The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-05

THAT stephen Crane Is not veteran
Of many battlefields.
THAT he IS not in London at the pres
ent moment:
SHAT he can be, or ever could have
been, an American-for "he writes so well.
Nevertheless Crane IS living near New
York, isn't and never was in London. and
the light OF the bulls eye is to be thrown
upon MS lean cOuutcnance at the Sign
OF the Lanthorn' on the evening Of the
day named.
The Sign OF the Lanthorn" is the queer
est OF the many queer clubs Of New York.
II IS housed in one Of the oldest buildings
In the city. marked By tradition as the
meeting place Of Kidd and his lovely big
bearded pirates just two hundred years
ago. The club rooms are low and ceiled
with heavy beams, and the light from the
big hre places CLEANS from old armor on
the walls. If the Prince of Wales and Lau-
reate austin and the other big social and
literary lights who have been invited from
the other side, do show up, they will have
Talking OF old houses, a more famous
one even than the rum-scented resort Of
KIDD buccaneers, Is the Van COrtlandt
mansion in Van Cortlandt park.
The park commissioners have turned
this fine place over to the Society of Co
lOnial Danes for a museum-uness It Is
the Granddaughters of the Revolution,
or the Descendants of the Tories, or the
Second Cousins of the Deserving People
Who Would Have Been Colonial if They
Had Reached This Country in Time or
something ike that. 4 always bet EN-
mixed.
This is one Of the four finest colonial
houses In Gotham's vicinity. The other
three are the Phillipse mansion at Yon-
kers, where Washington got the mitten;
the Jumel house on the nights above the
Polo grounds, also Washington's head
quarters at one time, and the Robinson
house in Flatbush. Each one of these
four places claims from ten to seventeen
romances. four or five battle "reminiscences
and three authenticated ghosts
The head ghost OF the Van Cortlandt
m = n rHNaA nh Dc H.
ghostly of the entire outfit, and has scar
ed away any number of care takers, will
have lots of fun with the odds and ends
which the museum people will supply for
his or her entertainment.
There IS no more hopeful sign for the
future of American cities than the way
their park systems have grown.
Gotham's new Pelham, Bronx and
Crotona parks are of considerable area
and include a great variety of scenery
Some parks are being opened in the down
town districts. The famous Mulberry
Bend, the scene of so much crime, power
~ and suffering, is 10 give place to one
Boston. with it's new Fens. claims the
finest park system in the world: but then
you always have 10 allow little for Bos-
ton claims Even Brooklyn will bring into
the Greater New York a new park upon
the Cypress Hills nights, where the far
away CLEAN of the sea- enlivened by the
poetic outline of the Coney Island ele-
plant, can be seen, bigger and more beau
tiful even than the Prospect park, which
III turn Is more beautiful, II less big.
than Central park.
The ball season is about over.
/ mean the season for those dun and
dizzy balls of the French Cooks and of
the Lady Flashes, and of the Early Birds
and other organizations whose sole OBJ
ject is to sell 50-cent tickets for IS and
SO II is just as well that they are over
for the year. The fun al these places
isn't what it is pictured in the newspa-
pers. The gay and glittering scene"
usually resolves itself into just a plain
drunk; the girls in tights and short
skirts, who dance and kick, don't do IL
for fun, but are hired by the manage
ment to put on the appearance of fes-
tivity for $40 per festive.
1t is just the same in Paris at the IA
nous Bal Butler; except on the night
of some of the famous students balls
there will be a quartet of cancy dancers,
If you call them so, but the rest are plain
shopkeepers and everyday people, who
behave themselves in the most exemplary
manner. owen Langdon.