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eee ON THE JUMP IN GAS BILLS FOR LAST MONTH. . PAID-my gas bill to-day,” remarked the cigar store man, “and I feel like I had a pass for the almshouse.” “From the way the gas companies have been stinging consumers lately,” @aid the Man. Higher Up, “the people must be drinking gas and bathing in it. I have heard it referred to as a fluid. It is impossible for a man to ‘burn as much gas as he is charged for, even {f he carried the gas out to a Vacant lot and made e bonfire out of ft. This gas question is a burning quesflon and one that should not be made light of. “It serves to illustrate once more the sheep-like disposition of the average New Yorker. The householder in this town is so constituted that the more hot wallops he is handed the better he likes it. Pass him a paste on the bankroll that is palpably foul and he smiles at you. He has been used for a rug so long by everybody from street-car conductors and “L” guards to janitors that he isn’t comfortable unless some business highway- man is wiping his feet on him. “The gas business in this town is legalized grand larceny, and the only way to get satisfaction is to take it. Migures have been printed showing that gas can be manufactured and sold profitably at 60 cents a thousand feet, but the holler the gas companies put up when a bill was introduced | alicing off five cents a year sounded like a 6olo by a lost soul. To hear the amiable, bald-headed managers of the gas companies talk you would think they were public benefactors. . “The legal price of gas is less now than it was four years ago, but \ every gas bill in town is higher. Further reductions are likely to make gas Jeo expensive that J. Pierpont Morgan will have to use candles in his house and the asprage run of people will have to eat raw food and hibernate in the nighttime. If gas at $1 a thousand feet costs three times as much as it did when it was at $1.25 a thousand feet, it {s natural to suppose that it would cost nine times as much as it costs now if the Legislature cut the price to 50 cents a thousand feet, “In any other town but New York the people wouldn’t stand for it, but they've got into the rut of thinking that there is no use in kicking here, and the pimply faced youths who are employed by the companies in their offices help. the belief along. Of all the insolent, overbearing, insufferable menials in New York, these gas company clerks are the worst, The only wonder to me is that a dozen or more of them don’t have their maps revised with the aid of a good strong fist every day. “The trouble with them is that they begin to think after a time that) they own the gas company. The able-bodied citizen who climbs over the veil and puts a nice blue cupola over the watery lamp of one of them does & service to the community, even if he does have his gas shut off. “Has it ever occurred to you that the gas companies are doing busi- ness on capital furnished them by the people who buy their gas? It is the eurest thing you know. How much money do you suppose is tied up in de- posits from the hundreds of thousands of gas users in New York. About the least they will take as a guarantee 1s $5, and from that it runs up. They promise to pay interest on the deposit, but when you come to draw down you will find out generally that you owe more than you have put up, and the clerks are instructed to keep quiet about the interest. It is the softest graft in tho wide, wide. “There ought to be a law that every meter should be placed where the ‘householder can see it, and that it shall not ‘be read save when some member of the family is by to verify it. Another law should make it obligatory on a ity official appointed for that purpose to inspect a meter whenever a cus- tomer makes complaint, at the expense of the gas company. The meter in- epection now is done before the meters are turned over to the gas company, and there Is nothing to prevent filfing them with quick motion machinery efter they get to the gas-house, “Why do they ask a deposit?” queried the Cigar Store Man. “As a guarentee that you won't take the meter away with you when you move and make a parlor ornament out of It,” replied The Man Higher Up. M. G. Letters, Queries, Answers. them go on her knees to me and ask me to marry her because she loved me. She said she had money enough to keep us both, Of course, that was a grand offer, frém a worldly point of view. But as I could not think of marrying any one but the girl I loved, I had to re- fuse her, though I was sorry for her. W. ALF. Seating Capacity. To