Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-07
NEWS OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON
In AND ABOUT GAY NEW YORK

Special Correspondence of The Herald.
NEW YORK, Dec. 2S.-Quiet we'd
dings are now in vogue among the
fashionables of Gotham and it is prob
able this winter will see many couples
who entered the world with a silver
spoon or whole service in their mouths
stand before the matrimonial altar at
tended with as little pomp as good
grace will permit. The day of the
big wedding among the "400," many
of whom trace their ancestry back to
old one-legged Peter Stuyvesant AMI
others of the pioneer settlers of the
Dutch colony Of New Amsterdam, is
almost thing of the past. Possibly
the reason for this is that large
wedding causes much heart burning
and i'll feeling. A few years ago it
was an ordinary society wedding that
was not attended by 600 invited guests,
while this season many of the young
lights of the ultra-fashionable FAC
tions" have merged their rays and the
friends of the bride and groom were
not cognizant of the marriages until
they received announcement cards.
These marriages, remember, were not
elopements. A few years ago entirely
The young people were primarily re-
sponsible for this. When the bride
arrived at the church it was with a
feeling of nervousness. Possibly she
feared she would not be equal to the
scrutiny of the hundreds of critical
eyes when she walked down the center
aisle. Then, serious drawback to the
large wedding is the fact that the
bride might, perchance, be a member
nf mn -olIT TCtxr ta1 e.oE f1Nn
groom a -the-wool adherent of
another. She objects to the presence
Of many of his friends at the wedding
and he, of course, has the same priVi
lege to insist upon the absence of some
of hers. This fact alone is responsible
for number of quiet fashionable we'd
dings this season. The bride-elect does
not wish to offend his friends by slight
ing them. and it is far beyond his de-
sire to ignore hers in not sending them
an invitation.
The East Side Dance Halls
That picturesque district on the east
side, near the Bowery, commonly
known as the "Ghetto," has more
dance halls in an area of five acres
than any other district in the world,
including the rough spots of old Lon
don. There are nearly one hundred
dance halls in the Ghetto today. They
run up the scale Of respectability from
the narrow, unventilated shop loft to
the spacious, well-lighted hall with
waxed floors; but in nearly all of them
a bar is attached to the dancing
schools" as these dance halls are
known, where hard" and soft" drinks
are lsold. The halls are nightly filled
with whirling young men and women.
The Ghetto's appetite for dancing
seems Unsuitable and every week wit
nesses the conversion of some shop,
large room, assembly han or store into
a place where dancing may be carried
on. The reasons for the persistent de-
mand for diversion are not hard to
seek. They lie in the very roots of
the eastside, which is populated by the
foreign working element; where dwell
the toilers Of the factories and the
sweatshops. The Ghetto contains more
than half a million persons and possibly
one-third of this number have no per-
manent home-that is, they live with
neither parents nor near relatives. They
floating population moored to the
Ghetto. For them the sweet comforts
of home life are unknown. The board
ers, men and women alike. occupy a
cheap hall bedroom or more usually
merely bed in one of the living rooms
of some poor. family, because usually
the home is helped considerably by the
few dollars they pay The Ghetto girl
coming from the foreign country has
never been to a dance in her life, has
never dreamed of a dance hall, does
not even know anything about skipping
the light fantastic, having spent most
of her time in the kitchen or working
on farm. When she comes to New
York from sunrise to sunset she is
buried in dark shop or noisy factory;
her life undergoes but little change.
But she soon discovers that in dance
hall. with its enticing music, its illum-
lnation, Its hilarity, she is somebody
She is courted and fllrted. All this Is
new and pleasing to her. The same
conditions prevail with the young male
foreigner who takes an abode in the
Ghetto. The dancing in the Ghetto
halls usually keeps up until midnight
on week days, on Fridays and Satur-
days much later. On Sundays it IS
kept up from in the afternoon till the
small hours OF the morning. After a
hard days work the young men and
women of the Ghetto eat a frugal sup
per. discard their rough working
clothes for glad rags and start for the
dance halls. They dance until they
are scarcely able to stand on their feet,
then go home, snatch a few hours
sleep and begin another hard days toll
In the sweatshops and factories.
One Economical College Son
There is at least one father who will
hereafter combat the generally accept
ed belief that college life is not con-
ducive to economy. On the arrival of a
student from one Of the New England
colleges today his wealthy father dined
him at the Waldorf-Astoria. Nothing