Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, February 13, 1887, Page 12

CONCERNING THE CARNIVALS. @eneral Badean Tells Interesting Stories of Lenten Sorvices in Different Lands, SHROVE-TIDE SINGULARITIES, The Celebrations in New York — Washington a Saintly City— Southern Catholic Countrics e Passion Play, New Yonk, Feb.10, —[Correspondence of the Bik.|—After us, the deluge. After the carnival, Lent; and the carvival is eoming. There are all the signs in the so- eial horizon. ‘T'he balls and parties grow thicker and faster, and in the little world | that calls itself society in New York,peo- le arc already beginning to count the ays (or the nights) before the giday round of pleasure will stand still; or, as the elder people perhaps would say, till the tiresome treadmill of dissipation halts for a while. Now York, however, is very little of a Catholic city; there is, itis true, a large Catholic population, but this does not aftect the public hite of streets, or busi- ness, or shows, and th b of society 18 hardly more than crossed by the Catho- lic element. It is not Romanism that make the carnival regarded or Lenten ob- servunces noticeable. But in colonial days, the Church of England i New York was the church of ‘the important people, of the aristocracy, and the tradi- tion lingers among those who wish to ap- ar as of older family, so that many who ave neither religion, nor family,areglad to put on the show of both by keeping fast and fostival far more scrupulously th the colonists, or the Church of England ever celebrated either. But besides the ‘et upon perhaps half a thousand of daneing fashionables and their imitators. there is no appre ciable observance here that a strang would be struck with. The only carnival is o kirmess within doors, or ni [y ball or two more next week t t. After Shrove Tuesday, the churches, Catholic and Episcopal, will be open daily, and a few of the devout will attend mormng and evening prayer: but a mil- lion of “the inhabitants of New York will never know one ecclesiastical season ~ from the othe THE RELIGIOUS CATVITAT In Washington the fashionable world marks the diflerence more strongly than here; religion there 18 more the mode; more people o to church on week days, (lurm;i Lent. A few even refrain, for forty days, from cards and theatry well as balls, and every woman who ires to be considercd fashionable serupt ously keeps her spring bonnet b till Easter n Washington, is a smaller ‘town; the people who think they are th world (and 1n Washington they ure the import- ant folk), live nearer together and fre- quent for the most part the same place: of worship, so that the faithful may be counted going to their devotion knows which women of fashion are assid- nons, and which young men stand at the church doors of afternoons, waiting for the fair penitents to appear. But that is all there is of it--all th ny but priests and real penitents know. Doubtless there are many truly devout who are faithful in all that a lenten season means for such; but these do not take high seats in the synagogues, nor stand at the corners of streets to be seen of men—young or old. Then too, there is no state religion. Government is not aflected by Lent or carnival; and in Washington that means | & great d politicians, high or low, would take the communion twice a day to get a piace or keep one, Perhaps they would not fast; but Laypily there is o need to test them. T NGLAND, for all its Establi ns less ob: ND. hed ance from I In England, Church, Lent ob socioty than here. Dinners are certainly just as frequent, recentions numer- ous after Ash Wedncsday as before; and if there are no balls, 'tis notfrom scrupu- Josity, but beea the great London sea- | son does not fairly begin till after Easter Many of the grandest houses are not open till then, their owners preferring to re main in the country;*and all those who ean afford to a month or two in town, defer their visit till fashion and olitics return from their Easter holiday. went to London life di rom Wi 'l)x- ington, and was strue \ the ignoring of Lent by the high 1 ind soc })eop]c of England. As for the carnival, it is unknown. Even the word is not a common in England as here, and the celebration does not exist, ‘There 15 a profound political reason for all this—an historieal eause; for fashion often its basis in politics: govern- ments been upset by a necklace, and dynasties established by a dance. Since the time of James I, when the Whig ari cy overthrew the Cathol king, protestantism has been de rigueur an England, and everything thatsmacked of popery was as unpopular until within a very few years, in the highest circles, as it stillis lower down. Guy Fawkes is burned, even yet, in the streets, b | children, and Cardinal Manning’s pri | tence to outrank the English Bishops resented by the entire nobility. Too “strict an obseryance of Lent was long r rded as indieating a leaning toward me; the aristocracy frown on fast- g, and purposely danced when papists | prayed, and the result is scen in London Boeiety to-day. WHERE KING CARNIVAL REIGNS, One must go to a Catholic conntry and now-a-days to a southern one, to find the CArNIVal Paris has _almost forgotten ' Mardi Gras, though New Orleans still ‘keeps up the fete. Even at Rome the historical mummery and masking, the