Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-05

His Fast Life, Trial of the Gold Cure
and Adoption of Steady Habfts.

ana Adoption OF steady Habtts.
New York Correspondents Philadelphia Press
As Thackeray said of Amelia. so IL may
be said of Fred Gerhard. that he is at last
in port. His engagement is announced. and
the rich and in many respects most attrac-
tive New York man of the world who has
been engaged 50 many times. according to
popular report. and who might have been
engaged and long ago have married any one
Of dozen bellies of Murray Hill. but who
of late has been believed to be confirmed In
sybaritic celibacy. has pledged his troth to
a beautiful Baltimore girl Miss Louise H.
Morris.
They knew. when they saw Mr.. Gerhard
in the presence of this beautiful woman re-
Gently, that at last he had capitulated. and
they were quite prepared for the announce
ment that comes from Baltimore this MORN
ing.
Gerhard knows as well as any man what
the life of a man OF the world in New York
is; he drank that cup to its full. and hey
told the strangest stories OF some of his ex-
periences; how he used to eat $50 suppers
with Mrs. Langtry; how he would have
married her had the law permitted: how
nervy he was upon the race track; what his
capacity for consuming the choicest Bur
gundies and champagnes was. and yet rot
withstanding all these gossiping reports,
none mertorious, some repellant. none Of
those who knew Gerhard could fail TO feel
the influence of a certain charm which his
presence always caused That was PROB
ably due not only to his courtesy, but 10 an
intuitive feeling that at bottom. notwfth-
standing his careless life, he was a maa OF
honorable impulse. Many men have .ricd
| TO initiate Fred Gebhard's manner II was
| the perfection of that tone called by the
French sang froid. There was no hypocrisy
In the man. and he did not conceal his life.
Some two years ago Gerhard made up his
mind that the vineyards OF France had dons
all for him that any man ought to expect
and. not concealing his purpose. nor brag-
ging Of IL, he sought one Of the gold cure
establishments nearby and made arrange
ments to enter upon a certain day. There
was peculiar, Irresistible charm about the
man when. on the evening preceding the
day OF that appointment, he entered a pub
lie resort and called for wine. He sat there
with his friends, the same Gerhard they
had always known him to be. calling for
bottle after bottle, with something OF that
GOODNESS. and careless gayety as well. with
which the romance writers have pictured
men of the world just before they go ipon
the field Of honor. There was a suggestion
in his manner Of that old beau described ny
/ Daudet in THE Nabob." who dressed him.
self with fastidious care. went forth upon
the Boulevard Hsping his compliments to
the women OF the nobility whom he met.
and then disappeared in a remote bath
| house, to be seen alive no more.
Gerhard sat through the night with his
friends and arose from the table OF circun-
spect hilarity when the morning came
bathed his face and took the train for that
place where they cure the desire by hypo-
dermics. From the day that he left that
sanitarium to this Gebhard has been a total
abstainer. He is Incorporate only I'm the
use OF one Of the mineral waters. He will
always be a man Of pleasure. but he will lie
no longer a man OF dissipation, and now
that he has taken new obligations upon
himself his name win pass into tradition as
one OF the most interesting and I'm his ex-
perfences most romantic Of those young men
of fashion who gave New York in the ga 81
| Of IL as IL has had, Of a fashionable man
| OF the world