The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-12
SOMETHING IN THE COCKTAILS
HARD AND WHITE AND TIE La
DIES THINK THEY WERE PEARLS
But They were ne Vanishing Kihd-The
Highest oooial uruies IN BayOnne
Tern UD Over what Became o. 'Em-A
ChriSiiah ooiolos Explanation Given.

.
| Whist Club, and the highest social circles
/ In BayOnne. N. j., where the Standard OIL
stands. are convulssd.
The Harmony Whist Club Is in the highest
social circles. Il might even be said that
| the club IL the highest social circle In Bay
Onne. At least two Of the members attend
/ the meetings In their own automobiles.
and there h q haTmOnica In every house
hold. But part Of the circle has dropped
| out-resigned and won't be squared. II
| the club continues to disintegrate At its
| present rate fashionable society In Bayonns,
! proceeding upward. may top OF with a
vacuum. So, naturally II Il convulsed.
/ At the root Of the whole trouble u the
/ burning question. do pearls come in oyster
1 cocktails, and II they do, say at fashionable
I luncheon, to whom should the pearls be-
long-to the Lady who gets the cocktail.
] the hostess. or whoever first becomes con-
I vinoed Of their real valuei There IL a sub
/ sidary question as B o whether oyster cock
I tail pearls ever disintegrate Of themselves
Z and vanish iatO the circumambient ether.
I and IL 90, who shall pay the damage TO the
/ feelings Of the lady Of fashion who thought
/ abe had emf But the main issue is: Were
| the Harmony Whist Clubs pearls real
pearls and n 90, what became Of them
/ Until that u settled the club win belle lite
name
! 1t vas this way: The club was having
a meeting at the fashionable residence
/ Of Ms Yitahs Himmer In Bayonne. There
was present the president, Mrs. Robert =.
! HaWxhurst-and everybody IN Bayonns
knows who she is-the vice-president and
hostess. Mrs Vitalis Himmer, Mrs. John
( Morris Mrs. William b. Du Bots and
| some eight other social leaders. They
| played whist and then they had luncheon.
I and at luncheon oyster cocktails preceded
| the lobster salad and ice cream sandwiches.
! All went well, as It always did at Harmony
( Club meetings, until Mrs. Morris, coming
upon an uncommonly large oyster in her
/ cocktail, felt constrained to bite into the
/ same, and her teeth grated upon something
which Mrs. Morrison momentarily described
as grit, but which on being removed and
| deposited on hcr plate tor exhibition,
proved TO be twelve 10y actual county small
whitish subetarce- Of Irregular shape
and uncommon hardness.
Mrs. Morrison innocenuy called attention
to the contents Of her oyster, and some one
among the social leaders present suggested
that they might be pearls. Mrs. Morris,
never having previously discovered pearl
in an oyster, was sceptical. Mrs. \Italis
HimmeT was keenly interested. Discus
sion ragged about the hard white substances
In Mrs. Morris's cocktail One Of the
social leaders carried the plato TO the window
for a. closer inspection Mrs. Nitaiis Himmer
carried Mrs. Morris OF Upstairs for a
consultation with Mrs Himmer's mother,
who, having worn great many pearls
In her youth, might reasonably be eN-
pected to know something about 'em.
1he pearls, If they we're pearls, were left
behind.
Mrs. Himmer's mother vas slow TO give
an opinion, and when she did give one IL
was long and full Of qualifications and side
issues in the way Of things Mrs. HimmeT's
mother had heard about pearls and oysters
IN the course Of her life. SO when the two
inquirers returned TO the Harmony luncheon
party il had passed the oyster cocktails
and was In the ice cream sandwich period.
And the pearls-h they were pearls-had
vanished with the remains Of the cocktail.
Nobody thought much about that then,
looking 10 see the pearls, II such they were.
gathered up later from ;he debris Of the
feast But the queer thing about il and
the thing that has put an end 10 harmony
in the Harmony Whist Club is that no one
has ever seen those twelve hard. whitish
substances since. Mrs. Hummer says they
never left her dining room, she is sure
And not one Of the twelve Hamonists
present can or will tell what did beCome
Of 'em.
But nothing much in the way Of dis
rIptiOn occurred until the next meeting
OF the GlQDt Nnhn ONNuITeu AhHN week Z
Meantime Mrs. Nitalis Hirnmer had become |
greatly concerned about the disappearance |
OF what by this time she was convinced !
we're valuable jewels from her house. She |
consulted Mr.. Nitalis thinner, who being /,
an inventor by profession. should he an !
authority on all scientific and natural I
phenomena, and he having consulted the I
encyclopssdia became convinced that pearls /
do grow In oysters, and, therefore. these /
substances found in the oyster cocktail |
4. IL a. la
able. A an instance Of the value Of such |
pearls he cited 70 Mrs. Nitalis Thinner the |
well known finding Of a pearl valued |
at $500 in a Brooklyn restaI.fl,t oyster j
(vouched for by affidavit Of the rssta uIant /
So when the club met last week at the !
home Of Miss Du Bots, and il happened that /
the whist prize was a pearl stick pin, Mn. I
Himmer, n she were not social leader, /
might be descnhed az worked up. And
a luncheon she rose. raped solemnly on !
the table, and announced:
Ladies, l have something serious TO
Then she revived the story Of the oyster
cocktails and the finding Of he white hard
things In them, recounted the resea riches |
OF Vitalis Thinner In the encyclopedia, |
discussed the value OF the pearls-tlese |
being surely pearls-and profomded the |
oonundrlm What has become OF them1"
She emphasized this by saying that, pain |
mi as il was, only members Of the Harmony |
Club had seen them. and only members OF |
the club were present when they diSap- |
peared.
The Harmony Club was angry. The hos |
tess burst into tears. She said that, had she |
known what the clubs resps ctsd vice. |
president was going 10 say, she never, never |
would have allowed II.
why she said, its as good a. calling |
some Of US thievesl'
Most Of the club stuck by Mrs. Du Bots |
and said things TO Mrs. Himmer about her |
old pearls, which, maybe, weren't pearls |
At all. Mrs. Hlmmer and Mrs. Morris |
called for their wraps and resigned at once.
And there has been no harmony since.
Nor have the pearls turned up.
Putting aside the disappearance Of the
hsaTl which Cleopatra once dissolved In
vinegar and dranf a. inapplioable TO this
case because nobody remembers having
noticed any vinegar at the hrst Harmony Z
luncheon. the explanation Of the vanishing
cocktail pearls most readily finding oredence
In Bayonne outside Of the pertuTbed social
area II that these II pearls at all, were astral
pearls in the rough. II not, they must
have been human errors, and n Christian
thinking In the right way, prob
ably removed 'em.