The Portland daily press., 1870-04-12

From Our Own Correspondent
BosroN. April Q. 1870

warm west wind proved that Washington and |
fremont streets have been crowded all yester- |
day and to-day with promenaders, and the |
great dry goods stores of Jordan, Marsh & Co.,
Hovey & Co., Chandler & Co., and Hogg, |
Brown & Taylor have presented the appear
ance of mammoth bee hives so swarmed have
they been with customers. Then again sever
al of the most fashionable milliners gave their
spring openings to-day, which of course were
great events in the world of society. To give
your reader some idea of the rush for a choice
in spring bonnets we will inform them that
one lady was on hand at seven o'clock in the
morning and made her selection of four hats,
the least expensive ofewhich cost thirty dol
lars, the highest one hundred and fifty. There
isn't much groundwork to these fashionable
head coverings, but they are loaded down with
flowers and lace. At one grand opening over
five hundred hats were exhibited, and none
were under thirty dollars in cost All the
morning this long procession OF elegantly
dressed ladies filed in and out, making pur-
| chases, inspecting and ordering hats after GER
tain styles that pleased with some aterations),
while the private carriages blocked up the
street below for two or three squares.
In the div goods stores the fashionable spring
dresses were all in shades Of gray, while for
| house dresses the beautiful "Bernani's" were
| in great demand; but as we are not Jennie
| June or Flora McFlimsey, we cannot go in
N
| iect the attention that it properly deserves.
| We bid adieu to the topic with the assurance
| that very many husbands and fathers will find
| their bank account seriously if not sensibly d.
| minished during the next month.
IMPOSITION.
While we are on the subject of expense we
should like to ask why it is that the public
permit them to be swindled as they are nOW-a-
days without at least INDUCING in protest.
Gold has almost reached par and yet the cost
nfvv nv orfi n1 30
gold touched $50. Take the hotels for in
stance. They charge $45O per day for board
and yet the prices of -four, sugar, molasses,
meat and groceries is only half what they were
set half as good table at these Boston hotels.
at this high figure, as they do at our Portland
hotels at dollar less. No wonder hotel keep
ers make fortunes. We understand that q
commodate 1900 people, to be supplied with
all the latest improvements, to possess an I'M
exceptionable cuisine, and the price of board
to be fixed at 81. 80 day 1.-THE old price before
the war; and the general opinion is that it will
submit to the impositions of hotel keepers but
also of tailors, milliners, ETC., simply because
they must live in style or have their clothes
made in style. A fashionable tailor in Boston
in 1860 made suit Of clothes Of the best mate
rails for from $35 to $40; the price is now $3.50.
Over half of this sum must be clear profit.
1t may be said why stop at first class hotel
or why patronize fashionable tailor? No one
is compelled to pay these high prices. Very
wish to feel as much at home as possible, and
when they buy their clothes they like to look
as well as anybody, and they have feeling
that after they have paid man fair profit
on the original cost of his goods, and fair boz
nus for style, that all they are charged over
that is a swindle.
ENCROACHMENTS OF TRADE.
Since the Back Bay lands have been filled
up, and the new and elegant Belgravia arisen
upon its sand and gravel foundation, that por-
ton of fremont street fronting on the Com
mon,-which used to possess great attractions
for us some ten years ago with its handsome
residences whose parlor windows overlooked
that beautiful park with its magnificent elms,
enaders-has been given up to fashionable mill
liners, tailors, dentists, clearinghouse auc-
ton rooms, ETC., until probably from Winter
street to BoylstOn street only one or two pri-
vate families can now be found: Even aristo-
cratic Beacon street in its lower part has
admitted apothecaries, and bookstores, and al
SO q restaurant and, whisper it softly, the ru-
NOR goes the rounds that Stewart, the great
dry-goods king Of New York, is trying to Sc
cure one of the large mansions on the street,
near the State House, for the establishment of
branch of the great New York emporium
Gossip says that the man who would sell
Stewart the land would have to retire from So
ciety for time at least
Z FIGHTER.