the Editor of The Hvening World: Which theatre has the larger seating capacity, the Metropolls.or the New Star? A. LENZ. ‘The Star's seating capacity 1s 8,100, That of the Metropolis ts 1,000, Probably ‘Too Old. To the Editor of Tee Evening World Is St possible for a young man, twenty- five years bf age, to increase his height? | If 80, how? M, ¥, BROWNING ‘There 1s practically no way in which a man of twenty-five can increase his helght, Normal growth usually ceases before that age. “ Straight Flush Beats Four Aces. Wo the Editor of The Evening World: Does anything beat four aces in poker?) K. A. J.C. No Premium on 1002 Pennies, Me the Editor of The Evening World: Is there a premium on 12 pennies? H. M. No Transatlantic Telephone. Po the Fdllor of The Evening World: ‘Can ‘I talk to Europe by telephone? B, SIMS. Musician Defined, Fo tho wAltor of Tho Evening World: Is a person who is musically inclined and follows it for home amusement only termed a musician? F, D. ‘The dictionary defines nmusician as: “One who makes the performance of gusic lis business’ and “One sktiled in fhe theory or practice of music." Wednesday: ffo the Editor of The Evening World: ‘On which day of the week did March 16, 1887, fall? CURIOUS. IMumination 500 Years Ago. Wo the Editor of The Evening World ‘What was the method in the year 1400 of lighting the interior of the residence Of a person of consequence of France? i PLAYWRIGHT. Candies afforded the chief illumina- tion In euch houses as you mention. Torches and lamps were also in use in Brance in 1400. Tucnday. Fo the RAitor of The Evening World What day of the week did March 18, 1, come on? us E, M, CLARKSON, ec Should Walk om the Inside, fo ine MAitor of The Evening World ‘Where is the proper place for a lady, bo walk while with two gentlemen, on the Inside or between them? A. and H ulation’ Dress Suit. fo ihe Waiter of The Evening World Should I parade in a@ regulation dress @ult or make merry & less cumber- some Tuxedo contrivance at an even) “dance to be held under the ausplo Of & ladies’ bowling club? PERPLEXED, Another Freak, the Editor of The Bveaing World; yead the letter a young fellow wrote he sald he was annoyed by ng at him on account of his, eympathiag with RMOR. ASBESTOS A the a= WORLD'S THE WORLD: TUESDAY EVENING, FEBKUARY 24, 1903. HOME = MAG i ZINEA@ MEN WHO MAKE WOMEN’S The Personal Side of Worth, Redfern and Other Famous Dress- makers Who Dictate What the Best-Gowned Girl Shall Wear. OST people know a Worth gown when they see !t, and connoisseurs in dresses can from a glance at any wonderful creation of lace and chiffon say from which one of the master workshops of Paris it ema- nated. There is something about a Redfern gown .hat distinguishes it from a Paquin model; a style peculiar to a Doucet dress that makes it altogether| different from a Rouff frock; a cachet Beer gives to the models he designs, that sets them apart from those of the other French masters of modes, By their works, therefore, we know them; but how many people in New York know anything at all of the personality of these wonderful men, the possessors of the masculine brains which evolve the most beautiful, most} feminine, most expensive gowns in the world? Many a woman hes owed the supreme triumph of her life to a frock designed for her by one of these artists in cloth and silk, without ever having seen him, or, indeed, knowing anything about him save that he is a man, Yet all these men are numbered among the millionaires of Paris and spend their time, when not directing a novel draping of skirt or new effect of shoulder, in getting rid of the vast fortunes they nave accumulated in many varied and interesting ways First in the line of these great men dressmakers of Paris is Jean Worth, son of the founder of the dressmaking house of that name. “Papa's boy” the boulevardiers irreverently’ style the imheritor of the Gown-Wizard's fortune. For it was the young man's father who made the and finally head of a department. Jean Worth and his brother Gaston now carry on the great business left by their father, Jean has the aristocratic tendencies natural to one of his lineage. In the dressmaking aristocracy of Paris he is regarded as the Nor- folk, or premier duke, before whom all others must give way. The young mam is very careful about the kind of costumes he makes, as well as the social position of the women for whom they are designed. He prefers mak- ing court gowns to any other form of tollet, and were there enough solvent crowned heads in Burope to render exclusive attention to their gowning