Lights and Shadows of New York Life Part 6

[Picture: SAt.u.r.dAY AFTERNOON CONCERT AT CENTRAL PARK.]

The side-walks are always crowded, even in the summer, when "everybody is out of town," and this throng of pa.s.sers-by const.i.tutes one of the most attractive features of the scene. Every cla.s.s, every shade of nationality and character, is represented here. America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and even Oceanica, each has its representatives. High and low, rich and poor, pa.s.s along at a rate of speed peculiar to New York, and positively bewildering to a stranger. No one seems to think of any one but himself, and each one jostles his neighbor or brushes by him with an indifference amusing to behold. Fine gentlemen in broadcloth, ladies in silks and jewels, and beggars in squalid rags, are mingled in true Republican confusion. The bustle and uproar are very great, generally making it impossible to converse in an ordinary tone. From early morn till after midnight the throng pours on.

At night the scene is different, but still brilliant. The vehicles in the street consist almost entirely of carriages and omnibuses, each with its lamps of different colors. They go dancing down the long vista like so many fire-flies. The shop-windows are brightly lighted, and the monster hotels pour out a flood of radiance from their myriads of lamps.

Here and there a brilliant reflector at the door of some theatre, sends its dazzling white rays streaming along the street for several blocks.

Below Ca.n.a.l street Broadway is dark and silent, but above that point it is as bright as day, and fairly alive with people. Those who are out now are mostly bent on pleasure, and the street resounds with cheerful voices and merry laughter, over which occasionally rises a drunken howl.

Strains of music or bursts of applause float out on the night air from places of amus.e.m.e.nt, not all of which are reputable. Here and there a crowd has collected to listen to the music and songs of some of the wandering minstrels with which the city abounds. Gaudily painted transparencies allure the unwary to the vile concert saloons in the cellars below the street. The restaurants and _cafes_ are ablaze with light, and are liberally patronized by the lovers of good living. Here and there, sometimes alone, and sometimes in couples, you see women, mainly young, and all flas.h.i.+ly dressed, walking rapidly, with a peculiar gait, and glancing quickly but searchingly at every man they pa.s.s. You can single them out at a glance from the respectable women who happen to be out alone at this time. They are the "street walkers," seeking companions from among the pa.s.sers-by. Some of them are mere children, and the heart aches to see the poor creatures at their fearful work. The police do not allow these women to stop and converse with men on Broadway, and when they find a companion they turn off promptly into a side street, and disappear with him in the darkness.

Towards eleven o'clock the theatres pour out their throngs of spectators, who come to swell the crowd on Broadway, and for a little while the noise and confusion are almost as great as in the day. Then the restaurants will close, and the street will gradually become deserted and dark, tenanted only by the giant policemen; and for a few hours the great city will be wrapped in silence and slumber.

VI. SOCIETY.

I. a.n.a.lYTICAL.

All the world over, poverty is a misfortune. In New York it is a crime.

Here, as in no other place in the country, men struggle for wealth. They toil, they suffer privations, they plan and scheme, and execute with a persistency that often wins the success they covet. The chief effort of every man and woman in the great city is to secure wealth. Man is a social being--woman much more so--and here wealth is an absolute necessity to the enjoyment of social pleasures. Society here is organized upon a pecuniary basis, and stands not as it should upon the personal merits of those who compose it, but upon a pile of bank-books.

In other cities, poor men, who are members of families which command respect for their talents or other admirable qualities, or who have merit of their own sufficient to ent.i.tle them to such recognition, are welcomed into what are called the "Select Circles" with as much cordiality as though they were millionaires. In New York, however, men and women are judged by their bank accounts. The most illiterate boor, the most unprincipled knave finds the door of fas.h.i.+on open to him, while St. Peter himself, if he came "without purse or scrip," would see it closed in his face.

Society in New York is made up of many elements, the princ.i.p.al of which it is proposed to examine, but, unfortunately, wealth is the one thing needful in most of the cla.s.ses into which it is divided. Nor is this strange. The majority of fas.h.i.+onable people have never known any of the arts and refinements of civilization except those which mere wealth can purchase. Money raised them from the dregs of life, and they are firm believers in it. Without education, without social polish, they see themselves courted and fawned upon for their wealth, and they naturally suppose that there is nothing else "good under the sun."

Those who claim precedence base their demand upon their descent from the original Dutch settlers, and style themselves "the old Knickerbockers."

The majority of these are very wealthy, and have inherited their fortunes from their ancestors. They are owners of valuable real estate, much of which is located in the very heart of the city. The incomes derived from such property are large and certain. They are frequently persons of cultivation, and were it not for their affectation of superiority, would, as a cla.s.s, be decidedly clever people, even if many of them are stupid.

