Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-01-02
NEW yoaKs " Four III auNDAlo..s
nrs. Barton Harrison otvss . Dead a..

"fs. bnrson Hssrisos Gives . Good sds.
Of w:rd ncAiiistsr's Famous Episb.,.
" u claimed tor tho gentleman ysbo..
maze has been - often cited IN connsn'
too With bis famous epithet. "New Yo,k's
-Four HundIed." that Il were distinction 81
leave II Tor once unsAid that he has s,nes
ENLARGED his limit set for the number 20
people 10 good society By explaining ~
Ne meant only 10 count ia ths baii.go,oy
element OF the fashionable world generate
TO be reckoned upon in providing space
ana supper Tor certain private or SENT
public gatherings. writes Mrs, burton Uar-
rison in the second OF her articles on e.
cial Life In New Yorx" IN the Januayv
LADIES' Home journal. This Was balm "a
the wounded spirits Of the many who never
set foot across the threshold OF Sherrv's or
Delmonico's or the Madison Square Gar
dep--piaces of reyelry on these occas,ons
While not exactly IN the state OF mind
cruelty described by SIR. William BlaoS,.
"Octavius Quirk that nnceasing self.
consciousness tina. makes the American
young man spend FIVE sixths Of his waking
time IN asking himself N he IL a gentle.
man'--the public Of New York felt
itself entitled 10 the soothing OF such
authoritative utterance. We are also told
that lists made up at Ito time when Meal.
lister flour Hundred firu put Tennyson'
blk Hundred out Of vogue. and jndustri.
ously circulated by the press, caused ~
heart burnings not q few. Whence came
these fatal registers no one paused to ASK.
10 be, or not 70 be. inscribed on
them was the only thing OF i'm
portance. Only the exquisite elastici.
~ Of New YORK In the matter
OF sensations has. in fact, enabled many
worthy citizens TO live down the emotlona
~ that hnr~ Al fin t.aliw
spectacle of the result Of all this tempest
ia the teapot IA mode was TO behold tho
swelling wrath OF some OF those over.
looked against the presumption OF some
included. The affair was In truth, a tri-
umph OF the clever journalists who worked
1t up.
But the term -Four Hundred" remains.
for want Of better one. az tho sppellative
Of the select body whose nance are most
often seen In PRINT as participants in tho
active gayeties OF New York. Year by year,
az absence, ill-fortune, ill-health. and
death decree it, the list varies perceptibly,
new names appear and are exploited vieo.
rously. names heard of for the FIRST time,
perhaps by the gay world during the pre-
Mons season at one OF the great watering
places that are as social ladders 20 ambitious
feet; names questioned. derided u may be,
but in little while accepted without
further challenge. II is absurd TO suppose
that vast and cosmopolitan society like
that OF New York TO-DAY would crystalizs
its best" into a number so small. so little
known 70 fame save through saltstory
agility aud the expenditure Of unlimited
dollars in dinner-eiving and IN gew-gaws
for the cotillon. | am sure tho
readers of this at large need not attach
much importance TO the apparent exclu-
siveness Of tn. term Four Hundred"
which may be considered mot ia q,sei Of
the society writers a the personal columns
We all affect TO contemn, and read reli-
giously.