The Donaldsonville chief., 1882-02-04
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

A Conundrum-Dogs VS.. Babies-How thu
! Swells Dress and How They Look-Grant
| People and Grand Houses-The Toilins
Echo of the Late Hudson River Disaster
! Stokes New Palace Hotel, Etc.
! New YORK, January %, 1882.
EDITOR CHIEF:
A man in Arkansas few years ago was
| killed by mob for propounding a CO
nundrum; and twelve intelligent men
who sat upon Ills corpus, after a thorough
| nvestig cation of the case, brought in 8
verdict of "served him right" and this
on appeal, was confirmed by the Supreme
! Court of the State. With this terrible
example before my eyes, and q full appre
citation of the consequences; 1 intend tc
PROFOUND conundrum, and offer a big
prize-one million of dollars-to the one
who shall send me the proper answer be-
tween now and the 31st Of December
1882. Here it is: II lady has baby
and wishes to 90 into the street, why
does she always require nurse to carry
it9 and if she has tan terrier pup, or a
poodle, why does she carry it herself7
walk Broadway frequently-partially
for exercise, and sometimes to give my
lady friends in the country an idea of the
prevailing styles-and while meet lots
of fine ladies, either carrying little sore
eyed dogs, or leading them by strings, l
have never seen real fine lady carrying
her baby. Query: does she like the dog
better than the babyf Is she afraid that
some one would suspect that she was the
owner Of the baby? and is she proud of
the fact that she is the owner of the dog
But will pursue this interesting topic
no further, but merely remark to my lady
friends who want to be up in I. X. L..
style and appear real swell, you can get
along very nicely without a baby; but
you must have dog. Speaking of dogs
reminds me of puppies, and speaking of
puppies reminds me that tho most Of orr
young swells (and their name is legion }
are the most poodle-doggy looking crowd
that can possibly he imagined. They
squeeze themselves into their coats and
pants, which fit like an eel-skin, and
make the wearers look as if they were
going into q galloping consumption. This
extraordinary costume is surmounted by
a little apology for a hat with a rim about
all inch broad, making the wearer's head
look, if possible, more Insignificant than
it is: The present winter is carnival Of
folly, aud, between men and women, it
is hard to tell who will take the cake.
Nothing seems to stop the resistless
tide of events which sweep onward
through this great city. A week ago and
the millions about New York were star
tied by the terrible cry that echoed along
the banks Of the Hudson and re-echoed
to the farthest extremity of the land.
The dreadful accident at Spuyten Duyyil
sent a thrill of horror through the city.
To-day, outside of the families of the
victims, this shocking calamity is almost
forgotten. Events succeed each other 80
rapidly and with such resistless rush,
that mon have not time to think. City
life is constant battle where the strong
aud active win and the weak 60 down.
1t is sight, and sad one, to stand by
any of our great ferries in the gray of
these winter mornings and see the thou
sands that cross over to their toll. These
bread-winners are Of all ages and of every
conceivable degree. Little girls Of ten
or twelve years Of age, who have walked
two OF three miles to the ferry, because
the five cents required for car fare could
not be spared from the miserable wages
which just furnish bread for the hungry
mouths at home; old men, with their
little lunch rolled up in a piece Of news
paper, crowd the cabins of the boats.
The majority of these early travellers are
indilferently well clad; they belong to a
class that has to be at work when the
clock strikes seven. To do this they have
to rise at five, winter and summer, and
thousands of these girls and boys do this
for couple of dollars week and when
you take out their ferriage, and an occa-
sional lido of a stormy morning, there is
notmuch left when Saturday night comes.
The situation of some of our working
women was graphically set forth in the
Herald, which opened its columns to the
of wretched woman who
was making shirts at forty-five cents for
a dozen. When Tom Hood sang that
g Song of Shirt" which sent thrill of
horror through England, he never had
any idea of misery like this. Forty-five
cents for Il dozen of shirts! Let every
mother, wife or daughter in the country
sit down and look at the work OH
shirt; think of one Of her wretched sis
ters doing that for three cents and half,
and then let her bless God that her lot is
not cast among the poor sewing women
of New York!
Edward S. Stokes, the murderer of
Fisk, after standing under the shadow
Of the gallows, and serving a term of
four years in State prison, now turns up
as the owner of the Hoffman House, one
Of the most elegant hotels in New York.
To attempt to describe some of its inte-
rior adornments would almost make US
believe that we were approaching an era