Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-24
ROUND ABOUT NEW YoRK.
Ripples On the Current Of Life in the
Metropolis.

metropolis
Christmas shopping in the stores OF
Omaha Is regarded by the experienced as
a form Of exercise closely approaching
foot ball. The game as played here is as
mild as a pink tea compared with "the
real thing" to be seen and felt in the de-
partment stores Of New York. Shopping
there is a foot ball rush from morning till
late at night, with successive changes OF
players. Women rush in and come out
exhilersted and triumphant at the other
side, while the men stand back and walt
for a chance to slip through. Thus they
miss a rare opportunity for the cultivation
Of wind and muscle. There is no fancy
about this sketch. There is only one way
to make it and that is to fight.
1t is curious, too. A woman who would
turn blue and froth at the mouth II any
one should so rush her and pummel her on
the street or in a railroad station will
submit to have her clothes torn from her
back or her front hair dragged away in a
department store s~lugging match with no
more than a gentle protest or a mild ex-
postulation. She knows that other women
have the same rights as herself, and no
more. That they are all but portions Of an
army storming these mercantile walks;
that inasmuch as others have lone so unto
her. so she has unto them. The motto
seems to be, III you see a corn, step on It."
Once in a while-e great while, perhaps
the youthful housekeeper executes a coup
in a domestic crisis, which puts older and
more experienced matrons to the blush. So
II was with tho Bronx bride, whose strategy
is detailed by the Evening Post. There was
mud and slush a~-plenty along the block Of
aIIA@AA O,,na- -N1 $780, A"N -4tka-
their cellars there was no coal. A mass
meeting OF wives and mothers revealed sor-
row and indignation, but no plan for relief.
no scheme by which the unfeeling coal
agent could be induced to relent in his pre-
diction that he would be unable to get any
more coal for ten days. Reports from con-
tiguous nursery precincts indicated that
the barometer was falling rapidly to Group
and sore throat"
The next evening at dusk eight weary
horses dragged four heavy loads Of anthra-
cite through the street. The bride stood on
the stoop with tear-dimmed eyes and
watched them pass. The driver espied her.
Can you tell me, mum, where it is that
the Blanks live hereabouts? I've hauled
this coal all the way from Pier A. and the
horses are beat out. If l can't find 'em be-
fore 1t sets in clean dark, I'll dump the
stuff In the street."
The bride was down the steps and at the
heads OF the leading team in a second. She
inspected the eight horses gravely and mi
nutely.
W all belong to the Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Animals in this
street." she announced to the driver, land
II you make these horses haul that load any
further, I'll have to have you arrested"
Il --,, 80 LA-l a. EAN4,EaaNA n NI.al
driver, nine miles from his stable at $3.50 on
a winter evening. There were no stranded
coal wagons upon the street when the re-
turning colony of husbands arrived for din
ner. But the cheerful warmth that greeted
them was a surprise. 1t was the bride who
was the guest Of honor at the evening
theater party.
The Trinity building and its site. at No.
Ill Broadway. have been sold at the bewil-
dering price of nearly $19S a square foot,
the total for the property reaching the
amazing sum Of nearly 81, $50, 900. I'm a few
generations" says the Tribune, every inch
Of ground upon Manhattan Island may rep
resent an outlay which in the days of
good old Peter Stuyvesant would have been
thought fabulous Even the widest i'm
aginings OF possible real estate values in
the period of the Dutch domination are far
surpassed by the sober realities of the
present"
The notorious spite house" OF New York
City, Ave feet wide and 1927 long, four
stories high-built by Joseph Richardson, a
wealthy contractor, because an owner Of
adjoining property wouldn't pay him his
price for it-has Just been sold by Miss
Dellarifa Grace Richardson, his daughter.
Real estate dealers have bought the house,
but what they can want with 1t is a puzzle
though they are said to consider II a bar
gain for any other buyer at SIS, 900. Fancy
what the stairways must be in such a
structure! Every piece Of furniture had to
be designed expressly for it's place. Yet
the Richardson's dwelt in 1t for nigh twenty
years.
At a recent examination of a number OF
beefy and broad footed young men who
were candidates for appointment on the
police force, this question appeared upon
the papers: What does the word Knick-
erbocker mean, and what was its ~origin?"
Most OF the young men knew, but didn't
know in the right way. Its the name
Of a beer made in Williamsburg" was
one answer. Others were: THE name
the Indians gave to the first Dutchman
who came to New York" "a joke got on
New York a long time ago by George Wash
ington." THE name of an ice company
you see 1t on all the wagons" THE
Indian nam OF the tobacco plant" 1T
CAM from wearing short pants"
An odd Christmas reminder was noticed
at the foot Of Wall street one day last week.
A score Of heavily loaded trucks were con-
gregated there waiting a chance to unload
for the Havana steamer. On one Of the
trucks were a bundle Of handsome Christ.
mas trees. They were going to Havana to
the homes OF some OF the American colony,
where Christmas will be celebrated in the
good old fashion. And what a queer Christ
mas celebration 1t will be with the Their
mometer standing at about 80 or 80 degrees
above zero. But the spirit Of Christmas
will be there.
Personal NOTES.
"Corin John" Fitchette, the last OF the