The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-26
DINNER PARTIES IN A DUNGEON.
The Grewsome Festivities That New
York Society Is Indulging In.
lNIc.,rr Vn,.lr IInrnId

New York Herald9
Think of a dinner party in a dungeon
the menu served with such accompa-
niments as clanking chains on ponder
Gus doors, great-iron- barreCS- windows,
and swarthy, low-browed attendants in
prison garb stalking in and out with
the steaming viands! 1t makes you
shudder doesn't it? Yet just such din
ners as these promise to be quite the
jolliest of the winter season, if the few
in which society has already INDUCED
may be accepted as criteria-
THE Jolly Dungeon"-for such the
scene of these gfewsome festivities is
designated-has been known to New
York for only a few weeks. 1t is quite
the novelty of the hour For weirdnesS
it equals anything in the old world.
Just now it affords a lot of fun for the
man who enjoys springing surprises on
his friends. He asks a score or more
to dine with him at the Waldorf, may
hap, and when they come, he bundles
them. one and all, into a rickety old
stage coach and whisks them away to
the dungeon. They are led through a
long, dingy passageway toward flick
ering light which is seen on coming
nearer to be set back in a recess, half
hidden by cobwebs. The air is musty,
the half deadened echo of footballs
makes the flesh creep. The men wonder
what is to come next, and their fem
mime companions are nearly frightened
out of their wits. Then the host fetches
forth a monstrous key and coolly fits
it into paddock the like of which was
neier seen before, when, clang! the
great iron door swings back and he
solemnly bows his guests in. There is
more rafting of keys, and the mon
strouS- key has locked the door behind
them A series of "Oh'sr' from the Ia
dies, intermingle with Great Scotts!'
from the men.
Each one wonders what next. They
would be in total darkness except for
two straight shoots of light from a
bulls-eye opposite and faint CLEAN
through a crevice in one corner. AT
the furthest end great iron bars loom
dimly, and in the red light from behind
are glimpses of dusky figures in con-
vict stripes walking to and fro. Low.
weird music as of muffied voices, Sc
pulchral in their dirge-lfke chant seem
to come from under ground.
A moment for all this. Then an cleo
trical switch is touched and the place
is flooded with light. Such q commo-
ton! In one breath the ladies declare
they are frightened to death, and in the
next that it is perfectly jolly
Opera hats and top coats are gotten
rid Of and every one enters into the
spirit of the occasion. It's jolly lark
and they like it immensely. Butchers
aprons are passed around, and there
is a. lot of fun helping one another get
into them
Then the beefsteaks come on, and the
colored attendants in convict garb
whisk to and fro. First they bring in a
tray of cocktails of the oldfashioned
kind The beefsteaks are then served
on thin. square pieces of bread, and
taken directly in the fingers, for there
are neither plates nor forks to be had.
This is shockingi" the feminine nov
ices in Bohemianism declare, but 1t is
also delicious. And they are served
again and again.
The guests are seated on benches
built into the wall. A rickety wooden
box, stands in front of each, and on it
stone mug and a clay dish filled with
salt.
In the center of the room an old
soap-box supports the huge clay celery
bowl, and "all hands help themselves. y
The kitchen is separated from the
revelers by a Notwithstanding door
of iron bars-the same through which
the red light had cleaned upon their
entrance. Tempting Whiffs and sput-
tiers from English chops and the beef
steaks caVort through the opening. The
cook peers out every now and then.
There is a piano over in one corner,
and some one plays a rollicking tune,
the boxes are set aside, and dancing is
begun.
Between the dances there are songs
and choruses. The banjo and guitar are
taken from the colored attendants, Who
have twanged out their racial melodies
during the early evening, and the dun
geon echoes with the merrymaking, 1t
is late. quite late, when the riclIety
STAGE coach finally rolls away and the
great iron door clangs on the deserted
dungeon, and New York society folk
feel well assured that they have been
thoroughly bohemian and have had no
end a good time as well.