National Republican., 1883-03-01
GOTHAM GOSSIP.
What is Going on During the Ienten SeasOl
in the Great Metropolis
Dinner Of the Saturday Night Club a
.'... the Hoffman House.
Happy Post Prandial Speeches by Gov Butler an
Others.
The Passion Play. CbIIdrsn's Carnival
and Other Interesting Events.
GOTHAM GOSSIP.
SpccinI IeNcr.


Night club gave their February dinner at thd
Hoffman house on the evening of Feb. 2iI
This club have not as yet club house, and
their reunions hitherto have been at Del
monico's, but after this last nights dinner
which was pronounced by the members pres 4
ent to be altogether tho most recherche of an VI
yet prepared for them, it is probable that
the Holman house will be the established
place for their social meetings Mr.. Clark
Bell prominent lawyer here and a gentlcI
man well known for his acquaintance Will
bellies lettres literature mo intention of pun
Is president of the club The members ard
Mr. q. +. Avery, the great picture connOisseurl
Mr. Chauncey Depcw, former attorney geul
eral of this state, now counsel for the Now
York Central and Hudson River railway, and
regent of the university, one of the new capi
ftol commissioners, and former member of thJ
state legislature; Mr. Austin Corbin, owncl
of Manhattan Beach hotel and Manhattail
Beach railway; Mr.. William Belden; Hon
John IL. Starin, probably the handsomest ma
i'm the club, and the man who makes bappy|
such masses OF New Iorks population whom,
no one else thinks of; Mr.. T., n. Dickenson
the lawyer, who planned and built that genl
of house for himself on Thirty-iourth street
Mr. William ii. GuOn, of the Farmers Steam
ship company; eN-postmastcr, Hon. Thoma
l.. james, Mr.. w. q. Andrews, aud scoreI
more equally well known ION change" and
In society.
Among the guests of the evening were Gov
Butler, of Massachusetts; Judge Stanley
Matthews, of the United States supremd
court; Mr. Julian Hawthorne, the author
Mr.. Herman Linde, Mr.. Albert Lawrencel
Mr.. David Dudley Field, Judge TOurgecI
Judge John Fitch of this city, Mr.. StepheIl
!. French, president of the police commits
sion; Mr. Herbert o. Thompson, head of thd
DO. .....f.. H.. 4
Palmer, president of the Century club, and
Prof. W. j. Martin, the scientist whose iatherI
first applied chlOrolorm as an antiscptic.
The table laid for thirty-iOur was spread ind
q private parlor, ordinarily used for ladiei
dining and was circular in form. In the cen /
ter stood "a plateau in iilagreo gold and bronzcl
finished in jewelers. work, eight feet longI
and three feet wide. On this stood the epargnd
Of corresponding work, filled with rare ilowcrsl
Accompanying this center table ornament ard
five fruit dishes and two side dishes all in th,I
same work. These were the property of thJ
Emperor Louis Napoleon, having been prei
sentCd him by an Italian noblemanI
and were purchased for Mr.. stocked
by Cyphcr, the great antiquarian collector
for $4,000, which is probably one fourth Of
their real value. To light the table were siNI
pink and white cameo lamps of the old
mechanical structure, which gave the pTetticst |
softcst light imaginable, and wax tapers iil
bpuA biit NhhNiGoNlNho bNNlNt lttl llGil. lHOhtN
candlestcks were once the property oil
George III, but were lately purchased fotl
$4,000 for Mr., Stokes. Bouquets and bask etsl
Of flowers stood around on the tables aud th,I
crystals in sea green, clear cut, and pink OF
the same color as the lamps, madd
an exceeding pretty table. On thd
walls hung plaques in Sevres chinal
and large NJ, tapestry from the PrinceI
Domedof collection, while rare bronzes stood
on the mantel and in inches of the rooml
All these beautiful things Mr.. Edward StokesI
the new proprietor of the Hoffman house, i'll
collecting to adorn the dining room which i'll
being built in the interior of the Hoffman,
house, on Twenty-fifth street. Mr.. Stokessb
very bright eyes evidently were not givenl
him to keep closed, and he sees all the rarol
things which will make the future Hoffman,
house the most attractive hotel in the city
OF the dinner it is need ess to speak, becausel
the forty-two gentlemen who partook of id
did ample justice to the excellent catering of
nj. Lando, the custodian Of the house, by de- |
yonripg all the good things he had ordered
for them. .s
AFTER DINNER SPEECHES.
