Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 12, Number 33, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 11 February 1882 — Page 1

I^ol. 12. No. 33,

THE MAIL

A PAPER FOR THE PEOPLE.

Town Talk.

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

By a vote of nine to two tbe council t^ed last Tuesday night to make a conJict with the Brush Electric Light and ower Company to light tbe city at the ate of $10,000 per annum. One member ras absent when the vote was taken, ad it is not known how he would have j^ted had be been present, although Miere is a strong presumption he would foot have favored it. T. T. is of the opinion that this is a matter in which it ywould have been better to have made baite slowly. The plan by which the ^towpany proposes to light the city is understood by very few. A number of J« rcleehave been drawn upon a city map, Pnd Ave towers, each one hundred and ifty feet high are to be erected, from the j^op of which the light is to cast its rays |n every direction. There seems to be understanding as to the matter of lying the wires which are to carry the Electricity. In large cities where this system of lighting is in use the wires arc pj constant source of dread. They are aid to be dangerous to property and cer-

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death to those who have the misforfi oe to touch them. This being the case uvery precaution should be taken to nvert danger. It should be stipulated Jwith the company that the wires should 'he laid under ground,, where there Jfwould bo no danger of damage from Icontactwith them, and when they must pbe exposed they should be insulated in a proper manner. This city has all the Ik/ires overhead at the present time which k't should have in fact in some places [they are altogether too numerous. The Tnovement to place them under ground Jias become almost universal, and should I'je put in operation against all new comipanies, at least. Another objection to ?jhe hasty action is the fact that the com.ittee did uot sufficiently examine the •latter before taking action. Hie trip [to Aurora, Illinois, it is said was not as ^isfactory as it should have been. A ip was to have been made to Cleveland jut as tho works will not be in operation for several weeks yet the committee

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not wait. If the contract with the company is favorable to the city, and the [light proves a success no harm will be Hono, but pant experience should teach !he council to be very careful in the jhatter of contracts, which are very selboai carried out to the advantage of the public. Tho Water Works was the most iotable instance of this kind. The city

F'frayed tho expense of construction, |d then kindly mado the company a ^«ent of its stock, amounting to $50,and now pays about 14,400 per anJtn for water privileges, while tho comMny has money out at interest. Such Strokes of financiering aro far from sail/factory and should not bo repeated. These objections aro not ottered on ac­

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of opposition to tho clectric light. it is to the advantage of tho city t» [nveit, T. T. wants to see it in oporation .j as short a spaco of time possible, but [verything should be carefully considered before taking a step of so much iniortnnce. Thcro are one or two points 4iicli will be used to the disadvantage ft several in this matter beforeths closo jrf the next city campaign.

COKNKK LOAFERS.

The spring weather of the past week Pt&g brought to the front an unusually large number of corner loafers, who frequent tho crossings along Moin street rith a persistence which is exasperatJug. These fellows are always out of employment, and never seem to want to J^ork. Tbey would rather hold up the jrner buildings and keep down railings [,-an anything else, eating and drinking cepted. The way tbey stand around lid Hood the sidewalk with filthy toRacco juice is as disgusting as it is unkleasant. 1 jKlies are compelled to pass Fbem and le stared at as natural curiosthe like of which was never before

Ton, and will never bo seen hereafter. Ill the slang in tho loafers vocabulary in constant use, and every passer by compelled to hear it. These men have visible means of support and should treated as vagrants. They obstruct ,-ners and make themselves a nuisance.

Hey are troublesome a* the martins are I, the summer months, and it would be tell to try the same remedy —water—on laetxi. A liberal application of the fluid fould improve them considerably, ere should be a law against this speof vagrant. A loitering ordiuance Jould be a good thing for his case, but there is none, the next best thing ould be to keep him moving. The poLo could do this very easily, and should Immenoe a trial of the experiment lithout further delay. 7 HKLFIKG THK BUBOURS.

