Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 17, Number 41, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 2 April 1887 — Page 1

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Vol. I7.-N0. 41.

THE _MAIL.

A PAPER FOR THE PEOPLE.

Notes and Comment.

There is no fair cause for complaint that March did not do justice to his reputation this year.

The gold fever is rapidly increasing at Golden City, Arkansas. If the gold would increase at a corresponding rate it would be encouraging.

To the complaint that base ball pitchers got bettor salaries than preachers, a sharp exchange answers that there are fewer pitchers than preachers. Genius, my boy.

The Bell telephone company clears $2,000,000 a year on an income of $3,000,000. It would seem possible under the circumstances to make a small reduction in telephone charges.

No wonder Mr. Voorhees wants Chaplain Sunderland to pray that the President may have mercy on Democrats when he appoints members of the Green Smith crowd to office.

It is said that Chaunccy M. Depew, president of the New Your Central railroad, was once a writer of religious tracts. Doubtless ho considers himself in better business now.

It used to be tho fashion long ago to

kiss

a protty girl to cure the toothache. Roferringto this an exchange feelingly remarks: "It is difficult to improve upon some of those old-time rotnedies.

Yale's class of '8» contains a man who has beaten the world's record for "the high kick" by live inches. Which goes to prove that our higher educational interests are in a highly satisfactory condition. _____

As Emma

Abbott'sattractiveness

as an

artist diminishes, her exhaustleBS resources as a shewd advertises are drawn upon, and this season the pictures of the prima donna represent her in a costume that is equally diminished.

Tho railroad managers predict that the abolition of the free pass system under the now law will materially swoll the oarningH of the railroads. Let us see now ir they will give the public tho benefit of this gain by reducing fares correspondingly.

Mr. Beochor's son did something his fathor never would have done or consented to do, in excluding Mrs. Hooker from the funeral of her brother. It is true that she sided with the Tiltons at tho timo of the scandal and that was bad enough. Hut death should end such things, as it ends all others.

Thero are forty disasters each year in the United Stutes caused by the breaking of defective railroad bridges, and thero can be little doubt that many of tho briges over which trains are now running are llablo to go down at any momont. A more rigid aud frequent inspection of these structures should bo required. _____

Tho New York Tribune says there is a prwpoet of cars being made of steel instead of wood. They will then be fireproof, and It Is claimed that there will tea large saving in weight and cost of construction compared with the styles now in use. Hotter mako the bridges of steel, too, If that will prevent their falling down.

Torre Ilauto merchants are highly pleased with the pass provision of the Inter-State law* They bellove that it will result in keeping at home many thousands of dollars worth of trade that has heretofore gone to the cities in all directions from here. A pass was a tempting thing to a Terre H*utean to go to another city for articles of furniture, clothing and even groceries.

THK women ot Kansas are going to play a large part in the approaching municipal elections in that State, and their influence is likely to be seriously felt by the politicians, for they propose to vote against every man who has a bad reputation for morality, or cruelty or stinginess to his family. The result of these elections will be awaited with no small interest. _____

The late Judge Treat, of Springfield, Ills., requested that no addreese* be made at his funeral and on referring to the circumstance Bishop Seymour, who conducted the services, took occasion to disparage "the repulsive custom of delivering eulogies over the dead." Mr. Beecher would have no crape and Judge Treat no eulogies. We are making some progress in the matter burying the dead.

The inter-state commerce law la a bad one If but for one rea»on, I. e.: that it reduces the revenues of the sleeping car companies. As long an their receipts are being reduced they will make no cot tn the present extortionate prices. The crying need now la a law that will con* pel them to reduce, and the statesman who will devise a plan by which that ean be brought about will be entitled to the everlasting gratitude of the public.

Alas! and must the tender, toothsome spring chicken "go" to? The Microscopical Society of San Francisco (pity it didn't fall into the bay!) has reached the conclusion that thousands of these delightful birds are full of the germs of consumption. But who has ever heard of anyone dying from chicken consumption? Better wait till somebody gets sick at least before ruling the spring chicken off the list of healthy food articles. These scientists will be the death of us all if they keep on.

