The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-24
RUBBERNECKING AT BONVETS.
IIFTH AVENUE SNOW SPED on
FROM CHARIOTS.


ChurchEOera Dodge Out OF the Way
Down the Side streets ~ They Can.
4 rubbsneck chariot sneakod up Mad-
son avenue at about half past / o'clock yes-
terday morning. II wasn't one OF the
large, gilded, modern kind which surveys
Chinatown In these days; II was one Of the
small inconspiouous six seaters with which
the Seeing NewYork' movement was inAur-
gurated. The spieleT carried no mega
phone. He was honoring the day by bis
peace and quietness, and besides he wasn't
quite sure how the police would take II.
The rubbemeck wagon trundled as in
conspicuously as possible into Forty-fourth
street and halted on the corner Of Fifth
avenue. Although the olergymen In the
churches inside had only reached their
fourthlies, the sidewalks were overlooking
with people-and clothes. All kinds Of
clothes From the Flatiron to the Park
they stretched away in two long ribbons
brightly variegated like flower borders.
This, ladies and gentlemen said the
spieler is the famous Eastertide assem-
hage Of the wealth and fashion OF New York
attending Easter services. In the crowd
which you see before you are represented
one-third Of the banking interests Of the
United States. as we'll as the highest and
most exclusive society. As they pass by
it will be my pleasure to point out the
leaders Of finance and fashion. Any ques-
tons ladiesi"
1T seems to me-" said q visitor from
Atlanta, surveying the red gowns and the
blue gowns and the green gowns which
drifted by, 'tNat New York society women
dress rather loud
We'll, they can afford II, > said the spieler
Don't the New York society men wear
tall hats to church, went on the young
thing from the South. They always do
in Atlanta" Only one hat In FIVE in the
passing crowd was Of silk; the rest ranged
from derbies to sombreros.
Going out fast among the smart set.
aid the spieler. Tall hats are getting 90
common that anybody can own one They
amt exclusive any more
'Oh' said the rubberneckers in chorus.
why. a good many Of the women are
wearing corset coats-and they went out
last year in Detroit. said another.
"Yes'm, those are the servants. The
smart set take their servants to church
with them on Easter Sunday responded
the spisler, promptly.
A man and woman rounded the corner
Her hat was a polo effect, her gown was
lavender, with elbow sleeves, and she wore
long black gloves. His frook coat fitted
very we'll. With we'll set pair Of shoulders
tailor on Second avenue can often do as
we'll as one on Filth.
Those ladies are members Of the Van
derbnt family said the spieler.
N.Y. said the rubbernecks.
The man Of the pair caught twelve pairs
OF feminine eyes on him. Figuring that
he'd made a hit, he smiled back and
bowed impudently. The rubbernecks were
covered with pleasant confusion.
just think my dear murmuTed
dowager when we get back to Omaha we
can say that a Vanderbilt spoke 20 usl'
The wagon trunded on toward the
Cathedral
The presence Of the sightseeing auto
was a new element in the annual Easter
spectacle Of Fifth avenue. Otherwise,
on the authority OF the Fifth avenue bus
drivers, who never quit their Jobs until
they die and have therefore seen its rise
and decline, it was the same old show.
The Easter walk from church OF the -eI-
clusivesS which was an institution twenty
years ago, has been tran steTTed TO the
church approaches Of half dozen ooun-
try resorts, In the churches OF Fifth
avenue, few pews were occupied by their
regular holders, but only very few. Now
and then descendants Of those who made
the Easter parade In the time OF It's glory
were picked out slipping away through
side streets. One could tell them by their
desire 70 avoid attention.
The crowd walked mostly on the west and
sunny side Of the street, for there was a
little chill In the air out OF the sun II
trooped up and down in two long lines,
which ran over on the asphalt opposite the
big churches. No one seemed to know
any one else Not two hats were raised
in a block. The people were there just
10 look at one another. So all the heads
IN one line we're turned TO meet the glADoes
II the other line. Whenever a specially
dashing Easter costume flashed out Of the
crowd, the people Of the other line craned
their necks until they were almost walking
backward
Among the new gowns, green seemed
70 be the favoTite color-green OF every
shade from a mere suggestion in the weave
q a bright apple green. The gowns that
we're not new-and these ran In bnches-
dated az far back as 1899. There was tie
woman in rusty black, her costume touched
up by a lowered hat and a pair Of white
gloves that were cleaned last Easter. There
was the Rialto delegation. the women In reds
and blues and puppies and hats like burn
ing oil wells and the men walking with
their hands behind the habit-ftted backs
OF their coats There was the gentleman
from up State In his Sunday olot hes-a
cutaway Of black diagonal and white
'oome-easy' tie. Walking in groups were
'Nllf DOuful Nh Oh in0 nall poui oolllht yOuub
clerks and students in sack suits, freshened
UP With new Easter ties. There were the
bellies Of the East Side and the beauI Of
Hoboken, persistently rubbeTing at the
most striking toilets
Every stage on the Fifth avenue line
was running the old timers as well as the
neWfangled ones with spiral staircases up
the rear. They carried few inside pas
sengers, but topsiders fairly hung over
The wheels. That con servRtive institu-
ton refused 20 bull prices. Fares. were
hve cents, first come first served, although
the drivers might have filed their outside
seats AZ q dollar a head. Wise topsC =
caught bus at the Washin gton Arch, aud
hung 10 il for three round trips. For a
grand stand view, Il was better than the
rlhberneck wagon. and much cheaper.
Oce1 hansoms were also IN demand.
Tbs congregations began TO come out
~ half past -. The real churchgoerB,
distinguished by the prayer books or the
souvenir service cards which the women
carried, crowded into the chinks Of the
procession. In front OF the churches the
outconng throngs caused the sidewalk
crowds 70 bulge out into the middle Of the
street. Through this gently moving but
Persistent crowd. the hanaorng and ttiFnouta