They make an effort to have their surroundings as clumsy and as old-fas.h.i.+oned as possible, as a mark of their Dutch descent. They sport crests and coats of arms such as the simple old Dutchmen of New Amsterdam never dreamed of; and rely more upon the merits of their forefathers than upon their own. They are extremely exclusive, and rarely a.s.sociate with any but those who can "show as pure a pedigree." Their disdain of those whose families are not as "old" as their own is oftentimes amusing, and subjects them to ridicule, which they bear with true Dutch stolidity.

They improve in their peculiar qualities with each generation, and the present pompous Knickerbocker who drives in the Park in solemn state in his heavy chariot, and looks down with disdain upon all whose blood is not as Dutch as his own, is a very different personage from his great ancestor, the original Knickerbocker, who hawked fish about the streets of New Amsterdam, or tanned leather down in "the swamp."

[Picture: A FAs.h.i.+ONABLE PROMENADE ON FIFTH AVENUE.]

Strange to say, the Knickerbocker cla.s.s receives fresh additions every year. Each new comer has a _Van_ to his name, and can show a string of portraits of yellow-faced worthies, in leather breeches, and ruffles, and wigs, which he points to with pride as his "ancestors." The statistician would be sorely perplexed in attempting to ascertain the number of Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam were he to trace back the pedigrees of the present Knickerbockers, for if the claims of the present generation be admitted, one of two things is sure--either the departed Dutchmen must have been more "numerous fathers" than they cared to admit at the time, or the original population has been underestimated.

The next in order are those who, while making no boast of family, are persons who have inherited large wealth from several generations of ancestors. Freed from the necessity of earning their livings, they have an abundance of leisure in which to cultivate the "small sweet courtesies of life." They are neither shoddyites nor sn.o.bs, and while there are many who do no credit to their cla.s.s, they const.i.tute one of the pleasantest portions of metropolitan society. They furnish some of the most agreeable men, and some of the most beautiful and charming women in the city. Their homes are elegant, and abound in evidences of the taste of their owners, who spend their money liberally in support of literature and the arts. Here are to be found some of the rarest works of European and American masters. Unfortunately this cla.s.s of New Yorkers is not very large. It is destined to increase, however, with the growth of wealth in the city. Good men, who have begun where the forefathers of these people started, will constantly contribute their children to swell this cla.s.s, in which will always be collected those who unite true merit to great wealth, those who are proud of their country and its inst.i.tutions, contented with its customs, and possessed of too much good sense to try to add to their importance by a ridiculous a.s.sumption of "aristocratic birth," or a pitiful imitation of the manners of the great of other lands.

The third cla.s.s may be said to consist of those who value culture and personal excellence above riches. There is not much individual wealth in this cla.s.s, but its members may be regarded as "persons in comfortable circ.u.mstances." They are better educated, have more correct tastes, and do the most to give to New York society its best and most attractive features. It is a cla.s.s to which merit is a sure pa.s.sport. It is modest and una.s.suming, free from ostentatious parade, and, fortunately, is growing rapidly. It is made up of professional men of all kinds, clergymen, lawyers, poets, authors, physicians, painters, sculptors, journalists, scientific men, and actors, and their families. Its tone is vigorous and healthy, and it is sufficiently free from forms to make it independent, and possessed of means enough to enable it to pursue its objects without hindrance.

The remainder of those who const.i.tute what is called society are the "New Rich," or as they are sometimes termed, the "Shoddyites." They const.i.tute the majority of the fas.h.i.+onables, and their influence is felt in every department of domestic life. They are ridiculed by every satirist, yet they increase. Every year makes fresh accessions to their ranks, and their follies and extravagances multiply in proportion. They occupy the majority of the mansions in the fas.h.i.+onable streets, crowd the public thoroughfares and the Park with their costly and showy equipages, and flaunt their wealth so coa.r.s.ely and offensively in the faces of their neighbors, that many good people have come to believe that riches and vulgarity are inseparable. They make themselves the most conspicuous, and are at once accepted by strangers as the "best society" of the metropolis.

They are almost without exception persons who have risen from the ranks.

This is not to their discredit. On the contrary, every American is proud to boast that this is emphatically the land of self-made men, that here it is within the power of any one to rise as high in the social or political scale as his abilities will carry him. The persons to whom we refer, however, affect to despise this. They take no pride in the inst.i.tutions which have been so beneficial to them, but look down with supreme disdain upon those who are working their way up. They are ashamed of their origin, and you cannot offend one of them more than to hint that you knew him a few years ago as a mechanic or a shopkeeper.

