Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-02-21
MANHAITANISMS.
FEBRUAaY's GAUDS AND GAYETIEs IN
NEW YORK
The Self Content and Salaries of French
Cooks-The Connubial Msrket-Tke
Romance of Ole Bulls Career.
NV YoRK, February 7, 1850.

NEW YORK, February 7, 1850.
February's gayeties are not less numer-
Gus or brilliant than were the gayeties of
January, especially as to balls, of which
there have been many, public and private,
, among the native and foreign population
during the week. This is the merriest
winter we have had for years. Every body
is in lively humor, owing to the general re-
vival of trade and the apparent guarantee
of future prosperity throughout the coun-
try. How much the lightness of mans
heart depends on the heaviness, actual or
prospective, of his purse Idealistic as
| our disposition may be, we cannot help
seeing and admitting that what Is consid-
cred materialism plays very active part
! in our contentment, not less than IN our
comfort. Are we not such stuff as money
makes us, and is not our weary life as
suaged by incomes? The Leiderkranz mas
| querade has been
THE LEADING ENTERTAINMENT OF THE WEEK,
And the most agreeable and successful, on
the whole, the society has ever had. None
OF those unpleasant incidents, such as con-
fusion inside and out, excess of hilarlty,
over-indulgence in wine, which have some
times occurred in the past were witnessed
on Thursday evening, and the costumes
and procession and decorations were more
varied and striking than they have been
before. Our German fellow-citlZens were
running over with eXhilaration and jolllty,
and with eating and drinking-these are,
to them, always Indispensable lking,
laughing and dancing, they carried enjoy
ment to its highest capacity. | could not
help noting the contrast between them and
my own countrymen as they moved to-
gether or danced side by side on the floor
.of the Academy. The Germans surren-
dered themselves entirely to the spirit OF
fun they acted as if they had no trouble
some recollections, and | doubt ii
they had then and there; as if all
time were condensed into those few
giddy hours. They were the incarnation
of pleasure-seeking and pleasure-tinding,
of jubilation and iollity. | envied them
their perfect joyousness; | wondered how
, they could sustain it. So did other Amer
leans no doubt. These tried to be merry !;
tried very hard, and their effort was palpa-
BILE enough. But they were baked. They
had not the easy Indifference, the mercu-
rial temperament, the emotional facility,
the ability to live in the moment which
the Germans showed themselves abund-
antly possessed of The Americans
looked wearied, bored out of place like,
when they struggled to be gay. The blood,
the mood of the true pleasurer was not
in them, and could not gain access to
) them.
l am very fond of my countrymen-
probably | have warm prejudice in their
favor-I know how many sterling virtues
they own but capacity for enjoyment is
not among these. They are never so dis
NAL as when they labor to be gay. They
are prone to carry with them some mystic
rious spiritual weight which they cannot
under any circumstances throw off. They
are unquestionably
c THE MOST MELANCHOLY PEOPLE UNDER
THE sun.
j I was strengthened in the impression when
looked on at the charity ball in Brooklyn
: the same evening. The throng there was
2 called very animated, and it was, consider
ing its nationality; but comparing, or
rather contrasting it with the German
mask this side of the river, it seemed somEer
enough. Americans are, as a rule, failures
at ball. In the counting room, in great
enterprises, in building railways, towns,
telegraph lines, in surmounting obstacles of
any sort, their patience, energy and cour-
age count but in merely social relations
they are less than zeros.
THE FRENCH COOKS BALL,
Also given this week, furnished another
opportunity to compare Europeans with our
people. The French cooks and their friends
of the same blood exceeded the Germans
in mirth and joviality. They fairly effer-
vesced with vivacity as they always do
at their annual festival. 1t is pleasant to
attend this ball, to see how men. and women
of another nation can enjoy themselves,
and then their exhibitions of culinary skill
are extraordinary. They exhaust ingenuity
on the occasion, and always produce some
thing novel and attractive as well as
toothsome.
| have seen great deal of French cooks
on their own and foreign soil, and they
appear to be the best satisfied of mortals.
. We Anglo-SaxOns are prone to regard a
cook as menial The French look upon
him as an artisan artist worthy to rank
, with poets, composers, painters, sculptors,
actors, and the cook himself is apt to hold
himself trihe higher, since they but copy
men, while he sustains, and in a sense
creates them They feel pride, pride
of the most exalted kind, in their vocation
| they would be offended to hear it called
, business and they are ever delighted to
talk of it, discuss it. explain it. A little
iudicious fattery goes further with a
Gallo cook than money. Tickle his van
ity beforehand, and you may be sure of a
good breakfast, dinner or supper. | have
tried this more than once abroad, and have
found my palatal advantage in it. He is
invariably a very vain, notional, gro
| tesquely sensitive, ultra professional
creature. Wound his self consciousness in
the slightest, and he will revenge himself
on your appetite.
French cooks-who, under the name, in
clude a number Of Swiss and Italians,
speaking French of course-are plenty here
now not only at hotels, restaurants and
clubs, but at many private houses. But a
, small proportion belong to the Culinary
Philanthropc Society, whose members
r mainly represent the great hotels and some
of the most fashionable clubs. French
cooks generally consider themselves as
; specially granted to the world by Nature,
, in her most benignant mood for the ben
eft OF mankind. They cannot conceive
how civilization can endure without them.
: Indeed, they do not think the thing posi-
BILE /; for before them, as they hold, there
was no true civilization. They thrive
here, and well they may. They are far
better paid than most accountants, sales
men, journalists, authors, physicians or
clergymen. They receive salaries of from
81, 900 to S., 600 and even Sc, 900 year,
and they do little more than superin-
tend. refer, of course, to the chefs de
cuisine. The Windsor Hotel gives its chef,
, | understand $1,000; Delmonco givel
81, 500; the Hotel Brunswick, $500; the
Fifth Avenue, $1,000; the Brevoort, a.
900; the Buckingham, $4,000; the Clar-
, endoD, 81, 800; the Union Club, $4,000 !;