The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-16

To extend any hospitality 10 Jnelr friends. Even
. dinner party, unless 1t DO given In q house
situated on q corner, Is out OF tho question. Mrs.
Astor was compelled for this season TO abandon
tho idea Of giving q ball, and as the residents Of
this part Of Fifth avenue include many OF tho
most fashionable families in the city, their iso-
lation has 30 far had o very discouraging effect
on tho social season. Ono gentleman who lives
on the avenue was lamenting the other day the
fact that he could not even ask his. friends to
dinner, al there was no way Ia which q vehicle
si6io for his friends to sliHht at the corner and
walk to the house, but that arrangement was
make Il safe to . send out Invitations. AS no re,
liof is promised until February, 1t is likely. that
this season VIII be emembere as ono Of the
has passed through in many years. Lent will
set In soon after the streets are in a condition
tho winter will probably pass with no social in
cident to make IL notable and a much smaller
usual. This. 'p Of course. means a great loss ssS OF
patronage to tradesmen, and that brings q fur
ther loss Of employment to many persons who
sort of expenditures which como from the elab-
crate entertainments given by society people:
unprecedented extent. and 1t does not seem
probable, in view. of the delay in opening the
hes. months OF the winter will have passed be.
fore society is able again to spend Its money in
the usual ways.
The former Princess Chimay, who recently
has been called Nine. Rigo by q Paris court,
finally has como out ahead Of q number of other
persons with whom she was associated tenn
porarily, and II she was not whitewashed ex-
aotly, ut least o rose-colored glow was thrown
temporarily on the lady. 1t will be romem-
bered that ehc signed o contract with a Psris
photographer, who was to pay her 90 per cent.
on the money that came from the sale Of her
photographs. After that part Of the contract
was settled, Mime. RiEo posed In . great many
attitudes without anything like q proportion
ate amount u drapery., Indeed, it was stipu-
plastic" and anybody who saw some Of the ox-
amples that came 10 this country will admit
that hey were quite plastic enough to have
and particularly, in England, which seems to
other country did Tho sale Of the Photographic
t Ss e 3 af snd b brd 5as Tri tRe riO sRs t 10 e RGtlGe in,
to an end. 1t was decided that, even for Paris.
the business was a little bit too rtrong. When
others were taken, and the French authorities
decided that hers were comparatively SO in
them. So the American has had tho ~satisfao.
ton OF having her name come before the public
own line there We're some things worse. That
time, and, coming from tho Palais du Justice.
~ "a NV bSSh SopSSAoAJ bAobihJ hS'
Mime. sembrich has been engaged for the Sun
day night concert at the Metropolitan, and with
Ysaye on.the programme three ought to be such
an audience as the theatre never held-even on
q Sunday night. This will be Mime. Sem
brich's last appearance at the Sunday concerts,
and when she appears again in New York it
will be ut a song recital. Anton Seidl dis
claims all responsibility for the recent pro-
grammes at the Metropolitan, and for the fact
that the concerts were dragged out to their In
terminable length of nearly three hours and a
half. r. Z. Johnston has promised that the
concerts are to be shortened to a reasonable
limit, and thisss doubtless due to the fact that
on last Sunday night a great many persons left
the building before the end of the programme.
Mime. %Senbrich sang at tho Sunday concerts
because she realized that there is no other way
of becoming a popular favorite nearly so
quickly. 1t was at these concerts that Nine.
Media first gained her public, and they are q
great test of u singer drawing powers. 1t was
not u wholly unprotitable experiment for Mmo.
Sembrich, as the audience at the last concert
represented $4,000. and as she was giving them
day OF high-priced singers no poor compensation
for an evenings work. Mime. Scmhrich,s hus-
customary prima donna's husband as any
man that ever camo to this country. He Is a
musician absorbed. in his art. very little &C.
guaintcd with business, and quite ignorant OF
English. although he is an ACCOMPLISHED poly
glot when it comes to French. Russian, Italian.
psEHlhn, UT III WITH " bpCdhb
English with considerable fuency. and the
picturesqueness is not the least damaged by the
slonal words from her largo repertoire of Con-
tinentpl languages.
An American novelty" in the form of q
roof garden, is to be opened in London next
summer on the top Of the now theatre which
Charles Wyndham is nov building, and the high
favor in which these institutions are held in
New York has been described eloquently in tho
London newspapers. There were several va.
cant roof gardens in New York last summer
which could easily'have been spared. and those
that were open never seemed such resorts Of
hilarity that the public would flock to them
with 4any particular enthusiasm. The London
roof garden is to be conducted as Il variety
show. and how tho scheme will succeed in u
climate SO 3hn little e, suited cd 4 must depend very
don has even fewer out-of door resorts than
New York. and there is evidently the same OBJ
open air ana remaining at the same time within
the city limits. Roof gardens are built in New
York how merely because they arc cheap. There
has been little or no profit in them for years
here. Every man who goes TO one usually feels
that hc would favor any plan by which London
could suddenly become Possessed of all our roof
gardens and keep them just as long ms II wants
to. IL the liquor and tobacco could be included
as well as the stage programmes they would
soon BIO returned.
The members of the Rainy Day Club may
hhNo We " hiS'h VI i SASueh tbo w
toms of their skirts, and they may not care a
bit how they look SO long as that great work 10
accomplished. But some improvement is need.
| ed in the case OF the short-lcggcd members who
ride in cable cars. In their case the methods
of the club have not been completely success
full, and one Of them illustrated this strikingly
yesterday when she got into a Broadway cable
car. She was rather understood and stout-a
physical condition which apparently prcdis-
poses women to join the club. Her skirt came
to the tops or her shoes, and when she walked
up the car there was nothing very exciting
about the Wow. But when she sat down every
passenger opposite grew deeply sympathetic;
Inches, and tboy dangled helplessly In the air.
The skirt seemed to have teken a sudden lift.
and there was revealed over a. pair OF rather
nonchalant buttOned shoes IA thin rim OF gray
stocking. Every movement OF the car set tho
buttoned SHOES. the gray stockings. and the
rainy day skirt gently swaying TO and fro.
Every passenger became engrossed In watch
Ing tho sight, and the spirits Of the Rainy Day
lady grew gradually loss aggressive. Sho was
she left II she was wilted. Once she made an