Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-02-26

tightly over patent-leather shoes. Every
man in the vast throng turned and
stared at her. She was not over-dressed,
and. in fact, was as modest as the deli
cate little yiolets that nestled in her
bosom.
What was il then?
She was an actress, and as lovely a
page as you ever saw. She is paid well
Tor her work. Her face and figure are
her fortune.
There is very little more to be said.
She is illitente. She can barely write
her own name. She had no education.
Her mother was notorious shop-iiiter
and her father was detective. She
knows how to dress and how to dance,
and she has kicked her way into for
tune, for her charms have smitten a
young and wealthy Cuban. 1t cost him
$500, 600 TO get her, and she is living in
all the luxury that money can command
in this cosmopolitan city.
This is all there is TO be told. And
yet she is the most talked-about woman
in the whole city just now.
TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR ROSES.
Let me draw another picture.
A handsome, stylish, well-dressed
woman has Just stepped ont of her
brougham and entered a Broadway
florists. She picks up a handful OF gor-
geous Her Majesty roses that lay in q
basket on the marble counter
Zone dollar each, says the florist.
81 give big dinner and ball this
week." says the Lady, land I'd like to
have my house handsomely decorated. "
She looks lovingly at the big roses
and inhales the delicious fragrance.
al am afraid the roses are too expen-
sive," said the florist.
"a dollsr apiece, you said ?"
"Yes'm."
"Um," and she tapped her gloved
fingers on the marble counter of the
store.
"They are very choice" said the
florist.
Glow many would make good show
in my house ?"
alt would require several thousand, "
said the florist.
"WOuld ten thousand 40
"0h, .yes'm' 1t would be gorgeous
display"
"Well, 90 ahead, then" and in a
second the door of her carriage closed
behind her. She was the wife of mil
lionaire ten times over.
What was SIC, 900 to her?
Nothing. 1t cost her no more thought
than snap of the fingers
And yet this magnificent dame, as
she walked from the florists door to her
carriage, brushed elbows with as pitiable
an object as ever this big city can show.
CONTRAST.
1t was o woman not forty years OF age.
Her clothing was old and tattered and
far from clean. Her hair was dishevelled.
Her ewes were bloOdshot. She was the
widow OF once prominent New Yorker,
a man who made great fortune by an
invention that is now indispensable the
world over. He died at a time when he
was rapidly becoming a millionaire.
Success turned the widows head. Her
husbands business was soon taken from
was stolen by the same man.
And then But why go on?
It was only a step from the magnif-
cent mansion that she called home to a
police station where she now nightly begs
for a place to lay her head.
A beggar.
Worse than that even, and the man
4. &c hor 90 t
her out TO live q life of shame was her
husbands best friend. Even fallen
women when the rose is gone from their
cheeks are pushed aside, and from a
gilded house to the lowest dive is the
last and quickest step of all.
The woman in silks and diamonds,
lolling in her luxurious carriage, was the
wife of the man who had made that
creature in filth and dirt and shame
what she is to-day
The wife had spent 80. 900 for roses
on this glorious day, while the woman
who deserved TO be called wife was
hustled off by burly policeman.
SAD FALL.
One more picture.
See that dirty, filthy-looking fellow
standing in front OF that saloon in Park
Row? His clothing is old and ragged.
His face and hands are unwashed. His
hair is long and unkempt His beard is
thick and matted. AS he stands there
in the bright sunlight he seems to be the
most forlorn object in the world.
Know him? Yes, indeed. He was
postmaster OF this city once. He was
elected by an overwhelming majority to
a prominent county Office. He made
money so fast that he didn't know what
to do with it. He lived in princely style.
Rum did the rest. He fell from his
high position to the gutter in less than
two years. He is there yet, almost q
tramp. He has no means of support.
He is waiting now tor some of the men
that he knew in his prosperity to give
him dime to buy drink. And when
night comes you will see him standing
in front of the same saloon button
holing passers-by for a quarter to pay
e - IL