profitable yaung M. Worth would probably decline to accept orders from less exalted quarters. As {t 1s, he respects the traditions of the old Faubourg, clings to the ancient order of things with a truly Bourbon tenacity, main- tains as nearly as possible the old set of customers acquired by his father, and hes @ horror of modern rush and advertising. Worth caters to royalty and to America, for it was a favorite saying of the founder of the house that American women were, of all nations, the easiest and most satisfactory to dress. Doucet, who stands next {n rank fm the sartorial aristocracy, caters rather to queens of the French stage, the histrionic royalties, nearly all of whom flock to him for gowns. In attire Doucet rivals a royal prince, while he poses as one whom the fair sex admire and presents an elegant appear- ance which would warrant his betng mistaken for a member of the exclusfve French Jockey Club. While he lives by making gowns, he hates his trade and prefers to be known as a collector of modern French paintings and bronzes, of which his home, in the aristocratic Saint Germain section, {8 as full as the shop of a Fifth avenue dealer. Doucet is very fond of horses and drives one of the smartest traps to be seen in the Champs Hlysees. Redfern, who ranks third in fame to these two greatest of men dress- fame of the house and who, till his death in 1895, carried on the business. Most people have the idea that the great Worth was a Fren$hman, As a matter of fact he, as well as Redfern, his most successful rival in late years, was of English birth. It is certainly remarkable that the French- woman who laughs at her English sister's gowns and who cannot be made to believe that anything made in England is fit to wear, should have ac- cepted as the supreme arbiter of feminine elegance a man born in Lincoln- shire of humble parents and who before becoming the greatest dressmaker of his time was by tums a printer's apprentice, clerk in @ dry-goods house makers, {s another Bnglishmen who like the great Worth invadéd the sa- cred kingdom of French fashion. Since Jane Hading abandoned Doucet and confined the making of her marvellous frocks to him, many lesser French actresses who help to set the styles for the French capital have followed her example. Unlike Worth Redfern is exceedingly modern in his ideas. He believes in advertising and places e true Briton’s faith in the value of the royal ostrich feathers displayed upon his business stationery and in the imposing legend "Furnisher to Her Majesty the Queen.” Outside of his business Redfern has a wide social acquaintance. He is e ef The Mysterious Kiss, by N. Harrison. Jee The Man Who Gave It Won a Heart and Hoodwinked a Rival. (Copyright, 1902, by Daily Story Pub, Co.) ythem. No, I determined that I would be 4“ COTT,” I said, as we stood to-| fudge and read ‘the lists after everybody S gether behind the plano waiting |had finished. for a young lady to finish an| It wasn't a nice job, but I -went old piece, “have you noticed anything |through every one, Taddies's last of pecullar about @ certain couple here?" | all, because he was writing up to the “Do you mean Mrs, Duluth and Tad-|minute I insisted on having his paper. dies?" he asked Ho and Roberts were tled—except for one “Certainly not, I refer to Miss Kitty |item, and when I saw that item I Duluth and Roberts, Somebody told me thought I ehould die, I roared, and that she didn’t care for him, and that |then I thought a bit and then I roared the oid lady made the match. And I've again, ‘Taddles had won the prise, but not only found out that all that’s true, |ought I to put his let up where every- but I've also discovered that she has a|body could see it as had been agreed very particular weakness for that Ben-|upon? Yes, there wos no reason why net.”” I shouldn't! Taddles had written the “Bennet!” Boott exclaimed. ‘Good |greatest mixture you ever heard, 1 don't remember it « last four Items were “A bawl of yawn, ‘A ole siippar. “Some tax in a box and Mr, Roberts Kdasin’ Kitty.” Well, everybody howled, as you may imagine, except Kitty and Mr. Boberta, Kitty got as red as fre—which I thought & little abeurd and unnecessary, con- sidering that everybody knew Mr. Rob- erta kissed her at times, Mr. Roberts waited until the laugh had subsided a little and then the sald to Taddles “You shouldnt tell an untruth, my boy, even to get the prize. I didn't go Into the other room with your sister, ¢o you couldn't have seen anything of the heavens! Why?" ‘of course, but the “Ti ten you what I'l do." I eala, Jarred a Ittle by