Some of the "fas.h.i.+onables" appear very unexpectedly before the world.

But a short while ago a family may have been living in the humbler quarter of the city, or even in a tenement house. A sudden fortunate speculation on the part of the husband, or father, may have brought them enormous wealth in the course of a few days. A change is instantly made from the humble abode to a mansion on Fifth or Madison avenue. The newly acquired wealth is liberally expended in "fitting up," and the lucky possessors of it boldly burst upon the world of fas.h.i.+on as stars of the first magnitude. They are courted by all the newly rich, and invitations to the houses of other "stars" are showered upon them. They may be rude, ignorant, uncouth in manner, but they have wealth, and that is all that is required. They are lucky indeed, if they hold their positions long.

A few manage to retain the wealth which comes to them thus suddenly, but as a rule those who are simply lucky at the outset, find Dame Fortune a very capricious G.o.ddess, and at the next turn of her wheel pa.s.s off the stage to make room for others who are soon to share the same fate.

During the oil speculations, and during the war, the shoddy cla.s.s was largely increased by those who were made suddenly and unexpectedly rich by lucky ventures in petroleum lands and stocks, and by army contracts.

Now other speculations provide recruits for this cla.s.s, to which Wall street is constantly sending fresh "stars" to blaze awhile in the firmament of society, and then to make way for others. The shoddy element is not, however, confined to those who acquire wealth with rapidity or by speculations. There are many who rise very slowly and painfully in the world, who, when blessed with fortune, throw themselves headlong into the arms of "shoddy."

It is not difficult to recognize these persons. They dress not only handsomely, but magnificently, making up in display what they lack in taste. They cover themselves with jewels, and their diamonds, worn on ordinary occasions, might in some instances rival the state gems of European sovereigns. Their rough, hard hands, coa.r.s.e faces, loud voices, bad English, and vulgar manners contrast strikingly with the splendors with which they surround themselves. They wear their honors uneasily, showing how little they are accustomed to such things. They look down with disdain upon all less fortunate in wealth than themselves, and wors.h.i.+p as demi-G.o.ds those whose bank accounts are larger than their own.

They are utterly lacking in personal dignity, and subst.i.tute for that quality a supercilious hauteur.

II. FAs.h.i.+ONABLE EXTRAVAGANCE.

Extravagance is the besetting sin of New York society. Money is absolutely thrown away. Fortunes are spent every year in dress and in all sorts of follies. Houses are fitted up and furnished in the most sumptuous style, the building and its contents being sometimes worth a million of dollars. People live up to every cent of their incomes, and often beyond them. It is no uncommon occurrence for a fine mansion, its furniture, pictures, and even the jewels of its occupants, to be pledged to some usurer for the means with which to carry on this life of luxury.

Each person strives to outdo his or her acquaintances. Those who have studied the matter find no slight cause for alarm in the rapid spread of extravagance among all cla.s.ses of the city people, for the evil is not confined to the wealthy. They might afford it, but people of moderate means, who cannot properly make such a heavy outlay, are among those most guilty of the fault.

In no other city of the land is there to be seen such magnificent dressing on the part of the ladies as in New York. The amount of money and time expended here on dress is amazing. There are two objects in view in all this--the best dressed woman at a ball or party is not only sure to outs.h.i.+ne her sisters there present, but is certain to have the satisfaction next day of seeing her magnificence celebrated in some of the city journals. Her vanity and love of distinction are both gratified in this way, and such a triumph is held to be worth any expense. There is not an evening gathering but is graced by the presence of ladies clad in a style of magnificence which reminds one of the princesses in the fairy tales. Says a recent writer:

"It is almost impossible to estimate the number of dresses a very fas.h.i.+onable woman will have. Most women in society can afford to dress as it pleases them, since they have unlimited amounts of money at their disposal. Among females dress is the princ.i.p.al part of society. What would Madam Mountain be without her laces and diamonds, or Madam Blanche without her silks and satins? Simply commonplace old women, past their prime, destined to be wall-flowers. A fas.h.i.+onable woman has just as many new dresses as the different times she goes into society. The _elite_ do not wear the same dresses twice. If you can tell us how many receptions she has in a year, how many weddings she attends, how many b.a.l.l.s she partic.i.p.ates in, how many dinners she gives, how many parties she goes to, how many operas and theatres she patronizes, we can approximate somewhat to the size and cost of her wardrobe. It is not unreasonable to suppose that she has two new dresses of some sort for every day in the year, or 720. Now to purchase all these, to order them made, and to put them on afterward, consumes a vast amount of time. Indeed, the woman of society does little but don and doff dry-goods. For a few brief hours she flutters the latest tint and _mode_ in the glare of the gas-light, and then repeats the same operation the next night. She must have one or two velvet dresses which cannot cost less than $500 each; she must possess thousands of dollars' worth of laces, in the shape of flounces, to loop up over the skirts of dresses, as occasion shall require.

