! In three-quarters of
the theaters the chief figurante pays the
rest every evening and, at the same
time, always makes his little commis
sion. He "keeps out 0 sous from every
20—for the poor, of course, or for
the'expenses of the oflice! After tea
years of this business the excellent man
enters his income in a ledger and owns
three or four villas in the outskirts of
Faris; he is usually mayor of a suburban
commune or captain of the fire com
pany; in his old age he is decorated
with a violet ribbon, as are teachers,
pianists, clerks in the ministry, negro
kings and actors in the second Theatre
Francaise. We will see him in the cham
ber of deputies one ot these days.
Our little girls have a situation, then,
and not of the poorest kind, either. As
soon as they realty come upon the stage,
after two or three years of probation,
their wages may be raised a3 high as sixty
francs a month.
How many poor seamstresses have less 1
Let us return to our goblins, our ghosts,
our pages and our little trotters in the
Parisian dance. As I have told you, they
TWO naroi:*EßS.
are exercised every day in graceful capers
and light pirouettes, ami in the magnifi
cent ballet. Since all theaters have not,
like the opera, the luxury of a large place
under the roof for this special purpose,
our little ones spend two hoars on the
stage every morning executing the fine
e.ementary movements of the dance to the
uncertain sounds of a piano which replaces
the sonorous voices of f>ra«s instruments
and the sharp notes of violins.
Then, excited by the exercise, warm and
ravenously hungry, they tumultuocsiv
leave the stage and, with shining eyes and
rosy cheeks, rush into the lodge of a smoky
importance by the whole neighborhood,
anil continually excite jealousy, not only
among children of their own nee, but
among the parents of these children, so
that, tor example, scarcely a day passes
"hen Mme. Mariquita does not receive tho
visit of a young mother bringing her little
fjirl, and, with tears In her voice, entreat
me her to take "Nini" into her class.
The following dialogue invariably takes
place: "But are you sure she has a gift
for dancing T"
"Ah, mademoiselle, indeed she is gifted!
She thinks of nothing else. From morn
ing till night she whirls about on her toes
and goes through her little steps. If vou
could but see her! She is so graceful
already. She certainly was born to it; it
is in her blood."
Mademoiselle Mariquita, feeling inter
ested, seats herself at the piano and
strikes half a dozen chords, in the time of
a polka. Nini gives a spring, lifts her
arms, turns, flutters, whirls about—al
ways out of time—and punctuates her
dance with little cries winch remind one
of Buflalo Bill's Indians executing a war
dance.
The piano stops, the mother rises with
pride, presses Nini to her robust breast
am! gives mad-moiselle a look which,
rightly Interpreted, means: "Well, isn't
she line?" But the look with which
mademoiselle replies is very cold. She
closes the piano, shakes her head and
flatly refuses Nini if she is plain. If she
is pretty, and her class is not over full,
she keeps her.
This is the way her class is recruited.
JNini is really one of the company.
When all arc to appear, she, with the
thirty other chits, is authorized to till a
character in any of the following plays:
"The Pied de Monton," "The I'iiules du
Diable," "Cendrillon," "Rothomago,"
"The L'hatte Blanche," for pure fairy-land
or, for spectacular pieces, "The Tour da
Monde en Ouatrevingts Jours," "The Vov
age de Suzette" and "Jeanne d'Arc."
There are so many opportunities lor her to
show herself and to display all the charms
of her young and lively person, under the
fur of a cat, tiie gray cloak of a mouse,
the green feathers of a parrot or the
plumed helmet ot a cassowary: under a
page's parti-colored tights or the laccj
bodice of a middle-aged girl. And, believe
it. she is conscious of her charms and
would willingly exaggerate them.
Watch her. as the clock strikes 8, com-
lit THE TRKSSISG-BOOM,
ing to the theater, accompanied by het
mother, and passing in at the administra
tion entrance between two rows of loung
ers. Does she not look quite a grave
woman under the quilted front of her
bonnet, under the soft shelter of her
back shop, where their fathers, stern
house-porters or tradesmen, keep their
household gods.
