The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-04-07
Lent in New York.

AS European institution, said q
society lady to me at the Lotus Club
reception on Monday, '.Lent has been
thoroughly naturaIized in America. It
has taken the first step toward it; that is,
you know"
Declared its intentions?" I sug-
gested.
"Yes, that's it, declared its intentions,
but it stilf is an Englishman, and per-
haps it is greatly to its credit. The in
duence of Lent here is over-estimated.
The number of those who obey it through
devoutness is not one-twentieth as large
as the number of those who obey some
of the requirements for other reasons.
Some rest from frivolity because they
are tired; some to save. money some be-
cause they have formed out their time
otherwise; few because their church
commands it, and the multitude affect
merely because their fashionable
neighbors do, and it is considered the
thing"
"How about fasting?"
Well, there is no modification of the
flesh among the Protestants, but high
church people and ultra fashionables eat
smaller steak and more black bass. The
fish markets thrive. It is getting to be
the thing now for people of religious
turn of mind to abstain from some pet
pleasure during this season instead of
changing their food. I know man and
his two sons who are great smokers, and
who do not touch cigar during the
whole of Lent. know young fellow,
clerk in bank, who goes to see his
girl only every other Sunday night dur
tho of And
a young school girl-bless her dear
heart!-who abstains from chewing-gum
because she likes it so much. You may
laugh, if you feel like it, but it has a
pathetic side. / know good, tender
hearted old lady, who always eats little
less than she needs every meal In Lent,
because she wants to deny herself some
thing, yet she always did, in every seas
on. eat as if it was q disagreeable duty.
Her little granddaughter saw that she
hadn't hit on her favorite enjoyment and
said to her, Grandma, if you want to do
something that is real hard, why don't
you stay away from funerals?' You see
the old lady's chief amusement in life is
in going to funerals, just as you 60 to the
aters. She watches the obituary column
of the Tribune to see what's going on
each day, and she selects the church that
offers the best program and starts off to
sit in one of the front pews. Her son
told me that she attended more than 10C
|. funerals in year. and the little girls
suggestion struck me as being quite tC
the point
I dropped into Pinard's. They are, as
| it were, artists of the appetite; marine
artists, one might say-decorators of the
alimentary canal. "Why, no. said
Pinard the younger, "Lent is not spe
cially social obstruction. We have nine
parties, for instance, o-morrow-gather
ings of all sorts, including Hart's ball Of
| 500 over in Brooklyn; and I don't thinl
five persons out of hundred will senc
regrets or stay away on account of Lent
We don't see great deal Of difference
between January and February in tht
displays and dinners of society people
For instance, here is Miss Carolina Kine
Duer's birthday dinner tonight. TIL,
table is set in that back room"
glanced into the back parlor. The tabl
was almost round, Is feet long and l.
feet wide, with vast expanse in th,
middle, filed in with a magnificen
| oval bank of ferns and flowers q foo
| high, and covering the whole area witt
greetings spelled in blossoms. .Twent,
i plates were laid around it. and befor
each gentlemans plate, was silken car,
bearing his name, wreathsd with graceful
embroidery of flowers; and before eacl
lady's plate was beautiful handbag O
white satin, bearing upon it's side an OK
quisite painting of some tender or pic
turesque or comical scene in life, no
.tstore work, "but every piece painted b
the young hostess herself. If Titan
4 had furnished them they would hay
cost from ten to twelve dollars apiece, s
elaborate and artistic were they. Th
menus were not yet on the table-proba
bly, they were not as expensive as thos
at Astor's dinner three years ago. wher
they were of silver and cost fifty dollar
apiece.