The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-01-06

Orange, near Hicks street. In Brooklyn, presented
quite lively appearance yesterday. evening. Not
only the representatives OF Brooklyn society may,
society itself, there IN corpore. In fact every
body that Is anybody was there. lie haut monde
la hd,ue finance, te haul commerce, Ia hdute gufn-
Qdtlere-al these different strata Of modern society
were present In full force. To do whatS To battle
for virtues triumph To wreste In honorable ccm-
bat as the heroic youth did OF old at the Olmypian
gamesf To compete for the general applause of
the public voice with works Of their genius or In
dustrys No; what they did was merely to attend
an auction and outbid each other, II possible, for
a-seat. At the operai or circuss or for another
series OF Jenny Lind concerts, under the manage
ment OF Barnums No; the auction was for seats
In . church, and the church where Il was held was
Plymouth church. Henry Ward Beecher's temple Of
" t ss porss Or eS the Soy
edince, consecrated to the service Of God and not
Of manmon lighted up brilliantly like the entrance
within arrested the attention OF all passerS by.
"Five ave, nve-eighty, do hear, eighty-nve,
ine"Snesy1ye do Hcarm oees ''ne sons' ~
There was Plymouth church. The old, white,
familiar walls, which had 80 often echoed the elo
quent appeals OF "Father Beecher,n sh0ne bright
as ever under the glaring light Of hundreds OF gas
jets there was the organ, grand and majestic in its
anger a. Inc Sarsrnss beneath ~ there Was the
chancel, but within were only busy scribes 10 note
down the names Of successful bidders and the dol
lars and cena OF the largest bids; there was the
reading desk plainly carved OF wood brought all the
way from the sacred Mount OF Olives, where thirty
pieces Of silver purchased the treason of Ju-
das-but It was shammered,v not by the en-
thusiastic expounder OF the holy word, but BY
the crafty auctioneer who called for more and
still more pieces, not Of silver, but Of greenbacks
And there was the congregation, nlling every pew
ON the main floor OF the church and IN the galleries.
chattering and laughing and merrymaking among
themselves, some OF the male gender even with
their hats on, others noting on the diagram OF the
church the names OF the bidders and the seats they
had secured; and the female portion, those 'tIear
creatures" who never can be without their citchat
crticsing and scrutnxtng each other and call crea
tion'' into the bargain. And among Ill and from
pew to pew and from aisle to aisle passed
the pastor OF tho church, Father Beocher
pattng this ono and that on the shoulder,
chatting with the ladies, smiling benignantly
on Gil, and encouraging his nock BY word coun-
fenance and gesture not 10 lag In their bids, but Ego
1t with all their mightr Such was the scene enacted
last evening at thai temple OF God par eIcelsnce.
occasionally between auctioneer and bidders were
OF kind 10 suit the 'solemnityv OF the occasion.
.'Put your hands In your pockets, gentlemen, and
let's have IT, exclaimed he at the desk. "What
~ that you have got to drink mp there ~ asked
aloud some one In the body OF the church. "0nly
Ridgewood. We are temperance tonight" replied
one OF the scribes, and this sally brought down the
house. Thus IL went on gu all the seats were dis
posed OF. Mr.. henry G. Bowen paying the highest
premium, $40. syoing. going-gonew