Ex-Gov. St. John spoke tii the temperance question at Indl^papolis, last Wednesday night, and announced that he had forgiven Mr. Blaine for beating him out of the Presidency in 1884. This is a very startling piece of news, lifts a heavy lead from many minds, and the country can now resume business in the old accustomed way. It was rial kind of Mr. St. John to forgive Mr. Blaine, and a great many are wondering whether Mr. Blaine has returned the courtesy and forgiven St. John.

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One day this week an Indianapolis newspaper published in two places in the same issue the vagrant paragraph about the courtship of Senator Ingalls. .It appeared as original in the special correspondence of one of the Terre Haute papers,'and a few days later as a clipping in the same paper and a day later in another Terre Haute paper. It was a fascinating paragraph for editors everywhere, as it has been published in nearly all the papersJn the country, all of which would indicate that Senator Ingalls' marriage is a very decided fact. And so it is. H« has a dozen children.

ANew York actress has struck an advertising scheme which throws the stolen jewelry dodge clear into the shade. She was poisoned so the dispatches informed us one day this week by partaking of some fruit sent her bV a crank admirer whose advances she had rejected. The telegraph spread the news broadcast, and she is probably laughing in her sleeve at the clever way in which she hoodwinked, the newspapers into advertising her free of charge. Tho persons with advertising genius, whether in the show business or any other, are always coming to the front.

About once every fortnight Judge Mack becomes the topic of newspaper publicity by reason of some act which arouses the ire of Wall street. The un expected thing may always be expected, and that he does not grow monotonous is best attested by the increasing vigor of the opposition and support he meets with. His enemies say he is fishing for popularity while seldom picking flaws with what he does or says they dispute the sincerity of his motives and admit that such is his popularity he could be elected over any one for any office in the country. The judge's innovations have invariably been for good things. He fights abuses and perhaps at times tights one wrong more stubbornly than another, but all the same his fights are always against that which is bad and that Infallible tribunal, public sentiment, is not a hair-splitting court. It is a significant fact that among his party brethren are found the principal critics of his course on the bench.

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The verdict in the Rigler case caused much comment among men who have property and have made or intend to mako wills. One gentlnman worth $30,000 said he was about to make a will but the verdict unsottled him in that purpose. If an array of skillfnl lawyers can go into court and set aside a will because it does not devise the legacy as some one else would have it bestowed or perhaps not according to equity, then virtually a man is not at full liberty to say to whom his wealth shall be given, to make discriminations or show favoriteism. The issue of insanity, or incapability, can be raised in any instance and no man is so free of individualities or eccentricties that there could not be made as strong proof of insanity as was done in the Rigler case. Detaehed acta and saying can be proven against any man which, apart from bis life in general and the conduct of his worldly affitf rs, would be sufficient in the manipulation of skillful lawyers to convince the average jury that the will should be set aside. All things considered, the Rigler verdict waa a great compliment to the attorneys as able practitioners. ^r

A "Congress of Churches and Christians" has been in session in Chicago this week, attempting to read the Masons and all other secret societies out of existence. The cranks, principally ministors, hare shown very plainly (to themselves) that every calamity that has been visited upon the world and its people, including the Ohio river flood and the failure of the Delaware peach crop, are directly traceable to the pernicious influence of these dreadful organisations. Every form of secret society and labor organisation came in for a share of the general condemnation, bat the Masonic fraternity bad to bear the brunt of the attack. It is not hard to believe that the Masons and kindred societies will be la existence long after these men are dead and their names forgotten, and doing more good each day than any of them have don* in their lifetime. But then

TERRE HAUTE, IND., SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 2,1887.

this give* them a greater publicity and more notoriety than they would be abli to enjoy otherwise. Their talk about the "menace to American institutions" alarms nobody and affords them niucb pleasure, so let them "meet and resolve.,.

