Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-12-08
GOTHAM GLEANINGS.
LANGTRY FLOWN WITH HER
DUCATS.

/ Catch Fraud-The SUNDAY Law Re-.
! vival.
/ NEW YORK, Dec. 6.-The English beauty
has left us. The town is duller without
her, and in saying this 1 do not refer to the
gilded youth who just now wears a high
collar and top coat with a split tail that
strikes his heels; but to prosaic people as
well. Even her last week was not with
out its sensation. She destroyed her re-.
| putatiOn somewhat for amiability, so the
story goes, by engaging in quarrel with
her bosom friend, Mrs. LabOuchere, in
which the scene took on the air of high
! Tragedy. This must not be accepted with
TOO much credulity. as it has since been
stated to be utterly without foundation.
Yet there is reason to believe
that Mrs. Langtry did lose her temDer.
and that Mrs. LabOuchere lost hers too.
and that they had sharp words back and
forth between them, tit-fOr-tat and tat-fDr-
TIT. What has given a color of truth to
the report is that Mrs. Labouchere. instead
OF accompanying Mrs. Langtry to Boston.
mas gone IN an opposite direction on a
yisit-she says to friends in Virginia. 1t
Is easy to imagine that any trouble be-
tween the two would make this Journey,
although III contemplation before, at this
tAAiC CohN CiiIcHJs me peculiar social n0nOrS
to Mrs, Langtry-I refer to bachelors
dinners given in compliment to her-were
Kept up to the very last, and the determi-
nation OF society not to recognize her was
Kept up to the very last, too. An incident
IN connection with one of these bachelor
dinners was a good illustration of the
PRIDE that enters into her composition. My
Lord Vaudeville was invited as one of the
guests; my Lady Vaudeville was nor. On
hearing that MilOr' was to be present at
the dinner, Mrs. Langtry peremptoriIv re-
fused to go if he were to be there. The
reason she assigned was that the Lady
Vaudeville had been for some davs in the
city and had not called at the Aibemarle
to pay her respects. MilOr' STAYED away.
and the dinner party Went on merrily.
There IS another member Of the Langtrv
party that has attracted attention within
the last week by her appearance as a lee
turer on the eVer-recurring subject of
Nv omen.' Many will remember Emily
Faithful as having visited this eoun.
try some years ago, This is the person.
She came this time as chaper0n for Miss
Nate PattIson, of Mrs. Langtry's troupe
She is rather stout lady, with a rl.ddy
English complexion and u kindly lace
quite different, III ftct, III her Personal am
pearance, from the typical female reform
er, VINO Is usually angular and stern of
aspect. Miss Faithfull's latest claim to
distinction is her achievement in the di-
rection of securing work IN printing Of
hces IN England for women. She has
a printing office of her own in which
women alone are employed, and which
is commended by the Queen and
receives her patronage and ent
couragement Her lecture the other
night, however, was quite trite and COM
mOnplace, as our friend Oscar would
say, you know. Her subject was
the Changed Condition of Women
She gave a history of the changes
through which women have passed in re-
spect to the work they may perform, all of
which Has good in its way, but one was
all the time wishing that she would strike
at the evils existing in society and the
fashionable world and make the Young
women in the audience whose bodies were
compressed to airy nOthmgness sQuirm
uneasily in their seats-blush for shame.
L would say, were it not for the fact that
tight iaclng makes blushing a matter of
some difficulty.
The clergy of New York are very
strongly opposed to the production of the
passion Play" here during the HOLIDAYS.
The preparations for producing this piece,
OF which wrote You some time ago, are
now actively going forward, and it is not
likely that they will by any amount OF
public opinion. As far as ! have heen able
to learn the views of prominent clergy
men, and | have talked with several of
them within the past week, they look upon
such performance with abhorernce.
they say that it cannot possibly be pro-
ductive Ofany good, but, on the contrary.
will be attended with bad moral results:
AS the performances will be attended
mainly Py the irre1igious, it is thought
that il will be nothing more than an idle
show, The Catholic priests are also Op-
hA NrlrvN H.
dinal himself. The Jews too look upon it
with distavOr. One of the leading PabLis
said to me i'll conversation he Oth6r day
that any spectacle Qr play that encrOach-
ed on tie religious sentiments of any class
of people should be vigorously opposed
by every one, whatever his religion.
When it is seen that the performance is
actually TO {aNe place, there will be a
great cry raised in the pulpit against it.
Spiritualism and kindred delusiQrs are
always coming up in some form, and thev
scarcely even 90 come up without having
something ludicrOus about them Re-
Gently the Rev. DR.. Newman, VINO enjoys
the distinction of being the favOrite of
Gen. Grant, startled his friends by preach
ing sermon in which his views on the
subject were very closely allied to the
doctrines of the spiritualists. 1t is giving
him no end of annoyance. He has re-
ceiyed letters from all oyer the country.
and 1t has, he says, put him and his friends
on the defensive. He asserts that the re-
port 20 the effect that he attended seances
and believed in what is commonly known
as spiriplalism, 10 be entirely without
foundation. 1t must be said, however.
that 1t is very difficult to
draw the line between his
fine spun theory of the communicates; NJ
spirits ''with the heirs of salvation ;, and
the messages from the other world. which
come through sO-called mediums while in
trance condition. But it is of still
later temperance Of the subject that I
wish to speak. The ludicrous Side of this
arose from the fact that man who claims
that he is possessed of a remarkable Gift
OF mind-reading got up conspiracy the
other night to expose spfritualistic
medium-Mrs. FOX-Kane. the widow of
the celebrated DR.. Kane, the Arctic ex-
plorer. The mind-reader invited a circle
OF friends, and, in order to gain distinc-
tiOn for himself, also invited several
newspaper reporters to attend the seance.
He himself went in disguise in order that
the medium might not suspect who he
was,
" 1t moi very eomioal to find o.
hhumhug in conspiracy to h"'I hing another
had hhed'pu5 - NV ...c. That is what we
h"u ner. before Mrs. FOX-Kane. who is
IuAtC d ScudJc, luduEO0ll-lOOkIng woman
OF easy manners, came into the room. the
mlnd-reader whose name is Stuart Cum
berland entertained the company with an
exhibition Of his peculiar gifts. While
absent he had one of the persons present
touch two objects in different parts of the
room; then coming in blindfOlded he took
the hand of the person and designated the
objects touched. He performed other ex-
periments Of similar character, much to
the wonder of the company. The seance
held by Mrs. FOX-Kane was of the usual
description. The spirits were asked ques-
tions, and made their answers in the
orthodox fashion, by giving so many
raps for yes and so many for no.
When this had gone on for some time
one hJImbug the mind-reader) said to the
other humbug the medium) that it was
not spirit that was Fapping at all, but
that she was making the raps hersef bv
dislOcating the joints Of her fingers. This |
operation, he said, with the caImness and
precision of a scientist, could be performed
with a motion so slight that it could not
be detected. The widow of the celebrated
explorer was covered with confusion. and
left the room precipitately, declaring that
the mlnd-reader was unquestiOnablv a
medium. The company broke up with a
feeling of admiration for the mind-reader
and unconscious that he himself was as
much OF humbug as the other. The fact
is, there is no more in mind-readino
than there is in the communication