In the report# of the burglaries of the ii week appears the statement that the Jtiight of the jimmy found a number [f safes in business houses conveniently jn, which greatly assisted him in his Iperatious. It seems strange that peowho purchase safes to protect valua­

bles should carelessly go home at night and leave them unlocked, especially when not a night passes without a number of visits by house-breakers. Perhaps, though, it is not the work of carelessness, but a studied design on the part of those who leave open their safes. T. T. once heard a story of a business man whose safe had several times been blown open. Becoming tired of the repeated depredations and the expense of repairs he hung the combination on the knob of the lock with instructions how to work and the request to lock it after the rifling process had been completed. He had no trouble after that. Probably our Terre Houte merchants are profiting by the experience, and prefer to have their safes gone through without disfigurement to having them mutilated beyond recognition. amusements.

Since the first of September last there have been about sixty performances given in the Opera House. They have been varied in their nature. Some have been good, many have been bad, and more have been indifferent. There seems to be little or no inclination on the part of managers of these traveling companies to cultivate a taste for the higher order of the drama. Terre Haute has the reputation of being the best "show town" on the circuit to which it belongs, and its people are exexpected to take in everything which comes along. Of the sixty performances thus far given there have been about eleven good ones, viz Lawrence Barrett, Frederick B. Warde, Hoey and Hardie Combination, JolinT. Raymond, The Banker's Daughter Combination, "My Partner," "The Professor," Emma Abbott, Haverly's Minstrels, and Barlow, Wilson, Primrose and West in minstrelsy, and there are two or three of these which might be weeded out. Of the remainder there has been an abundance of poor material from Buffalo Bill and Uncle Tom's Cabin down to Alvin Josyln. It seems as though every successful play written within three or four years has been followed by a score of poor imitar tors. If an actor chances to make a hit in some minor char|cter he imagines himself a star of great magnitude and forthwith employs some carpenter or blacksmith to write him a play with a character moulded especially to fit him, and he proceeds to wear it as he would a coat. In this manner "The Danites" and."Davy Crocket" have been imitated until people are even disgusted with the original, and the worst of it is the poor productions manage to draw large houses while the respoctable class can scarcely excel an average. Lawrence Barret never crowds the )pera House, but when Buffalo Bill came all could not gain admission. The Hoey and Hardie Combination played two nights to an array of empty seats, while Davis and his apology for a party, Alvin Joslyn, took about$700 away frem here with one performance. One minstrel company took in f052 at one performance, which is, T. T. will venture to predict, more than Edwin Booth will roceive on the twenty-second for his polished rendition of Hamlet. For the many inflictions in the amusement line which the people of Terre Haute have borne during the present season, T. T. hopes there is something good in store for them before its close.

THEY SAY

That the inventor of a bagless knee for trousers would get fabulously rich. That men area good deal like eggs. You don't know whether they're good or bad till they're "broke."

That the girl who parts her hair on the side and the young chap who parts his in the middle, make a well-matched team.

That if people employed as mHch time in seeking comfort, as they waste in groaning over discomfort, the world would be a much happier plaee to live in.

That many a man after marriage wishes he had one-tenth of the money he had fooled away on other girls, to buy a baby carriage with.

That the petticoat is gradually getting away with the ulster. There are seven school superintendents, twenty ministers, twenty-six physicians, four lawyers and three editors of the femenine sex in Kansas.

Thejuewascertainlycauseforconsternation in a Chicago congregation last Sunday when Rev. Geo. C. Miln, pastor of Unity church, formerly presided over by Rev. Dr. Collyer, announced from the pulpit that he bad abandoned his belief in a deity and in the immortality of man. He said:

If I could believe there were a future life, how gladly would I let loose my imagination to picture its possible glories- Not the gentle John himself should beat the air with more eager pinion, to reach the gate which I would fain believe opens upon the fields of paradise, than I. But, friends, I cannot afford to deceive you, and so I say that, however beautiful the dream may be, tbe chance of its fulfillment seems to me remote and improbable.

WiU some one rise and explain what •uch a man as this is doing in the pulpit.

