The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-07-14

| The various "platforms" above emu
merated are not, however, prominent
in club-life. The objects of the clnp
are nearly the same in each. In each
you meet your acquaintances for
business or friendship,Ior lounge In the
window and watch the street; you read
studiously in the library, or skim the
magazines and papers; you write your
letters or drink your drinks; you play
at cards, or billiards; you recreate your
largest liberty. You can enter the
house at all hours, until two O'Clock IN
the morning, and remain as long as
you please; but as no accommodations
for sleeping are provided, you viii sell
dom care to remain all the night.
But we have not finished our stroll
through the clubhouse. Here is q
spacious toilet room. with hot and cold
water and all the modern improve
ments-here is the library, with writ
ing materials, and numerous works of
reference: the writing paper bears the
club monogram. Next to the library
are chess and card rooms. Upon the
next floor are billiard tables.
The ivory spheres are playing around
priskly on the green bRize, and you see
that some clever shots are being made
but we must not stop to report the
the game. We return down the broad
staircase and visit the gallery devoted
va WAS
of art. The display is often excellent,
Including paintings from the easels OF
the best New York artists, Clifford, Nc
Entee, Boughtou, and others, nearly
all of whom, by the way, are club
men,.
Some gentlemen belong to nearly all
the clubs in the city, yet these are the
quently. II must be admitted that the
most constant visitors ars apt to be
young unmarried blades, devoted to
cigars and strenuous idleness. Yet
nearly all the most prominent men OF
New York belong to the clubs. Minis
tiers, literary men, physicians, capital
lists, lawyers, artists, editors-all are
numerously represented in the club
catalogues. "The best society of New
York is in the clubs" said the most
eminent Unitarian clergyman of this
city to me lately. This is true; yet the
best society is not generally at the
clubs. The best men are too busy to
spend great deal of time there; the
hGbit1te of the club is often mere
lounger.
at the monthly meeting one sees,
more frequently, the choicer elements
of membership. A number of GENTLE
men then appear. also, whose names
nobody knows. They are not seen at
the club during the rest OF the month";
but they are punctally on hand on the
occasion of this supper, as If attracted,
like mice, from their hiding places, by
the smell of the bait.
The cost of club membership varies,
of course, with individual habits. Some
men attend merely to read and con-
verse, and do not incur twenty dollars
worth of eXpense-beyondth the semi-an-
nual dues-in the course of the year.
Others devote their energies to dining,
winning and cards-and in most OF the
clubs "Play" is permitted-and in these
little amussments sometimes manage
TO spend handsome incomes.
Candidates for admission are usually
proposed in writing, by "mover" and
u "seconder," both of whom must be
members of the club in question. The
clubs range from three hundred to
eight hundred in the number of their
members. Only residents of the city
and suburbs are eligible to active mem
bership but n stranger may become
guest for a limited time on the written
request of a member. A three fourths
vote of the club is requisite to expel
but obnoxious members are generally
allowed to resign quietly.
Ladies are not admitted, under any
'pretext," to the apartments OF the
clubs.