the tone of unbelief, “11 go you a ten-spot that she ne marries Roberts.” “Well,” he sald, after a mtnute, ‘I'll take you." ‘The young lady at the plano sounded her last note and Scott and I, knowing that @ house party expect every man to do hie duty, joined in the appiause. ‘Then Mrs, Duluth announced that we were going to play a game called “open eyes." “Open eyes" is an old game. Zou put A lot of things in one room, and then you go in three at a time and stay three minutes. When you come out you have to write down all the things you remember, and the one who remembers | kind." the most gets a prisze, 1 caught a] Taddles wriggied from under the hand glimpse of the things Mrs. Duiuth’e lit- [put upon hie shoulder. tle son Teddies had ooliected, and I] 1 don't care” he whispered, “1 got made up my mind I wouldn't be caught |the prise, anyaow. And if it wasn't you playing any such game, Why, I didn't |kissing Kitty, {t was somebody else. even know the naines of haif of them, |On! I'll tell you. It was Mr. Bennet They were the kind of things you buy at faire because a girl you like Is selling ‘Cause I heard him askin’ Kitty if she’ goin there with him, That's who It Amusements. Gay in the mean time, but he was es close as an oyster about the whole busi- ness, (He had, however, his reasons, 1 met him one day in the early part of March, coming out of Tiffany's. ‘Hel- lo!’ I said, “been buying out the store?” He took me by the arm and led me down Fifteenth street. “@horty,”” he said, “you've been an vncommon fool with your Bennets and your Sherlook Holmseing! Wiy, boy, !t was I. I kiased her in the tack parlor, and what's more, she Kissel me. Do you see this,” the continued, taking « @mall box out of his pocket, “It's her ring. We are going to be married in I didn't look at him ‘cause I was look~ ing et the other things, but I head somebody kissin’.’” ¥ ‘There was a dead allence for a fow minutes and then three people spoke at once. Mr, Bennet sald feebly, “You are wrong again, Taddles—I—your sister— didn't go with me." Kitty said; ‘Tad- dies, you are a wretched little story- teller. Beg Mr. Bennet's pardon in- stantly."" And Mrs, Duluth remarked, “Edward, go to bed.” A few minutes later we broke up for the night. Late next morning I was awakened by Scott, He was pulling my hair and shouting down my ear: “Shorty, wake up; wake up, I tell you! It" oft)" the fall.” “Well, 1! wonder you wouldn't pull | ‘"@eott,"’ I cried, ‘you can't mean Kit- {t up again," I satd, thinking, of couree, | ty:’* “Ive as | ‘Certainly I can. Why not? We've been in love for two years, But we never let anybody guess, because we knew I'd be sent flying. It nearly killed us when her mother made her accept Roberts. We diin't know what in thun- der we were going to do, But I've had ‘fa rise in business and we put tho old lady on, by degrees, and now she's oon- sented, Wihat a fool you were down there in Deoember!"" “But Beunet,” I @ bet! What about them?’ “Nothing about Bennet. | wae sorry for him when he got frozen out. But I coukin't afford to show up. We wouldn't be anywhere now if T had And I didn’t mind letting you have, the ten-wpot. It put you off the track. Sr aarp o off the track?" ro crasy. If tt hadn't been interrupted, ‘“Taddles Bless his open-eyed ‘that he refered to the afghan. cold as the mischief.” “Yes, it'e all off,” he replied. ‘Mra. Duluth has pleaded with Roberts and stormed at Kitty and threatened Ben- net, but {t's no good, .Bennet swears ‘he never left the room with Kitty, and Kitty swears he never kissed her, and Robert on principle, He says until Kitty telis with whom she di «0 Into the back parlor, and what they did after they got there, he considers the bond between them severed, and Kitty says she will marry no man who docen't trust her, and Mrs. Duluth says the bond {8 not severed, and they shal] and will marry, But they won't. Roberts left on the 11.45. And you've won your ten," 1 was fully awake by thie time. "You don't say sot’ I orted. “What @ oad ennet is.’ It was two months befbre he finally said it, I had seen him almost every ed, “and your “ he aia ft heart! — EEE Amusements Amusements. ements. Dolly Wal, 2.15 TROPOLITAN OPERA-HOUS: Grand Opera Pegxor 4908; 200; # m. Fob. 2 if. ‘ Poy ye el ae hae +] hives, March cert . jamie Kemington and Ha WEBER PIANO USED, Vaudeville. a Dies” i i 2 nn JEROME Bway. ~ SYKES | thre PPER, ww. , biwar @ 30th \t piace. DALY'S nid tae al pee 34 Month Merry Musical 'P BILLIONAIRE ACADEMY OF MUSIC, lish Bt. & Irvin Grander and More Successtul Tuan FLORODORA Pojoes, 26,00,76,81. Mats, Wed. fat..2, Wve. 8, v By 8.15, Mat, @aturday at ESURRECTION aperesieiion, AY Baers rg MG SILVEH SL rs MADISON SQ, GARDEN Aim, 6c RTSMENS tollP M - 4 Theatre, near Ob ave. Mats Wel & Sat Wober & Fllds’ 1° (daecona sm, ANGE THE SMART SHIT | amasice TWIRLY-WHIRLY iat etiasthonea suns. | | | H La rn) and burlesque, The Stickiness of Griatine, Next Thure,, THO BIG LITTLE PRiNOmAS MAJRSTIC CANO crRcL. 