The San Francisco call., 1895-11-24
but we have light and pleasing weight

for Queen Victoria to draw uponp But
she would have to bid higher than the
yearly pipe of wine that all the English
poet laureates received as fee down to
Wordsworth's time, when the wine that
paid for the poets royal whine became
equated with pounds, shillings and pence.
| met at luncheon to-day worthy men,
Der of the st. Thomas Church, where the
ducal wedding occurred, and he whlm-
pered: Il fear shall have to desert that
dear cid church in which, when it was
three miles lower downtown than 1t now
is, was christened. Last Sunday, as l
approached the sacred edifce, / seemed yet
to see the matinee mob outside of it; and
as entered my accustomed pew, seemed
still to see the gorgeous floral decorations
that commemorated the march of Mammon
into Gods dominions, and still to hear
operate strains from the orchestra that
played in the loft while the Marlborough
Vanderbilt wedding proceeded. heard it
throughout the service tauntlngly."
The use of church for secular pur-
poses-and a fashionable wedding in New
York is of such--is apt to dim its religious
atmosphere afterward with memories.
Was it not n. p. Willis who, remem berlng
such function satirized it in verse?
Irving has been with audiences and ap-
plsuse as successful as usual during his
engagement here now closing, but has
been roasted by several OF the critics and
at two dramatic clubs. Some months ago
q managerial actor who had attention
with Irving in London sought to organize
a conspiracy in this city among the pro-
fession and newspaper critics against Sir
Henry. One of the latter, whom this con-
spring manager has in his pay, wrote
most bitter notices of Irving, and In a
home newspaper, too, OF large circulation.
One or two other critics went to the verge
of trite personalities in attacking Irving.
But such approved critics as Winter,
Wheeler and Meltzer came to Irvlng's re-
lief The whole thing of attack was due to
the iealousies of the actor-manager In
question, and of some of the male stars
who wish no interferences from English
actors.
The social event of the past week was
the horse show-a term that was mis-
nomer, because really it was show OF
toilettes and dudery, and the horses in the
ring might be regarded as the real spec
tators, often remarking neigh to the osten-
tation around. The equine part of the
affair was not as excellent as heretofore.
And how tboroughbreds will fare here
after depends upon the fanaticism OF men
in our Legislature, who, in their eagerness
to put down racing, pass laws irksome. to
the maintenance of studs and stables.
And if the horseless vehicle fad and the
bicycle craze become supreme, horse shows
may become merely historic.
IL Is greatly 10 CQ6 CTcQlL Ol tue w ulG-
ney-Paget wedding-which was as reason
ably private as such an affair could be,
considering the fame OF the brides father,
his wealth and social position, and the
family of the English bridegroom-thati it
did not take on the ostentation of the
Gould and Marlborough nupt1als, nor in
vite rehearsal of the final church scene.
Such a rehearsal in church is more or
less burlesque. at prevents blunders,"
say it's advocates. But it is the little con-
tratemps of the ceremony when they oc-
cur that give it zest.
When Mr.. Bestman forgets for a moment
in which pocket he has placed what
bachelor cynics call the fatal ring, or when
the ring is about to be slipped on the
wrong finger, or when the BRIDE in sweet
EN- barrassment extends the right hand, or
the minister, in his confusion over the
pretty bridesmaids before him. mixes bit
of the christening with the marriage SER
vice in his repetition, or when the groom
stoops to pick up the dropped bouquet at
the moment of promise and the best man
also simultaneously stoops for the same
purpose with crash of heads, and feu de
joie of giggles around, when even such
little blunders occur they are set down to
the naturalness and poetry of the occasion.
At the Marlborough wedding the remark
was current, "Oh, all this has been pre-
viousIy done in dumb show" But it was
ding, "How impressively simpler'
Society has issned card that it will be
very a la mode through the winter to
patronize church. There is a great variety
of pulpits for fashion to sit beneath. There
is that of the handsome Father Ducey of
trembo voice, who is the family chaplain
of the sugar apostle, Havemeyer; of St.
Paul Parkhurst; of Boanerges John Hall,
the prosecutor of DR.. Briggs of DR.. Greer
who is clergyman in ordinary to Cornelius
Vanderbilt; of DR.. Huntington, whose
mellow voice consorts with the great
organ of Grace Church, in which million
aires worship; of Morgan Dix, at Wall
street Trinity, who occasionally launches
anathemas at fashionable folly and vice;
of Heber Newton, at Ali Souls Church,
who often makes his Bishops hair stand
on end with eccentricities Of doctrines: of
the Rev. William Lloyd, an imitator of
De Witt Talmage, In church near lower
Central Park, where he chooses for SER
mon such topic as ''The evolution of q
hero, or the kind of Christian Davids to
meet and slay our modern Goliaths"; of
High Church Father Ritchie, who irri-
tates Bishop Potter by practicing cere-
monies that would logically carry him
into the bosom of Cardinal Satolli, If the
father only had the courage of his convic-
tions; of st. Peters, where Dean Hoffman
(who owns and controls the hotel named
dll6T Hill, tuaL Is Ill lulUS Dul d
temple) often officiates; or of the Univer-
salist Fifth-avenue Church of the Divine
Paternity, where he announces for the sea-
son such subjects as ''The fin de steele
man, woman, marriage, literature, music
and art; and fin de steele religion" He
makes the best bid for the attendance of the
1000; although the Revs. Thomas Dixon
and Madison G. Peters-the sensational
dominies par excellence of the city-are
not far behind him in the bid with such
subjects for sermons as "Shall the three
RS, Rum or righteousness or Rascality,
rule New York;" If New York society
can make church attendance the fashion,
Chicago can no longer jeer at New York as
q modern Gomorrah. A. OAKEY HALL.
The percentage ofunemployed in English
trade unions making returns to the Board
of Trade for September is lower than at
any nerind since 1901