, 1874-04-12
B0HEANNS, PAST And PRESENT.
The Death Of Ada Glare, Ex-Queon
Of Bohemia.
Contrast Between ner Subjects and Tho
Dress-Coat Litterateurs Of the
Present Day.


| Correspondence qf The CHICAGO Tribune.
I NEW Yons, April 1, 1874.
Tho recent DEATH under very painful ciroum-
stances, OF Ada Clare, once
QUEEN OF BOHEMIA,
has set the newspapers and people talking OF the
realm over which sho ruled, which was once so
gay and dazzling, and which is now peopled only
With shadows. Neither kingdom nor sovereign
now remains. The first was disrupted by death
| and the hundred changes that Time works; the
latter, abandoned happy but shabby royalty for
the prosaic career Of AZ actress, and eventually
| proved her entire conversion from Bohemian
Ways by being married. The manner OF her
| death Was too dreadful to recapitulate; and it
really does not seem out Of place here to ask ii
| there be not some limit which good taste puteon
the revelations Of the aick-room and the DEATH
bed. Morbid curiosity WILL OF course. always
| find certain microscopic newspapers to crafty
| it; but it really would seem that the line might
! be drawn On this slde Of hydrophobia, and that
pity might have dropped tho curtain at the
death-bed on which the life Of this once merry
and beautiful WOMAN vent out in such agony
and terror.
| Short as her life was, there was much pleasure
| in it, as vol as much sadness. She failed at
| thau that? She achieved very moderate sue
cess as an actress; and that, to an ambitious
| woman. is only to1erable when it ia question
Of bread. and perhaps, butter. if that is not too
high. But she enjoyed the companionship of
many men and women Of wit and genius, and
had, beyond this, the satisfaction OF being in
stalled their Queen, and administering her little
government successfully that there were no
| rebellions and no taxes, though it is matter OF
record that
THERE WE'RE PAS1cs
OF such frequency and destructiveness among
her subjects that tue etrngency of 1873 would
seem as nothing to It. Probably the only way
you could ever hare raised any considerable
amount Of money in the crowd would have been
to tako oyery mans note for it, on the plan by
which Maj. Jack Downing says the real-estate
transactions of Downingvil1o were conducted
Uncle No. sold q lot to Uncle No. 2 for 81 000
and touk his note; No. to No. 8. and took his
note; and SO on through succession OF uncles,
until No. 6 found himself in possession Of a lot
worth nomlnay Sc, 600 and MI this time there
WIS not $50 in the whole town. So in Bohemia,
as u prominent ex-Bohemian once told me,
There was not money enough among all OF Us
to pay for drinks around; aud yet o merrier,
happier crowd never existed"
The royal palace waa dark and dinEv in tho |
daytime; in fact. it the truth must be told, it
wss underground, and lager-bier saloon at that.
made it superior to the memorable apartments
Of the natchionosa, in which LII. Richard Ssiv- |
eller remarked. "rho marble floor is-if may
be allowed tho cxpressiou-sloppy." In this |
Actresses, Journalists, and others who lived on
their own and other peoples vita, gathered and |
d!ank their laser-bier and ato their black bread |
aud salt herring.
to above has many interesting things to tell Of
tho delights that crowned that gay and careless
exlstonce. There never we're
sUCH JoToCs PEOPLE.
They not only took care for the morrow, they |
took mono for to-day, or yesterday. They lived
literally from hand to mouth; what they wrote
they sold IS soon as the ink was dry, and set to
work to eat and drink it up. Rainy days they
thought little Of at al eyents they }a5a ng
write for money nowadays to know that 50
was favorite price for good literary work
brought SO; m excellent poem WAS worth 50,
and some very fine poems were sold at that
figure. And yet, living such frugal lives Of pleas
nre as those things reveal, these people wore
but as mon who could crafty all the unlawful
desires Of the human heart By the aid OF untold
wealth. People thought the Dohemians set OF
splendid prodigates, somewhat after the manner
OF Roman Emperors and "sich." They sup
posed these writer's OF e3 articles and 50 poems
to be as rich as potentates, and as bad and as
fascinating fallen angels. One Of them was
Venturesome enough once to urge his way into
tho precincts OF classical Boston the Bostonese
regarded him with curiosity, and avoided him
with horror.
COMPARATIVELY FEW NAMES
have been left to US OF this company. Among |
the ladies' was Getty Gay. who wrote some and
died eventually a6 oven writer's must. Among
the men Was George Arnold, whose untimely
death seems to have fixed hts memory in 6rmer
place than his life might have given it. The
two Bohemiaus who have come to most distinc- |
ton aro still living and still young. Ono is the
dramatic critic Of one Of our morning papers, !
and probably the most accomplished censor Of
the stage we hare. He is still Bohemian, il it
be Bohemian to be lght-hearted and brilliant,
rs well as keen and sensible. Tho other is q
poet Of wide renown, who looks the cultured |
New Englander Nature moant him to be. He has
sung the praises OF tho delights he found in the
Valley OF Bohemia in winning verse; and no
doubt, as he paccs up and down in the crowd Of
yelling, maddoned brokers OF the Stock Ex-
change,-he is broker we'll as poet, he
sometimes looks longingly back to the happy yale
where he passed. his first years OF literary labor.
But he would look and long in vain. Bohe-
1nanism Of this sort is
4 THING OF THE PAST.
Even the name has been cutiFelv diverted from |
its original meaning. The Bohemian OF the
present day is poor, shabby being, who scrapes
up precarious living By dlnt Of dlligent loating
about city editors Offices and getting small odd
much he is to make, from ono day to the next.
His shoes are run down ct the heel, aud he holds |
his coat high up his shirt Us his
limited buttons will permit. Ten to one, the
odor OF gin that floats around him. For this
odorferous product is expended large part of
the income which il scraped in bits from perhaps
half-a-dozen newspaper offices. once heard one
Of these fellow announce, with q greasy Joy, that
he had made $50 that week; and have no doubt
it wes the first week so marked for many
month. But there are Dohemians of finer mold
than these. There are men who make more mon
cy as independent writer's than those who have
regular positions on papers; these get up special
articles on topics with which they are specially
familiar; oct as telcGraphic correspondents OF
papers in other cities, Dip into Advertising, aud
even some OF them write ID occasional article for
= magazine.
OF COURSE with these, as in most other
branches Of literary work,
THE OLD ROMANCE Is GONE.
Writing is o business, and its yotariea have
come to be as practical aud business-like as |
dealers in pork or sugar. The dovil-may-care re-