races in the Corso, the illumimations 81, Peter’s, are fading out like the can- dles that every one "blew in his neigh- bor’s eyes, or gone like the confetti that every one threw in _his neighbor’s face. UILT oo soen - little. dash, of Wil ed like the older Catholicism, that | which affected the common out door oc- qupation and pleasures of the world, [t Ill\ferl still in. Spain and her colonies, a 0 of other days. Iwasin Madridone mng the carnival and remember the nds of students in their zay. be dresses, with their red stockings and red ‘breeches, their red caps and their red hoes—dancing and singing in the streets ¥ duy (o the uccompaniment of castanets and trumpets and mbourines, gontl n’s sons, handsome fellows, asking for L baenamano, and making good musie of Moorish, barbaric sort. Everybody listened, and admired, and paid. Then, LA8 8000 us Lent set in, the religious cer monies bocame almost a part of the life the population. All the women went L0 church daily, and sometimes took the men with them, of the higher sort. They ot up charity concerts by day, witl mburini or Tamberlik or some othe great singer to perfor and duchesses mantillas passed THE LONG CHARITY BOXES, Mking up and down the msies steymen, each attended by her ier, pe young grandee of Spain. Other omen of rank sat at the eutrances and gited alwms from all the eleg jonable sinners as they L of course, could put anything gold upon such tables, ol box rattled at m by one the nobility, especially 1if she oung and dark eyed and used her and her eyes to plead It was der for the men than the charity fa d it made the Leuten seuson a p penance indeed for the sting seunious if there were many of these certs: for it was de rigueur to-attend n; you lost easte .if you staid away. was for the high world. The com- People ana the widdle sort went to | | | lik; No nto et < the Passion Play oncé a week all through Lent. 1 went too. The play as performed in one of the largest theatres in Madrid, erowded to the ut- most, pit and boxes 'and gallery. It was a religious function, not an amusement, but as different as could be from the per- formance at the Ober Ammergau. The ordinary actors took diffecent parts, the,| play bills were of the ordinary sort, and they seemed to me ir- reverent. The programme was headed: * Peiiiiiiiiee veee ee s FIRST NIGHT OF \TTH D PASSION OF TH MER OF THE WORLD. emer of the World Senor Carlos Znaga’ The Blessed Virgin sebisaiies : Maria Martine: H Senorita GRAN 3 But there was no irreverence on the stage, and none, intended, in the an- dience. While the play was on the at- tention was rapt. The performance was very realistic, and the acting at times ad- mirable. The grouping was copied whenever possible, from the P tures in the gallery at Madrid, the Mu- rillos, and Raphaels, and Titians, and Velasquez, and to me, a stranger, who had been stadying them all day, 1t was rticularly H(I‘Ifilh‘( to find the same ters re ented--living, breathing, han—at The audience w 1 r with the origi nals, and applauded londly when any amous picture was trunsferred to the stage. The nguage of seripture was used almost exclusively in the ogue, and it wus very touching to recognize the soft yet grand Castilian accents the sacred \\'nnfi and passages familiar from childhood in another tongue, I had stud- ied Spanish years before, and had a toler- able acquaintance with the idiom, but for Inck of use the facility of speech, of course, was somewhat lost, and the tune of the language had been a good deal forgotten; but the well-known expres. sions lightened up my memory, and the sounds started back into sense, like sym- pathetic writing held before a fire. As the drama went on, [ became pro- foundly interested in the audience, as well as the play. It was indeed almost a con- gregation, not an audience. When Christ was brought out bound, and scourged be- fore us all, ashudder went through the house and the man who applied the blows was exeerated. *‘Fuera! fuera!” FROM PIT TO GALLERY “Away with him! away with him! very Barr, (the words in which the Jews vreferred over the wreteh had to run trom the stage. Judas too was grected with storms of hisseswhenever he appeared, while the Ecee Homo evoked exclama- tions of pity, love and passionate cnce on every side. At H.\sl in the fixion scene, women were sobbing aloud all around me, and two were ried out fainting. The scence was represented with a fidelity that w harrowing, but yet with a touch-solemmity that made one feel that thns was more thun a theatrical performance to the devout audience of Cathol Stll, in the jentr'actes they munched their oranges and laughed, and smoked cigarg; the women nursed their babies in the pit, and the men strolled about as n other theatres, to talk, and I even heard them swear. In the boxes the people more caimly, as if they had been im- pressed by the seene, The play began at seven and lasted till nearly two in the morning, but few, if any, left betore the close., I suw the same play afterward at Ha- vana, but wretchedly p :d, and to an almost empty house. The Cuban men have no religion, either in belief or practice, that 1 could ever perceive, and they laughed ontright at inaccuracies in on or speech in those who performed most sacred characters. Yet, there s a touch of pathos at times, and many of the audience