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Susan Perkins' Letter.

During the early part of the Winter, when girl after girl came out in sealskin cloaks and fur-lined circulars, I found it difficult to feel that Christian spirit of resignation that is so much to be desired in everyone wishing to be truly good and contented with her lot but I am happy to say that I am more at ease in my mind now whenever I moot on the street one of my acquaintances, red in the face and uncomfortably hot with her unnecessary load of fashionable fur which her pride—or her mother's fear of colds—compels her to keep on. For the air, dear, is simply balmy. I know that word is much used and much abused but I don't know any other that will serve my purpose, so I use it. The sun shines bright and warm, and the birds are making all sorts of plans for Spring house-keeping and Summer happiness, openly making love to each other with that total'disregard of surrounding objects with eyes and ears that characterizes all the world, whether animal or human, when performing that mueh told of feat.

What is there in the air of coming Spring that causes love to flow as flows the sap in the trees? Is there, do you suppose, an affinity between the sweets of young affection and of sugar water, that they both start into active operations after the first thaw? Don't treat that question with levity, Josephine, there is in it food for scientific investigation as well as treacle for buckwheat cakes. You know yourself that there is more love-making in the Spring than at any other time—unless it be the moonlight nights of early Summer and that is usually only the culmination of the Spring's beginning. Is there, then, in the human system a kind of sap which we call "love?" And is one in love necessarily a sort of sap head

You may talk as you please about sitting around the stove or in front of the fireplace and letting the coals die down to that warm but not bright glow so conducive to confidential discourse, but I hold that more darts are shot with good aim by the blind god Cupid when the sunny afternoons and pleasant moonlight nights of Spring first tempt tbe strollers out, than at any other time of the year.

Every pleasant afternoon and evening now you may see couple after couple Btrolliag at that snail's pace which two mortals always assume when their own conversation is more to them than all the beauties of nature and colds in the head that the world can furnish be it never so beautiful—or damp.

Everything, as I have said, betokens the coming of Spring, and soon the dust of the beaten carpet will be abroad in the land, and the head of the house will wonder why he was ever fool enough to marry a neat woman. All this time, and with these fearful things before their eyes, the birds, the lovers, and the sap go on, the lover feeling a wonderful faith that to them nothing will be discomfort—not even house-cleaning and cold dinners in the kitchen—if shared together. I recall that interrogation point farther back. Love is blind to the future as well as to the present.

Alas! for the faith of the season of love and anticipation! How soon comes the season of realization and disillusion, and the waking up of the dreamer of "Love's young dream" to the every-day duties of wifehood and its attendant shirt-buttons!

I feel sad when I see these young girls all around me rushing into they-know-not-what dangers and tri&ls with no thought beyond the present and in preparation for the future. What the future is likely to be, is easy for them to see if they will only look around them at the examples on every side but the only side at which they glance is that by which walks the hero of their early romance and that they could ever be untrue, unkind! Perish the thought. No one in the world was ever like them, and so no one can show an example of what they will be. Poor girls, I pity them.

And,speaking of love, and faith, and all that sort of thing, who do you think has fallen a victim to the wiles of women?

The heart so long steeled against tbe shafts from Cupid's bow, at last is wounded, the eyes so sternly set against the glances of the fair sex, have looked at last with answering light into another pair and the downfall most be chronicled of the bachelor stronghold of T. T. of The Mail, who is—according to Public Rumor—soon to join the birds in tneir nest building. May he be happy is tbe prayer of Your friend,

*£T*.

TERRE HAUTE, IND., SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 11,1882.

S.P.

A HOME-MADE GAINSBOROUGH. Toledo American. No, Mollie, were we in your place we would not pay $9 for one of those big fany bats. Just take an old government blanket and stretch it over a large hogshead hoop—the bigger the better. You will notice the letters U. S. upon the blanket. That means under side.

Bishop Clark, of Rhode Island, says: "The devout church-goer who cannot be trusted on a week day is the present scandal of Christendom."