AT its conclusion Mr.. Clark Bell, after a fowl
OF his happy remarks, called upon Justicel
Matthews, who responded in brief aud wittyI
speech. In it he suggested that Harvard
should bcstOw upon Gen. Butler u ID. ID. inp |
recognition Of his very puritanical message Il
Gov. Butler was next introduced and aroseI
to reply amid q cordial clapping of hands, andI
made. good naturgd, amusing after dinnerl
speech, in which he bcwl,iled tho fashion oil
interfering with the digestion of good dinnerv
by the exercise Of u speech after it, and rdi-V
culed the abaurd custom of being made un-V
comfortable at club dnncr by having to weaJ
the same kind Of suits the waters all had Onl
lie, however, SatrlZCd the so called simplicityf
Of our ancestors, and recalled to the memoryl
Of those present the dress worn by ThOmasl
Jefferson and tho way George Washington
travelled.
Gov. Butler thought we were no moret
wicked IN this than in a preceding general
ton, only there were more of us, and newsI
was transmitted all over the country; and hel
preferred the title of ID. d., if he was to have
any after his name, to that of LII. ID.
EN-Judge Tourgee said he desired to see
the day when Benjamin i. Butler should be
the nominee for president of the United
states ltwould mark new era in American
history. Hitherto, before the war and after
the war had antcdated tho creation of the
world and the Christian era. And then the 4
judge pleasantly alluded to improvements in
this generation, spicing his remarks with
blts ot southern "reminiscences, and closed
with the remark that IL was eminently proper
Gov. Butler should be the director Of the di.
vinity of Massachusetts.
Mr., Bell then read kilograms from Gov.
Cleveland, Gen. Hancock, and others and
's'''NH NppH III lltIlhdu lIllu6 IOf II rCCltu- |.
non, to which that gentleman responded in
the soiloquy from Hamlet" Mr.. Albert
Lawrence sang an air from Faust" and b
then Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, who is II
New Nork's most famous after din.
ner speaker, in his pleasant voice and |.
Lappcst vein kept the Companys attention
Tor fifteen minutes. In that time he man
aged TO pay Gov. Butler handsome compli. II
ments, conglatuating Massachusetts upon
being stirred up by live governor and sup-
gested TO the club in Wow of the political n
work Of the governor that per
hap5 they were entertaining an angel un- II
lwaIcs--w whereat everybody began question
ing the merry governor as to whether his
wings were sprinPing. But Mr. Depew pro.
posed that Gov. Cleveland should have nm
even chance with Gov. Butler in the race
lor president, even if this was a boom H.
for the latter. At this stage a message
arrived for Gov. Butler and he took leave. II
with most gracious thanks for the pleasant II
hospitality of the Saturday Night club. and
went with n gentleman friend TO the Boston
rain. Mr., David Dudley Field and judge III
IourgcC also retired very quietly at the same NJ
time. After they left Mr.. Bell introduced Mr.. III
Juhan hawthorne, who responded in q very II
snort speech OF thanks, entirely repudiatinR ID
he idea that he could be styled a great noy- +
,list, as Mr.. Bell had tlatteringly done when n
Dickens and Thackeray had preceded him, He III
alluded most pleasantly his travels In many IL
ands, ana said that in none of these had he II
aver found anything better than in America
Mr., Herbert q. Thompson was called out by IN
N allusi0n TO cold water, Of which he did not II
profess a iOudlpg4 oXpant IN giyo fIas cit,, a III