were affected, lhous?x these were only the women or foreigners, THE CUBAN CARNIVAL, like all other carniyals, is no longer what rever- cruci- 1t has been; but there is still much that one sces hardly anywhe else in the world. The climate makes the celebr tion more possible and more _eflective. I'he whole population is out of doors to witness the great procession on th three days, beginning with the § before Ash Wednesday. ‘The streets are cleared, miles of chars are vlaced along the pavement, the balconies that hang from every pretentious house are crowded, and many gaily decorated, and the lonz column” of open carriages begius to move on as the day is cool i hour, perhaps, before the st and the transient twilight of tropical regions. Many of the vehicles are crowded with” masks, some comie, others simply gay, many tawdry. Years ago the finest equipages in town turned out, their own- ers in them, and fell into the 'procession; and the show of horseflesh isstill remark- able; the wrness 18 burnished and decorated, and even in 1883 and 1884, when L was in Havana, there were women of high position in open equipages, without their bonnets, in the in. line. It whas as if you should sce u Turk- ish woman without her veil, The cap- tain general and his wife, the N ittoria de Tunas, way, with mounted aides de camp ¢ ing them; and crowds of galy dres horsemen abounded, their steeds eaparis- oned in brilliant colors, hangings and Jingling bells. The column counter- marehed, so that v one who took part saw the entire show % At night there were masked balls at the Tacon vpera house, but these were not brilliant. The domino ball at Madrid was better, and neither equalled the ball at the Paris opera house, in the earnival. Ladies of position never are present now, unless Americans, determin to see ull that there is to be seen and who ran the risk of being insulted, LENT, IN HAVANA, is very rigidly observed, All'th are roligious—black and white, Spanish and Creole. Theyare assiduous in their deyotions, and every afternoon one may see throngs of the fashion that is still left in Cuba, praying devoutly n the two or three churches that fashion afleets, If the churches are yery near, the women of all but the highest rank may walk, at- tended by servants, duennas or the men of the family; for no respectable Cuban woman is ever seen in the streets alone, and few indeed of the upper sort put foot on & pavement, except to getin or out of a carringe, 1 guve adinner during one of the carm- vals to the captain general of the island. It was while l was the Ame sentative, and I asked most of the p of importance afterwards to women vice His wife, the promised to come, and might settle the day with the gene s0he and 1 stupidly fised on a I not thinking of the rigidity of C: olie rules, and his excelloney” evidently not beuring them continually in mind, for he faled to recall them to me. But ume, of course, interposed, and the captain general asked me to ante-date my dinner for Thursday: the marquesa wished to have a pl nt ning, and if she dined with me Frida she would be tantalized. 5o the day was chunged buteven then religion threatened to interfere; for one geeat Cathohe dame, anotl marchioness, told m my cards were out, that the ladic 1 very much exereised; they wanted ve wuch to come to me, but “Thursds the vigil of some saint's day, and were afraid they must decline. Of eourse I protested, and urged; it was impossible to make another change; but 1 assured them that the had been appointed by he! the marques: self as devout a ( lic as any on the istand. Their curiosity ¢ wn American . had d his Cubaun interior, and their 4 gave way. . They all eame; and I trust they were well shriven, Abay Baveav, [ l DAINTY DABBLERS IN DOUCH, Olara Belle Finds Some Tip Toppy Girls Among the Tin Pans, SCHOTT, THE SADDLE SINGER. An Amateur Actress Leaves the Stage — Jennie, the ‘“Cheek Queen” — Society Sces the Sights in Masks. New York. Feb. 10.—[Correspondence of the Bee.]—The gaicty of the social season no longer runs; it drifts. In- dulgers in fashionable frivolity have had just about enough of dancing, of amateur acting, of winter out-door sports, and of the opera for one season. All zestin those things is gone; laziness rules; the tired belle yawns with her jaws, no mat- ter if she resolutely keeps her lips together, and the bored beau stretches his arms within the confines of his dudish sphere and rattles his brain for something to cause a change in the pre- vailing dullness, “Bai jove,” drawled a chappie, as he erawled through the corridor of the Met- ropolitan between acts, “y’ought t've Miss Myra's narrow escape from a d dreadful accident! She got she sat in the fwont of the nd almost fell— “‘Over the rail into the parquet?" the histener exclaimed. *No, no, deah bawy, was the reply, “‘she leaned forward on the edge of her corsage--in hor slecpiness she forgot how low it was—and, 'pon me soul, if I hadn’t canght her she’d have fallen out.” Several tip toppy girls have not suc- cumbed to mertia, but haye sought and found a fresh means of _killing time, I'hey have become cooks. Not at unpoet- ical ranges in rudely prosaic kitchens, of course, but ina dainty way in their par- lors. A neat, portable gas stove and a dooc sot of the finest utensils are employed The amateur cook