It is the same fellow (and he is numerous) who on that balmy first day of March, spoke of the lamblike entrance of the month, who yesterday referred to "Fickle April" as the sunshine and raiti alternated every half hour. He is also the same fellow who wants to know if it is hot enough or cold enough, as the case may be, for you. He is a nuisance in* dividually and compoundedly so in the aggregate.

If an investigation of the fire depariment is had what will be the outcome? It is admitted a, beau-ideal department in the matter of paraphernalia and preparation and needs only a "test" to prove its competency. Perhaps there is a lurking suspicion that there is too muoh show, too little discipline and too much expense. Whatever is brought out it is a fact beyond dispute that an investigation will enliven spring politics—as if the police issue were not sufficient for that "purpose.

Our people complain a great deal of Terre Haute as a winter resort, but much of it is unjust. One morning this week when the train from Chicago pulled into the Union depot great icicles hung from the car roofs, and when the train from Nashville and the "balmy south" arrived a short time afterward there was snow on the platforms six inches deep. And while the weather here was not just like gentle spring, it was such as to shine by comparison with that both above and below us. This ought to give Terre Haute a "boom" as a winter resort.

It begins to look as if TPerre Haute after all is to go through a seige of Salvation Army disorder and excitement. The city has been singularly free from this English institution and has not mourn od therefor. The detachment now here, came on us quietly and began operations in a very orderly way,- but from noisy offlciousness was to be tern porary Only. The Army, it is said, will inaugurate a crusade on the saloons wherein it displays the hardihood of ignorance. Judges, grand juries, police, pastors and public sentiment have never yet been able to cope with the liquor intesest in Terre Haute. It is two to one that in a contest between the base drum revivalists and the saloon keepers the former will be the ones prosecuted for violation of the law.

Charles D. Hilderbrandt, one of the most noted criminals of modern times, who claimed to have been reformed, and went about the country delivering lectures upon prison life, died in Evansville Sunday night. Hilderbrand began his career of crime when a mere child, receiving a thorough schooling at the hands of a gang of thieves. He was a member of the famous Quantrill guerrila band. He was also a member of the outlaw band tif James boys. Out of forty-nine years of his life, twenty or more were spent in various prisons in this country.

LITTLE SERMONS.

A fretful mind is its own tormentorits greatest trials are self-imposed. There is no joy in life like that which comes from a sense of relieved affliction.

The most completely lost of all days is the one on which we have not laughed. He who is most slow in making a promise is most faithful in the performance of it.

We attract hearts by the qualities we display we retain them by the qualities we possess.

When death, the great reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity.

Treachery, in friendship's grab, is foulest treason and he who is guilty of it, is too despicable for words to paint his character.

A secret foe

Is

the most dangerous.

You can fight the roused tiger, but against the crawling serpent there is no protection. ________________

A BEA UTTFVL THOUGHT. Henry Ward Beecher in March Brooklyn Magazine: We are going home. Men shiver at the ides that they are going to die bnt this world is only a nest. We are scarcely hatched out of it here. We do not know ourselves. We have strange feelings tb* do not interpret themselves. The mortal in us is crying for the immortal. As in the night the child, waking with some vague and nameless terror, cries out to express its fear and dread, and its cry Is interpreted in the mother's heart, who runs to the child and lays her hand upon it and quiets it to sleep again, so God hears our disturbances, trials and tribulations in life. Do you not suppose that He who is goodness itself cares for you? Do you suppose that He whose royal name IK Love has less sympathy for you than the mother has for her babe? Let the world rock. If the foot of God toon the cradle, fear not. Lot* up, take courage, hope, and hope uuto the end.

THE PASSING SHOW.

SHOWS AND SHOW FOLKS.

The only attraction at the Opera House next week will be the appearance on Wednesday evening of the noted and wonderful blind negro pianist. Blind Tom has no parallel in history. His ability would be marvelous even if he had his eyesight but when it is considered that he is blind, it is beyond measure strange. Unless one sees or hears him play he is unable properly to understand the extent of his ability. Test him how you may, he never fails. His memory is as miraculous as his musical powers and he plays over a piece he has never heard before with almost infallable exactitude. His proftoiency is a natural gift. From his earliest infancy he betrayed the utmost interest in musical sounds of every kind— the cries of animals, the moaning of the wind, the rushiug of waters, the singing of the birds, all afforded him exquisite delight.

