The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-02-26
CLUE LIFE Nv NEW FORK.
Its Lsttsr-day Expansion and sons OF I
Peculiar Features.

Hts Latter-dny Expansion and some OF It's
Peculiar Features.
The New Yorker that cannot find q club In
this town TO suit his taste and convenience
must be hard to please. Time was when rich
men and men OF fashion alone aspired to club
membership. Exclusive clubs now constitute
an insign ifcant percentage OF the whole num-
her OF clubs In New York. II a man 10 fond Of
dining. OF drinking good liquor. OF politics
OF polemics. OF art. Of music. OF books. Of chess
OF cards. Of fencing OF boxing. he may find q
club to his taste II he likes to keep I'D early
local associations to pay pious regard to the
memory OF his ancestors. to study &c ography
law. medicine. or divinity. he can find
q club to aid him in all these things.
II a man Is very rich. he can belong to
club where he will meet his fellow million
aires: IL he Is poor. he may find club where
nobody loses caste from buying cheap lunches
and drinking California claret. Provision for
the poor man In New York clubdom Is It's strik-
century. and there must be great number Of
young men with $1,000 q year and less ecat-
tered throughout several hundred clubs. Mat
tiers Arc kelly TO be better than worse for noor
men in New York clubs. because there are
many little economics practised in European
the Atlantic. 1t is cheaper to live at many Of
the small and unpretentious clubs than any
at aim ost inedibls tables d 6Ste. A'''' "
There are some amusing contrasts inside
the club houses OF New \ ork. There are pro-
tessedly swell clubs. where men with no pro-
tensions to swellness In appearance manner.
or dress seemingly feel at home. On the other
hand. there are clubs that make no effort to
be swell. where iashionable Youths love to
disport themselves The Philadelphia who
resigned from his club because he met his
shoemaker at a clIb reception would fare Ill
at some OF the greatest politica, clubs OF this
town. Names that inspire awe in the minds OF
the socially ambitious Appear on such club
rosters along with the names OF the socially
damned. 1t happens not infreauently. too.
that tine bearers OF these awe-inspiring names
are almost habitues OF these unexclusiye
clubs
The ut-of-town member 10 more and more
conspicuous at New York clubs and there are
some clubs that busy with baggage as
small hotels. The observant man who will fire.
quent such club for year or two rann OF well
help acquiring an intimate acquaintance with
the nice distinctions of dress. manner and
voice that mark his fellow citizens from vari-
Gus parts OF the Union. He is soon able to Dick
out at a glance in y crowded dining room the
the fact that some clubs have thus taken
on the air of hotels that club clerks
show a disposition to emulate the man
ners of the traditional hotel clerk. It Is
found to be an exceedingly difficult matter for
a club to get and keen as clerk a competent
native American. Tho foreigners hat SO often
MI such places usually run a well-recogniZed
course. The clerk begins by being obse-
quious, This manner rapidly wears of and
ference. and this finally to stern hauteur. The
hum BILE non resident that M sts the club clerk
in his final stage begins to wonder what priv
tege club mem bership confers.