The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-26
Az Ancient Dutch Custom Entirely
Out Or Favor il These
Times.
The. Occasion Of Unseennly Roys-
tering and Gross Imposition
on Hostesses.
the Appearances Of tho Basket on the
Door-Evsn That Has Gone
From Light

Ayntuod correspondent WEisoS ~
the New York World that he and some
of his friends are about to undertake the
,ayival of the old custom Of making New
Years calls, but they are undetermined on
the subject Of refreshments. Commenting
N the subject that paper says: Il ia q ia
miliar story, this Of the attempted revival
of the ine old Dutch custom, but the effort
neyer succeeds and never will succeed.
There il no place for the genial, leisureiy
old oustom in metropolitan life, for 1t was
metropolitan life that turned the antique
hospitality Of the Dutch village into urban
and disgraceful revelry and that doomed
and finally destroyed the practice OF max
ing New Years calls.
There was q time when Now York was
very small, whef tho old Dutch names OF
the streets had not besn forgotten. when
people remembered the locality OF the wall.
when dwellings still stood under the shadow
Or Trinity steepls, when now and then a
crumbling wall betokened the luxurious
cnrdens that once stretched to the borders
Of the East river, and when the band played
on Scuddsr's balcony Of q Saturday after
noon.
Even in that early day Of cityhood, when
the walls 81 the Tombs had only recently
reared themselves from out the basin OF the
Collect, young Nav York was getting too
bin for i custom that was Dutch in its very
spirit and, more than all, in its slow-mov-
ing, tims-ignoring methods.
LATER still, in the palmy days Of the
volunteer IRE department., the most vulgar.
even revolving, abuse began to creep in.
ny ...-Y-.#In-cw %hc nnu avr1rIn0 ram
fury we're not marked by the refinement
chat characterizes modern society. and
especially were habits of eating and drinking
r~eprehsnsibly gross. There was no delicate
feasting in those days. and even the gov
ernors Of the newly formed Union club
Rrumbled because the French chef did not
make their turtle soup rich enough, while
Philip Hone found tho cooking at the
newly established Delmonico's in William
street anything but to his liking.
On New Years day great tables that ran
the length of the commodious back parlors.
proaned under hams, boned turkeys. lob
ster salads, picked oysters. cake by the
dsira and even more potent fluids. Then the
youth OF turbulent propensities went forth
IN gangs, descending upon every house
whore any one Of the company happened to
be known. And by nightfall these obnox-
ious jewellers were ripe for the hands OF
the police, while many . gsntlewoman re-
solved that she would never again open
Her house to the bibulous hordes that had
taken advantage Of her hospitality to abuse
it. And so one door after another was
closed, and for q time little baskets hung
on the bell-pull to preserve it from profane
hands and for the reception Of the cards of
the disappointed. Finally the custom died,
stamped ont by boorish boot-heels.
New York ID too big for the maintenance
of 4 general custom of this CHARACTER
custom that implies q universal n%eighborli-
ness and . small and compact community.
No sensible man will undertake to visit in
d single DAY all his a~cquaintances in the
long-drawn town whose distances are
frightful to one contemplating such an en-
terpriss. For nan years New Years calls
Ia New York meant only q long and dreary
day Of riding or walking in%terspersed with
one-minute incursions into warm houses to |
say Happy New Year. and to take a drink |
on an empty stomach. The friendly loung-
ing Dutch m had degenerated into
an insane, chattsring,, demoTalizing funo-
zion. Not only that, but instead OF
It. for it bred the idea that by
thus banging about among his friends
once a year, after the manner in which
q bnmblebee bangs about among the
flowers. the young New Yorker wiped off
his social scores. New Years calls there
fore became the mere mockery of hos
pitality. a hollow sham, destructive to the
line flower of friendship.
By all means, however, let our core
spondentand his friends revive the custom
among themselves, but let them keep it to
the narrow circle of friendship. They may
call on one another's wives md sisters and
they will spend a pleasant day. AS to re-
freshmsnts, they can have them just as
they would have them on other days of the
year. They will have tea and trifes of
crackers. They will have the refreshments
in vogue, in othe rwords, just as the worthy
matrons of the '40s and '50g had ham and
liquors in their coarser days.