Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1883-03-24
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
New York, March, 1888.

10 peOpie really utstFEN no" -a-udNS
when so many couples find that they
have made mistakes. II marriage is
only civil contract liable to be dis
( solved whenever the parties TO it desire,
how will their children eventually be
able to recognize their own parents.
We will have to get to the ideal of the
/ rabid socialist and communist who
! maintains that the State should take
care fall children. But to return to
/ the increase of divorce. | called at
! the office of a man in Broadway not
far from st. Paul's Church the other
day. II have to so out for half all
hour, please wait. If YOU wish to
amuse yourself sit down at the Will
dow and watch the building on the
other side of the way. Tell me what
you notice. He returned in about
twenty minutes Did you notice any
/ thing?' he asked. Nothing |
window. "What is that going into
that UuiIding?" * hands5mely
dressed lady, and as far as | can make
"And is that the first one You noticed
entering there NO, did not keep
! count, but there must have been a
dozen before her" That's it," he
! exclaimed. There are four or five
/ divorce lawyers i'll that establishment
misery loves company YOU know
and there is regular stream ofwomen,
/ ladies | suppose ! ought to call them,
going in and out Of that building from
! ten to four o'clock every day. If you
/ value your peace of mind, my friend,
never get married." Here is Il fact
which DR.. Dix might have introduced
very nicely in his sermon.
st. Patrick's Day came on apace
Last Saturday, Saint Patrick who was
"gintleman,' came up smiling in
the morning and took possession of
old Gotham us lie has done for years,
and the shamrock and the harp that
once twanged in Tara's halls tioated
triumphatly above the stars and
stripes. Still the day was celebrated
more quietly than i'll former years.
| The sutferings Ofthe relatives and
friends on the green isle have caused
the money which would otherwise
have been spent for sashes and potheen
to be sent abroad. The representative
Irish organization, st. Patrick's Alli-
ance, had its usual dinner in the even
ing, and other associations had enter
tainments of one kind or another,
nearly all for the benefit OF the suffer-
ers at home.
Easter cards and Easter flowers are
what interest everybody now. The
fashion has beer. set that churches on
Christmas and Easter must be deco
rated superbly with cut flowers, and
every church, no matter how poor it
may be, spends from hundreds to
thousands on them. These decora-
tions will be very expensive this year,
as the prolonged cold weather makes
the price of flowers come very high.
YiGletg aGd other spring flowers have
seldom been so expensive as they are
now, and as regards fine and rare
roses they are worth from twenty-five
cent to a dollar a piece. AS regards
Easter cards the statiOners have given
us number of new and tasteful de-
signs and the styles of execution are
in many cases marYelously beautiful.
Christmas and Easter cards have all
but driven valentines out of fashion,
and when one remembers to what base
uses the valentine has frequently
come to, one can hardly regret it.
Hand painted cards, little plates of
ivory, wooden and metal plaques,
beautifully colored with spring flowers
and the cross make handsome presents,
and may be had at prices reigning all
the way from one to fifty and seventy
five dollars,
A determined effort is to be made
by the police to close the opium dens
in the city, which have been increas-
ing at really alarming rate. Captain
Williams of the Twenty-ninth Police
Precinct, raided one last week and
captured the Chinese proprietor and
one of his guests. This however is only
forerunner of what is to come. There
are about eighty we'll known and re-
gularly patronized dens Ill operation
and they are thronged nightly and to
a great extent daily too. Most of
them are situated far down town in
the regions along the river front.
They are most extensively patronized
by abandoned men and women of the
lower walks of life, but persons Of
both sexes from the hest Glasses fire.
quent them as we'll, because they
believe that there they are freer from
discovery than i'll more select places
up town. The other evening as | came
home from Brooklyn ] met a we'll
known detective who took me to an
opium den in side street leading off
from Chatham Street. The place con-
sisting oftWo small rooms was packed.
a divan ran along the walls, and for
every twosmokers there was a peculiar
little kerosene lamp, with chimney
shaped like an inverted cup, with
small hole on top. At this the smokers
lighted the opium before they placed
it on the pans of their pipes which
from "a distance looked like ivory
mounted clariOnets.
What was my horror to find lying
alongside of sailor, all actress who
not so many years ago was a popular
favorite. She was insensible. She
was richly dressed and though her
face was CHASTITY pallid, the traces of
former beauty could still be marked.
The den was filled with smoke arising
from twenty odd pipes and it was SO
dense as to almost obscure the light
from the little lamps. Through the
gloom could be seen the demonac face
of the Chinaman presiding over the
orgies. His bright little eyes cleaned
like Goals from the mist, and his long
bony hands tightly grasped his money
drawer. / have seen revolving pie
lures, but this was the worst. When
/ came out in the fresh air was all
in tremor, but perhaps this was
caused by the opium fumes which /
had inhaled.
Poor Virgins. There isnot friend
here to speak well of him. The pilots
and captains oftugboats who refrained
from going out to sea for fear lest his
prediction would come true, are swear
ing at the pecuniary loss which has
accrued to them. On Long Island
several people had built huts on ele-
waited places in order to retire to them
when the floods should make their
advent. All this is now so much fears
labor lost, and Wiggins is held respon-