New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-03-04
GR4TUITOUS ADVERTISING.

The gody chorus of Thanksgiving with
which the Chicago newspapers have celebrated
the departure of the blonde burlesquers is not
very easy to understand. We have always ex-
pressed our own opinion of those frisky young
ladies with much candor We see no poetry
in stuffed legs, and though a display of the
fino points of the female form is generally an
exhibition of art. one cannot call 1T fine art,
and it is not particularly improving. We used
to find the performances always silly and some
times immOdest But Stiffness is not fair
incentive to anger, and the mmodesty never
WAS quite bad enough to disgust q Chicago
newspaper, whatever effect it may have had in
New York Least of all was it bad enough to
turn the stomach of Mr.. w. F. Storey whose
journal has long been famous for the high flavor
of its literary fare, and the boldness with which
it has discussed subjects and described scenes
upon which most writers for the
press are content to exercise prudent
reserve 1t may be that Mr.. Henderson's young
ladies thought proper to season their enter
tainmcnt more highly for Chicago than for
New York. and made the mistake of scattering
the spices with too free hand. 1t may be, on
the contrary, that Chicago is suffering from
moral reaction-a sort of religious delirium ire
mems in which she is tormented by the specters
of her own vices. But whatever the origin of
the troubles of Thompson and The Times, the
elimination of the controversy does not receive
from the other Chicago papers that dignitied
judicial treatment which we should expect from
journals of the great corn metropolis. 1t was
q battle in which the forces were well matched,
and both sides deserved to be whipped. If the
ladies were not decorous neither was Mr..
Storey. If they made naughty exhibitions to
thousand people every evening, he made
naughty exhibitions to fifteen thousand every
morning. If they used ambiguous phrases on
the stage he used phrases which were not in the
least ambiguous on the street. The Times had en-
joyed itself saying variety of improper things
about Miss Lydia Thompson what great harm
then if that fair virgin should hit the editor
soosch an awfool smack dc face,
Dat he shvell rite oop like poonhn
slit a sense OF his tsgtacef
Two angry women with cOwhides and Mr..
Henderson with a revolver seem to have been
about an even match for Mr. Storey with his
walking-sti and his unabridged vocabulary.
Why then should not the other editors OF Chi
cago have watched the fray with the same
composed indifference wherewith the Western
wife watched the struggle between her hus-
band and the bearg Why have they bespat-
tered the fleeing legs with mud' Are they
angry with themselves for having been deluded
into giving the blondes first rate gratuitous
advertisement or they angry with the
blondes for not killing MIR. Storey, and so
wiping hated rival out of existencef We
cannot tell it is all a mystery. Chicago is
full of mysteries; amputated fingers are found
in the hydrants, and dead babies are con-
stantly turned out of ash-barrels. The virtu-
Gus anger Of these newspapers is phenome-
non which may be explained some day; but
for the present we must be content to accept
il among the wonders of the Great West.