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Our Breakfast Table.

"Seems to me," remarked Miss Laura, "you gentlemen are all interested in the same corner of the morning papers. It can't be the prize fight! What! even the Professor? Oh, shade of Oscar Wilde!" "Wonder what Oscar thinks of this country by this time said the Professor. "Caricatured and laughed at everywhere, to-day he can see a "column in every paper in the land devoted to a minute account of a 'mill,' described in the flash language of the ring, and alongside of it, perhaps, the description of his being mobbed by a gang of college students!" "Major, read a little of what you are s« interested in." "Well, listen! 'Round three—the men advance^, sparred, feinted, and then Sullivan planted a stinging blow on Ryan's nob. Slugging then commenced, continuing till Ryan went to grass. The next round he came up groggy.' "What do they print such stuff for "What? Why, because every man and boy in the land is going to read every word of it, and secretly admire Sullivan more than Wilde. Weftre like Dickens poor relation: we dote onf blood.' "By the way, Oscar says 'the men and women of America are splendid, but there is abroad chasm between them and the newspapers.' Is he right "Of course he is about the people," the Major said, "and perhaps about the papers, too. Editors put too low an estimate upon tho culture and tastes of their readers. They are misled by the fact that pretentious vulgarity makes more noise about what it likes and dislikes than does modest worth. I don't believe the Cincinnati Police News, called Enquirer, and its imitators, represent the people's taste at all, at all!"

Derby read that the Marquis of Salisbury said in Parliament that America would have put down the Irish troubles in six months. "Wonder what is his opinion of the Mormon question, and if he thinks polygamy would last six months in Britain or a British colony I don't believe a man in this district ever thought of asking Pierce or Yoorhees to say a word about it."

No, Mr. Y. A Mr. P. are too busy with the office-seekers to hear any such advice. Preachers, editors and ex-diplo mats control their ears and pester them to death, or till they gladly endorse a man as ti our country in Germany, for instance, just to get rid of him, who couldn't get a |300 clerkship at his home. Funny, isn't it, that we sit quietly till some very objections ble man gets a fat consulate, and then cry for reform. We wouldn't dare to send a memorial on to Washington to say that this man does not pay his debts or that one is incompetent to do a problem in vulgar fractions, and so on. "There will not be very much done about the Mormon or civil service reform until the people demand it!" "Nevermind the Mormons, Derby!" replied the Major. "What you have got to do now is to discuss the Electric light?" "I'll do tnat, and I wish several years more to do it in before I want lighthouses on stilts set up here." "I knew you would oppose it. Better go back to tallow dips, you old fogy!" "Yes, that is one of the arguments, I know. You hurrah for the light of the future, and pick up the first proposition that has been seriously made. I believe in discussing the thing long enough to have every point examined, to have each citizen understand that it is a very grave question and not to be settled by any half dozen men. I would like to see a few of the factories or mills in the town try the Brush light. They have the power and can do it cheaply. I would like to examine other patents! There is no hurry!

MacEwansaid, "There is no hurry to be sure, but what is the use of waiting. Can't you appreciate the money to be saved, and that there is no risk in a trial?" "Yes I understand all that, but I join the kickers. I appose the towers straddling our streets-rand want to hold back till the contracts arc exposed to such public scrutiny that every flaw may be discovered. Terre Haute is the party that obliges, not the company that furnishes water, gas and electricity and becomes in the end a dictator whiah always interprets the bond to suit itself. Every new grant creates another monopoly. We must have the right to say where every pole and wire shall go. In fact to dictate every detail—but I think the way things look we are in for the new scheme and that with our refreshing ignorance of the electric light, we shall mnVp a very poor bargain!"

Tbe Professor thought if everybody was like Derby we would have no telephone, water or gas. "Couldn't do without them I know," answered Derby, bat we pay too much for them. Why should the consumers pay their hard earned money at such a rate that the telephone operators make a vast fortune in a few years and the other companies pay up their stock without anteing up a third of its value. I want to

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see our councilmen drive just as hard a bargain for the city as they would for themselves. I am through—take the floor!"