Walking-dresses cost from $50 to $300; ball-dresses are frequently imported from Paris at a cost of from $500 to a $1000; while wedding-dresses may cost from $1000 to $5000. Nice white Llama jackets can be had for $60; _robes princesse_, or overskirts of lace, are worth from $60 to $200. Then there are travelling-dresses in black silk, in pongee, velour, in pique, which range in price from $75 to $175. Then there are evening robes in Swiss muslin, robes in linen for the garden and croquet-playing, dresses for horse-races and for yacht-races, _robes de nuit_ and _robes de chambre_, dresses for breakfast and for dinner, dresses for receptions and for parties, dresses for watering-places, and dresses for all possible occasions. A lady going to the Springs takes from twenty to sixty dresses, and fills an enormous number of Saratoga trunks. They are of every possible fabric--from Hindoo muslin, 'gaze de soie,' c.r.a.pe maretz, to the heavy silks of Lyons.

"We know the wife of the editor of one of the great morning newspapers of New York, now travelling in Europe, whose dress-making bill in one year was $10,000! What her dry-goods bill amounted to heaven and her husband only know. She was once stopping at a summer hotel, and such was her anxiety to always appear in a new dress that she would frequently come down to dinner with a dress basted together just strong enough to last while she disposed of a little turtle-soup, a little Charlotte de Russe, and a little ice cream.

"Mrs. Judge ---, of New York, is considered one of the 'queens of fas.h.i.+on.' She is a goodly-sized lady--not quite so tall as Miss Anna Swan, of Nova Scotia--and she has the happy faculty of piling more dry-goods upon her person than any other lady in the city; and what is more, she keeps on doing it. To give the reader a taste of her quality, it is only necessary to describe a dress she wore at the Dramatic Fund Ball, not many years ago. There was a rich blue satin skirt, _en train_.

Over this there was looped up a magnificent brocade silk, white, with bouquets of flowers woven in all the natural colors. This overskirt was deeply flounced with costly white lace, caught up with bunches of feathers of bright colors. About her shoulders was thrown a fifteen-hundred dollar shawl. She had a head-dress of white ostrich feathers, white lace, gold pendants, and purple velvet. Add to all this a fan, a bouquet of rare flowers, a lace handkerchief, and jewelry almost beyond estimate, and you see Mrs. Judge --- as she appears when full blown.

"Mrs. General --- is a lady who goes into society a great deal. She has a new dress for every occasion. The following costume appeared at the Charity Ball, which is _the_ great ball of the year in New York. It was imported from Paris for the occasion, and was made of white satin, point lace, and a profusion of flowers. The skirt had heavy flutings of satin around the bottom, and the lace flounces were looped up at the sides with bands of the most beautiful pinks, roses, lilies, forget-me-nots, and other flowers.

"It is nothing uncommon to meet in New York society ladies who have on dry-goods and jewelry to the value of from thirty to fifty thousand dollars. Dress patterns of twilled satin, the ground pale green, pearl, melon color, or white, scattered with sprays of flowers in raised velvet, sell for $300 dollars each; violet poult de soie will sell for $12 dollars a yard; a figured moire will sell for $200 the pattern; a pearl-colored silk, trimmed with point applique lace, sells for $1000; and so we might go on to an almost indefinite length."

Those who think this an exaggerated picture have only to apply to the proprietor of any first-cla.s.s city dry-goods store, and he will confirm its truthfulness. These gentlemen will tell you that while their sales of staple goods are heavy, they are proportionately lighter than the sales of articles of pure luxury. At Stewart's the average sales of silks, laces, velvets, shawls, gloves, furs, and embroideries is about $24,500 per diem. The sales of silks alone average about $15,000 per diem.

A few years ago the dwelling of a wealthy citizen of New York was consumed by fire. The owner of the mansion soon after applied to a prominent Insurance Company for the payment of the sum of $21,000, the amount of the risk they had taken on the wearing apparel of his daughter, a young lady well known in society for the splendor of her attire. The company refused to pay so large a sum, and protested that the lady in question could not have possessed so costly a wardrobe. Suit was brought by the claimant, and, as a matter of course, an enumeration of the articles destroyed and their value was made to the court. The list was as follows, and is interesting as showing the mysteries of a fas.h.i.+onable lady's wardrobe:

6 silk robes--red, enamelled, $950 green, blue, yellow, pink, black--with fringes, ruches, velvets, lace tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, etc.

