Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-12-30
F0CR GIRL BACHELORS.
A GLIMPSE AT THEIR CHARMING
HOME IN NEW YORK CITY.

They All Work, and Spend Their Incomes
In Cooperative way-Proyissons Made
to Meet the Peculiar Tastes Of Each
Member OF the Quartet.
Yes, there is such person as a girl bachelor.
and she is not an old maid either She is an
independent American young woman with
the stars and stripes fiuttering in her direct,
honest glance, and she prefers freedom and
the sense of ownership in her own fireside to
anything else in life
Here follows the true story of four girl
bachelors who for good or i'll pitched their
tents together.
How do you dol It's awfully good of YOU
70 run In III this friendly way TO see how our
new housekeeping gets on. Sit down here by
this window. Isn't that roof top view de
lightfuli That only comes TO those who live
near the sky, like sparrows amid the spires
Hnd that, Of course" with a contradictory
shruG, was our only reason for taking the
top hoor when we might have had the first.
Now look about You and tell me how you
like it."
Alter this breathless invitation | gazed 81
lently at everything in the place for few
moments, and had to admit that liked it
very much-so much, in fact, that "A secret,
envious yearutug burned within me 10 fee
then and there from duh, conventional
grooves, as Christian did from the City Of
Destruction, ANA be also a girl bachelor,
happy, securely poised and sufficient unto
myself
Imagine large square room in a corner
house on an uptown street, one side facing
Broadway. Ii was so high up your best
friend or the man who owed you that long
outstanding bill might go down that noisy
thoroughfare and you could not distinguish
him by features, walk or clothes There
was a vista of acres of sky in tender evening
tints; of steeples and waving flags on the
higher buildings; of chimneys and roof tops
little lower down, and far below -treet
lamps and electric lights like strings of bril-
liants crossing at the corners and giving the
gray, twilit streets 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 one corner,
among a sea of Sateen pillows, lay banjo.
as ii a musician had just thrown it down.
But knew It was POlly's and that she had
placed 1t there simply for the effect. l could
fancy her, her blonde head on one side study
ing that par culsr corner and puzzling her
brains for something else to give it an extra,
supernsthetic touch. On the wall above it
about thirty small, unframed etchings were
tackled in rows, up and down, haphazard
Another corner showed a 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 ut the back stood an upright piano,
its top crowded with music sheets-Chopin's
waltzes cheek and jowl with the latest comic
opera jingles.
Though these four corners typified hobbies
delightful TO each of the girl bachelors they
also sisnitied work, bread and butter, rent
and new gowns, for Polly, who dotted on
everything unusual in a room. was an artist.
Her sketches appeared regularly in the illus
trated magazines Dolly was a newspaper
woman and sent letters on metropolitan fads
and toibles 10 out Of town papers Lefty
earned $50 week by designing art embroid-
cry for a big house down town, and Hetty
was a music teacher.
The door was covered by close woven.
varieEated mating, with great navy blue
and orange rug in the center and few bear
skins here and there Madras curtains grace
fully draped the windows A deep hued au-
tumn 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 had named 1t when Twilight
Melts Beneath the Moon Away" IAN Octo-
ber Evening" Where the Road Winds
Down, etc. But she had never been able to
sell it, and had stopped rechristening it. II
had come TO be joke, but no one dared DENY
its beauty, even though the colors were lit
Tie perpleXing.
Now come and look at the bedrooms. One
in pink and white for Lefty and me, because
we are brunettes, and the other (opening an
other 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 Strengthened Polly in
sisted on painting everything she could Law
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
jauitOr may say. And Lefty has been en-
broidering everything-sofa cushions, doy-
lies, tray cloths. Hetty and ! did nothing
but get things in order as well as we could
without stumbling over paint brushes and
stepping on needles 1t was fortunate nv
work could not be used to decorate a room,
unless, as Polly said, l 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.
for n visitor or for one of US when we fee
cranky and must be alone. Polly says the
moods OF artistic souls should be respected
What do you thinkl But l hope we never
will feel cranky in this jolly little paradise
oh, after boarding houses it is delicious tc
| have home. Why, the smell Of cooking fol
twenty or thirty people used to come up
stairs so we always knew what we were 60
ing to have and felt as If we'd eaten it befor,
we went down In the morning it was tn,
smell of sizzled eggs, at lunch the corned bee
hash or fish balls, at night the roast meat
onions and sometimes corned beef and cab
| bage. That is over with, thank heaven. Ny
| time is my own, SO i cook the breakfast OF
| our little oil stove. We have oranges bakee
apples or grapes, eggs or loin chops, rolls anC
coffee ] order the things for breakfast owe
night, and have the grocer, who is JUS
around the corner, send them in the morning
1.-The elevator boy, whom we each tip witt
| a Quarter every week, floats serenely up will
| them and leaves them outside our door at
o'clock. After breakfast a young hired gir
comes in, cleans the place and stays unit
lunch is over. We all manage to be in FOL
lunch at o'clock, but wo usually so out Il
dinner This is when we sponge on some oi
our relatives or friends, but frequently w
are all at liberty to go to a restaurant Wha
lots of fun we have experimenting, and WI
catch glimpses of all sides of life. One night W
dine at Delmouico's in state; the next night, Il
econorlizs for being extravagant, we feed a
an obscure hostelry on upper Sixth avenue
Or we try the Bohemian tack, and have
table dhote dinner at one of the Italian o
French restaurants in the neighborhood O
Union square. The beauty of the arrange
ment is we have no chaperon and no use 70
one. A girls best protection is her own fear
less honesty, and the girl bachelors have ad
vanced beyond chaperons. New York Her
aid.