Poor John—you are short of stock— and if you were in the ring would share the modest contentment of the stockholder who cheerfully chants, •I care not much for gold or land

Give me a mortgage here and there,— Some good gas stock—some notes of hand Or trifling telephone share 1 only ask that Fortune send A little more than I shall spend.'" So Jack said and added. "If you are so much in favor of competition, why let these folks compete with the gas company. You know the first reduction it ever made was when opposition began to loom up!"

ABOUT WOMEN.

The widow of General Custer has no pension, and has been painting plaques for a living.

A German girl named Minnie Hauck landed in New York early last week, proceeded direct to Little Rock, whither her lover had preceded her by some months, reached the city on Wednesday, was married on* Thursday, died on Friday and was buried on Saturday.

-XmV

Mrs. Dorris, the old woman who was murdered by her grandson at St. Louis Saturday night, made her great wealth by dealing in slaves before the war. Her husband gave her all the babes of his slave jwOmen, which she sold and appropriated the proceeds to her own use. "Mrs. Emmons," says the Washington Republic, "is the name of the lady daily seen in company with a large staghound which matches in the color of its shaggy coat the shade of her ulster. The dog has a private room at Worm ley's and has its meals served to it in as fine style as any ether dignitary residing there."

Miss Rosa Yan Dieman, of Milwaukee. has brought a suit against Adolphe Thieles because he kissed her. She claims $5,000 damages. She avers that "he then and there did seize plaintiff by the shoulders, put his arm around her neck, and did then and there kiss her," and by reason of said act the plaintiff was "greatly hurt in her feelings, and suffered and underwent great mental pain."

A sensible school ma'am of Paterson, N. J., found her schoolroom so cold, the othor day, that studying was out of tbe question. She did not send her pupils out into the cold world to become still colder, but arranged them in lines, and set them to dancing the Virginia reel, while one of their number played the piano. She soon had them well warmed by the exercise, and they went to their studies again in comparative comfort.

There is an opinion prevalent that young ladies lose their presence of mind under circumstances of peril. This was not the case with a young lady of Buffalo, whose lover took her sleigh-riding, and began to propose just as his horses started to run with the sleigh. Being determined to have it oyer with, he got the question out at the moment the sleigh struck a mile post. The girl was thrown high into the air, but as she came down she uttered a firm "Yes, Charlie," and then fainted.

A drunken female tramp who applied for lodging at a Philadelphia station house, was asked by a reporter why she did not reform, and gave this answer: "What's the use of trying any more? I did try once, and I tell you, young man, people can talk about human charity and all that bosh as much as they like, but I say and I know there is no place this side of hell for a woman like me. Reform, indeed!" Knowing something of human nature himself, the newspaper man asked no more questions.

The virtue of women is held in high 68teem by the citizens of Ottawa, HI. A jury gave a young lady of that place $50,000 damages for an outrage committed upon her by a physician while under professional treatment. There may be some question as to the justice of tbe verdict, but the result is an indication of the indignation that is felt at the conduct of a physician who will take advantage of the sacred confidence which is imposed in him by a patient to gratify his passions.

Mrs. Commodore Vanderbilt is probably the richest unmarried woman in the United States. Her age is thirty-six, and she has a million for every year, in addition to marked personal attractions. She has lived a very quiet life since the Commodore's death, spending most of her leisure in opening love letters and prosecuting the charities which he undertook. She frequently sits up with her secretary till midnight answering the letters—not the love letters. The number of proposals she has received for her well-endowed band since the Commodore was taken from her side is estimated by those who are nearest to her to be between 500 and 2,000. Many of tbem are accompanied by photographs which wildly and vainly endeavor to set forth the eharms of tbe writers. She is not disposed to marry, and probably will not unless some editor asks her.

A -..'J

Twelfth Year

THE BETTER WORLD.

