Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16
FLAT POCKETBOOKS
Will be Common in Washington After
This Season is Over.
PRICES ARE HIGHER THAN EVER.
Miss Grundy, Jr.'s, Gossip About the Lead
ing Society Figures.
WHAT BILLS FOB FLOWERS WILL Be

tCoRREsPoNDENCE OF THE D1sPATCH.I
WASHINGTON. November 15.-The out
look for the coming season is that it will be
a most expensive one. Prices have gone up
on everything in the markets, aud the din
ners of the winter promise to cost twice as
much as usual. The item of wines is nearly
double by the increase in the tariff, and
everything from fruit to beefsteak has
jumped forward.
The wages Of servants have increased, and
you can't get any kind of a housemaid for
less than s. or 81 a week, and the
good woman cooks command 500 month.
French chefs get from 500 a month up
ward, and it is poor coachman who does
not receive his 81 day and board. There
are finer horses on the avenue this year than
ever before, and though the weather is as
cold as Greenland, the oak blackboard and
the English dog-cart is common. In the
meantime the bills for all sorts of livery
have gone up, and the plumbers and the
stove men are charging just what they
please, and getting it. They will work for
only eight hours day, and the carpenter
will not touch a bit of work that the
plumber ought to do, or vice versa.
dig Bills fOr Flowers.
I am told that Mr.. Wanamaker finds 1t
very awkward to give dinner in Wash
ington without wines, butsthat his Sunday
school principles will not permit him to
serve them. He spends great amount in
flowers, and the flower bills of the capital
are by no means a small item. Madam
Romero, the wife of the Mexican Minister,
spent $500 in the flowers she used at one OF
her receptions. She turned the whole lega-
tion building into bower of fragrance and
beauty, and she, tor the time, transformed
winter into summer. The flowers of many
dinner costs more than the dinner itself, and
Washington is fast becoming one OF the
great flower markets OF the United States.
And nearly all the flowers used in Balti-
more are supplied from our greenhouses,
| and flowers are shipped from here all over
the South and North. One of the biggest
| florists of the capital tells me that Post
master General Wanamaker spends from
$4,000 to 500 year In flowers. Many
| of the Senators wives, and also the wives of
| Congressman, get flowers from the Govern
| ment greenhouses. These they do not pay
| Tor, but the supply is by no means equal to
their social necessity. You can find the
finest roses at the capital, and during the
season the buds will cost you from 80 cents
| to 81 30 apiece. Jacqueminot roses always
sell for about 81 at Christmas time. Mar
shall Neils bring 30 cents a bud, and La
France roses are about the same. Lilies OF
the valley are about 81 dozen. Tea roses
bring about 25 cents bud. and violets
bring from 81 to 50 per hundred. Pinks are
worth so cents a dozen, and smilax sells for
| 20 cents yard. You can get a very pretty
basket of flowers for S.. but if you want
something very fine it may cost you as high
as SIS, and I have seen single bouquets
which sold for as high as $50.
A Rage for Titled Furniture.
The Spanish Minister, who has just left
| Washington, sold out his wines, furniture
and bric-a-brac for a good round sum at
auction few days ago. There is no better
auction city in the United States than
Washington, and secondhand furniture will
bring more than the new article, If it hap
pens to belong to one OF the foreign Minis
ters. Instances have been known in which
diplomats have carted lot of cheap stuff
into their houses just before leaving. and
have sold these of with their other furniture
at high prices. At big sale that at
tended the other day found line of car
riages before the doors as long as at White
House receptions ,and the house was crowded
| with people OF all classes and colors
The furniture was a collection of shoddy.
| The chromos were equal TO those of
country grocery, and 1 saw plaster statu-
| ette sell for S., which upon examination,
had price mark OF 40 cents on the bottom.
The rage for antique furniture continues,
and the prices for 1t have doubled within
the past three years. know of houses in
the city in which you may find pieces of
| F,rp hu Iaffa
Bassett, who for so years has been in the
employ of the United States Senate, has an
old-fashioned lamp which lighted the Sem
ate Chamber when Van Buren, was Presi-
| dent.
AdmiralPorter's Chinese Servant.
Admiral David D. Porter is not at all
| we'll, though he is on the fair road to recov-
cry. He is one of the most popular men in
| Washington society, and one of the most
generous entertainers. He has always held
| brilliant receptions on New Years Day and
| a very funny incident occurred at one of
| these year or so ago which never got into
| the newspapers. He had Chinese servant
| who acted as his butler, and who announced
the guests all right until the end of the re-
ception, when the gas collector arrived.
| When Ching Yam opened the door, this man
handed him a strip of yellow paper. Vel
| low is the Imperial color of China, and
| gas bill looks not unlike Chinese visiting
card. The Admiral's Chinese butler bowed
low as he saw it, and laying the bill rever-
emily upon his silver plate. he motioned the
gas man to follow him, and ushered him
| into the presence of the ladies.
Among the bright women of Washington
society are Admiral Porter's daughters, and
1 am able to announce the fact that Miss
Elana Porter will be married the latter part
of the month to Captain Charles Campbell.
| 1 understand that Admiral Porter opposed
the match for some time on account Of his
would-be son-in-law not being a man of
wealth, but he has lately concluded to sane
tion the match and it now only waits for his
recovery.
She Didn't Know the President.
Senator Justin S. Morrill, will be in Wash
| ington in few weeks. He is as chipper as
/. young satyr, and he looks anything but
four score. Nevertheless he celebrated his
SOth birthday last winter, and at his recep-
ton an incident occurred which has been q