The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-01-13
OUR NEW YORK LETTER,

Remnants of fYu1etide-Hroken Toys and q
Bursted Bubble-The Criminal Record
Mrs. Langtry in Brooklyn. Etc.
NgW YORK, January Q, 1883.
| EDITOR CHEZ:
Yn'etde has passed and the house is
strewn with the ruins of broken dolls
disjointed dancing jacks, dislocated wa
gons and all those ingenious contriyances
by which dollars are coaxed from the
pockets of indulgent parents only to be
Is source of after discomfort. While
write, around me lny the ruins of Noah's
Ark. Jumbo has lost his trunk; there
is not enough Of it left to make decent
sized yaliso. Beside him are couple of
royal Bengal tigers, one minus u head
and tho other shorn of his tail. The
great Behemoth is i'll sorry plight, with
only two legs to navigate on; and the
unicorn, deprived Of his lance, looks
about as ferocions as % second-class dom
ley. 1t is not only the clliliren's bubble
that has burst in this holiday time, but
something more pretentious, which has
been one Of the sensations of the city.
Two years ago last fall prospectus
was extensively circulated through the
country, which was going to work one
of the greatest revolutions i'll our homes
that the country had seen since the
of I,,5o~a,,I,,oo Tsl,, ,x,,
gician who was to bring about this
miracle was one Miss Kate Field, a per-
son who had figured extensively on the
lecture platform and in cheap magazine
literature without creating a very pro-
found sensation in either. She was not
I" a flower who was born to blush unseen,"
however, that is if Miss Kate Field could
put that flower on exhibition. She
travelled i'll Europe, every part of our
own domain was laid under contribution,
but still Miss Field was not IL financial
success. While in England Miss Field
devoted much time to the study Of CO.
oPCl~lioi III oOblCotlS CCOtfOHIJ, ituu III
suddenly dawned on her that there were
millions i'll it; that is to say, if overy
woman in the United States could be in
duced to buy her dresses on the CO.
operative plan large amount of money
could be saved. There are in the United
States nearly twenty seven millions of
females. 1t costs to dress these an
average of fifteen dollars apiece; that is
taking them all i'll bunch, the women
who buy their dresses of Worth and those
who don't. This, in round numbers,
would yield about four hundred millions
Of dollars; an average Of ten per cent.
profit Oh this sum would J ield annually
the sum of forty millions of dollars, and
this was to be divided among tile lucky
holders of the shares, in addition to
which each stockholder was to have
special advantages in the purchase of
her dry goods, the price Of which was to
be put so low that cameFs hair shawls
were to be sold at two dollars and half
apiece, and sealskin sacques not more
than three seventy-fve. Ofcourse there
was a rush to get the shares. Every
woman who was fortunate enough to
secure half dozen felt like Vanderbilt
or Jay Gould. The store opened with
flourish of trumpets, with Miss Kate
Field in the presidency, and young
gentleman from Lond on, who parted his
name and his hair in the middle, as
general director. The concern had not
been going many months when the an
nouncement was made that it was the
greatest financial success Of modern
times. The profits were enormous.
Nothing like it had ever been seen or
known and whizz, mp went the shares to
$3.50. Oh, wasn't mad that I had not
bought in when could have get them
for $40 each, but said to myself that's
just my luck, and gritting my teeth
stepped into the first saloen and ordered
a glass of soda. Mr.. Anthony Pullbrook,
the fortunate young gentleman from
London, got 900 for putting the con-
Germ on its legs. Another individual got
$4,000; another, $1,000; another, $4,000,