whil does not turn her hing so sub hands to un) ks, or chops, but makes luf ) French paneakes and various con- fections. She aims to doat bewitchingly, for there are torsin a half dozen or more guests he stirs the ingredients with solid silver spoons in decorative china vessels. She fries or stews the mixtures in mmered brass pan; she serves the resultant viands in exquisite crockery; she is helped at every move by a quick, ‘neat maid; and what eater, under such pretty circumstances, n I to declare that he has never in his life before tasted anything half so deli- cious? SHE WILL TURN BACK. One of our girls hasdecided to get out of public focus. She is the Miss DeWolfe whois playing the heroines of amateur comedy just now at our most intensely fashionable entertainments, She s tread- ing the path that Mrs. Brown Potter trod, but has_po ely made up her mind to turn back instead of keepimg straight on to the professional stage. She is the daughter of a New York ph inn ic exclusive. — She is slylish, with teeth are black, and a vivacious manner. 1eally has talent as an actre has become the star of a series - pments for charities. But she will forego fame and retire at the end of the season. ‘I like to aet,” she said, in re- ponse to your correspondent’s query, nd I wish to do all I ought io f;norl benevolent enterp but tind that 1 am becom: ing quite a public character, and 1 have no ambition of that sort. My decision to act no more in public after this season is sure and final. It is certainly no fault of Miss Wolfe's, though 1t may have in- fluenced her to desert the flootlights, that her brother Harold has long fifrured at the stage doors of theatres. It was he who deserted a wife to elope with Bebe Vin- ing, the little actress whose pathetic death commanded public pity two years ago. A GIRL OF THE PERIOD, Who can blame o modest woman for shrinking from a public gaze that, in- ably, she must share with women arment hems she wouldn't like to sh against her own in the strects, Just now for example one Jennie Mar- dark, 18 white Shall js getting hure of low yet general regard. about_the mMost s ssful and n of N York’ nturesses. Her house of en- ble for its mwany L instinetively and style of some particu- t has served as a potent nment i rooms fitt rem 1 gorgeously in thy Tar country. It advertisement., Again, her face is almost an exact counterpart of the _statue, Liberty Enlight- ening the World, which towers in our harbor. Put her on a pedestal, pose her with an uplifted torch, costume her prop- erly, turn her metaphorical brass into real bronze and would be a wonder- fully close counterfeit, That is not say- ingshe is beautiful- The Grecian pro- ile, so admired in statuary, with its high- aight no: 1d severe mouth, ble in a hve woman; but Marshall has been eager to adve; She is hardly enjoy r new notoriety, however, for it arises from the theft of many thousands of dollars in her house. The loser’s iden- tity has, at this writing, been successfully cong d, but that heis rich and influ- ential is clear, else the police would not serve him so complacently. ‘Ilf by meaus of it. ) Bl NG IN THE SADDLE, Listlessne: settling down upon the world of fashion and riches. The beaux and belles dance languidly, and at the overa they are fairly somnolent. Perhups Anton Schott, the stalwart German tenor, had observed this, So he resolyed that his re-entrance on the stagoe of the Met- ropolitan, niter a *s absence, should not be lazily regard His de rousing the weary audience was ious, Tk hosen for his carliest ment wus Wagner's , It full of imposing eflects, popular in London for its scenic as for its music or libretto. But it cannot be believed that Wagner him; ever dreamed of quite such re 1ism - as that introduced by Sch on the Metropolitan stage. ‘The elimax of speetacle comes 1n the third act where an army of warriors appears and marches and is addressed by the leader, Rienzi, who comes upon lfm scene horseback. The tenors of the past have been mighty glad to get a gentle famly horse, blind and deaf if possible, guaranteed to stand still under any provoeation to serve them in this trying scene. The libretto re- quires that a battle song, one of the gems of the opera, shall be sung from the sud- ale. According to tradition, when this bas been successfully accomplished, it the horse is not too frisky or hasn't died from old age, the chief remains quietly in the saddle while the eohorts march off, and 1 comes down the war! rior is particularly brave, just TURNS HIS HORSE'S HEAD to follow his troops, and it may be de- pended upon that as soon as the curtain is way down the chief is helped from his perilous perch with as much speed as possible and proceeds to tuank goodness t his Lite has again been spared. But Schott it seems is not that kind of a war. He is an expert horseman and feels stly at home in the saddle. And he that a general going to battle d his troops her than review them. So when the my hed marched in upen the stage, he astonished the house by poupding in at a full. gallop Lt-was no ancient cart horse he rode, Y 13, 1887.