Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-17
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| VA EIEsN On 16.-The Payso n
SH q N Greenes are "in socie-
NRs A v l, ty." Otherwise !
| MA EEaEA would write of them as
4IH EJs the family of Mr.. Pay
R son Greene, or merely
as the Greenes. But it
is new custom to speak of every swell
household as the John Browns, the William
Smiths, and like that. The Payson Greenes
are fashionable and respectable, and there
isn't word of any sort to say against them.
But they have provided bit of news for
this letter, and so must be named in print.
They are closely related to the official repre-
sentative of Persia in Washington and this
city, and from that source learned earlier
than anybody else at distance that the
Shah of Persia had decided to made visit
to Europe in the spring. The Payson
Greenes conceived that it would be de-
lightful thing to bring this Eastern poten-
tate to America as their guest. They made
overtures in formal and proper way, and
for time were encouraged to expect asuccess-
full issue; but they have just now received a
communication from the private secretary
of the Shah, through q OBVIOUSLY official pro-
cess. The invitation is declined with
thanks. but in phraseology indicating that
his Occidental Mightiness really had a
notion of crossing the ocean. have seen
the royal missive in the original, and also
in an English translation. But it is from
another source, equally trustworthy, that
get the reason why the Shah will not come
to America, even under a Disgusting name
and semblance. 1t is that he mistrusts the
people Of any republic, and deems himself
in danger as soon as he goes beyond the
boundaries of monarchial countries. It is
only after much hesitation that he has con-
cluded to venture in Republican France.
He has arranged to arrive in Paris in May,
but the person who tells me of it thinks that
he may give up that portion of hist even
yet. So the Payson Greenes will not spring
live Shah upon society.
FORCED to look nearer home for objects
of social interest, I found one in the hand
some,, motherly-looking matron next to
whom / rode hundred miles in palace
car one day this week. Who can help
guessing at the character of fellow-tra velers?
made out this lady to be gentle, churchly
woman, and rather expected her to chide
on account of the trivial novel that was
reading. But presently she took up the
mornings newspaper and turned to the page
of sporting news. She did not shift her
shocked eyes from that part of the journal
on discovering what 1t was. My wonder in
creased as discerned that she was actually
reading the matter-that it wasn't baseball
that she was perusing-nor even athletic
games-but it was column of gossip about
the prize fighters. No displeasure was ex-
pressed in her face. On the contrary, she
beamed upon the print with unmistakable
interest This seemed phenomenal, and L
called my companions attention to it. He
was a resident of Troy, N. Y, and he said:
''That is the widow of John Morrissey,
the famous pugilist and gambler. She is
now residing in Troy, where she was born,
and where she married Morrissey. Does she
deplore her late husbands career? Isn't
her perusal of prize-fght news sufficient
answer? No, she is quite ss amiable and
charitable as she looks, but she has always
been sport herself, and remains so in dis
position if not in practice. She was the
daughter of a steamboat captain, and de-
cided beauty. She married Morrissey early
in his fame as pugilist, and melted and
encouraged him to stay in the ring. re-
member well how she used to teach their
tie fists in fighting style, and 1T is vivid in
nv memory, too, that she knocked out a
feminine neighbor on at least one occasion.
Yes; the widow of John Morrissey reads
every line of prize-fghting news that she
comes across. but always with supreme
contempt for the men whom she regards as
degenerate successors of her husband"
Mrs. DARLINGTON BOOTH looks less
like a commandingly religious woman, for
she lacks portliness; but nobody-doubts her
sincere activity as the practical head of the
Salvation Army in this country, and she is
Just now carrying her warfare with all her
might into fashionable precincts. She is
holding afternoon conversations with all
the society leaders she can get chance at,
and is trying to interest them in her work. |
Our ladies are too busy just now with the |
final dancing of the season to lend their ears |
to Mrs. Booth, but when Lent puts a stop to |
festivities they will 1 think, pay considera- |
BILE heed to her, and I shouldn't wonder il |
sort of crusade by modish women among the |
benighted poor ensued. Meanwhile Mrs. |
Booth has just decided a question of a |
both practical and comical character. |
The Salvation lassies, you know, are ac- |
customed to parody all the popular songs of !
and either replacing or modifying the verses |
for revival pun poses. Has "Razzle Dazzle'
reached your ears? 1t is bacchanalian |
ditty originally sung by three roistering in
ebriates in a farce at Broadway theater. |
Its refrain, "razzle dazzle. razzle dazzle"
is slang for hilarious and dilapidated con-
dition of drunkenness. The song is intro
duced in several other places, at all the |
variety theaters, and is whistled and
nummed all around town. A trio of Brook
lyn Salvation lassies got up pious rhymes
Tor the tune, but retained the razzle dazzle |
chorus, and what they wanted to know OF
Mrs. Booth is whether they could sing it at
their meetings, with an imitation Of the
manner in which it is given on the stage
that is, marching recklessly to and fro,
locked arms, and with gestures of Jollity. |
Mrs. Booth thought it over, and decided to
let them do it.
AT this great and continually y-talked-about |
ball in the Academy of Design there was one
thing especially noticeable. The artists and |
their wives were an entirely separate ele-
pent from the blending mass of society peo-
ple The artists stood about in little groups, |
dancing seldomly, and evidently feeling
that they were being regarded as canaille. |
OF course, all the ''real people" knew one
another. and they recognized the outsiders
Immediately. This opposition of sets rem
dered the affair awkward and stiff from be-
ginning to end. All the beauty OF the oc-
casion was for the eye. In visual sense it
was one of the most exquisite things ever
exposed in New York. The formation of the
building, its gorgeous decorations of tapes
tries, antique carvings and silk hangings,
tooether with the lines of yater-color pict-