The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-02-12


and by her is pretty little Shoddita,
with an outfit direct from Paris, that
runs up into the thousands. It may
alarm your lady readers, if T tell
them that the cost for making sim
gle dress, s0iLsoM trimmings, is in
more than one establishment here
$3.50! And modiste who consented
to take 5000, was looked upon by
the others as running trade.
Drive out to Central Park and see
the skating. 'Tis very pretty sight
certainly, with the bright colored
toilets, the glare OF the calcium lights,
the gay notes of the band and the
circle of carriages around. Look well
at the carriages; fresh and new, glar-
ing with 7aTuish and Haunting gilt
monograms-horses of the highest
price, borne down with gilt plated
harness and liveried flunkies, that tell
of the establishment" ut home.
There is no sign of hard times here.
No, indeed! But as you turn home
ward in horse car, you may have a
suspicion that these things can't last
long without producing them. Never
before was New York so recklessly
lavish; so desperately careless of ex-
penditure; 80 entirely bent upon en-
joying the passing hour, as sheis in
this most trying financial year, since
'37. And naturally she has progress
ed as much morally ais she has in
other ways, Notwithstanding the
efforts of the veteran II. g., of the
Tribune, the groaning of the Rev.
DR.. Osgood and the dwellings of
Mr.. Peter Cooper and the citizen g
association-sin stalks rampant in
every street, and doesn't hesitate to
walk over the very softest carpets
into the cosiest and costliest bou-
doirs. What the Beast of Brass does
there is none of my business, or of
yours either, but his frolics in pub
lie, [ may repeat. Gambling houses
are more numerous than ever, and
while an occasional raid is made upon
an obscure den in O back street, the
flash hells that dot Broadway every
hundred yards, may clink their checks
and fleece their victims under the
very nose of the police.
The hotels are crowded, and very
strange to say, with Southerners
Somo of these come to make money,
or to try and find the way to make it;
many more come to spend it, either
for goods or for amusement. It is
wonderful how many of the latter
there are. People who have to pinch
and patch and twist at home, collect
just enough for that delightful and
longed for week in New York. When
that is over, they 60 home with empty
pockets, heavy hearts-and generally
bad headaches-to repent at leisure
Many of these travelers-of both
sorts-are the choice victims of the
gambling gentry. They are dazzled
and giddy with the sudden change
from home to Broadway-they drop
in to look and drop out to-swear!
l don't mean that home customers in
plenty are not found, for it is natural
to suppose that the solid citizens
whom Hon. Mr.. Morrissey repre-
sents. are lille in his line. Butt
strangers from all quarters are "a JOY
forever" to the gambler and to that
other especial social evil"
All day long, streams of modestly
but tastefully dressed ladies are luet
on Broadway, at the park, in the
stages. and especially at the matinees
of the theatres. They are quiet and
unobtrusive; they seldom stare and
they never speak-but they are plain
ly and. Enthusiastically the sisters of
sin. Numbering thousands, they fill
every conceivable place of public
resort with dc oided odor of sandal
wood and inask-if not OF sanctity.
1t is hardly pleasant reflection, thet
the wives and daughters of New York
sit next to them at concerts, in stages
and at church; that they wear dresses
cut from the very same cloth and in
the very same style; and that eff not
the rose, they have at lenst been very
near the rose" At night, when the
gas glares over the pavements of the