CHURCHES, PASTOR AND PEOPLE

An organ just put into a Baptist church in Brooklyn has a snare drum accompaniment. The rest of the band will come along soon.

A dancing teacher at Williamsport, Pa., went to a revival meeling and was converted. At the next meeting of his dancing class he informed his pupils of the change which had taken place in his mind, and told them that he would no longer be happy in teaching them how to dance. Thereupon they disbanded.

The Rev. James T. Powers is servi$j& out a term in a Massachusetts prison fofc vagrancy. Ten years ago he was considered a remarkably eloquent preacher,, and had a charge at Ludlow, Vt. He was a clever writer, and his articles were generally salable to newspaper or magazines. His downfall was not caused by drink or immorality. His \yife died in 1872, and he at once lost heart, became a wanderer, and at last a miserable, ragged tramp.

The great Dr. Newman, who was pastor and chief minister of the "State Church" during the presidency of Gen. Grant, and who took a tour of Europe at G9vernment expense under an appointment as diplomatic agent, has fallen from grace and left the Methodist church. He has gone over, soul and body, to the Congregationalists, and General Grant, they say, has gone with him. Tlio Methodists of Washington, where the Doctor was regarded an apostle among them, are very much chagrined and incensed at his action. It is said that prior to taking this step Dr. Newman indicated, in a private and confidential way, to his old church here, the Metropolitan that if that body would dissolve its connection with the Methodist Conference and become an Independent M. E. eburch, and call him to the pastorate, he would personally undertake to pay off the debt of |40,000 hanging over them, and return there. The proposition was not accepted, and having become convinced that his claims for advancement to a bishop's robes would continue to be overlooked, the learned, but rather worldly servant of God decided upon the step he has since taken.

The Rev. Herrick Johnson, of Chicago, preached a sermon against the theatres. It was insisted, in reply, that he didn't know what be was talking about. He answers that charge by going over the record of the four leading Chicago theatres for 1881, and showing, by extracts from current criticism in the newspapers, that only an average of one performance in eleven was clean in both the play and the costumes of the players. In this summary he claims that he classes as unclean only those that are •nquestionably so aside from any religious view of the matter. "There are clean plays and clean players," this clergyman admits, "but they are like Gratiano's 'two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff.' Plays must be sensational to be effective must be a representation of active passions to be popular. There is a whole class of plays that turn on criminal passion between the sexes, while murder, abduction, marital infidelity, injured honor, and revenge abound in the drama. Adaltery is bad enough on trial before a court, where it is necessarily arraigned for punishment. But it is immeasurably worse in its demoralizing effects set forth on the stage, where the story of the iniquity is often told with voluptuous heat of illicit love, and amid thrill of music and gorgeous scenic surrounding." Mr. Johnson admits, however, that vice is usually made odious and virtue extolled on the stage.

How much faster girls grow up than boys! It is quite amusing, in watching, children, to notice this development. Take a party of boys and girls to the country, and see how naturally they will fall into pairs. Tbe miss of fourteen will smile upon the lad of the same age, and tbe same pursuits will charm them both. He will instruct her in the mysteries of baseball, she will teach him croquet he, perhaps, has a turn for natural history, and will so far overcome her scruples as to leave the pinning of butterflies safely in her hands, while she is brim full of poetry and sentiment, and lures him under apple trees to listen to the poetic effusions of the last school idyl but wait a couple of years, and how will it be then The boy will still be a lad—awkwark, blushing, shy, trembling before his divinity,—while she will have grown into the "woman," and have visions of balls and theatres, and adorers whose ideal merits are not in the slightest degree compatible with the juvenile devotion of her early companion. Such is life, however, and both are learning, their lesson if they did but know it.

JENNIE CRAMER'S FA TE. Logaosport Journal. The story is a terrible one, but its lessons and warnings can not be too seriously regarded by young women who are "not afraid to take risks" for tbesake ot fleeting and dubious pleasure*. Heed to a mother's bomelv and loving counsel would have saved Jennie Cramer's honor and life.

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