The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-02-17
LARABELLE'SSUNDAYTALK
A Great Social Sensation Prevented by
the Timidity Of Persia's Royal Ruler.
A Motherly- Looking Old Woman Who Was In
terestedi in PugilisticN ews-The Gown Worn
BY Miss HargOus at the Costume Ball.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
NEW YORK, Feb. 16.-The Payson Greenes
are Gin society,", Otherwise 1 woul Id write
of them as the family of Mr.. Payson
Greene. or merely as the Greenes. But it
is a new custom to speak of every swell
household as the John Browns, the Will
lam Smiths, and like that. The Payson
Greenes are fashionable and respectable,
and there isn't a word of any sort to say
against them. But they have provided q
bit of news for this letter, and so must be
named in print. They are closely related
to the official representatives of Persia in
Washington and this city, and from that
source learned earlier than anybody else at
a distance that the Shah of Persia
had decided to make a visit to Europe in
the spring. The Payson Greenes conceived
that it would be a delightful thing to bring
this Eastern p~otentate to America as their
guest. They made overtures in a formal
and proper way, and for a time were en-
couraged to expect q successful issue; but
they have just now received a communica-
ton from the private secretary of the
Shah through a OBVIOUSLY official process.
The invitation is declined with thanks,
but in a phraseology Indicating that his
Oriental. Mightiness really had a notion
royal missive in the original, and also in
an English translation. But it is from an
other source, equally trustworthy, that L
get the chief reason why the Shah Will not
come TO America. even under a Disgusting
name and semblance. 1t is that he mis-
trusts the people of any republic, and deems
himsel in danger as soon as he goes be-
yond the boundaries of monarchical coun-
tries. 1t is only after much hesitation that
he has concluded to venture into repub-
lican 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 por-
ton of his tour even yet. So the PaysOn
Greenes will not spring q live Shah upon
society.
Forced to look nearer home for objects of
social interest, I find one in the handsome,
motherly Hooking matron next to whom l
rode a hundred miles in a palace-car one
day this week. Who can help guessing at
the character of fellow-travelers' 1 made
out this lady to be o gentle, churchly
woman, and rather expected her to chide
on account of the trivial novel that l 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 jour-
nal on discovering what it was. Ny won
der increased as / discerned that she was
actually. reading the m~atter-that it wasn't
baseball that she was perusing, nor even
athletic games, but it was a column of Cos
sip about the prize-fighters. No displeasure
was expressed in her face. On the contrary,
she beamed upon the print with unmistaka-
BILE interest This seemed phenomenal, and
was a resident of Troy, n. Y, and be said:
That is the widow of John Morrissey, the
famous pugilist and gambler. She is now
residing in Troy, where she was born and
plore her late husbands careerf Isn't her
perusal of prize-ight news sufficient an
swerf No, she is quite as amiable and
charitable as she looks, but she has always
been a sport herself and remains so in dis
position If not In practice. She was the
daughter of a steamboat captain, and a de-
cided beauty. She married Morrissey early
In his fame as a pugilist, and melted and
encouraged him to stay in the ring. / re-
member well how she used to teach their
boy, when he was a baby, to put up his lit
tie fists in fighting style, and it is vivid in
my memory, too, that she knocked out a
feminine neighbor on at least one occasion.
Yes, the widow of John Morrissey reads
comes across, but always with a supreme
contempt for the men whom she regards as
degenerate successors of her husband"
-.
Mrs. Ballington 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 conversation
with all the society leaders she can get a
~Hanoa ~ onIfe {r;rx - %tox~ -
her work. Our ladies are. too busy lust
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, /
think, pay considerable heed to her, and /
shouldn't wonder 1T a sort of crusade by
ensued. Meanwhile Mrs. Booth has just
decided q question of a both practical
and comical character. The Salvation las
sizes, you know, are accustomed to parody
all the popular songs of the day, using the
tunes as they find them, and either replac-
ing or modifying the verses for revival pur-
poses. Has "Razzle-dazZle" reached Your
earsi 1t is a bacchanalian ditty. originally
sung by three FOSTERING inebriatesin a farce
At a Broadway theater. Its refrain, '~'razzle-
dazzle, razzle-daZzle," is slang for a hilari-
Gus and dilapidated condition of drunken
ness. The song is introduced in several
other places, at all the variety theaters, and
Is whistled and hummed all around town.
A trio of Brooklyn Salvation lassies got up
pious rhymes for the tune, but retained the
TaZZle-daZZle chorus, N what they wanted
to know of Mrs. Booth is whether thew
could sing it at their meetings, with an imf-
tation of the manner in which it is given on
the stage-that is, marching recklessly to
n fro, locked arms, and with gestures of
jollity. Mrs. Booth thought it over and de-
cided to let them do it.
-
Miss May Brady is the famous New York
belle who reigned almost supreme last sea-
son, and lately married So. 600, 600 in the per-
son Of Albert Stevens. Before that, as the
daughter of a Supreme Court judge, she had
lived In moderate luxury, and had figured
in the Astor-Vanderbilt set, but had lacked
the money with which to greatly exploit
her loneliness. Two years AGO she was TAX
en- TO Europe by Mrs. Hitchcock, an infiuen-
tial matron, and she made what we shall
have to call a big hit at Nice and the other
cities of the Riviera. She was called the
beautiful American, and was i~dolizingly adj
mired. Now. with millions at her com
mand, what do you suppose she has donef
The answer should be easy. Instead of
staying TO participate in the sociability of
New York, she has gone back to her Euro
pean domain, established herself in tempo
rary but complete magnificence at Nice.
and now her equipages, toiletsa and environ
ment combine with her beauty to dazzle
the people anew.
Miss Sallie Hargous was recently de-
scribed in this correspondence as the pres