Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-27
LIFE IN THE METROPOLIS.
A Trio of Festivities Which Helped
to Divert the Giddy GOthamites.


NEW YORK, Jan. 24.-There were three
festive events here on Monday evening,
each of which its participants considered
the gFandest affair of the winter. They
were the police dinner, the French ball
and Mrs. AstOr's ball. The dinner Of the
Inspectors and Captains of Police collect
ed together at Delmonico's as incOngru-
Gus an assemblage as | ever witnessed.
Mayor Edison presided, and among the
guests were the Rev. DIR. Crosby, the Rev.
DR.. John Hall, Gen. Aspinwall and sew
eral others of a similar stamp. In addi-
ton were John Kelly and his crowd who
rule New York CITY," "Clint' Wheeler.
President Arthur's crOny, John J. O'Bri-
Ell and other Republican pot house poll
tcians were also present in large num-
bers.
Motley was the wear. as would be
naturally expected, of such a mixed
gathering. The clergyman wore their
clerical coats, the police officials. with
one or two exceptions, their blue uniforms
with brass buttons, n large proportion of
the statesmen" swallow tails, and not "A
few ordinary street dress. Police Com
missioner Matthews. although he sat at
the elevated table with the MaVOr and
to appear in the same clothes he had worn
all day. am quite sure that he had not
even changed his shirt. Even Mayor Ed
son in his attire committed what is con-
sldered the socially heniOus Offensu of
wearing a satin cravat. A greater social
sOlicism man, he he Mayor or an ordinary
mortal, could not be guilty of! Better, "A
thousand times better, it is 10 wear as a
tie a two cent bit of cambria, than to
have Onp'G mock pfOfhaI N hsfo
mystic, wOnderfulll
The dinner, in other respects, was like
ordinary affairs of the sort. There were
the usual speeches, which I didn't STAY
to listen to, and when large fraction OF
the company adjourned to the ball Of the
Circle of Harmony in the Academy OF
Music and Irving Hall, several were in
condition that would have justified Capt.
Williams in using his club to keep them
IN order, had he not unfortunately left it
at home.
THE BALL WAS A DISGRACE TO THE CITY,
as it generally is. Whenever a bali is
given under French auspices all the loose
men and women OF all nationllities in the
town consider 1t an opportunity to in
dulge in orgies which would have nut to
shame the Mabille in its palmIest DAYS.
The festivities of this last occasion were
fortunately cut comparatively short at
about 4:30 O'Clock Tuesday morning by an
alarm of fire caused by steam escaping
from the pipes warming the bridge con-
Meeting the Academy with Irving Hall.
Although the alarm proved to be a false
one. the lights were turned down and the
crowd was induced to dispense for fear
that panic wo Id result from the pres
ence of the fire engines which had been
summoned.
While shameful scenes were thus being
in fhn 4
AstOr's handsome house at Fifth avenue
and Thirty-fourth street presented very
different picture. AS at the Academy the
worst classes in society were represented.
so al the Ast0r ball the people who are /
the best, socially, intellectually and NOR
ally, were to be seen, although | have
good reason to believe that those of Mrs.
Astor's guests who went awav early did /
so in order to take part in the French fes-
tivai. The ball was in many respects the |
finest ever given in New York. Although /
the house is not so large and so grand as I
Nanderbilts, the ball surpassed that re- |
Gently given Oy him. An air of refine /
ment and elegance pervaded the premises /
which was cOnspicuOusly absent from the |
Vanderbilt mansion, and. what is more I
the supper was far better.
Rare old wine, for example. was served /
in place of the ordinary ballroom bever- /
ages.
Speaking of balls, the columns devoted /
to society news in many OF the news
papers here are continually affording
food for laughter to the people whose
dOings they pretend to chronicle. They (
are generally inaccurate. and even when
the names of the conspicuous persons |
present" on some grand occasion are
spelled correctly and other details are
rightly given, absurd mistakes are made
from the writer being in state Of blissful I
ignorance regarding the social status of
the men and women he writes about. An
average New York editor is unaware that
there are planes in Gotham society be-
tween which great CUFFS are fixed, or
rather were, for they are fast closing, and
hat to speak Of occupants Of one plane
le the social peer Of another is equivalent
TO abiding to French and Germans as
people of the same race. Yet this mis-
take is constantly made.
The other day an evening paper which
leVotes much of its valuable space"
to social matters, spoke of the
Vanderblts and Astors as if they
both belonged to the cream of /
the cream and were socially equal. No
thing could seem more ridiculous in the |
eyes OF those acquainted with social dis I
tinctions. Although the Vanderbilts have |
at last got on the threshold of what is
called good society, they are simply tOle-
rated because of their wealth, and are
1espised as parvenus by the people
who tolerate them. The AstOrs, on the
other hand, inhabit the holy of hOlies of
the social temple, for they are considered |
to unite good blood to their dollars. AL
though old John Jacob Astor, the founder
Of the family, was probably as vulgar. if
that were possible, as Commodore Van
derbilt, the inteTmarriage of his descend |
ants with the Livingstons, and other old /
families, has leavened the whole mass.
and enuObled the entire familY-tO those |
vet living who remember the stories their /
fathers told them Of the first of the AS
tors, the idea of his grandchildren as
Stunning to be Patricians seems more than !
absurd but the fact remains. Good blood /
on one side Of the house covers multi /
tude of vulgarities on the other, and were /
even one of the Vanderblts to mate with I
some old Knickerbocker family, the issue I
OF the marriage would hold up their heads I
as high as the Ast0rs!
WHEN NEWSPAPERS DO NOT SHOCK
the delicate nerves of their readers by the I
terrible blunder of putting the Wander /
bilts on a par with the AstOrS, their social !
reports often contain the most palpable |
Misrepresentation and unSruths. For T
instance, the World not long ago an |
nOunced that german of hundred /
couples had been led by we'll known /
man about town the previous evening in I
q certain house in Thirty-fOurth street. |
As a matter Of fact there was no dancing |
at all at the house in question, and the
people who attended the party which was
given there were amused, or pretended TO
be, by one OF those nOndeScript characters,
half gentleman, half clown, who support
themselves by catering to the disabilities
of the guests at the different houses IN
which they are paid TO appear. The
World reporter. not being able to gain adj
mittance to the house to learn of this, re-
lied upon his imagination for his facts,
and evolved the announcement of the CO.
tiIliOn out of his inner consciousness.
The Tribune this week took the Opp0r-
tunity afforded by the publication of ''The
Millionaire whose chief character,
dexter File" is supposed to represent
Jay Gould, to crafty an old grudge
against the author, Louis J. Jennings,
who, when he was connected with the
Times OF this city, was virulent OppO-
nent of Horace Greeley. The Times mani
festatiOn of joy at the old philosophers
death was so indecent that Mant0n Mar
BILE, the editsr OF the Democratic World,
was provoked into the following singing
utterances: "'Died Of Liberal Republi-
canism' is the epitaph the fat-witted,
al Ion m tro fhruGfG ci6p tho un0IIrn-