The Inter-State Commerce bill has deprived us of .one delightful entertainment—that is Duffs Opera Company booked for next Saturday evening. Such companies have heretofore paid two-third rates for railroad fare. Now that full fare must be paid, the manager is compelled to cancel two weeks engagements, closing st Chicago to-night and going direct to New York.

Genevieve Ward thinks that theatergoers in this country are insensible to wit and humor. A questionable joke or vulgar action is, she says, the only thing that makes them laugh. When Genevieve said this she was playing'in Chicago to a handful of people against ^•Adonis" Dixey, who drew crowded houses.

Speaking of Margaret Mather's marriage, Manager J. M. Hill says: "The gentleman she has married is in my employ, and is an educated man. There is nothing sensational about the affair at all. Miss Mather don't do things that sVrayv She has simply found somebody, she has loved* and married the man of h6r choice.' A woman ifho can not lovo andwho hasntrdestre'ftir do^ tnestic joys is not much of a woman.

We all like to have a home to come to after the labors and cares of business. I think she hah done a very sensible thing to get married."

In Philadelphia last weelt Wilson Barrett reproved an audience for becoming panic striken because some man called out "fire." A candle falling to the stage caused the alarm. After the excitement had subsided, Mr. Barrett stepped to the footlights and said: "Ladies and Gentlemen: Even at the risk of offending you, am about to speak a few words of advice. I need not comment on what has happened. You saw yourself what one foolish man can do when he losefe his presence of mind in a crowded theater. In losing control of yourselves, as you did, you acted like a flock of sheep—not like men and women. Forgive me if I seem rude but do be more sensible.

The delightful actor, Frank Mayo, recently lectured at the Chicago Conservatory on dramatic art his lecture being the first of a series. In the course of a pleasant and thoughtful discourse to histrionic pupils he said: "As in all conditions of life, impulse must be constantly checked—kept in harness as it were. It is the electricity of nature, and may be a servant or a destroyer. I believe in impulse as a quality. I regard it as the bursting spring-time of life-. I believe in enthusiasm but an enthusiast is a bore —to me. To be without impulse is to be without spirit. But I like you better when you show me glimpses of your spirit less when you flood me with it. I like a spirited horse, but I like him best when a good driver has him under control. When ho has got the best of his driver we generally try to get out of his way. So with Impulse in acting. Keep it in a battery. Flash as many messages over the wires between us as you like, but don't let it take on the form of a thunderbolt. No other art goes on in this guess-work style. That you are aware of. Every one of them considers proportion, distance, etc., except nun. It is too often a go-as-you-please art, and that is why it is held by many as only the show business. I am not prepared to say that it Is an unjust verdict, either. But the drama is one thing and the acting of it fa another. It Is the show—good old Anglo-Saxon word—I like it, but I do not like the degradation of its significance when used to signify the power of the drama.

Elijah Smith, the Oregon railway king, Is eccentric in his habit of eating. He wants the best breakfast that 6an be served, and starts in on every day's work with his stomach supplied for at least ten hours. He takes no lunch and does cars what he has fordinner.

The Chief of the Buf&lo Fire Department reported as using this very forcible language wbon 1M arrived at the Richmond Hotel the other day: the building save the people."

People who dislike common things an making a market for gold-handled penknife*

PERSONAL AND PECULIAR.

A Boston cynic says that nothing honest can succeed in society. A Cincinnati wife-kicker pleaded in mitigation that it was his birthday.

Of California it is said "the towns are mostly all saints and the people mostly all sinners."

The son of Governor Ames of Massachusetts, is hard at work in a shovel-shop, learning his trade.