~TWELVE PAGES. ‘battle everybody effect the was tremendous, ‘as on the qui vive Jest (lm should take it into his h prancing over the foot lights was a firm hand that held the rein and no serious accident marred the effect. And when the song was finished the audience was thunderstruck to sea’ Sehott put the spurs to his horse, gallop furiously to the front of the great stage, wheel to the right and go cantering up the incline to the Roman gate and disappear through it, waving his sword on high and ap- parently shouting “Come on boys classical German. The. applause was spontancous,general and long continued, and Schott’s reappearance in America was a circus and tenor success. song was steed to como But it ' LNGLISH ’ELP. English has invaded! the millinery stores. Not the Erglish goods, and lish styles, they came long since and tablished themselves as firmly as possib) in rivalry of French goods "and styles. Between them domestic invention has little chance for recogaition. Now the native Janguage is banished, and in its L)‘Incn is introduced what purports to be inglish as 1t is spoken in the queen’s do- minion. The young women who attend to the wants of customers are trained in articulating the English accent and in using English phrases, so that now the casual visitor at one certain millinery establishment may fancy herself in Lon- don at hearin such barbarisms as: “Fourteen and a ‘awlf,’ “itis all eout of style neow,” and “‘doncha kneow” introduced at every possible pretext. ‘The aim is to give the impression that the clerks are English as well as the tabries and in the majority of cascs the ruse succeeds, perhaps, though it is a problem how much financial benefit re- sults from the inaovation. But there are times when the imported clerk gives herself away, revealing the fact that she is an 1mportation but from a very differ- ent quarter than THE REALMS OF COCKNEYDOM, Such a case was that of agirlina I'wenty-third street establishment whose flaxen hair, stolid fac nd blue gave one strong impression of gardens, gutturals and prot S arguing a customer into t bounet. The customer inclined one w. beer the London clerk another. and the first words I heard were quite English: *“*Ah, deon’t think seo.” Butwhen the lady re- plied with some further objection) the clerk lost her accent [: tially in the excitement of barter and exelaimea: “But ect looks particularly nic in nahsty vetter!” She could say without fail, but weather betrayed | Another importation showed that her e ncation in queen’s English had not. b begun early enough when in a si emergency she insisted to a e “This is thought vahstly well of in Lon- non, ye know; Iniver hurrea the loikes av anybody in Lonnon —." She got no further; the proprietor happened to be nding near and caught the clerk’s ¢ in the midst of her relapse into lingua vernacy poor Erin! I am afraid that imported clerk got her walking papers that very night. NE ND OF SLUMMING. The reader may be inelined to think that a good girl who goes under m > the sights of a publie: masquerade 18 inexcusabiy venturcsome, May be that is so. But'the fact remaims _that one of the most fashionable of the February di- versions is to go, in smalkand well chap- eroned parties, on these exploits. It isa new form of slumming. Some of the yiews of life thus obtained may be valu- ably instructive, in a deserent way, and anyhow fashion finds the amusement a ball. Acrossthe table sa young man who was taking his t lesson 1n metropolitan masquerade. s partner was conscious of this fact and was doing her utmost to ensnare him. The poor creature thought that to do this she must apoear to be endowed with a sense of the proprieties. Accord- ingly she kept her mask on. The young man was bashfully desirous thit she should remove it, but she persisted stub- bornly, under the impression that she was coquetting. About one per cent of her words and actions might charitably be construed as coguettish; the generis. Watch the scene o moment —itis perfectly proper; that is what peo- ple o to a mask ball for. A TOUGHY TALK, Young Man (Hnurmz out the Jast drops from a wino bottle)—‘You will surely giveme just one glance at your face, won't you?' Young Woman (hitching awkwardly in her chair)—"Not much. Let me tell you Tain’t the kind of girl to go making an exhibition of myself in such a pla this. Tain't no snoozer.” Y. M. (embarrassed, dais: but 1z- norant how to get frec)—'Perhaps an- ’l:"h"lr'humc of wine will make you more kind," Y. W. (giving him a violent push, sup- posed to be playful)—"Oh, zo 'long: d'ye want ter git me full, huh?” Y. M. (painfully conscious that he is observed *Oh, assure you, no! I only, er—thought Y. W. (catching sight of a typieal tongh “Hello, Bill! Bill ears ol' fel'y who pass where's yer heiet Bill (shaking hands with herand glane- ing with a wink at the young man): “Wull, blow me if you ain't doing the peek-hole act. How's biz? Scen Dell? Y. W. ‘No, is she herer” Bill. “You bet and full Wull, so long.” Y. W. (complacently as “He's the manager (she bouneer) of the Home Cire cafe, Him an’ L are great friends, Say, Georgo, I th ||gl‘|'l you was going to set up some ay, Bill, How are as a goat. Bill exits): meant the BEFOOLED AND BEFUDDLED, The waiter was instantly commissioned to procure another bottle for the bashful naiden, und the scene proceeded in similar style. It was yet an hour and a half before the time to bring the ball to a close when a dazed young man, his light colored over- coat reaching not quite to the bottom of the skirts of his under