The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-06-07
A MANSION ON
FIFTH AVENUE.
What Il Costs to Live in a New York
Palace.
Facts and Figures About Millionares Homes.
The Fair o-Respondent-The Woman
Who Smokes
Special Correspondence of THE SUNDAY CALL.

NEW YORK, June 8, 1S91.-The story of
Fifth avenue is like fairy tale of the good
old-fashioned kind, where bags of pearls
and rubes are stuffed into good little boys
pockets and uncounted gold lies kicking
about on the floors of dragon haunted cav
ems.
There is no such textbook or object les
son as this narrow lane Of so-caIled pal
aces, ugly and coarse looking with but few
exceptions, in all the world. London has
milIiOnaireS enough, but no one street so
full of them. There are residence streets in
Buffalo, Cleveland, Washington and other
smaller cities far more beautiful, but the
highway where live all the Vanderbits, d.
O. Mills.sWlliam c. Whitney, Coils p
Huntington, Jay Gould, j. Coleman Dray-
ton, DIR. Webb, Ii. Mex. TwOmbly, one of
the AStOrs-twO till Tecently-and unnum-
bered other milliOnaires, has character of
its own. It's gloomy street where it isn't
made gay by the poisoning of the intTud-
ing shop fronts which are rapidly chasing
the dwelling-hOuses uptown, but no one can
walk the two miles from Madison square
to the park without dropping into figures.
1t costs money to live on Fifth avenue.
Every residence there is either the home of
a millionaire or of man who is living be-
yond his means in the hope of being con-
enormously since the late William II. Van
derbilt paid $500, 600 for the ramShackle old
greenhouse upon whose site he erected his
SameSe twin browns tone packing boxes
Within recent years lots have been sold in
desirable portions of the street for $50, 600 or
$4,000 each. That would be cheap indeed
now. Cornelius Vanderbilt paid $4,000
for very ordinary house, and
then pulled the house down to make
room for his splendid, but ugly
palace. Even that was cheap. c. p.
huntington has since paid Robert Bonner
$4,000 front foot for the diagonally opp0-
site corner. a vacant lot, on which he is now
erecting q great stone castle, whose cost he
modesty stated in the building permit, DOS
Slbly for the Assessors benefit at 100000
but which Is costing many times that sum.
Mrs. Nhltney'S home opposite these LwO an
iyy-clad French chateau, and perhaps the
most beautiful and homelike Of all the
palaces, only cost $4,000 at a bargain sale
few years ago, but is worth double that
price now.
And in ten years the stores and hotels
VIII have crept a mile and half further
north and the millionaires will be forced to
move on again. They are paying a pretty
price Tor few years show on the avenue.
The Woman Who Smokes.
The woman who smokes exists, but there
are not very many of her.
members of the gentler sex. but know per-
sonally only two smoking women. One of
these INDUCES in an occasional cigarette
The other occasionally, but not habtually,
smokes a big, strong black cigar of the
most vigorous kind. The second smoker is
somewhat remarkable for one of her sex.
a visitor of the masculine gender once
brought her, by way Of joke, package or
two OF very hue cigarettes. She expert
mented with them In private, and then be-
gan offering them to gentleman callers. AS
the little weeds had not Inconvenience her
at all, she was rather surprised that these
experienced smokers found them strong.
After few days the donor of the cigarettes
dropped in.
"Well. how many of them can you
smoker ne said tritie sheepiShly, for he
knew the potency of his gift
''Oh, three or four at once" was the non
chalant reply.
" The Dickens you canr' said he in as
constituent, why YOU are ready TO be pro-
NOTED to cigars" And the promotion took
place at once. The man tempted her and
she did smoke, and has done it more or less
ever since.
1t isn't strange that women should occl-
sIonally take to cigars, but rather that SO few
OF them do it. l know another young
woman who has herself never touch ed to
baccO, but who grew up in a Sm0k ny family
dtiu Was uS6u 70 Lic Stifli OF Tile DAIuiQ9
weed. She married a minister and moved
into little country town in New Jersey.
her husband didn't smoke. One day big
cousin came TO visit this minister's wife She
sent her husband out TO buy some cigars,
aud filled the big cousin pocket with them.
Nov" said she after he had lighted one of
them, sit right down there in front of me
and blow the smoke this way. That's it!
Blow it right in my face. Ah-h-hl Isn't
that fine cigar?" Ii she weren't a clergy
mans wife l fancy this lady-cultured,
beautiful, refined, stnsIOle-would be sOrel ~
tempted 10 try a weed herself sometimes.
The Giddy CO-Respondent.
Six months or so ago the greatest OF the
New York newspaper syndcates sent out
for publication sketch of one of the best
known AMI most successful professional
women in New York, accompanied by an
excellent portrait Sketch and portrait were
published in a certain Western newspaper
whose locality cannot be too closely limited
at. few days ago local divorce case
caused great stir IN the town where this
paper was published, and its editor, having
no portraits of the principals in the case,
picked out the portrait of the New York
woman, blew the dust off it and published
1t as IAN excellent likeness of tile giddy CO.
respondent" OF course, some kind friend
sent the New York woman a copy OF the
paper, and she has vowed big VOW that