Are they tradesmen's daughters? It
can not be possible! Improbable, perhaps,
but it is true, and nothing seems mora
natural to him who really knows the
Parisian shop-keeper, his devouring pus
sion for strolling actors and his instinctive
admiration for everything connected with
the theater.
Yes, quite serious people, shop-keepers,
those who display their wares upon the
street, cutlers, locksmiths, uealers in skins
and fruit, are all delighted to see their
miserable but beloved offspring direct their
steps toward the stage as soon as they are
8 old. Their children will pluck
the laurels which they have dreamed of
for themselves. "Tins little girl will not
be a common woman, she will be an artist,
sir!" And the heart of the skin-dealer, of
the poor printer, of the paper-maker or of
the coppersmith swells with unspeakable
satisfaction at this sweet thought. You
will find cloth, double width, for two car
dinals in every shop-keeper in Paris.
U The little girls are greatly petted, too,
and, in a vague way, considered of some
cloak, her two hands tightly clasped in
her warm muff?
With dignined and slow steps she has
entered, greeted the doorkeeper like an old
acquaintance, and without haste, has
climbed the (lights leading to her dressing
room. When I say her dressing-room of
course I do not mean that it belongs
to her alone, but is the little girls' dress
ing-room in common, and, to go with this
article. Renouard's clever pencil has
sketched an exceedingly true and life-like
representation of it, with the little giris
scattered about, the dressers and the mirror,
in which is reflected this swarming lot of
little creatures. On nue side of the glass
is a shining globe of light, on the other,
ribbed bottles of fire extinguishing fluid.
In a twinkling N'ini is out of her cloak,
has tossed her shoes, her petticoats and
her waist into her own wardrobe, and I
see her, in this deshabille, kneeling at the
feet of Mme. Baliveau, a dresser, who is
hastily sewing up a slipper.
This evening they play the "Chatte
P.lanche." Nitu and her enthusiastic lit
tle companions will soon be parading on
stage dressed like birds.
Dj vou remember the bird kingdom in
the "t'hatte Blanche." and that amusing
procession of winged animals varying in
plumage and size from an ostrich to a
humming bird, from a solemn pelican to
a happy warbler?
Notice how Nini hurries. She worms
herself into her tights, pulls them np, and,
to bring them closer to tier, squats down,
wraps the strings about her hands and
pulls with all her strength. That is right;
she has succeeded! Nini is standing now;
she has tied the strings about her waist
and puts on her little coat, its tail brist
ling with leathers and its sleeves covered
with leathers too. She is all ready bat her
head—an in:,tant ami her bead is ready
teo. Nini thanks Madame Baliveau with
a smile, kisses her prettily, and is gone.
She runs radiantly through the long cor
ridors and joins her little friends behind
the scenes.
Nnw it is another's turn to pull on h»r
tights, to lightly climb up the table and,
aidcl by the dresser. to put on the winged
costume of the evening.
All kinds of birds are there. The canary,
just Jiatched, is airing his shining cost of
tender yellow, his tail still entangled in
the fragments of the shell which he just
now broke with his bill. At the door a
green-crested cockatoo, with disordered
white plumage, gives his last good
bye to the baby, from whom
he has been unaT.ie to tear him
self, in spite of regulations, and whom
he soon runs back to put in bed. A crane
familiarly takes hold of a little swallow's
ch:n. And from this medleyjof colors
and mass of plumes conies a great cack
ling that perfectly completes the illusion.
"A lot i f parrots 1" grumbles a passing
scene-shifter. "R —r —r —r— r," says the
electric bell.
It is wonderful! All has become still,
and in this silence a clear Toice, that of
the stage manager is heard, saying; "In
position, my children!"
THtEBAtTLT SISSOK.
THE PEOPLE S REMEDY.
"The people of this vl'n.ty i:ivit on harfnar
Chamberlain's Remedy, and <lo not waal
a:iy other," mii John V. Bishop, o! Portland
Mills, Tiie ruMsrrn i« bepaufj they h-.v®
K.und it superior to any other, especially lor the
grit'and the wfjich so often follows an
attack of the grip. i'lity-caut bottles lor sale by
druggists.
Don't paper your wai i until yon see Uest
wood, the Iresco artist, Oj bailey baUdiag.
11