1 blue Marie Louise 300 gros-de-Naples, brocaded with silver taken from the looms of Lyons; cost, without a st.i.tch in it Silver bullion fringe ta.s.sels and 200 real lace to match 1 rose-colored satin, brocaded in $400 white velvet, with deep flounce of real blonde lace, half-yard wide; sleeves and bertha richly trimmed with the same rose-colored satin ribbon; satin on each side, with silk cord and ta.s.sel; lined throughout body, skirt and sleeves with white silk 1 white satin of exceedingly rich 2500 quality, trimmed with blonde and bugles; two flounces of very deep point d'Alencon, sleeves of the same, reaching down to the elbows, and bertha to match, with white bugles and blonde to match 1 royal blue satin dress, 1500 trimmed, ap.r.o.n-shape, with black Brussels lace and gold and bugle tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, with one flounce, going all around the skirt, of black Brussels lace; body and sleeves to match; sleeves looped up with blue velvet roses set in lace, to imitate a bouquet 1 dove-colored satin dress, 425 trimmed with velvet, half-yard deep; a long trail with the velvet going all around, with llama fringe and dove-colored acorns, forming a heading to the velvet, and going all up the skirt and around the long Greek sleeves; the sleeves lined with white satin and quills of silver ribbon going around the throat; lined throughout with white silk, having belonging to it a cloak and hood, lined and trimmed to match; made in Paris 1 black Mantua velvet robe, long 500 train, sleeves hanging down as far as the knees, open, lined with white satin, and trimmed all round with seed-pearls, as well as all round the top of low body--the seed-pearls forming cl.u.s.ters of leaves going down front of skirt and all round the skirt and train 1 rich moire-antique dress, 400 embroidered in gold from the body to the skirt and sleeves and all round, taken up and fastened up with gold embroidery to imitate the folds and wrinkles of the dress, trimmed round the edge with white Brussels lace, having an underskirt of amber satin trimmed with Brussels lace, to show underneath; lined throughout with silk 1 large Brussels shawl, of 700 exquisite fineness and elegance of design, to go with it 1 crimson velvet dress, lined 400 throughout with rose-colored silk; train very long, trimmed with rich silk, blonde lace covering the entire train, being carried around and brought up the front of the dress and body, forming the bertha; and sleeves looped up with white roses; turquoise fan and slippers to match 1 blue mercantique (lined), low 200 body, trimmed with Honiton lace, body and sleeves; one piece of silk to match, unmade, intended for high body, and bons; sleeves slashed open and lined with white satin 1 rose-colored robe, with $250 flounces; high and low body, having fringe and tr.i.m.m.i.n.g woven to imitate Russian fur; both bodies trimmed with fringe ribbons and narrow lace 1 mauve-colored glace silk, 180 braided and bugled all around the bottom of skirt, on the front of body, around the band of Garibaldi body, down the sleeves and round the cuffs of Garibaldi body; the low body, with bertha deeply braided and bugled, with sleeves to match; long sash, with end and bows and belts, all richly braided and bugled with thread lace 1 vraie couleur de rose 300 gros-de-Naples, with flounces richly brocaded with bouquet in natural size and color, made to represent the same in panels, trimmed with gimp and fringe to match; also, high and low body, with bertha and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs to match 1 pink morning robe, very superb, 250 trimmed down the side with white satin a quarter of a yard wide, sleeves trimmed to match, satin-st.i.tched, with flounces in pink silk on edge of satin, pa.s.s.e.m.e.nterie cord and ta.s.sels 1 gold-colored silk aersphane, 100 with three skirts, each skirt trimmed with quillings of yellow satin ribbon, looped up with pink roses: body to match, trimmed with silk blonde; white blonde round the neck; satin quillings; silk blonde on the sleeves, and lace and yellow satin; rich underskirt to match 2 very richly embroidered French 100 cambric morning-dresses, with bullion and heavy satin ribbons running through; one lined throughout with pink, the other with blue silk 1 rich black silk glace, trimmed 200 with bugles and black velvet 1 blue-black Irish silk poplin, 125 made in Gabrielle style, trimmed with scarlet velvet all round the skirt; sleeves and body-belt and buckle to match 1 Cashmere, shawl pattern, 100 morning-dress, lined; sleeves and flies lined with red silk, cord and ta.s.sels to match; not twice on 1 white Swiss muslin, with double 90 skirt and ribbon running through the upper and lower hems of each skirt, of pink satin; body with Greek sleeves to match 1 straw-colored silk dress, 80 trimmed with black velvet, and body of the same 1 white Swiss muslin robe, with 95 one plain skirt and one above, graduated by larger and smaller tucks to imitate three flounces; the sleeves with puffs, and long sleeves with tucks, down and across to match skirts, and Garibaldi body made to match; one pink satin under-body to go with it 1 white Swiss muslin dress, with 90 three flounces, quilled and tucked, graduated one above the other, with headings of lace on the top of each flounce; low body, with tuck, bretelles and broad colored sarsnet ribbon 1 India muslin dress, very full, $110 embroidered to imitate three flounces; and Greek body and sleeves, also embroidered to match sky-blue skirt and body to go underneath 1 India muslin dress, double 90 skirt, richly embroidered, with high jacket and long sleeves embroidered to match 1 pink satin skirt and bodice, to 25 go underneath 1 white long morning dress, 60 embroidered round the skirt and up the front, in two flounces, one hanging over the other; sleeves and cuffs to match 1 white muslin, with white spots, 80 skirt and bodice trimmed with bullion and narrow real Valenciennes lace 2 white cambric morning-dresses, 275 one very richly embroidered, in wheels and flounces; and