0 ay & Oth ot. say © | ma é by dba. Mat. | Time, MAGDA [Reta ALG | Met 8 Tem Rinses. MOVE, tole ere Ts - a Matines To-Merrow, 26c.-50c. Manhatta FASHIONS “OF THE WORLD. a known among men as a Jolly good fellow, is exceedingly generous and, Hi! nearly every Englishman, a thorough sportsman. He is a member of tie © Yachting and other smart olubs, and his private yacht has been the sceme "7 lof many festive gatherings of Parisian notables. Last year he created BY sensation by founding a complete library of historical books and pictures: dealing with women’s fashions from the present day back to the times when “plain bare skin was the only full dress that was worn.” Paquin, fourth in the noble army of men millliners, 1s by birth a French- man. Though now a chevalier of the Legion of Honor, he began life ag a modest bank clerk. Paquin has a great many enemies, but so long ag he. {s talked about he does not seem to care whether the things sald of him ~ are of good or evil import. When not planning gowns he is planning for he maintains his own string of fast horses and {s an enthusiastic figure: in the betting ring at Longchamps end Anteutl. Though not caring | the good will of men in general Paquin strives always to keep the fa lof his employees. He gives them an elaborate banquet every year at which the women draw lots for a magnificent prize. Imitating Worth, Redfern poses as avoiding advertising of every kind, | and will hardly condescend to make a gown for any woman whose raf, does not place her name in the Almanach de Gotha. He will never ais 5 cuss his affairs or his patrons with any one, end thus creates in feminine — hearts a desire to be one of his clientele. ee Rouff, the originator of the all-spangle gown, now so generally worn, {3 in decidedly sporty in his tastes, He creates a daily sensation on the Boulevard Hausmann when he sweeps by with his high-stepping horses : gorgeously attired men on the box. He is always exquisttely dressed, and) js remarkable for the number and costliness of his rings, of which he ‘wears more than most fashionable women in full dress. These notable men of the French dressmaking world are arrayed — into two rival camps. The line which divides them {is a geographical one, Each is furiously jealous of the other and the Rue de la Paix clique, led by Worth, never leaves a stone unturned to belittle the production of the — Hausmann-Taitbout faction, of which Rouff is the leading spirit. It is @ Bey war, but @ fierce one, and the combatants take it very indeed. The portraits of these great dressmakers are the work of ‘most dashing of French caricaturists, who published recently a very clever drawings of the Great Dressmakers of Paris. Amusements. jeud id & {> PROGTOR'S Fo-steke,sesstee Entertainment IS. : IDOI SL{ SE eens Fa BEST STOCK COMPANIES IN ASHRICA. PASTOR’ * 7 2 WALLACK’S lous. .a2243- neon TE Bway & B0ch Bt. SULTAN OF SUL ~ POWDER Absolutely Pare THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE Wd! & bee a i. TIARIB CAHILL, | ba ee la Nancy Brown « sovaney Brows fo bere to tay."—droning Work, By. 42 at... ATLANTIC fer ocur canst ot + BIJOU, Fat Towra fe here to otay.’* ‘works. Stortootte Bante sen Bdanoent 1 Amusements. = EMPIRE THEATRE, Broadway & ith ‘Bvenings, 8.20, Matineos WED. & BAT., 2.15 sxccete" tera, | THE UNFORESEEN. GARRICK THEATRE, wih atu Breulage 6.16. Matinees WED, & MAT. Russell in Mice and Men, VOY THEA. ‘Bith ot. & Bway, 78TH TINE WEDNBSDAY—SOUVENIRE. vee, 8.20 Matinee Seeurday, The Girl with the Green Eyes st soosaceas CRITERION THEATRE, Drostway & 4th ot ives, 815. Matinee Becurday, & Wet agi" JAMES T, POWERS 787 Or GARDEN THEATRE, 370 ot aMadiion ave 5S Matinge Saturday, SOTHERN | NeXT HAMLET Mati MADISON SQUARE THE. L EARL OF s Toonas's vows’ THE EARL OF KNICKERBOCKER THEA, Bway & 28h at, ti Week. BY Morrow de Sat Kiaw & see Re BCUE BRIAR Hoary Y. TINEE TO-DAY. r, (eukanrues ss PRINCESS remain, ood, Be AMELIA BINGHAM, “FRGKY BRS, AOHNSON”? 1S. OF ; “7: =, y ies She bre nee? IC 16 Bt ' KBITH’S ‘eu STAR bi fa NEW YORK Grey. ith Maca We WILLIAMS AND way. Anni thi h 5 IF 1 WERE KING. TUR. %e WEST END—A MODERN MAGDALBE “Brooklyn Amusement MONT ATK ee { neal