Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-14
GOSSIP FROM GOTHAM
Goose Bone" Versus the Weather
Bureau as Prophet,
PRIGID TIME AT ARION BALL
"Open Door" to the City's Cold
and Hungry Thousands.
LOOKING BACKWARD DANCE
LOOKING BACKWARD DANCE
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star

NEW YORK, February L, 1899.
Most every well-regulated rural weather
prophet possesses q goose BONE the pc
culiar virtue of which is said to be the ac-
curate prediction of the kind of weather
and the number of SHOWS during the COM
ing winter. Just how this interesting por-
ton of the goose's construction is manipu-
lated is not known, but after 1t had been
put through the regulation process at the
beginning of the present winter the result
so astonished it's rural manipulation that he
took his pen in hand and wrote to the ed
itor of one of our papers of the things the
bone had placed to the credit of the people
during the winter from the weather view
point.
This prediction found its way into print
and old weather-wise inhabitants are be-
ginning to swear that the goose bone as
against the weather bureau or the ground
hog places the parties of the second part
in the class of those who also ran.
Briefly, the bone said we would have the
coolest WEE Their on record and that we
would have at least thirty snow storms:
The first prediction has been verified and
We are very near the thirty tally on SHOWS.
And the end isn't in sight The city is
still wrapped in its frosty covering and the
mercury is still chasing around the bot
tom of the thermometer bulbs.
Your correspondent looked In on the
Arion Ball on last Friday night. 1t was a
case of dance or freeze. If the 10000 out
lay for decora tons had been devoted to
fashioning them of snow with icicles pen
dant, they would have been more in har-
mony with the spirit of the atmosphere
than the palm trees of the tropics and the
gorgeous streamers of paper roses that
prevailed. Never in the history of Arion
balls have the merry makers been com
PEELED to merrymake in surroundings of
such frigidity. Down in the bowels of
the garden fires roared and engineers
swore and vain attempts were made to
pump steam to the great auditorium. Up
stairs, men IN evening dress carried chest
protectors over their arms and women in
low cut gowns betrayed white arms and
shoulders plentifully frescoed with what is
inelegantly but forcbly called goose
flesh" Choruses of sneeZings accompanied
the music of the bands, coughs and snitfles
prevailed, while through every window
sifted draughts of cold air that criss-cross-
ed through the garden fiendishly.
The Cry for More Coal.
If this weather continues there will be an
enlargement of the temporarily insane wing
at Bellevue to accommodate the janitors of
fiat buildings. Apartment house jewellers
all want simultaneously more coal, IN
creased gas pressure and to know why the
hot water wasn't turned Oh. Steam-heated
flats are in q bad way. Water pipes freeze
and gas pipes, too and the name of the I'M
washed, unShaVen man who comes grum-
bling down town these mornings Is legion.
The palatial homes OF the wealthy are not
exempt from the general discomfort. Their
very size prevents adequate heat from be-
ms supplied, and the result is that the
hotels are reaping harvest, many families
temporarily taking refuge in the caravan
saries.
There are 10000 persons poor and desti-
tute in the city of New York. Were they a
marching army on Broadway, massed in
parade, it would ia e them six hours to
pass old Trinity, the owners of which are
landlord for so many of them. But the I'M
bearable hardshps imposed upon the ma
jOrity of these unfortunates are being miti-
gated as far possible by free and open
hearted charity, municipal as well as pri-
vate. All of the city institutions maintain
ed for the accommodation of the needy are
under great stress meeting the demands
made upon them. Hordes of hungry, half
frozen men, women and children are swarm
ing to the doors, and none have been turned
away. The numerous private and semi
public charitable organizations are also
having their resources taxed to meet the
extraordinary demands made upon their
beneficenCe.
The open-door policy, adopted to meet the
exigencies of the occasion, has been eagerly
taken advantage of by all sorts and condi-
lions Of poor people, from the professional
tramp to the workingman in hard luck and
him. The police stations serve as Ravens
of refuge during tie night to scores of wan
derers.
Chief Devery's Instructions.
Tacit instructions filtered out from Chief
Devery's office to the precinct captains that
everything possible should be done in the
way of accommodating dodgers at the sta
ton houses. The quota of dependents upon
the bounty of the proprietors of certain
restaurants and bakeries who make a prac-
tce of distributing bread to all corners
nightly is increased above the normal. AS
an example, the hundred human beings
who usually lined up for the stroke of mid
night in front of a certain downtown bak-
cry, where coffee and broken loaves are dis
pensed at that hour has swelled to 800
They are led by the same old long whisker-
ed major, a veteran of the civil war, who
asserts he was dismissed from the army for
drunkenness, and who ma "shals his army
of destitute with true military skill. With
the stroke Of midnight the famished bri-