jacket to match 1 white Swiss muslin jacket, very 100 richly embroidered; skirt and bodice to match 3 cambric tight-fitting jackets, 120 with collar and sleeves very richly embroidered, to imitate old Spanish point 5 Marie Antoinettes, made 300 entirely of French muslin, with triple bullion and double face; pink satin ribbon running through. Cost $60 each 1 pique morning dress and jacket, 75 richly embroidered 1 pique skirt, richly embroidered 50 6 fine Swiss muslin skirts, four 55 yards in each, trimmed with two rows of real lace, to set in full, finely finished 2 very rich bastistes, for 120 morning-dresses 2 very fine cambric skirts, 60 delicately embroidered, to wear with open morning-dresses 2 fine linen skirts, embroidered 40 in open work 2 silk grenadine dresses, trimmed 200 with Maltese lace and velvet; two bodices to match, blue and green 2 silk bareges, trimmed with 200 velvet and fringe, and bodice to match 1 Scotch catlin silk full dress, 100 Stewart, trimmed with black velvet and fringe, made to match colors of dress 3 Balmoral skirts, very elegant, 90 embroidered in silk 1 ponceau silk dress, trimmed 250 with llama fringe and gold b.a.l.l.s; body and sleeves very richly trimmed to match 1 blue silk to match, trimmed 250 with steel fringe and bugles; body and sleeves richly trimmed 1 French muslin jacket, with 40 lapels and sleeves to turn back, very heavily embroidered 1 set point d'Alencon, consisting 120 of s.h.i.+rt sleeves, handkerchief, and collar 1 point d'Alencon extra large 100 handkerchief 1 set Honiton lace, consisting of $80 handkerchief, collar, and sleeves 1 set Maltese lace, consisting of 300 handkerchief, collar, velvet cape 1 set Irish point lace, very 80 rich, consisting of wide, deep sleeves, handkerchief and collar 1 cape of ditto, going up to the 35 neck and shut at the back 2 black lace mantillas 40 1 black lace jacket 15 1 cape, composed of Valenciennes 75 lace 2 dozen very rich embroidered 120 cambric chemises, with lace 6 ditto, with puffed bullions in 100 front 18 Irish linen chemises, with 200 very rich fronts 7 Irish linen, embroidered 40 1 dozen night-dresses, very rich 216 fronts 3 linen ditto, very rich 75 1 dozen embroidered drawers 72 2 very rich ditto 50 11 new pairs silk stockings, in 40 box 1 dozen Lisle thread stockings 20 9 pairs boots and shoes 45 3 pairs embroidered slippers, 40 very rich, in gold 1 pair Irish point lace sleeves 30 (extra) 1 black velvet embroidered 450 mantilla, imported 1 ditto, silk, embroidered with 100 bugles, imported 1 glace silk, tight-fitting 65 basque, with black zeplore lace cape; trimmed in every width with narrow lace to match 1 black silk Arab, with two 25 ta.s.sels 1 dust-wrapper, from Cashmere 18 4 magnificent opera-cloaks 175 1 red scarlet cloth cloak, 12 trimmed with yellow cord 1 cloth, drab-color cloak 8 1 cloak, with hood lined with 10 silk 2 dozen cambric, embroidered, 24 with name f.a.n.n.y 1 set Russian sable m.u.f.fs, cape 100 and boa 1 tortoise sh.e.l.l comb, made in 50 one piece and very rich 6 fancy combs 30 1 very rich mother-of-pearl, gold 85 inlaid, and vol. feathers beautifully painted by hand 1 fan of mother-of pearl, inlaid 45 in gold, with silk and white and Job's spangles 1 blue mother-of-pearl, with 35 looking-gla.s.s; imitation ruby and emeralds 6 other fans, of various kinds 25 1 parasol, all ivory handle 100 throughout, engraved with name in full, covering of silk and Irish point lace, very fine, covering the entire parasol Several other parasols $25 1 real gold head-ornament, 100 representing the comet and eclipse appearing About twenty hair-nets, silver, 40 gold, and all colors and pearls 4 ladies' bonnets, some 100 exceedingly elegant 1 box marabout feathers, for 50 dressing the hair 1 box artificial flowers l5 1 lot new ribbon, for sashes; 35 velvet, silk, and satin 1 small miniature model piano, 50 played by mechanism, from Vienna 1 lady's writing-desk, inlaid 200 with tortoise-sh.e.l.l and mother-of-pearl, lined with silk velvet, with compartments and secretary; carved mother-of-pearl paper-knife, gold seal, gold pencil, case full of fancy writing paper; made in Paris 1 bula work-box, elegant; inlaid 125 with silver and lined with ci-satin, fitted with gold thimble, needle, scissors, pen-knife, gold bodkin, cotton winders; outside to match French piano 1 long knitting-case to match the 40 above, fitted with needles, beads and silk of every description 1 papier-mache work-box, and 5 fitted up 1 morocco work-bag, ornamented 3 with bright steel; fitted up with scissors, thimble, etc 1 lady's Russia leather 15 shopping-bag, with silver and gilt clasps for chain and key 1 18-karat gold filigree 20 card-case 1 set gold whist-markers, in 50 hands on little box, a present unto her 1 lady's small work-bag, silk 5 fittings 1 solid silver porte-monnaie 19 1 little blue porte-monnaie; 3 velvet, and cords and ta.s.sel 1 ladies' companion, with fixings 45 in silver; a present 1 hair-pin stand; a small 14 book-case, with small drawers and mirror 1 basket of mother-of-pearl, and 35 gilt and red satin, full of wax-flowers 1 elegant Bible in gilt, edge 30 mounted in gold 43 volumes various miniature 100 books, bound most elegantly in morocco, and brought as a present from Europe 1 silver pin-cus.h.i.+on and sewer 23 for fastening on the table 1 elegant, richly carved ivory 400 work-table, brought from Mexico, inside fitted up with silk and different compartments, standing three feet high 1 lady's solid silver rutler, 25 from Mexico 1 gilt head-ornament, 3 representing a dagger 1 lady's English dressing-case, $250 solid silver fittings, English make and stamp, rosewood, bound with bra.s.s and gilt, fitted and lined with silver 1 pair rich carved ivory hair 155 brushes, engraved with name and crest 1 ditto engraved and crest 55 1 small ivory hair-brush 12 1 ebony hair-brush, inlaid with 20 mother-of-pearl 1 Berlin-wool worked cus.h.i.+on 50 1 sewing-chair, elegantly 75 embroidered seat and back 1 Berlin-wool Affghan 100 1 fire-screen, Berlin work, 125 beads, representing Charles II.

