St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-17
Equestrianism the Rage Among Young
Men of Fashion and the Bellies
of Gotham.
A Mysterious Young Man Who Exists on
Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars
Year.
The Modern Mans Dislike For Home
--Habits of the Late Mrs.
Vanderbilt.
How Commodore Garrison Divided
Up His Immense Fortune
--Grant's Book.
Corresnondenoe of the Globe.


grown very popular within few years, and
the number of people who ride now regu-
larly in the park is very large. They no
longer ride in the bride paths, but have
taken to the drives, where they canter i'll
and out among the vehicles carelessly. The
many ritling schools which have been re-
Gently organized have done much to con-
tribute to this, and nearly all the livery sta
bleS in town have saddle horses for hire at
every price from 80 to 80 for an after
nOon There is no lack OF custom. A
large majority of the riders are out-for-a-
holiday-young-m who ride with round
shoulders and bowed heads and grin per-
petually as they go through the park.
There are also many thin-faced men, who
are evidently riding for their health. They
move along slowly, and seem to find great
enjoyment in watching the occupants OF
the carriages as they whirl by. Then there
are the stout old gentlemen who puff as
audibly as the horses, and the very proper
and picturesque
YOUNG MAN OF FASHION.
The latter is usually a member OF some
hunt club and his costume is usually the
result of years of study and care. He in
variably rides well and his horse is a beauty.
Not infrequently groups OF twenty or
thirty horsemen in the uniform OF one OF
the higher class riding schools or the IA
tigue dress of the HuZzarS move along
through the crowd. But by far the most
interesting of them all wear low Derby
hats and blue or black riding habits Their
skirts are made extremely short nowadays,
| the tailor-made costumes fit close to the
figure, and typical and well-built New
York girl on thoroughbred horse is more
admiringly stared at than any one else who
enters the park Nearly all the girls ride
| hard and fast. They seldom venture into
| the drive, but they are to be seen dashing
| along the bride path at a hard gallop. The
wide popularity of the exercise is of very
recent growth. 1t is only few years ago
that the people who rode formed very
small proportion of those who entered the
| park. Now nearly everybody rides. In
the morning it is the custom for business
men to take a jolt through the park before
breakfast, and there is brigade OF them
out about o'clock looking for appetites.
Many amateur athletes, who years ago made
it point to getup in the morning and take
spin in shell on the Harlem river before
breakfast, have compromised on canter
through the park. When horse is hired
by the month for exercise of this sort the
expense is very light.
~
A man who may be described as a mys
terry is also as regular as clock work in his
trip through the park at o'clock. He is
not more than "a years old and looks as
though he might be a Spaniard or Cuban.
He is tall, well built and has the dashing
air of a man who has been somebody of
consequence all his life He lives at a
fashionable hotel, wears no end of clothes
and drives magnificent pair OF black
horses to big and gorgeous cart. He has
been living at this hotel for three years now
under the very remarkable name OF "Mr.
JohsOn," which cannot by any stretch OF
Imagination be his name. He usually
speaks French, though he has fair knowl-
edge of English, and he has a whole box to
himself on opera nights. 1t is very rare
that man of his age turns UP who has no
companions. either masculine or feminine.
Mr.. Johson has never been known to drive
with anybody OF to have companion Of
any sort at the theater or the opera. He
has no visible means of support, and he
SPENDS $4,000 A YEAR.
If he had blonde beard he might at this
moment be considered Russian spy, as
that seems the proper thing to suspect every
man of just now. 1t is amusing, by the
way, speaking of Russia and her complica-
tons with England, how quickly the dy-
namiterS are forgotten when any real
trouble arises. The dynamiters may be
considered the clowns, who amuse newspa-
per readers. When there is nothing going
on and the papers are stale there is a great
hullaballo made over the dynamiters, but
as soon as anything of Importance comes
up they are promptly and effectually for
gotten. AS the American editors have al
ready settled the Anglo-RusSian dispute
and arranged the whole war to their entire
satisfaction. there is little use in speculat-
ing on the thing here. l heard yesterday,
however, that the hotels are filling up with
Englishmen who don't care to fight, and
imagine that the chances Of England's VIC
tory would be just as great without as with
them. 1.
~
The modern man, at least in this city,
has no strong home feeling. Clubs, res
taurants, theaters, and the thousand and
one ways of disposing of himself and his
time, have taken it all out of him. His
home is place to which he lets himself
in with night key, and where, if he is
longer after midnight than usual, he will
be asked to give an account of himself.
This possibility alone would give him a
distaste for it. The modern man hates
to have to give an account OF himself. He
may have been only talking war chance on
the steps of his club house, ne may have
been betrayed into lone more game" he
may have been to a first night for which
he was willing to buy one ticket, but did