Omaha daily bee., 1888-01-02

other evening who couldn't have told IL
the girl OF his absorbing interest wore
gauze or three-ply carpeting. He was
the venerable Luther Colby. editor OF
the Banner Of Light the Boston spirit
ualistic journal. and ne had come on
visit to New York to witness some new
marvel in spooks. On this occasion he
was at a seance given by Mrs. Stoddard
Gray at 323 West Thirty-fourth street.
Her exhibitions are transparent enough
to an unbeleiver, but Brother'Colby has
faith unlimited. and the medium made
a special effort to satisfy his longing for
marvels. A shadowy form came out OF
the cabinet and announced herself as
vowed that he recognized
her; another was his half
sister. and he declared that he knew
her instantly: n third was pronounced
by him the materialized spirit OF
woman whose portrait adorned his sane
tum; and so on until the particular
demonstration of the evening was
reached. That was novelty, / think.
From the cabinet into the dim light OF
the long parlor emerged the figure of
what seemed to be man garbed in
black. He shook hands with several of
the party, said that his name was DR..
Baker. He glided slowly of toward the
darker end of the apartment and APP
peared to settle down into the floor.
Instantly there arose in his place q
feminine spirit in white robes, with her
draped arms waving and her feet as
light as ballet dancers. She swooped
like veritable apparition upon us,
W m ~ mi do m
curdle for minute, and then retreatcd
into the cabinet.
Free masons are jubilant over the fact
that, in their recent great fair, in this
city, a great many in the guild con-
quered the prejudices of their wives
against Free masonry, and got those to
go and assist there who had vowed them
selves life long enemies of an institution
possessing secrets they never mastered,
and n power over their husbands on cer-
tain nights greater than their own in
fuencc. Now another strife has arisen
between the fair sex and its protectors,
and this seems not likely to terminate,
as that of the worthy mason's did, in u
masculine victory. The new warfare is
merely phase of the old contention.
The women are banded together against
a rumsellcr. His name is George Hill
of Germans who began life here by
keeping the corner groceries, and who,
when the law forbade little black bars
behind stores, abandoned the trade in
ncccssaries almost in body and
became the founders of the
then new order of showy bar rooms.
Hillen is the nabob of them all. His
chief place is in August Belmonts old
family mansion in Fifth avenue. No
sooner did the great banker move than
Hillen got the property, and outraged
gilt-edged society by converting the
first floor into a palace of drink. The
establishment did a great business from
the start. That is the principal artists
quarter of the town. One who cares to
enter n groggery at all may see the an
lists dropping in there to order wines or
cigars sent to their homes, and to en- Joy
refreshments for themselves. William
Nj. Chase, the exquisite of the profess
sion, and the man who made mint Of
money by recent sale and exhibition
of his own works, sanctioned the choice
OF Hillen's as the artists retreat by talk
ing few friends there from some of the
frequent gatherings in the grand mu-
scum that constitutes his studio.
Well, Hillen contemplated a still
bolder move than that of planting bar
room on the very spinal column of swell
existence. He determined to establish
another drinking house at the corner of
University Place, a block west of Broad
way. Now Fourteenth street from
Broadway to Sixth avenue is sacred to
the ladies and their shops. Every build
ing is retail store, and the sidewalks
from dawn till after dark are crowded
by women and girls, not of this city
u an t,la hn
tinent. The word sacred applies
peculiarly to this stretch of four blocks.
for no man has ever had the hardihood
to attempt to utilize store or even a
sidewalk booth for any masculine inter-
est, and not drink OF liquor was ever
offered for sale there since the street
was captured by the fair sex. Excite
ment followed the news that Hillen in
tended to start a bar-rOom in this Adam
less Eden. This was what he had aimed
at, and he spent $4,000 in decorating
and furnishing the not very large room.
The flooring is crazy work of imported
| mosaics, the bar is unequaled in cost
! and beauty, and the back bar, with its
great arches and alcoves, each backed
by enormous sheets of mirror and
framed by the most delicate carving, is
beyond anything in the city, so far as
mug uiHCcuCc Is COnCcTucu. bFOlLcS,
stained glass, polished brass, bric-a-
brac and curios are fairly heaped in the
place. But the stir that the tidings OF
what Hillen intended aroused has
proved more than he courted. The
women have massed themselved against
the desecration OF their region, the
merchants have backed them and the
excise board has been so beset with the
agents Of the women that they have re-
| fused license. For weeks the place
has been ready for business, but the
doors are still barricaded, and the
women laugh us they trip by. 1t is a
queer struggle between power not
often excited in New York and this
most influential of all trades. All who
know of the situation are waiting
eagerly to see whether or no the poll
ticians dare to defy the women.
CLARA BELLE.
The worst feature about catarrh is its
danperOuS tendency tO cOnSumntiOn