The herald., 1895-08-25
SARATOGA AND REFORM.
The Springs, the Local Parkhurst, the
Young Girls and the Horses.
FAMILIAR FACES ON THE DRIVE.
Some Details About the Driving
Out of the Gamblers-The
Woman With q Past
The Outlook.

Congress Spring Park, one of these sun
ny August mornings, and all the world
is taking its morning gulp of the spark
ling, salty water and the band plays,
and the leaves rustic and the rainbow
lights flicker in the spray of the little
fountain; when the pretty girls in pink
and white vying with the roses in their
cheeks, dance in on flying feet, and fat
old women waddle after, tight laced
and short of breath with lavender rib
bons and purple faces. and temples
darker than purple; when all day long
l see the crowds that come and go,
shopping. taking excursions or plan
ming picnics on the lake. when, at the
parade hour. that unrivalled success
sion of smart tournouts that we all
remember. flashes past again, not a
f1eck on its varnish, not a stain on it's
trappings, not spot on its cleaning
silver mounts: when in the throng I
see the familiar faces of Judge Hilton
and Frank Work, and Billy Sheehan,
and Ben Wood, and John A. Manning,
and James A. Moore, and II. d. Polhe-
mus. and Shayne, and Seligman, and the
Trasks: when, as the evening shadows
fall, the girls promenade bareheadcd
up and down the sidewalks in front of
the verandas, where their mammas
sit and gossip with chance acquaint-
ances, and when one lies and listens
in the ught-to-be-silent watches of
the night to the unending clamor of
preparation for a new day-then one
cries out in recognition of its familiar
face: "This is Saratoga"
But it is Saratoga with a difference!
1t is Saratoga, ParkhurSted, Saratoga
after taking the pledge, Saratoga try
ing to be good Saratoga in transition
stage. uncertain yet how it is going to
enjoy virtue and the appreciation of
men and women-especially women.
My dear boy" folks used to say of
Saratoga, they wear diamonds for
breakfast there" The words used in its
description were fash" glitter"
brilliance," luxury" eXtravag-
ance." A solid substratum of respecta-
bility the place has always had, since
the temperance reform in America was
started on Congress Spring water; and
it has it still But the froth has been
blown away. The gamblers wife. or fe
male companion in less legal ela.ion-
ship, no longer makes show of her
self and her paint pots and pearls.
There was a time when the box that
would hold the biggest array of gowns
was called a Saratoga trunk-or. for
short. :" Saratoga AS a matter of
course. Gowns are no longer the dis
tinguishing characteristics of the place,
though there are plenty of good ones.
Until this present season. open gam
bling has always been tolerated here
is stopped. The rapacity of the hack
man has been curbed. The place is as
quiet and respectable as Chelsea, Mass,
and it is wondering whether respecta-
bility is going to pay
Ordinarily it is taken as matter of
course that responsibility does pay; but
Saratoga is peculiar 1t has 1900 per-
manent residents and likes to see $4,000
to 10000 hotel guests and cottagers in
the town to make things lively. The
hotels are the biggest in the world and
when they are not full Saratoga weeps
tears saline. chalypeate and genuine.
THE GAMBLER AND THE GIRL.
The big hotels We're the ones most
favored by the gamblers in the old days,
when things wuz run wide OPEN"
and the gambler was noted for his shy,
retiring disposition.
Neither was the woman with a past,
and the gamblers presents. So people
somehow got the notion that these two
represented Saratoga. They didn't 1t
has always been the paradise of the
young girl 1t is even more so now.
She is here by the thousand, every
where, filling the place with the waited
scent of faint perfumes, and the sight
of fiuttering draperies, and the music
of her chatter, and the merriment of her
laugh The Saratoga girl is type by
herself less athletic than she of Bar
Harbor. less faded and worn with soci-
ETY. dissipation than she of Newport,
perhaps more charming and more SIM
pie than either.
And now and then one sees wander
ing about. like a ghost revisiting the
scenes of it's fleshy activities a chemi-
cal blonde of the adventures type.
sadly engaged in speculating what has
struck the place.
1t has been Parkhursted
THE PARKHURST OF SARATOGA.
1t is the fashion to say of a reformer
that he is a Parkhurst.
The Parkhurst of Saratoga is the
president of the village, elected on the
reform issue. He is Charles II. Sturges,
a local lawyer.
Really MI Sturges is rather a busi-
ness man than a refOrmer, and is able