, 1873-06-01
George Macdonald to Become a Citizen
Of America-:.The Metropolitan
T.: Mania for Practical - ::
Jokes.
Idiosyncracies. of Count de, Cur
orski---A Manhattan Fug1-
- tive in London.

Many 1nctropoIt1us had been MADE go E'alu'
fully conscious OF the backward eeason that they
had extended their winter recreations to an m
rsnal length. They had expected to give par
tics and receptions throughout this entlfe
month but the sudden elevation OF the mer-
curry has compelled them to abandon their SOCIAL
intents. The fashionable houses IN the fash
fouable avenues and crose-street8 are al
1eady cloeing and the occupants hieing
abroad, to the springs OF the sca~eide. 1t ls a
pity that Manhattan, which has not looked SO
charming in many month"; should be deserted
when it has Just put on its fairest face. But it
ia always 50 here. The p1easantest season is
the sesson during which the fewest OF the
natives stay in town. II really seems 6s II
everybody had either gone or was going to
Europe, except the comparatively few who are
packing up for Saratogn, Newport, and Long
Branch. The eocio1 eeason, 80 far as the city is
concerned, is hopelessiy at an end There are
always hundred thousand or so strangers on
this island; and they still fill the theatres and
concsrt-halls; but permanent residents sur
rendered city gayeties and city dissipatons the
very moment that the thermometer marked 65
degrees.
L SPECIMEN RECEPTION.
As an example Of how unwilling persons are
to epend an evening within doors in wa1m
weather, may mention that DR.. Holland gave
reception, q few night since, to George MacDon-
ald prior to the 1atter's return to Europe Near
~ Ill the noted literary people we're invited, and
get two-thirds of them sent regrets. They were
afflicted with what is callod the spring fever,
or they we're getting ready to leave town. At the
first reception given By DR.. Holland to Mr.. Mac
Donald, last October. his drawing-rooms were
ia r4- e4- -4z~v
writer's, and Journalistic The other evening The
number was alarmingly reduced. William Cullen
Bryant, Parke Goodwin, the Rev. Dr.
E Aeary w. vse Bellows. .;a Edmund Waa, Clarence na7
E. L. Youmans, Mrs. Henry II. Field, Mrs. ].
". Draper, Mrs. Lulu Gray Noble, Miss Adeline
qtafton, and many Others we're there; but Bret
Harte, Richard Henry and Elizabeth 6toddard,
Miss Edna Dean Proctor, John Hay, Mrs. Mary
Gilbert Runkle, aud forty or fifty other distin-'
guished guests bidden to the entertainment, were
Conspicuous by their absence.
THE a1AcDoSALDs. ,..~
Mr. and Mrs. Macdonald. and one Of their
numerous children, enjoyed tho OCCASION, but
regretted the need Of their return. They will
soon come back to this .country,--perhaps to re-
side permanently They are most enthusiastic
admirers Of America and her institutions, and
says that the few months they have spent in the
United States have caused them to think Of this
az q new home Mr. Macdonald might have
turned his lecturing to much account, had
he not suffered during his sojourn from i'll
heaith. His farewell lecture, on Hamlet, !" last
week, nettcd him ovor 5000, and was, therefore,
a substantial testimonial On behalf Of his ad-
nnirers and friends He certainly needs to make
money, being purely literary man, With eleven
s pnras By % the children q bis b4an n usd and the s
children Of Nature. when given in excess. are
admirably calculated to diminish any ordinary
income.
4 VILE SOCIAL coKTAaIoH.
ey f6PfaFz f6f e hVs ssen i
account Of the opera-hoh1 lately prachsed upon
full dress on q ce1tain evening to tho Union
League Club. This is only one Of many such.
Again and again, within q few months, invi-
tatious to formal PARTIES claiming to be
and carriages have rolled up to the doors,
where the families had expected nobodv.-untiI
long after midnight. Such jokes as these are
aoclal outrages, and some OF the gentleman upon
to find the offenders, that they might take per
!: sonal redress. Sothern, the actor, who is an
inconigible, and BY no means delicate Jester, and
who has been considered the author Of numerous
such hoa1es, has written q card, DENYING all
knowledge Of and responsibility for them.
The guilty parties are said to be some OF the
members Of the Stock Board, many Of whom are
mere boys in feeling and habit, without good
taste or good senee- The names Of the individual
jokars hays been carefully concealed. II theyhad
sundry slapped faces, knock-downa, and caninga,
in the vicinity Of Broad street. It would bo .
good thing to mako an example of a few men ca
pablo Of the meanness ard indecency which
must ba the cause of tho shameful pranks That
have been committed on respectable citizens
here tor some months past.
An ECCENTRIC CHARACTER
vas Count Adam de Gurowah. mentioned in my
last letter as contributor to the Few York |
Tribune: In Washington, where he resided ]
much Of the time, everybody knew him, and
almost everybod disliked him. He WAS man |
af strong and independent character, full Of |
generous impulses, and very warm-hearted when
MS heart was once reached. But he was so
Inconsistent, irritable, hot-tompered |
hat hardly any one could agree with him. !!
ae waB constantly involved in quarrels
md he was seldom on speaking terms with more /
Ian e-quartar of his intimate acquaintance
his quarter we're ceaselessly changing, but the
raction remained nearly the ea1ne. Gurowski |,
became rcconcilod to his foes Us suddenly and as
as he broke with his friends. On |
ionday morning he would be Threatening to
%od mss ts S 1d
hoot, md, aelzing him BY the hand. express
ternal devotion to him. The recipient OF euch |
demonstrations would have no !
les why the Count had either grown angry, or,
ourse, after keeping up thsse eccentricities for
term Of years, nobody. cared what Guroweki
id Or said, so long as he abstained from per-
ona1 assaults. These be very rarely indulged
|; but he WAS ever on the eve Of making them.
Some time before his death, he was considered
azy, though in many things he WIS aupremely
me. He Was one of the lions and characters ct
e Federal City; and he has been sorely missed
'er since his demise. He WAS full Of all man
II Of contradictions. Generally rude to the
L. L.. ~txz t.