hunting 1 large sole-leather trunk, about 250 four feet long and three feet deep, lined with red morocco, handsomely ornamented in gold, embossed on the red morocco, with seven compartments; very scientifically constructed for the necessities of a lady's wardrobe, with springs to hold open each compartment; and the lace compartment could, at pleasure, be rested on two steel legs, covered with gilt embossed morocco, representing a writing table, with a portfolio, containing writing materials; it had two large French patent locks 1 lady's travelling trunk, with 73 cover, containing a quant.i.ty of worn dresses, zouave cloth and gold, druided jacket cloaks, woollen ditto, opera cloak, etc Total $21,000

Such lavish expenditure is a natural consequence of a state of society where wealth is the main distinction. Mrs. John Smith's position as a leader of the _ton_ is due exclusively to her great riches and her elaborate displays. Mrs. Richard Roe will naturally try to outs.h.i.+ne her, and thus rise above her in the social scale. Many persons seeking admission into such society, and finding wealth the only requisite, will make any sacrifice to accomplish their end. If they have not wealth they will affect to have it. They could not counterfeit good birth, or high breeding, but they can a.s.sume the appearance of being wealthy. They can conduct themselves, for a while at least, in a manner utterly disproportioned to their means, and so they go on, until their funds and credit being exhausted, they are forced to drop out of the circles in which they have moved, and the so-called friends who valued them only for their supposed wealth, instantly forget that they ever knew them. No more invitations are left for them, they are not even tolerated in "good society," and are "cut" on the street as a matter of course.

