A YANKEE NEW YEAR

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 746, 19 February 1910, Page 15

A YANKEE NEW YEAR

HOW THE THING. IS'fDONE; IN NEW YORK. ' , 4.America's celebratioh : . : .of-, • Now Ybar's Eve (says ,the -'.'Daily- ;-Tel«graph's":;New York correspondent) .will' - take:, 'place ,mainly in ; hotelsj jind ~ and, 'with ;-_a tenipteraiture j -now-; raiging about zei'o;.'it tho al fresco deuionstratioiisOinll; bq.;on /a large "scale; •In: Now, York/it; is safe to,6ay that: nearly half.;'a- million" j)brsbns.;have booked -.seafe for-.'diiinerVoJready, 'many', paying ; premiums, ranging,from-Is. to aria in . Philadelphia r, and ;: Chicago, .where', the merry-maldng-';on->: New . Year's Eve is always on an'oliborate scale, 1 the hotels and' restaurants ; .will, cater, for. numbers almost as large.. ' . . * " • ' . Prosperity now. reigns in tho United States, and prices will be, demanded for everything/ Some restaurants and .hotels announce,: that no other beverage 'A.than' champagne l —and champagne here'costs, twice as much, as in London— ;will ;bo'; sold between 11 and 12 o'clock. I ■have been looking through the. lisfe of guMts^"whq ; *havo booked places' in,.the leading'restaurants' of New York;;'.and find that- they contain the names not only of our -, leading citizens, .but almost , with-out-exception 'of 'every big operatio artisto . now. singing in New. Y'ork, and these; comprise, as you know,; the choico stars',of the operatic, world. ,Ih:some instances'costly souvenire will bo given to the' women, and this is good management, becauso in the absence of .such gifts tlio.American craze for mementoes occasionally extends' to' appropriation of..- the i> proprietor's',' diver plate. Trumpeters sound a salute -in the dining-, room': at midnight, and numerous pages bearing' electric displays of "1910" appear at tho stroke of twelve.

There is a oiie-million-dollar hotel here, where at midnight the electric lights will be switched off so that the electrical displays may bo seen to better advantage, and in every hall silver bells will ring out . the Old Year and ring in tho New Year.. Both music and dress are characteristic of; Amorica's New Tear festivity, and!.tho arrangements have been made this year on' a'ecalb far'surpassing the luxury and extravaganco of "all previous years. In some restaurants masks aTo worn, 'so that persons- may take up the spirit of tho. night .with informality and complete freedom; , ' The most fashionable resort will be tho magnificent Cafe do l'Opera, only opened a couple of. weeks ago, of which Mr. Henri Prugcr, late of tho Savoy, in London, is general manager. Mr. Priiger refuses to, disclose his scheme of celebra-. tion, but intimates that .ho has. arranged a prognunnio which will be the' envy of every other' American restaurant. It was estimated that -upwards of JJ2.000.000 was spent last New Year's Eve by the diners in the hotels and restaurants of. the 'American metropolis, and this year the estimate is. half as much again, and all this prosperity is popularly- attributed to America's, system of protection.; ■'