Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-11-22
a. mere society ornament, has been
chosen as the victim.

on epic. She did try IL, ana ueI uIo' elsoitf
The Morgensons. astonished even Dick.
IL was a real novel. !" fully and JUSTLY enti-
tied 20 the name and distinction, and u
was followed by two more OF equal merit,
Two Men" and Temple House" all
eagerly and widely read, and giving the
writer q merited place among American
authors. There is new generation now!
that Bnds something fresher aud g9od
deal frotbier in the productions OF blIs.
Chanler aud Mrs. Bigeiow,, but me
Stoddard novels are still read BY people
who want novels" and not mere
society sketches. The second instance IS
Mrs. Jane Cunningham Croiy. who was
put up" by her husband, the late Dayid
q. Croly, 10 write something" She did'
and ss Jennie June soon became known
throughout the country. These Two wo-
men were never conspicuous IN So
ciety never needed TO be, and, better
vet. never wanted % be--but Jennie June
was the founder of society" which mas
included more really solid aud substantial
women than the sO-called " society ever
could boast Of This was Sor0sls. when
still is nnd which smart and bright wo-
men have actually made power IN TINS
city.
sORos1s.
What Sorosis really does and is 10 secret
confined 10 the members, excepting az they
may openly manifest themselves and their
doiugs at Delmonico's or Sherry's. Iher
first and most conspicuous male guest " as
Mr.. Robert Barn well Roosevelt, who years
ago wrote q most amusing article adyo;;
eating male membership 10 SOrosls ana
modestly offering himself as q candidate
for election. Why not? He was then,
as ALWAYS. one OF the most prominent
men in correspondent in every
thing. 4 member OF o genuine olu
Dutch family, a scholar, sportsman
editor. author, diplomat, politician, hui
morist. and what not. He was Congress
man, Minister 20 The Hague, editor wlth
Miles O'Beilly," the late Charles q. Hal
pine. Of the C0t1en; founder OF the New
York State Fishery Commission, author OF
several game and fishing books, and writer
of immensely funny books such as rive
Acres Too Much" and Progressive Pet
ticoats." It would be hard to find in the
city man who has done more in different
WAYS. and done it we'll, or who in his bust
ness relations. in society. or IN his clubs -
more. And yet he hardly ever Is heard OF,
for he is a modest man as well as much
esteemed man. Infinitely smaller men
make greater noise in this city OF New
York.
THE INSIDE or HOUSES.
The vast difference IN value between a
pretty fine house on one of the fashionable
avenues in this city and what may be in
side Of 1t in the way of furniture and h1-
lures was cODspicuousy evident IN hre
not long ago which completely DESTROYED
in q very few minutes the entire interior
of residence on Fifth avenue. The estl-
mated value of the house was $4,000,
while the property destroyed in it was set
down at S2O0,OOO. The great difference
was hardly deemed worth noting IN the
newspapers. perhaps because 1t was
the usual thing as, in fact, it Is.
Aud vet this heavy loss did not IN
clude plate, pictures, a library, or other
especlajly-eXpensiy luXures of that
kind. The house had lately been hired " as
II stood ~ that Is with what was in 1t, Dy
the Bolmonts, who had not yet moved IN
their own furniture, pictures, and books:
The loss Of the costly interior " liking"
came upon the owner of the house. In
THE Potiphar Papers, written forty years
ago by MIR. George William Curtis 10
gatiriZe the so-called society" OF that
DAY, the Minister from SEMINAR" is made
to say most of the sharp, not TO say saucy,
things. On entering the palatial residence
of the pewly-euriched Mr.. Potiphar on
Fifth avenue, the distinguished foreigner
exclaim Why, your house Is exactly Ike
vour neighbours ~ And 80 it was in those
times. Fashionable residences We're copies
of one another in the minutest details OF
furniture. Or rather the first new nabob
set the fashion and the rest followed It,
II is very different now. The aim is TO be
original az well rs eXtravagant. Oh
course there are certain things, por-
there's, for instance, which are com
mon to all fine houses. So. too, certain
conventional fsds in furniture obtain
generally. But every rich man means to
make his house q museum of objects
of art that IS, in mere furniture and IN
terror decorations. apart from the dis
play in pictures and statuary. People OF
refinement and cultivation, OF course,
make their houses in every. particular the
embodiment or exponent OF their own cul-
tivated tastes. For tho rest the FURNISH
ers. decorators, and artists will do the en-
tire business, and do it well, If they have
carte blanche with the simple order to go
ahead" The result is that no great city
| in the world can show so many expensive
| " and beautifully Furnished interiors az
New York to-day.
RAPID TRANSIT.
The long-talked-of rapid transit begins
| TO look possible and even probable. Men
mast the meridian even may live to see 1t
| Of course. it will be underground, with
| tunnels from the Battery to Yonkers, on
| both sides of the island, another central
! tunnel and still another cross.town one
running under Union Square. Wherever
1 "a
| yiaducts will be built, and though the
| commissioners now talk of drawbridges
over Harlem river. that stream, too,
| should be tunne led. / sec no promise
| that the Greathead system, so sue
cessful in London, will be tried here. by
that method tunnels were bored under the
streets far below the foundations Of the
| Ieroest BUILDINGS. and the surface above
was updisturbed. The work went on as
| silently as O mole works in the same way
under the soil of a garden. What this
underground rapid transit really Will
mean and will effect will be the abolition
of the overhead grid-iron travel. These
iron roads in the air, resting upon frau
pillars, are as euphemeral as they arc
fiimsy.. Their very CONSTRUCTION Shows
that thew were built for temporary
nse only, with the purpose of making
as much money ont of them as possibly
could be made while they lasted. With
this view the capital stock has been
watersd up to more than four times the
cost of constructing the roads, and the
stockholders, of whom the largest is MIR.
Jay Gould, have made an enormous
amount of money out of what really - q
METROPOLITAN nuisance. This method OF
travel is an accommodation TO the pub
lie, because il happens to be the best
method as vet provided; and 1t Will be
| endured until better means are Afforded
and no longer. Last year our elevated
railways divided profit Of nearly $5,OO0,-
600. They transported, after fashion
and a most uncomfortable one at that
200, 900 600 of human beings. just think
of that for OIL nour or two!
MANAGER A. NJ. PALMER.
The formal opening of the new, and
magnificent Mercantile Library building
in Aston Place the other day was notable
event. chiefly as marking the great growth
and continued prosperity OF one OF The
most excellent institutions in this town. II
is seyenty-one years old. but was not incor'
porated till 1865, and it now boasts OF more
than 100000 volumes and membership
of more than 5000. II is hard 70 be-
lieye that busy, energetic Manager Palmer
was once the sedate, quiet chief Librarian
of this institution. but he was, and he
liked il. for il accorded with his literary
tastes. and no doubt for long time he be-
lieyed, perhaps hoped, that it was bis life
vocation. But theatre managers-the sue
cessful ones--like poets and journalists
are born. not made. The managerial In.
stinot was innate. long dormant. but
bound to come out, and IL did. To
the making of the Union-SquRre Thea
tire, and to the subsequent successes
of the Madison-Souare and Palmer's, late
Wallacks, theatres. They say that col
lege education does not really harm 9