Not a year pa.s.ses but records the failure of some prominent business man in New York. His friends are sorry for him, and admit that he was prudent and industrious in his business. "His family did it," they tell you, shaking their heads. "They lived too fast. Took too much money to run the house, to dress, and to keep up in society." Only the All Seeing Eye can tell how many men who stand well in the mercantile community are tortured continually by the thought that their extravagance or that of their families is bringing them to sure and certain ruin; for not even in New York can a man live beyond his actual means. They have not the moral courage to live within their legitimate incomes. To do so would be to lose their positions in society, and they go on straining every nerve to meet the demands upon them, and then the crash comes, and they are ruined.

Those who dwell in the great city, and watch its ways with observant eyes, see many evils directly attributable to the sin of extravagance.

These evils are not entirely of a pecuniary nature. There are others of a more terrible character. Keen observers see every day women whose husbands and fathers are in receipt of limited incomes, dressing as if their means were unlimited. All this magnificence is not purchased out of the lawful income of the husband or father. The excess is made up in other ways--often by the sacrifice of the woman's virtue. She finds a man willing to pay liberally for her favors, and carries on an intrigue with him, keeping her confiding husband in ignorance of it all the while.

She may have more than one lover--perhaps a dozen. When a woman sins from motives such as these, she does not stop to count the cost. Her sole object is to get money, _and she gets it_. It is this cla.s.s of nominally virtuous married and unmarried women that support the infamous houses of a.s.signation to be found in the city.

The curse of extravagance does not manifest itself in dress alone. One cannot enter the residence of a single well-to-do person in the city without seeing evidences of it. The house is loaded with the richest and rarest of articles, all intended for show, and which are oftentimes arranged without the least regard to taste. The object is to make the house indicate as much wealth on the part of its owner as possible. It makes but little difference whether the articles are worth what was paid for them, or whether they are arranged artistically--if the sum total is great, the owner is satisfied. It is a common thing to see the walls of some elegant mansion disfigured with frescoes, which, though executed at an enormous cost, are utterly without merit or taste. Again one sees dozens of paintings, bought for works of the old masters, lining the walls of the richest mansions of the city, which are the merest daubs, and the works of the most unscrupulous Bohemians. Not long since, a collection of paintings was offered for sale in New York, the owner being dead. They had been collected at great expense, and were the pride of their former owner. With a few exceptions they were wretched copies, and in the whole lot, over five hundred in number, there were not six genuine "old masters," or "masters" of any age.

Entertainments are given in the most costly style. From ten to twenty thousand dollars are spent in a single evening in this way. At a fas.h.i.+onable party from twelve to fifteen hundred dollars' worth of champagne is consumed, besides other wines and liquors. Breakfasts are given at a cost of from one to three thousand dollars; suppers at a still higher cost. This represents the expense to the host of the entertainment; but does not cover the cost of the toilettes to be provided for the family, which make up several thousand dollars more.

Suppers or dinners are favorite entertainments, and the outlay required for them is oftentimes very heavy. The host frequently provides nothing but viands imported from foreign lands. Sets of china of great cost, or of silver equally expensive, or even of gold, are displayed ostentatiously. Sometimes the supper-room is entirely refitted in red, blue, or gold, everything, even the lights and flowers, being of one color, in order that the affair may be known as Mrs. A---'s red, blue, or gold supper. Some of the most extravagant entertainers will place at the side of each cover an exquisite bouquet inside of which is a costly present of jewelry.

All this reckless expenditure in the midst of so much sorrow and suffering in the great city! "The bitter cold of winter," says the Manager of the 'Children's Aid Society,' in his appeal for help, "and the freezing storms have come upon thousands of the poor children of this city, unprepared. They are sleeping in boxes, or skulking in doorways, or s.h.i.+vering in cellars without proper clothing, or shoes, and but half-fed. Many come bare-footed through the snow to our industrial schools. Children have been known to fall fainting on the floor of these schools through want of food. Hundreds enter our lodging-houses every night, who have no home. Hundreds apply to our office for a place in the country, who are ragged, half-starved, and utterly unbefriended."