Year: 1874

travagance- Patrick's Day and tn,


Irish-Street Musicians.


NEW YORK. March %. 1874.


Your readers have mostly forgotten
Stokes, and with him Jim Fisk. Well,
such l. life. The hero of to-day Is for
gotten Tomorrow. Fisk lies in his bloody
grave at BrattlebOro; Stokes Is in Sing
sing PRISON, but no one mentions them
now L ran up TO Sing-Sing the other
day. and saw Stokes. He is employed
IN the prison as bOOk-keeper for the
great boot and shoe manufacturing house
OF Melus, Trask L Ripley. of this city.
who employ tie labor of an immense
number of eOnviets. Stokes tenaeiousIv
cllngS TO the account he gives as a Wit
ness IN his own behalf during the trial
He contends that his meeting with Fisk
at the Grand Central Hotel was OWING
to accident, and not TO any premeditated
design to encounter his enemy and shoot
him, as the prosecution claimed. Stokes
says that when he caught sight of Fisk
the latter was approaching him with
( speed. He added that he saw Fisk pull
| his pistol, and it was owing to the i'm
| pulse of the moment-the instinct of
self serEatiOH-that- he drew his own
| weapon and fired. After diScharging
his revolver, he jumped out of range. and
gave the alarm to the attaches of the
hotel He is well treated, and does not
complain, but it is evident that the
change from the life of excitement in the
city to the routine life he is compelled
TO lead is telling upon him. He said to
Mr.. Trask, of the firm in whose service
h. e. I,
to change places with him.


You are as well off as you are, said
the philOsOphie merchant Indeed,
your situation is preferable to mine
You work so many hours and get excel
lent food and comfortable clothing. The
change in fashions don't affect you, and
you have no cares on your mind; you
work, eat and sleep. That is all get for
nearly twice as many hours labor and
million times more worry"


And speaking of


HARD-wORKED MIN,


there are no men in the world who labor
so hard as the merchants of New York.
The life of the average merchant is not
as pleasant as that of the dray horse, for
he has more physical labor, and the
mental worry thrown in. With ex-
penses running into the thousands per
week, with an interest account of Brob-
dignagian proportions, with his cap
ital scattered all over the United States,
and his sOlvency depending entirely on
the sOlvency and promptness of ten
thousand other men, some of whom are
four thousand miles away, the trouble
surrounding him is perpetual He is
ia1 fr,h hsa q
eight A. NJ. and from that on till night,
it is one perpetual strain. Every nerve
in him is strung to the utmost tension,
for mistake or a neglect in the smallest
matter may bring upon him ruin. They
grow prematurely gray and nine-tenths
of them die before their time And the
trouble is that out of every hundred,
ninety-five end their business career with
nothing. 1t is twenty-five years of labor
and trouble and worry, only to go out
finally in a panic, which they had moth
ing to do with, and which they could
not prevent or provide against.


SOCIETY"


What is called Society in New York,
is a queer thing. The great city is full
of people who have made money rapidly,
and whose principal desire is to figure
in what they call Society that is to
say, to be recognized as people of fashion
to have their wealth recognized, and
to have a certain status among the up
per-crust The real aristOcracy are COM
PEELED to recognize these new creations
to a certain extent, for the Almighty
Dollar has n power anywhere in this
world. A little lawsuit in one of the
courts of the city the other day devel-
oped some of the ways by which the
shOddy aristOcrats attain their nOtOriety.
These papers give accounts of ladies
present at certain balls, and their toll
ettes-fOr a consideration. They have
a regular scale of prices which the fash
iOnables pay. A mere modest mention
costs so; complimentary adjective or
two thrown judiciOusly in as to the lady's
beauty, adds a five dollar note to the
bill; minute description of toilette
brings up the expense to S35, and a full
description, from the white slipper to
the top dressing, costs from $50 to SIS.
At one ball a husband had agreed with
one of the reporters Tor a description of
his wife, with which ne was displeased
when it appeared, and he refused to pay.
the reporter took his revenge by suing
him, and as he could prove contract he
got Judgment.


''Will not this expose ruin your bust
ness" | inquired.


Not at all, was his reply, lit will
increase it, for it will show them all
where they can get good accounts. But
it has killed Mr. and Mrs. Y Every
body knows TO a dead certainty that
they contracted for my effort 10 make
her appear as she desired-and all their
kind friends will know that everything
that is done for her hereafter is a matter
of contract. They don't care what peo-
pie think, for they are shoddy, but they
dread proof"


And as the fellows paper has been full
of such work since, | rather think he
was right in his conjecture as to the
effect of his procedure.


Speaking of fashion. and the shams
that seems TO be a part of it, lady adj
vertises for employment as an ''Orna-
mental guest" She offers TO assist at
dinner or evening parties, and by her
grace, wit and beauty contribute to the
entertainment of the company She
will do everything in the highest style of
art. but will expect a handsome cOmpen-
satiOn for her unique services.


You see you can get anything in New
York for money.


TEMPERANCE.


Fulton. the Baptist pulpit orator, Tai
madge, and other preachers of the sensa-
tiOnal order. are attempting to inaugur-
ate the movements here that the women
Of the West have made 80 successful
But il cannot be made TO work here
The ruin interest is 80 strengths devo-
tees are so hardened and lawless, and
what is more. the men of the city are 50
fearfully taken up by their business, that
there can never be the swell created
necessary TO carry forward such work
But the women of New York and Brook
Ivn are doing a splendid work, neverthe-
less. They are taking drinking men by
the hand and helping them into better
life. and by working in this way may
have actually reformed thousands, and
closed dOggeries by cutting OIL their Gus
tom. The air Is full Of opposition 10
ruin. and IL cannot b. but that some good
will come out Of the movement.


EXTRAvAGANCE.


lady blazed all over with diamonds
at a Fifth avenue party last week On
each shoulder she had four stars, the
size Of a dollar. made Of diamonds. Her
hair was set thickly with diamonds.
There was diamond bandeau upon her
brow. She mad diamond earrings and
diamond necklace Upon the sides of
her chest were two circles Of diamonds.
From them depended lines and curves of
diamonds reaching TO her waist, round
which She wore a diamond girdIe On
her skirts in front were large peacOcks,