The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-19
NJ II wy o n X I q M 8.
m Our Ogn Correspondent
NEW YORK. May 10, 1870.
The May Anniversaries.

emale Samuel Wokes in the city have been agi-
ated on the subject of new dresses, street pro-
cessions, and afternoon festivals. The regular
May anniversaries have heen celebrated in spite
of the weather, and the thoroughfares have been
sprinkled with little girls in white muslin, blue
sashes, and crmped hair. 1t is pretty Sight
these long lines of cleanly dressed children,
hung with flowers and gay ribbons, CARRYING
banners singing song and hymn, and chape-
roned by solemn young men and women, who
look Dr. Watts out of one eye and the Shorter
Catechism out of the other. We need the pure
and balmy breath of young children in these
sad election times and perhaps it would not be
too poetic TO hope that the sight of them stirred
some memory of better days in the hearts of re-
peaters. These May festivals are a gracious
celebration of the fairest time of the year. and
some spiritual influence is waited from them
like the bloom-dust from flower.
Free Love and the Sorosis.
1t would be unfair to say that ma jority of the
members of the Sorosis approve of the doctrines
of George Sand, and recommend that promis-
cuousness in love which the great French
novelist has all her life preached. Nevertheless,
one or two of its speakers do lean towards free
love, and never exempliied their tendencies more
thoroughly than when dwelling upon the McFar-
land-Richardson case. One of them at least is
understood to have been married to two men,
both of whom are now living, and yet the lady
holds conspicuous position among spotless
women who would never be suspected of living
unhappily with their own husbands were it not
that they igureso prominently before the public.
The woman who is happy at speech-making is
usually unhappy at home.
A Horrid Man.
Every student of classical history knows that
something happened to young man who was
so eager to penetrate the Eleusinian mysteries
that he disguised himself o woman and
trusted to his smooth checks to carry him
through. An attempt similar to this was made
by youth who, induced by curiosity and the
hope of good pay, rugged himself out as young
lady, and, with his masculinity closely disguised
from boot to chignon, visited Apollo Hall to
listen to Mrs. Stanton's lecture addressed to
''women only" The disguise was a complete
success, and to it the newspaper-readng world
is indebted for full accounts of the meeting.
Towards the close of the meeting it is true that
gentleman, in male attire, was discovered sitting
near the door, but by that time Mrs. Stanton
had said her say, and all her verbal percussion
caps had gone off. One thing was very noticeable,
and that was that the principal speakers, all of
whom, of course, were ladies, were visibly en-
barrassed, but this was accounted for from the
fact that il was the first occasion on which any
of them had spoken to audience composed
exclusively of their own sex. You will agree
with me that the timidity was natural. 1t is so
much easier for woman to stand up and
harangue trousers-wearing audience. Among
the audience were some women who are distin-
guished, some who are notorious, and a good
many whose brains are natural vacuums to
which Fashion has shown her adherence by I'LL
ing them up. 1t was to the discernment of Miss
Anthony however, that the discovery of a man
present was due. The married ladies on hand,
knowing all about the horrid creature, were
thrown off their guard from the very fact of
being SO familiar with him. and Mi SIS Anthony's
announcement fell among them like bomb.
The creature attempted no resistance, but
meekly went away. The result of the meeting
was that an emendation was made to those
passages in the Bible which specify the sufi-
cient cause for divorce and several improve
ments upon Holy Writ were agreed upon.
Crinoline is getting out an improved and more
liberal commentary upon the Scriptures, and
between them the suffrage women and Sorosis
may be expected to edit a new gospel of divorce.
The GottschaIk Fund.
Considerable attention is attracted in fashion
able uptown circles in regard to the perform
ance that is to take place on Saturday night, at
the Union League Club Theatre, in behalf of the
Gottschalk fund. A special interest is felt in
the fact that in the operetta Les Forces de Jean
aette, the principal part will be taken by Miss
Emily Schaumberg, of your city.
Prospect Park Tournament
On Saturday and the ensuing Tuesday tour
nament is to be held at Prospect Park Fair
Grounds, near Brooklyn Twenty knights are
to ride. Four of them hail from Maryland, four
from Virginia. four from the District of Colum-
bia, and the remainder from New York and
Philadelphia. No less than eight prizes are to
be given. Two of them are fine Kentucky
riding horses, valued at $500 each, one of
which will be the first prize on each day. The
second, third, and fourth prizes will consist of
gold watches, diamond studs, and sleeve-buttoRs.
The knights were busy practising yesterday,
and will be to-day and tomorrow, and until
in the afternoon of Saturday, when the tourna-
ment is to commence The ring at which they
are to tilt is suspended from an arch thrown
across the track, and is one and three-quarters
of an inch in diameter. Some of the best riding
of the kind ever seen will be Witnessed and the
entire affair is something similar to the tourna-
ment held in one of the suburbs of Washington
city some years ago.
The ''Lyre.r
l perceive that new paper (another new
one y is to be started in this city under the ap-
pellation of the Lyre. If report speak truly,
the orthoepy of this title was originally meant
to be 'Liar," and the principle upon which it
was to be issued was that no responsibility was
its columns. Its very title gave it the oppor-
tunity of stating with impunity the most auda-
cious contradictions, and consequently it was