coat, approached a gentleman in the corridor and smd: Beg pardon, sir, but can you tell me the way out#” “'(Go right back the same way you came and out ot the door by the mirror where the policeman stands. here! Now I've heen round and round this corridor six time: id never dared to try that door for fear 'twas all mirror and I might make a fool ot m, trviug to go through 1t. All the othe doors’ led to nowhere. Thank you a thousand times," And when the dazed young man got opposite the policeman he paused to re- connoitre. He had forgotten directions and was looking at the wrong door. He might have stood there debating with himself till daylight had not the omni- rosent sergeunt of police taken hold of him for obstructing the passage and put him out. He went through the door as if shot from a cannon, but wien he reahzed that he had b en assisted thus to reg: the outer world, he turned round to the ret ting sergeant, took off his hat and said gratefully 7 “Thank you a thousand times," CrArA BELLE - ults trom a partial par alysis of the stomach and is the primur ause of a very large majority of the ills that bumanity is heir to. The most agree- ;‘thlv and effective remedy Dr. J. H. 25 cents a vial, John W, Norton. Indigestion is eLean’s Little Liver and Kidney Pillets of 5. Louis, whois re ported to be hopelessly ili, 15 one of the wost Jopular managers in the profession, When his theater in St. Louis was burned thousands of dollars were sent him. He was inti- wately connected with Mary Anderson’s lirst seasous of success, aud certainly steadied ler Grst steps in urt, He is a good “““j rowantic actor, BRISBIN IN HIS BOYHOOD. The Genial General “Retreats” Forty Years Before the Enemy, Time. MEMORY'S MIRTHFUL MIRROR. Worth of the Warming Pan—Cording the Bedstead—Knitting Tourna- ments — Husking Bees — On Horseback to Church, Fort Rorisson, Neb., Feb, 11.—~[Corre; spondence of the BEE.]—It is becoming fashionable again to write of the good old times of long ago and such remini- sences cannot be otherwise than healthy as well as interesting. Let me contribute my quota to the BEE. Few of the younger people of to-day know what changes have taken place in the manner of living among us in the last fifty years. Even forty years ago every family owned its warming-pan. These,on cold nights, be- fore retiring were filled with hot coals and pussed up and down in the bed be- tween the sheets until the bed was nice and warm and the temperature of a most endurable nature. I have often thought on cold winter nights the discontinuance of the use of the old-fashioned warming- pan was a great m stake. My father would never sleep in a room where there was a stove. He said a hot room to sleep in w unhealiny. He lived to a ripe old age, as did nearly all of the old warming- pan fellows, but whether the warming- pans did it or not, certain it is that our people of to-day do not live as long as their fathers. So obsolete has the old-fash- ioned warming-pan become taht recently Iady from Philadelphia visiting an aunt an nlnl~mshimu'(l farm house n the country was astonished to see one pro- duced.” She begged permission to bt that she might add it to her '] ments at home. The old farm positively refused to part with it was not until the lady had made a silver warming-pan for her aunt that she would part with her old one. (HE FAMILY BED OF 1840 as high as the bed of the id usualiy sustamed the bed t was termed, s not in his ting helped to cord a bed? or who ot us not heen startled by the breaking of a cord or the jumping out of a cord peg and it present day by rope or was corded Who of us old fellows hs just as we were gomng to sleep? Furnaces or heated bed rooms in 1810 were not common and going to bed was a artyrdom for man The old fashioned s were built high enough to admit of a :ns’ or trundle bed,as it was ealled, in which the children we stowed and then pushed under the big bed. How many of us still remember the fun of the trundle bed, how we snickered and how the old folks over head scolded and threatened to thrash us if we did not keep still. Nor were the scoldings al- W confined to threats for oceasionally the trundle bed was unearthed and a sound spanking administered. There was more fanuly silvery forty years ago than there is now and was real silver heav nd genuin W not until many years afte that plated ware—as” it is called—came into v Wedding rings in_ those early days were made out of “‘Guinea” and dianmonds were almost known except among the very " FAMILY RAG BAC was a regular institution in every family and all rags were saved and thrown into the b; ‘When 1t was full they were cut up into narrow strips and rolled into big balls attractive to the infant eye through their variegated colors. When enough ha en gathered to make a car- pet the: aken to the lo ver and made into a rag earpet. Who that 15 now fifty years old has not seen the beautifuily hued rag carpet his mother? ~ I remember wel! when they came home how proud we all were and how we admired them. The domestic rag carpet was certainly very beautiful durable. It “resembled very closely ind su in appearance the popular Turkish rugs of to- So we come back to the fashions of our fathers and mothers. I have seen a good rag earpet last a dozen y or even a gencration so that in point of durability