Helena weekly herald., 1880-09-16

aged to land in safety after nearly running
into another vessel just at the wharf. There
is something really spicy about steamboat
travel about here nowadays, only, as mat
ter of precaution, it is well to make ones
will previous to embarking. 1t would save
the heirs great deal of trouble and annoy
ance when one is food for the fishes.
Safe in the city once more, we find little
flutter of excitement over the death of "Grace
Church Brown" as he has been familiarly
called. Mr.. Brown has for years been
the sexton of Grace church, and the
greatest autocrat in the fashionable world of
America. No figure in New York circles
has filed such unique and striking place as
that of the celebrated sexton who died in ven-
erable years, and with the laurels of great
reputation clustering thick about his head, at
Bradford, Connecticut, Sunday, August the
23rd.
Mr.. Brown may be said to have managed
fashionable society here for the last thirty
years, and scarcely any lady, especially the
maauveauc richie, would venture to have a
wedding, or funeral. or an entertainment
without consulting him. His Office was often
beseiged by throngs of richly dressed women,
eager to get him to take charge of some enter
tainment which must be gotten up in the best
style. Browns name and management were
the most effective SmOrimdteur possible, and
his resources were boundless. 1t is said that
he always had on hand corps of handsome
young men-dancing men-which he would
furnish to make up ''crush, just as the
caterer would furnish a supper. These
young men were known as browns Five
Hundred" and were thoroughly we'll drilled
for their parts, never presuming to claim the
acquaintance of any lady with whom they
f1irted or danced with at ''crush." Browns
ability as manager of funerals was no less
notable than his brilliant powers in taking
charge of wedding or an entertainment, and
his remarkable accomplishments won tor him
a lasting place in fiction. He was the original
of the character of Diggory Pink in Will
liam Allen Buffers satire of Nothing to
Wear" and Geo. William Curtis in the ''Poti-
pher Papers" also gives a life-like sketch of
the man and the times, when, in certain fash
| ionable circles, his fiat was as supreme as
that of the autocrat of all he Russias.
Sexton Browns funeral services were held
in the church of which he was such solid
pillar, and the interment took placein Green
wood, where the deceased owned a lot
Next Tuesday the pretty daughter of Jenny
June (Mrs. D. G. Croly,) will be married at
her parents home on East Thirty eighth St..
to Lieutenant Jessie M. Roper, .. S N. A
large number of invitations have been issued
among the fashionables, and the affair will
probably be quite brilliant one. The bride,
Miss May Croly, is young and exceedingly
pretty, as we'll as talented. Some four sea-
sons since she went upon the stage, playing
here in New York and through the South
and west with Miss Clara Morris in "Miss
Mutton She pleased the public, but hel
health proved entirely too delicate for the
strain upon her mental and physical strength,
and she was soon obliged to abandon her the.
atrical career, for, let us hope, that of hap
py, married life. Miss May has been good
daughter and we are sure will make loving
and charming little wife. Her future hus,
band is as handsome and jolly-looking an au'
dacious tar as ever ''ploughed the water"
Long life and happiness to them.
FANNIE PALMER.
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