Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-12-19
LIFE ON FIFTH AVENUE.

LIFE ON FIFTH AVENUE.
# Has It's Dark and Bright Sides, and Al
.s 81 10 It's ske1stons.
From the Boston Herald. Z
The dwellers in Fifth avenue man.
sions represent all the various phases O!
the weather. class of New York. Yet
will find here many persons whose for.
tunes are SO secure and great that they
can amply afford the style in which
they live, and also many who are sacri-
ficing everything in orde; to shine fo1
while in such splendor. A Fifth ave
nue. mansion is either purchased o,
rented, and commences life of fashion
and dissipation to which neither they no,
their families are accustomed. Eerythint
is sacrificed to maintain their newly.
gained position money flows like water;
the recently gotten wealth vanishes
and in q few years the family dis.
appears from the avenue, to begin Lift
anew in an humber sphere. The his
tory of the street abounds in such
cases. No wonder so many men living
in these places have weary, careworI
faces, restless glances and quick, ner
vous ways. The strain they are living
under to keep their places in the avenue
is too great. They are not able to keef
pace with those whose firmly secured
millions justify them in a lavish style OF
living, and they know it. They dread
the day that must inevitably come, when
they must leave all this luxury behind
them and go out into the world again tc
begin life anew. Even if they main
tain their places they cannot resist the
conviction that their splendor has been
bought at too dear price.
The avenue mansions contain many
families of wealth and culture, many
whose names have been household
words in New York for generations.
These live elegantly, and in proportion
to their means, but avoid show and
vulgar display. They are courtly in man
ner, hospitable and warm hearted, and
constitute fine specimens of the cultured
American. They do not make up the
majority of the dwellers in the avenue,
however. These latter represent main
ly the newly rich families, that have
risen to affluence through the lucky
ventures of the husband and father, and
have come to their new honors without
the refinement or culture necessary to
sustain them with dignity. You may
know them by their loud voices, vulgar
,ountenances, fashy dressing and coarse
ways. They plunge headlong into the
designations Of society with reckless
ness unknown to persons accustomed to
such pleasures, and their fast life soon
tells upon them. The men go to their
business heavy and jaded in the morn
ing after night Of fashionable dissipa-
tion, and the women sink into an indol-
ence, from which nothing can rouse
them save renewal of the excuses
which caused their lassitude.
They greatly err who imagine that
tbs possession of Fifth avenue man.
sion is, as a matter of course, to be en-
We'd. These splendid palaces hide
many aching hearts, and could tell
many tale Of sorrow, and even of
shame, could they speak. The master
of the house goes often to his business
in the morning with knit brows and a
tragedy lurking in his heart, and re-
turns with reluctant steps to his splen-
did palace in the evening, and madame
for all her gorgeous surroundings, fails
TO wear happy or contented look, and
signs as she thinks of the price she has
paid for such luxury. Generally the
skeleton is kept securely within the
closet, but sometimes it will break forth
and then Fifth avenue is startled for q
moment by its revelations. Sometimes
the scandal is hushed up, but frequent
ly the divorce courts are called in to
straighten out.
One does not see home life in its
truest sense in the avenue. The de-
mands Of fashion are too exacting to
permit an indulgence in this richest OF
pleasures. Day and night are spent in
ceaseless whirl Of gayety, and in many
cases the only times husband and wife
are really in their home for more than
few hours at time is when their par.
lors are crowded with guests in attend
ance upon some grand entertainment
given by them. Thus 1t happens that
they lead different lives, with but little
common interest between them. The
husband has his affinity" and seeks in
her society the pleasures his wife will
not share with him; and madame has
her gay attendants.