they were fully equal to the best Turkish rugs and fully as vretty. Forty y ago the spinning wheel s an’ article of furniture in every ’s house in the land. The wool \eep was often carded, rolled into roll spun into yarn for the win- ter stockings and mittens and it was all done at home by the wives and daughte and otten the men and boys assisied, I on a stocking, widen row rib, turn a hecl AND MAKE A THUMB AND FINC for a mitten almost as well as I could forty y ago. 1 have often surprised my girls by showing them how to knit, and both stockings and muttens are still knit at home in my family for the chil- dren, I am sorry that the practice of at home was ever giyen up in our country, for 1 certainly ow of no more delightful occupation on a winter’s evening, when the wind howls without and time hangs heavily on the girls’ What fun it used to be to run a race at knitting, to_see who could make the most rounds in an hour or knit the most in a night, It was amazing how expert some of the knitters became, Who of even the middle-aged men and women of to-day have mnot sat and watched the knitting needles of the old mother or grandmother fly like lightning through the yarn. I remember going on one ceeasion” with a party of gentlemen twenty miles to see pretty Peggy Rhoc knit a stocking in a single night, Knit- ting was Peggy’s accomplishment and it not only made her quite famous in the neighborhood but brought her many ad- W farm from the nar- RS mirers among the young men, Knitting at night then was a favorite amusement m the winter ume, and sleighing and knitting parties were all the rage. At home, too, while the girls knit some one would read an_entertainng book aloud or they all laughed, told stories, and at the end played blind man’s bull for a while before going to bed. Those, too, were the good old days of singing schools, spelling matehes, AND HUSKING BEES, Idon't_know, perhaps 1 am an old fogy,but 1 can’t'help thinking sometimes that these amusements and recreations were much more healthy and sensibl than many of those we hive to-day. The knitting bee spelling bees, husking bees have given way to the opera, card purties, dancing and late suppers. But, worst of all, with the disappearance of the old amusements has gone the prace tice of reading the Bible in the family at night and praying before retiring, A few still hold to "this practice, but it is evidently fast dying out and will no doubt in time become almost as obsolete in the United States as the spinning wheel or warming-pan. Surely this will not be a good thing am’ sorry to see the humble depen which” our forefathers put on our Heavenly Father depart from the people ¢ dinner horn ; f forty ye oh d 1 IS AZ0 Wis the almost of as m impc A piano of to-day, and the learning how to blow it well was quite a music accomplishment. — Hand somg Dorst_could almost Dy Home" on her dinner horn, ard Sallie Byers ealling the mev to dinner with her horn when wo were five miles away on the mountiing Patty Campbell played “'Hail Columbia quite distinetly on the dinner horn, and l Katic Gingriel could alwost turn “Green Mahaney & Ca, REAL ESTATE DEALERS, 218 and 220 8. 14th Street WE HAVE FOR SALE 100 of the Most Beautiful Lots SOUTH IN OMAHA, Original part of the Kenealey and Lee farms, and near the new Catholic church. W e have lots also in Brown Park and Fowler Place. ‘We have the best of bargains in all parts of the city and surrounding addi- tions. Parties desirous of investing, give us a call, take a ride to the grounds and see for yourselves. land’s Iey Mountains,”BThe diny, succeeded the dinner horn about 1t THE FAMILY CARRIAG an nvention of comparatively rec ana did not come into_gener after the fifties, 1 still remember 1 usea to ride on horseback to 1 parties. the ladies mounted *k benind the men. It was a of taking your sweet- heart to chureh or a party, and gave the girls a chance they do not i o8 pecially if the horse was a little sKittish, “Hold on tight gir nd don’t get thrown W the advice often given in those d by the good old mother her: The steel pen did not until after the forties. The goose quill was used in writing up till 1850, and the pen-makers and pen-menders were regular institution, They went about the country making and mending pens for the farmers 1 merchants, The school masters generally did this and it 1s quite a perquisite. They could make and mend the pens afte ir p school teaching w done, and “‘mother the school teacher is coming to-night to muke and mend the pens, brepare him a bed,” was a common announcement among the farmers forty years ago. To make or mend a pen well was consid- ercd a great accomplishment, and the iter worked long and patiently to ac- quire 1t. 1 can sull make a quill pen with the best of them, and you can have it stift’ or hmber just to suit vour hand. CSBLOTTING SAND' WAS USED and the blotting paper of to-day was wholly unknown 'l'u fold a letter neatly was an accomplishment few possessed. The then no envelopes and all sealed with a wafer or seal- ing w A careful practice in folding and sealing letters was taught in night schools, and I remember a schoolmaster who made quite little fortune at it. But these things have all passed and gone and sometimes 1 feel so it is so. We are progressing rapidly asa nation and many things have been invented