Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-02


Sahoon-The Pretty Waiter Girl -
Her History and Mode of Life--Her
Likeness 90 the Partisan esrisefte---
The Eleventh rIours---Jenkins and
Genevfeve---The Haunters and the
Haunted--Pen Pfctures--T'he Fancy
Neutrality-suspicious. ON tfe Concert Sa-
loon EvfI---Ifs Real yame-The Dis
ease and the Cure.
New York 9th Correspondence Richmond Ex-
aminer.I
THE FASHIONABLE CONCERT SALOON,
of which there are several in New York.
The largest and most fashionable" has en-
trance from three Of our most aristocratic
streets, and shall not receive advertisement
here by a more exact designation of locality.
Imagine a vast hall, underground, it is
true, but palatial in its proportions and fur
niture, with CANDY bar in the centre, and
upward Of fifty small marble tables, while
the floor is also Of marble, giving out
stately, cavalier-like ring to your heavy heel
rs YOU come in from the inclemency of the
night and the ceiling is covered with warm
frescoes, which gleam-in the light Of several
chandeliers. Yet, il this were all, the place
would be stupid enough, and you might won
der what attraction there was for so many
well dressed men whom you see at the table
with one or another kind Of disguised poison
at their elbows. But this is not all. The
splendor of the room is not the attraction
neither is the liquor TO be purchased, for it
Is not of the best but
"THE PRETTY WAITER GIRL"
Is. The "Concert Saloon" in New York,
by no means implies vocal or instrumental
harmony, in the common acceptation Of the
term. They are for the concerning Of plans
not indispensably musical. In one corner,
to be sure, stands grand piano, from which,
now and then, a Hungarian performer ex-
tracts some commonplace tunes but most
of the songs expected are the whispers of the
little waitress who brings you liquor, whom
you will pay for the same, and whose mer-
cenary heart YOU can win for ten or twenty
minutes by telling her to keep the change.
There are upwards of thirty Of these girls
70 here. Some are pretty, few homely, all ele-
gantly dressed, with hair as neat and smooth
as your sweetheart's, and all likewise, with
the smouldering light in their. eyes, which
bespeak the wanton. Yet, they are all strict
ly decorous in their manners, and almost in
audible in their tones for this is not a sail
or's dance-house, nor longshoreman's slum,
but fashionable concert saloon" All Of
these girls are fallen, but none of them fall
len far. Some show signs Of polish in
witted.
II Won cnverse with one on general sub
iects, merely for the sake of talking, she
soon perceives that you are not game for her
net, and drops you on the spot bringing you
whatever you may order, with, perhaps, a
few words of commonplace but no more. She
is in the market, and wont waste words with
one who would merely manipulate the wares
TO be sold, with no intention of investing.
But prove BY your address that you are an
earnest sinner, and she will soon talk freely.
She will tell you Of
HER HrsToRY,
which will be a charming piece Of fiction;
for. with the loss Of her chiefest crown, a
woman seems to lose everything; the "pret-
" waiter girl" at least, lies as ifby instinct.
But You can conjecture how much 10 believe,
and come TO pretty correct conclusion. In
the very words and manner in which, for
instance, she will tell you that she once
moved in the highest circles, you can judge
whether they were the highest or lowest
There is hardly any successful element Of
modern novels which her little romance viii
not contain or approach. She will rave Of
boarding schools and clandestine meetings
cruel fathers and hopeful ofsprings, hus-
bands rolling in wealth, tyranical brothers
whole some truth will lurk, you may be
sure. She viii also confidently inform You
of curious facts (?) relating to her present
life. She will tell you that she gets fifteen
dollars per week as a waitress, when she
only gets six or eight. She viii say that
abe gets twenty per cent. on all the liquor
she sells, when she gets no per centage an
less she sells twenty dollars worth, and only
five per cent on sales exceeding that amount
With look Of unimpeachable innocence,
she informs you that her virtue is unassail-
able, and with naive smile, suggests in the
same breath, that everything in the world
has its price. .sEfll
By and by you can safely conclude that
the fashionable (bear in mind ,ae distinc-
tion) "pretty waiting girl is just the Pa
risian grisette, with thrice the cupidity, and
none Of the domesticity, which half redeems.
the French girl.
THE ELEVENTH HOUR.
The room is now full; all the tables are
now occupied, and all the girls are busy car
rying drinks, or chattering with men; the
quaint Cuckoo clock above the bar has just
proclaimed the eleventh hour, and there is
not the least sign Of repentance As it
wakes late into the night, there is more free
dom and noise. The cheeks of several of
men are getting intoxicated, and one, a dry
goods clerk, with new hat dances about
the fountain in the centre of the hall like a
pony in a circus. But still the same whis-
pering goes on, and the heads of the whis-
perers are closer than they were before. You
are supposed TO be merely locker on in
Vienna" but the sensual atmosphere of the
saloon affects you before you have time TO
moralize. You see a hundred young men on
dangerous ground, which you yourself are
in no haste 20 quit.
THE SEDUCTIVE INFLUENCES
which threw jenkins, the bank-teller into n
dungeon, and ruined hundreds like him, are
ali around you.
WHY, do YOU not seen the very man of
whom we are speaking, over there? There
he sits, reckless and careworn, with perdi-
ton at his left elbow, where the dark
brandy almost brims tumbler, and perdi-
ton also leaning on the other side, in the
shape of that pretty girl, who may likely
enough be the erring "Genevieye," OF whom
YOU have read 40 much. He is far older
than she. and you can see, that she has
known him long. The blind fool thinks she
loves him, but you, who are disinterested,
can name the money value of every favor
he receives. As, for instance, the hand
which she rests upon his arm rs covered with
diamonds. for each of which jenkins re-
ceived a kiss or an embrace, and for each Of
which the unfortunate downtown bank that
EMPLOYS him bled TO considerable extent.
Ali pianccs OF the charners eyes are so
much small change; every smile means
game supper the little foot which peeps 30
coyly from beneath the rich brocade (which
jenkins bought yesterday is worth its
weight in gold; and, in fact, even a. the
grim skeleton frames the fair exterior of
beauty, that whole bright figure which the
lost man fondles 10 his side, is nothing more
than grim, blue-coated policeman, and
the dazzling saloon nothing but cell in the
Tombs, as the future will prove.
But jenkins doesn't think Of the FUTURE
He lives in the present which has only ole
ghost 70 trouble il. And there is the ghost
at this very moment Sinking up 20 the bar,
and eyeiny the couple mysterieusly. Gene
vive looked the other WY, but Jenkins sees
the apparition and quails uneasily. Notice
the ghost who comes 60 trouble the bank
clerks JOY, for he is character which you
can call
THE FANCY MAN,
for want of a better name. lie belongs 10
the diocese of St. Giles, but he is dressed
extensively. He is Gcnevive's real lover:
i,,4 he "a, -. s.,ila