Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-02

cents to 81 80, are patronized bv the humble
and the high. The table d'hotes are pre-
sided over by chefs, 'late of the Delmon-
leo, who are legion in themselves, and
there are scores of maitres de cuisine "for-
merly of the Union Club" Places such as
these are largely patronized by clubmen,
not by reason of economy, but
of the eating part of existence.
In these the flower girls who are debarred from
most of the fashionable restaurants, find
their richest ground. Their feminine art
fulness displays itself when they approach a
man whose attention to fair companion be-
trays his devotion. The boutoniere which
the bachelor at the adjoining table has
gruff1y declined is quickly dropped in the
tray, and, with a deft movement, turn of
the little head to one side and bright
smile, a bunch of roses is held beneath
Mademoiselle's shapely nose Chow
sweet" calculates the woman looking at the
child, not at the flowers, and the man, un-
less he is a hardened brute, dives into
pocket. and the sale is made.
What becomes of them as they grow older?
The answer to that is varied tale and,
like all human narratives, sometimes sad,
sometimes charmingly romantic. It is safe
to say, however, that in these prosaic days
there is no approach ever made TO the ro-
nance of the one famous flower girl of
English history.
ROSCOE CoNKLNG AND NELL GwYNNE.
Roscoe Conkling once, in private CONVEX
sation, in a natural burst of eloquence
which so frequently illumined his verbal
structures made an epitome of Nell
Gwynne's life which cannot be rivaled. The
story was told me by its only listener. The
incident occurred during the memorable
Garfield Hancock Presidential campaign.
The New York Senator was sulking in his
tent. General Grants Indifference to the
result of the election was well known. The
Republican cause seemed hopeless. The
famous Mentor conference was held, and
Conkling and Grant, side BY side, rallied
the Republican hosts from their hiding
places. They began the battle at Warren, O.,
and continued it in Cleveland, Cincinnati,
Richmond, Ind, indianapolis, Terra Haute
and again in indianapolis. 1t was after his
great speech in Terre Haute and when re-
turning to Indianapolis that Senator Conk-
ling said to newspaper correspondent who
sat beside him: "What was the of that
man who gave us the lunch in the railroad
station?"
"Beauclerk," was the reply. ''He is the
editor of the Republican afternoon news
paper of Terre Haute.''
81 wish I had thought of that" said
Conkling, musingly. "I might have made
happy allusion to it. Beauclerk reminds
me of Nell Gwynne."
"How is that?' asked the newspaper man.
ONE OF THE GREATEST TRIO.
"Beauclerk, Duke of st. Albans, replied
the Senator, was the most prominent of the
II sons of Nell Gwynne, who, with Mary,
Queen of Scots, and Joan of Arc, made up a
trio of the greatest women who ever lived. A
man who even at this DAY would not shoul-
der musket in defense OF such heroic char
acters would not be worthy of the name"
Then, with eyes glistening, and the tragic
gesture of the rostrum, Mr.. Conkling con-
tinued: Nell Gwynne was born in a coal
yard; raised like blade of grass between two
cobblestones; flower girl in a theater; the
slave of an actor, and afterward of a king;
the mother of a royal race, and the founder
of the holiest charity Greenwich HospitaD
which ever blessed mankind"
Never flower girl nor queen had her life
more concisely told.
When inquiring what becomes of flower
girls when they grow older the ASSUMPTION
that unlike their sisters of the ballet. they
cease to be flower girls appears In one in
stance at least, to be unwarranted. There is
not ''man about town" in New York who ]
does not know "Lizzie" or MARY as some
of the incorrectly informed persist in nam
ing her. The picture shows her not as she
is seen at midnight in the Broadway vesti-
bule to Delmonico's, nor as she appears at
2 o'clock in the morning in the entrance to
the well-known lair OF the Welsh rarebit on