Mr. Greeley was wont to say that the saddest thing in life to him the "Vol. I., No. 1," at tho head of a fresh-newspaper enterprise. "Imported sherry" retailing for $5 per bottle is made in New York at a cost of sixty-two cents per quart. The man who wants what he pays for will drink buttermilk.

A "good all-around preacher" is defined as one who can preaoh all around the follies of bis hearers without coming quite close enough to give offense and lose his pew-rents.

Under the laws of New Jersey, and" it is being strictly enforced, too, any one who guesses on the weight of a hog and pays for that privilege, can be indicted the same as if he ran a lottery.

Bob Ford who killed Jesse James, is employed as a waiter in a Santa Fe hotel. Bob Littell aud another mejnber of the old James gang are in Santa Fe dead broke, and hangers on about the saloons.

Only two of the original "Hutchinson family" of singers are now living—John W. Hutchinson, who resides at High Rock, Lynn, Mass., and his sister, Mrs. Abby Hutchinson Patton, who lives in Ne\f York City.

It is agreed among all the doctors who have studied the Indian that nature made him so he couldn't catch oold. This allows him the privilege of running out nights in all sorts of weather and enjoying cold feet.

Senator Fair, of Nevada, has said less in Congress than any other man ever elected. He has made but one speech in six years, and that consisted of "Mr. President, I move wo adjourn/' And ttie Sefiate adjoria^al'^^

Treasury clerks wno count the trade dollars have to wear buckskin gloves or get soro lingers. Any sore spot on the finger is soon poisoned by contract with tho metal. People who sigh to count dollars should bear this in mind.

Judge Henry Hilton, of New York, fs a firm friend of the newsboys. Every evening when he leaves the Stewart building on Broadway he buys out all the boys who are "stuck" on papers and the boys know how to get badly stuck just before the Judge makes his appearance.

Senator Ingalls's, present home at Atchison, Kan., comprises the same house in which he and his wife spent their honeymoon, together with various wings and rooms that have been added from time to timo. Originally there were only four rooms. Jf.QW there are eighteen. *i§, 5:

Sir Henry Hawkins is getting a reputation in England as a witty judge. Recently a prisoner pleaded guilty of larceny, and then withdrew the plea and declared himself to be innocent. The case was tried and the jury acquitted him. Then said Sir Henry Hawkins: "Prisoner, a few minutes ago you said you were a thief. Now the jury says you are a liar. Consequently you are discharged."

Edward T. Flynn, managing editor of the New York Herald, has been spending a week in Atlanta, arid making himself agreeable to the young ladies. In a speech to the feminine portion of the high-school, he said: "When I look in to your faces and recollect that I am a citizen of the same country with you, it makes me proud of my American citizenship Let's see—Flynn! Flynn 1 that's Irish, Isn't it? And the speech—isn't that blarney?

At a dinner in Albany the other day Hon. Andrew 8. Draper told this story of Lincoln: "Im mediately after the battle of Gettysburg Lincoln sat down and wrote a peremptory order to Meade to intercept Lee in his retreat, give him battle, and by this bold stroke crush the rebel army and end the rebellion. The order was accompanied by a friendly note, in which the great patriot said to Meade: 'The order I inclose is not one of record. If you succeed you need not publish the order. If you fail, publish it. Then if you succeed you will have ail the credit of the movement. If not, Fll take the responsibility!'"

When ex-Gov. Curtin was Minister to St. Petersburg be was presented with a handsome and valuable pair of sleeve buttons by the Our of Russia. Not long since one of the buttons was lost. One of the Governors most intimate friends in the House wes Gen. Oates, of Alabama, a dashing Confederate officer who followed Lee in his campaign through Pennsylvania, and carries an armless sleeve as an evidence of his presence at Gettysburg. Just before Congress adjourned the Governor gracefully placed the buttan in Gen. Oates' shirt cuff and said to him that be desired to leave with him a memento that as, on Pennsylvania soil,

Se\ entccnth Ycaf

perhaps by a Pennsylvania gun, in the hands of a Pensylvania soldier, ho had lost his arm, the executivo of tho State at the time of the struggle had forgotten the past and would bind tho wounds of liis foes with ribbons of lovo and good fellowship.

