Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-05-30
NEW YORK CLUB LIFE
THE MEMBERS NOr on a CO.
TIAUAL RACKET.

~
NEW YORK, May 2S.-There is no half
so much mystery about New Yorkclubs
MS people imagine. What may be lrmed
the woman's idss OF a club is shaed by
= great many men who have had ID club
experience, and who Judge club lie rom
heresay. The belief that a club holse is a
temple OF inscrutable mysteries Is really
what causes the club to be somuh talked
about as an Institution. A greet many
many men believe that If they gt into
good club their position in sociey IS as
sured. That a club is an assistance to a
man of social aspirations is true, but the
mere fact of being club memberloes not
open the portals of society to he best
men in the world. The cold facs about
club life are that unless man aAounts
10 something outside OF club
he will never amount to ANYTHING
in one, and that very great
man can never be an extensive
club man. The surest candidates Or ad-
mission to any club are men wlO are
utterly unknown. A prominent. nan is
sure to have enemies and no enemes are
so dangerous as those in clubs. Lccord-
II
tinual Orgie gong on in the club lOuses.
People who have that idea shoul spend
an hour, day, week, or a month at
what is probably the most prdentious
and successful of New York chbs-the
Union League. Anybody who can con-
strue visit to this club in the light of
racket would pronounce a regulation
Wednesday night Methodist prayer meet
ing a vOluptuous debaucb The club
house is magnificent, candidates
have to wait four or five years before
their names come up for admission, and
when they get in they finC that they are
Just as far along socially as when they
were outside. The house is as still as
death, the members do rot speak to each
other unless ceremOniGusly introduced,
and they will frequent the same room for
years without recognizing each other in
the slightest deere, unless brought
together by some mutual friend.
The man who peaks in a vigOr-
Ous and resonant voice, is stared at
with such cold disddp from all sides that
he feels, after an experience Of half an
hour, as though rasping and brutal
death would be a rtllei. Only handful
Of the hundreds OF members Of the Union
League are acquainted. The regular life
Of a Union Lacquer consists of passing sol
EMMY within the portals OF the club house
and moving with more or less pompOus
sOlemnity through the big Fifth Avenue
room where the heavy-weights sit reading
with great reticence and eXclusiveness.
AS a form of mild dissipation he may later
on indulge in dismal and silent game of
billiards. Then he goes home. The street
Is like pandemOnium sitter the awful
stiffness of the club house.
THE UNION CLUB.
Is distinguished by much more freedom
Of Intercourse and good fellowship among
the members. The UnDn is essentially
q club of milliOnaires, asd on its list are
the names OF all the prominent yachting,
coaching and shooting men in town. The
members run to a ricf old burgundy
color OF the cheek, gentle rotuDdity of
form, and they are one and all imbued
with high estimate of the greatness OF
the Union Club. Indeed. it is on this ac-
count that the club is chiefly distIn-
guished. 1t is u law unto itself, and no
member Of the Union will ever admit
that there is a better club than
his own IN the universe. While
it is true that the FREDDY Gebhards and
half dozen other youngsters whose mill
ions have turned their heads have at
times brought more or less dis
credit upon the Union, it still
remains the Ideal of a dashing, high
bred, and moneyed organization, filed
with men whose only ambition is to enjoy
life. Membership to the Union does not
count for much in the more exclusive cir
cles Of society, as many business men,
auctioneers, and brokers OF scant refine
meut and few accomplishments are in the
club. But among club men nothing goes
so far in recommending a man as the
magical words she's member of the
Union"
Viewed from society standpoint, the
Coaching Club is PROFESSIONALLY the
leading club of New York, for il is made
up entirely of milliOnaires-a man must
have million ID run coach-and its
regular quarters are in what is recognized
rs the society club OF New York, the
knickerbOcker. This club was an off
shoot Of the Union, aud its rules are so
exceptionally rigid that if man gets into
the knickerb0cker be is received more
cordially into sOGety than If he were a
member of all the other clubs in New
York. The KniOkerbocGer is English in
It's aspirations, tut in this it only mirrors
society which has a decidedly angloma.
mac bent just now. They blackball an
English I'D at the Knickerbocker with
he utmost calmness and recognize the
.Xstenee Of very few other clubs in New
York.
As the Kn!ckerhocker sprang from the
Union so the Calumet Club may be de-
'cr0ed as an od-sh0Ot Of the kDicker-
Ooeker. 1t Is composed of a number OF
well dressed and preternaturally solemn
Young men who believe in good form, So
cety and the Calumet. They haven't
much money, but they have an exceed
lhgly pleasant club and it is growing con-
staatly.
CLUB or WHICH LITTLE Is HEARD,
out which bias An admirable reputation in
me world OF club men, is the st. Nicholas.
no man Is eligible TO membership unless
Ms family lived in New York prior to
I'oO. 1t has been claimed by men who
are not the descendants OF old New York
tIs mat there is something sDobbish
~ thls idea of excluding from the
~. Nicholas all men except those
whose families are well known. The
tGrllcism is absurd. The object OF found
N.Y., lux lne ST. Nicholas upon It's present plan
vas TO get into one club all the New York
boys who had been acquainted with one
uHolher from infancy, and whose fathers
we're playmates. The result is happy
STVllnOination of old friends aud their sons.
aue clu0 has coy house in Fifth ave-
a n19' ana II has the reputation OF being
Og OF lne most dignifed and correct Or
tan cations OF its kind in this CITY.
mere are hundred clubs in New York
,u'l are worth writing about. Tie above
""vfe picked out because they represent
society element Of clubdOm.
p Nlo pp.ng into the Lincoln National
aaauA' nearly opposite the Grand Central
gI lol. we other day, we found President