The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-12-11

THEY KEEP A SORT OF "B4cHEL-
ORS' HALF, IN NEW YORK.

Yes, there is sue q person as a girl
bachelor, and she is not an old maid
either. She is an independent American
young roma with the stars and stripes
finttering in her direct, honest glance, and
she prefers freedom and the sense Of own
ership in her own fireside to anything else
In lie.
Here follows the true story of four girl
bachelors who for good or i'll pitched their
tents together
How do you do? It's awfully good of
you to Il in in this friendly way to see
how our new housekeeping gets on. Sit
down here by this window. Isn't that
roof top view delightful? That only
comes to those who live Year the SKY,
Tx sparrows amid the spires, and that,
of course" with a contradictory shrug,
twas our only reason for taking the top
floor when We might have had the first.
Now look about you and tell me how you
like it"
After this breathless invitation / gazed
silently at everything in the place for |
few moments, and had to admit that u
liked it very much-so much, in fact, that
a secret, enyious yearning burned within
me to flee then and there from dull, con-
ventional grooves as Christian did from
the City of Destruction, and be also a girl
bachelor, happy, securely poised and suf-
ficient unto myself
Imagine a large, square room in a cor
ner house on an uptown street. one side
facing Broadway. 1t was so high up your
best friend or thesman who owed youthat
long outstanding bill might so down that
noisy thoroughfare and You could not
distinguish him by features, walk or
clothes. There was q vista of acres OF sky
in tender evening tints: of steeples and
waving flags on the higher buildings; of
climneyS and roof tops a little lower
down, and Tar below street lamp and
electric lights like strings of brilliants
crossing at the corners and giving the
gray, twilit streets q fairylike glimmer.
SO much for the view.
This large room, the assembling place
of the four girl bachelors, was eloquent
of four distinct hobbies.
On a rep covered divan, in enc corner,
among a sea of sateen pillows, lay a
banjo, as If a musician had just thrown
it down. But | knew it was Polly's and
that she had placed it there simply for
the effect. l could fancy her, her blonde
head on one side, studying that p%articu-
lar corner and puzzling her brains for
something else to give it an extra. super
about thirty small, unframed etchings
were tucked in rows, up and down hap
hazard.
Another corner showed @ deep bamboo
rocker, a quantity of books and a dainty
cherry desk containing every new knick-
knack for writing.
On the opposite side of the room a
work basket, embroidery frame and
square foot stool were arranged.
And at the back stood an upright
piano, its top crowded with music sheets
-~Chopin's waitzes cheek and jowl with
the latest comic opera jingles.
Though these four corners typiied hob
bies delightful to each of the girl bach
elors they also signifed work, bread and
butter, rent and new gowns forsPolly,
who dotted on everything unusual in a
room, was IN artist. Her sketches ap-
peared regularly in the illustrated maga-
zines. Dolly was a ne Wspaper woman
and sent letters on metropolitan fads and
foibles to out of town papers. Lefty
earned $50 q week by designing art EN-
broidery for a big house down town, and
Hetty was a music teacher.
The floor was covered by q close woven,
v~ariegated mating, with a great navy
blue and orange rug in the centre and a
few b%earskins here and there. Madras
curtains gracefully draped the windows.
A deep hued autumn landscape, in a
heavy gilt frame, hung in a good light.
This, by the way, was the most important
piece of work Polly had ever done. She
named it when Twilight Melts Beneath
the Moon Away" Gan October Evening"
"Where the Road Winds down." etc.
But she had never been able to sell it,
and had stopped rechristening it. 1t had
come to be IL joke, but no one dared deny
its beauty, even though the colors were a
little p~erplexing.
Nov come and look at the bedrooms.
One in pink. n white for Lefty and me,
because we are brunettes, and the other
Opening another door, in lilac and white
for Polly and Hetty, because they are on
the blonde order, and because music
loves art, and vice versa. Well, it looks
awfully cosy, but oh, the time we have
had to get straightforward Polly insisted
on painting everything she could lay her
hands on-water lilies on the panel OF
that door and dog roses on the ceiling of
her bedroom. | tremble when | think
what the ~janitor may say. And Lefty
has been embroidering everything-sofa
cushions, doylies, tray cloths. Hetty and
! did nothing but get things in order as
we'll as we could without stumbling over
paint brushes and stepping on needles.
1t was fortunate my work could not be
used to decorate q room, uniess, as Polly
said, | used the leaves of all my rejected
manuscripts for wall paper.
Now, this is the dining room. You
see, there's a folding bed in the corner.
That's for a visitor or for one of us when
we feel cranky and must be alone. Polly
| says the moods of artistic souls should be
respected. What do 0 think? But |
nope we A0fSi Will lCSA GihHky III ulie
Jolly little paradise. Oh, after boarding
houses it is delicious to have a home.
| Why, the smell of cooking for twenty OF
| thirty people used to come up stairs so
we always knew what we were going to
have and felt as if we had eaten it be-
fore we went down. In the morning it
was the smell OF sizzied eggs, at lunchthe
corned beef hash or fish balls, at night
the roast meat, onions and sometimes
corned beef and cabbage. That is over
with, thank heaven, My time is my
own, so | cook the breakfast on our little
oil stove. We ave range baked
apples or grapes, eggs or loin chops, rolls
and coffee. | order the things for break
fast over night, and have the grocer, who
is Just around the corner, send them in
the morning.
"Ihat elevator boy, whom we each tip
with q quarter every week, floats serenely
up with them and leaves them outside
our door at seven O'Clock. After break
fast q young hired girl comes in, cleans
the place and stays until lunch is over.
We all manage to be in for lunch at two
O'Clock, but we usually 60 out to dinner.
This is when we sponge on some OF our
relatives or friends, but frequently we
are all at liberty to go to a restaurants
What lots OF fun we have experimenting,
and we catch glimpses OF all sides OF life.
One night we dine at Delmonico's in
state; the next night, to economic for
being extravagant, we feed at an obscure
hosiery on upper Sixth avenue. Or we
try the Bohemian tack, and haye q table
| dihote dinner at one OF the Italian or