WOMENS \VA YS. Slfc-i

There are'10,000 women ih Cincinnati who earn their own living. A Florida mother named her two children Jefterson Davis and Abraham Lincoln.

Lady Randolph Churchill went from the Queens last '4dra\ving-room" to the photographers to have her dress photographed.

It has been discovered that the great majority of wives who poison off their husbands use strychnine and put it into mince pie. ,•

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The overthrow of woman Suffrage by the courts of Washington Territory compels tho vacating of all verdicts of juries upon which women have acted. |1

A society for the purpose of assisting servant-girls to collect wages is spoken of in New York. A society for the purpose of collecting servant-girls worth( their wages would be more to tho pur-, pose.

A giri named Josie Pumpkinhead, of New York State, lived to be 18 years of age before she became ashamed of her name and hung herself in tho barn. It,, perhaps, didn't strike her that she could, change it by getting married.

Hannah Battersby, the fattest woman in the world, brought it all on herself by eating sweets. For several years her average was a pound of candy per day* and It cost her several hundred dollars to get ready to be a museum subject.

John Danoey, of Cairo, 111., told a strange lady on the street that her skirt had become loosened, and she had him arrested and fined $25 for disorderly conduct. He won't give out any more quiet tips, even if all tho ladies in Cairo lose their skirts.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox declares she likes the buBtle in a large city. She is to some extent. justified. In a large city the bustle is not bad, but in the country it is a nuisance. No one oan climb a brush fence with it with any-degreo -of ease and grace.

Anew departure in the ways of women is the formation of afire brigade. According to tho London Fireman, this has been done by a thousand girls employed in a Liverpool cigar factory. Thoy are woll officered and drilled, and at a recent blaze in the factory turned out and did most effectual work in subduing the flames. -.i'-H "f 5

Minneapolis seems to be pretty well along in the vanities. The Tribune of Sunday tells of "a proud mother who was trundling hervery pretty baby along Nicolet avenue and it did not require a close inspection of the little one's face to show that It was painted and powdered like a superanuated variety actress. It was impossible to tell whether the child had corsets on or not but it probably bad."

Mrs. Rosenberg of the treasury department is considered one of the very best counterfeit detectors in the world. She gets $1,800 per annum. Miss Mary Van W ran ken is considered one of the best law clerks in the internal-revenue office, and Miss Meban is such an efficient helper in the comptroller's office that she acts as deputy in the chief's absence, and with such perfect satisfaction that her decisions have never been reversed. Many other women in the various departments where a thorough knowledge of banking and mathematics are required fill positions of trust most acceptably.

There is no doubt, the Lancet believes, that woman can, if she will, qualify herself to do anything that am 1 can do for no "physiologist will ustion the possibility of developmr- by appropriate stimuli, exereise, I food any particular part or parts r' organism in such a manner as to m»^» respond to the demand of its environment and it must, therefore, be theoretically possible that the woman shall be developed in respect to any one or more of her organic potentialities US a level with the male. Bat she mast do so at the expense of some other power, and this Is usually at the sacrifice of some function that makes her valuable as a woman. The real question in the matter is whether it is worth while to pay so great a price for tho privilege.

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Mrs. Rongwerd's daughter is a strong, healthy girl, but withal quite pale. A lady, in speaking to her mother about her the other day, remarked: "J saw your daughter the, other evening, and she was looking quite pale. Isn't she very delicate?" replied Mrs. R., with a sniff of scorn. "No, indeed. I'll venture there ain't a girl in Washington society as delicate as my daughter is."

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Mrs. E. Putnam Heaton, of the Brooklyn Eagle, has been weighing the dresses at a fashionable modiste's, to find the average weight of a woman's gown. She found that jet-trim mod reception dresses weighed from thirty-four to forty-nine pounds, plain walking dresses from twelve to nineteen. Nothing was found that weighed less than ten pounds.

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