Kate Fields says that if she could have a
man make love to her as Fechter does to Miss
| LIE Clercq in the Lady of Lyons, she doesn't
know but what she would break her vow of
celebacy, and such seems to be the opinion not
| only of Kate Fields but also of feminine Bos.
| ton and of femininity every where else. Fetch
| ters Claude Melnotte is one Of the most i'm
| FASHIONED pieces of acting you can imagine.
| He makes love with an earnestness that al.
most takes your breath away, and not little
r ~. oofA IS nn%sv & 90 In ID
mirable support he receives from Miss LIE
| Clercu and Mr.. Bangs. It has always been
our Impression that the great mistake made
by Booth and the other celebrated actors was
in their individual efforts. Fechter on the
contrary possesses in his Pauline Deschap-
pelles a Lady of Lyons fully equal to the best
We have ever seen. In the scene where
breaks to her the intelligence that he has
wronged her, that he is no Prince but simply
the gardeners son, it is really painful to
| watch the crushing effect upon him of the
outraged bride of an hour, and the manly at
| tempt to explain the greatness of his love for
her which has suffered him to become the
| tool of others in order that he might possess
/ her; and after her father comes for her to
bear her home, and she confesses her love for
| Claude and begs him not to desert her,
| grand scene is depicted % ne tells her father
that the marriage was achieved by deception
i G1otSIOT6
| he has attained distinction in the army then
be will return, the whole house rose, the la
| dies waved their handkerchiefs and "les
| Uielles nsustdches," of whom there were great
balcony. cheering with ali their might while
great scene Of Fetchter's seems to lie in his
earnestness with which he seems to inocula-
ting his audiences and carrying them
with him.. When you consider that
despite his foreign accent and the entire alb
sepce Of all that usually attracts in an actor
you are 80 bound up in the performance that
you forget accent, rising infections, every
thing except the scene before you, which for
the time being is as real to you as il you were
prominent actor therein. 1t is natural that
we call it the perfection Of acting, that we for
get that we are gazing upon the unreal
and believe it real. But it is in Ruy
| dignity of q great tragedian. In the
scene with Don Sallusto where the ban
| ished nobleman reminds the servant, now
prime minister, that he is still lackey and
chief the wounded pride of a noble nature
| speaks in gestures more eloquent than vol
umes of words. The situations throughout
the play are very effective and in the closing
words that burn, the infamous nature of Don
Sallusto to the Queens face, then kills bin in
deadly combat, and finally EFFORTS from the
Queen the confession that she loves him as he
1 expires IrOm his WOUNDS, ID worthy OF q place
with the best efforts of Booth, of Kean, or of
Macready. There is this distinction to be OBJ
| served between Fechter and the other leading
actors of the day. He throws aside all the old
| stage conventionalities. He is intensely
| realistic For that reason many who admire
him immensely, in Ruy Bias, Claude Melnott,
| and Lagadre do not except his Hamlet.
Their idea of Hamlet is taken from the same
model that has served Edwin Booth for his
| personation of the melancholy Dane and
l Fechter 8 innovations are SO marked that they
l rebel at once. We wish that Portland could
l be treated to q series of performances by this
| great actor, and we think that with proper eff
| fort the desired result could be obtained. He
should appear in Portland Theatre, not in
| City Hall, and people should be willing to pay
| good round sum for their seats, az it would
cost considerable to get him to visit your city.
| They can rest assured that if Fechter did
visit Portland they would be more interested
| In his acting If supported by Miss LeClercq
and Mr.. Bangs, than any actor that has VS.
| tied the city for years except Booth.
OTHER PLACES OF AMUSEMENT.
| At Selwyn's Lost at Sea" is the attraction,
| drama that relies for popularity upon the
| spectacle of house on fire on the stage. The
language of the drama is about as cheap and
dwelling as can possibly be imagined The
scenery is very good, particularly the view of
Hungarford Bridge, London, by gas-light, with
the city in the distance, the passage of rail
| way train, the arrival of Thames steamer,
! and the usual hustle attendant upon q scene OF
the kind in the great metropolis Of the world.
At the Museum "She Stops to Conquer" at