for our convenience which were wholly unknown forty or even twenty ars ago, bat [ doubt if we have improved much morally as a people. The simplicity of our fore- fathers was eertainly not to be despised, and they were as happy, if not happier, thun we are. JAMEs S. B — Dr. J. H, McLean’s Strengthening Cor- until when we church on horse very pretty w ome into use dial and Blood Purifier, by its vitalizing properties will_brighten p: oeks and transform a pale, haggard, dispirited woman into one of sparkling health and beauty- $1.00 per bottle, - MUSICAL AND DRAMATIO, Arthur Sullivan is said to be composing serious opera_on the theme of Schille “Mary Stuart,” Emma Abbott’s receipts were £16,000 for two weeks in San Francisco, and this in the face of advance sales for Patti. Charles 11, Hoyt's new skit, entitled “‘A Holein the Ground,” satirizes the nuisances y suggestive theme, en of Belgium, in her palace at recently heard by telephone the performance of “Faust,” at the Paris Grand onera, w nlan’s latest advertising seh em is to elaim that he has Tom Moore's um brella and intends to present it to George W Childs, Mr, Scaulan makes even the ches nut boughs weary, 2 Richard Mansfield will soon eome into solute possession of some very valuable real estate In and in the hands of trustees. Verdi, it is said, has decided that his new shail only be performed o opera, Otello,” whierd the nornial (Frencli pitel las been adopte This shuts out Philadelph Phe New York Mirror announces the com: pletion of its weniorial monument tund with a surplus of nearly 8100, Within less than four weeks 85,000 was sent in by actors, 1t is denied that Mrs. D. I”. Bowers will be the Booth-Barrett company connect wanager, Mr. John G. Hext sea 1 1 with n. Mer tehie, 15 now engaged in’ booking time tor 1 Mume. =',m’ elpt oyerage ‘m[l‘ unlu, it The onal Opera company's re ently Paui s a “bigger man an - old Thownas. Maude Gran a8 not heen seen of late upon the sta ut to start om a tour of the west and under the wan. Lierg 0 and Mr.Phil agement of Theéodore Lrajton. . Bangs has been forced to retiro temporarily from his y t the head of the SN 1 StrogotI” company in onler to re- . \edical treatment for a painful affec- tion of the throat. A new opera founded on Shakspeare's “he Tempest” will soon b produced at Hanover. ‘The composer is irnst Frank, to whoin intrusted the completion’ of Goetz's a da Rimini.” Si n's cantata, the “Golden nd,” will be st sung in' Amerlea by tha Boston Oratorio y. Itis to be pro- duced in April next, with full orchestra, and dirceted by Mr. Frederick Arohe A comic opera by Zeller, entitled “The Vigabond,” wich has been ' great suceess i Berlin, nidicules oflicial lite In Kussia, but the German authorities were obliged to” sup- 85 several songs referring to General Kauls A singular “want” is that of Maestro Ca- petli, of Florence, the composer of the new opera, “Lvilin,” who is anxious to find and eugage a basso with a coar hoarse voice, for the recital of abrief my monologue, on the strongly realistie rende iz of which the composer stakes his suceess. Rogers, Minnie Palmer’s business recently sent proposals for her ap- pearanc in New York city to six diflerent manager ch one , different set of terms. ‘T'o Mr, ! great surprise every one of them ac his oller, and somo complications, and otherwise, way 5 settle Colonel William E. and Walter Sinn, in a cirenlar from Brookiyn, announce that *the ark theater stands alotie champion in tho city of Brooklyn to continue the prices which tend to deviaté the standard of the dramatic attraction,” and that the prices will be main- tuined. ‘Thecireular is headed: 1= ing ‘I'heaterof irooklyn to Manager During a recent performanc Lynne”’ at the New Orleans Musie by Louise “East of temy of ans Al and_her compan; number of fier sticks” stuck - their lines minutes and remained dumb During the painful pau from among the andier the top of his volee: thing, 1 paid to hiear you M Ann nd the exelusive ownership of tl as *The Duke’s Motto” has be lier favor, and a new York court | an injunetion restraining John 8 Phomas Morris from producing the in any way interfering with her ti John Brotughau.tor whomn the play w posed from a French adaptation, bequ the play to her at his death, There is only one way, says the News Let- gentleman a nd exelaimed at Well, say son not to fook at yo Finnegan's clann to drama known N decided in nted ter, in which the dréam of establishing a National Conservatory of musie and > tional Sehool of opera upon American can become possible, In this country i «ov- ernment. subsldy for vain as the desire of the u and, of course, private means must be found 1o take the place of public grants, — If the kays,the Vanderbitts,the Goulds and the of our millionaires will only contribute toafundon a sufliciently liberal sealo to ke the interest on its investent suflicient apport the project of American opera, the enie will be able to live; but not others Such 4 purpose 18 as th for the star, o Cor_ 13th T. and C Best facilit aratis sud reme 168 for surgleals {8 and Brace 0. Digcascs of Wa THCULATS O arvature of b bitls, , Lur TO MEN 18 1 | §yiroPeRelable MERIGALING ’:l:"l":‘ ad All Co D0 HODMS Xor ¥t ot katien e dfvoun ail atiocs " OMAKA MEDICAL & SURZICAL INSTITUTE, Cor.18th 8t. & Canitol Ave., OmalaNeb. ’