Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 20, Number 44, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 26 April 1890 — Page 1

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THEMAIL

A PAPER FOR THE PEOPLE.

Notes and Comment.

The comedian who is not writing his reminiscensee is just now decidedly out of the fashion.

Craw fordsville has a class of girl whistlers. No one envies the young man who soberly undertook to officiate as tutor in the whistling art.

Senator Calvin 8. Brice voted at Lima, Ohio, recently. He was not challenged for an imported repeater as it was anticipated he

might

be on his first attempt

to vote in the Stat© which elected him Senator. ANew Jersey milkman was drowned while lifting one of his milk cans from tbe well the other day. Evidently he thought even providence would not object to the unreasonable proportion of water in his milk.

New York is about to expend $300,000 in the erection of new buildings for the zoological collcction In Central Park. In tbe mean tlmo the country at large can come to the rescue of the Grant monument fund. "The Prohibitionists have nominated a city ticket In Evansvllle.'' Such Is a current news item which it Is very very difficult to believe. Tlie statemont is in every

respect

outwardly unreliable

Out with the proof. The King of Greece is the best tennis player among tho royalties of Europe Then he undoubtedly Is entitled to front rank, for it remains to be developed that a majority of tho European potentates are good for anything.

The few Brotherhood ball games which have so far been played have drawn immense crowds, and it begins to look very much as though the League olub would

have

tb "whistle" for public patronage. Such uYe the vicissitudes of base ball life. During the year 1880, over 3,000 Chinamen left America for home while only 880 registered as arrivals. Does this mean that tho Chinese problem Js solving itself, or does it mean that western states are making life Intolerable for the hated celestials? Possibly It mea^sboth.

Fifty families in Decatur, 111,, have joined in the novel scheme of maintain­

ing

a co-operative boarding house, each lady in turn directing tho affairs of the establishment.

Such a boarding honse

would prove a paradise for a wide-awake newspaperman. Gossip? Just imagine it! /V

Tho Sorosis Society of Now York if discussing tho qnostlon. "Is tno woman given us by women novelists more true to life than the woman drawn by men?" In deciding their problem it is possible "Barbara," of tho Quick or the Dead, and "She," of She, will not bo used as standards of comparison.

Wine Is transported in Europe in tank cars, like petroleum in tho United States. O110 tank recently carried 11,000 litres from Italy to Berlin, aud such transportation is looked upon as successful. If New York society sustains its record of last winter, tho same sjrstom of transportation will surely have to be adopted here.

A French girl stole seven different poems from Whittler's published works and had them printed in Paris papers aud magaKlnes as her own. It remained for an American to show her plagiarism and even then she persisted in her originality, declaring that Wliittler was the thief rather than herself. Such ignorance of our literature in France is surprising to say the least..

Tho Barn's Horn is a new religious paper of unusual excellence which has just been started iu Indianapolis. The editor is Eljiah P. Brown, atone time a notorious infidel but now a complete convert through Moody's preachings. If succeeding numbers of The Ram's Horn are as interesting as the first tbe paper will surely prosper.

The young man now at the head of affairs, whose so called progressive spirit challenged the admiration of the world, is out in a proclamation forbidding dueling in the German army "except when a council of men of honor shall decide the duel necessary." He has a "few more stepa to take to place himself, parallel with modern civilisation.

The assessed valuation of property in Chicago is $200,000,000, and yet a day or two ago a morning paper of that city printed the names of 200 millionaires whose aggregate wealth was ^506,500,000. This ratio may not represent the degree of honesty to be expected of the average Chleagoan, but it means there are some very sharp tax dodgers among the board of trade thieves, _____

Mr. Gladstone has always been more scupulous in Ms attention* to the humbler classes than to the nobility and wealthy. Once, when Prime Minister, he called personally on a tradesman one Sunday morning to deliver a ticket for

admission to the Honse of Commons, which had been requested. Thus it is he comes to know and appreciate the wants of these people to an extent 'less reliable statesman cannot hope to equal. I'iA. story is going the npunds to the effect that Parisians were lately treated to a rare effect of mirage. The Eiffel tower was seen surmounted by an inverted image of itself, vertical in the heave nil and looking like a duplicate continuation of tbe real structure. The base of the image lost itself in the upper mist while behind the tower was a low cloud which gleamed like silver. The sun was shining across the haze to the left of tbe tower and contributed an additional effect of light and shadow. /r.. 1111

In Paris there are five professional schools for girls. These have a course of construction embracing modern languages, domestic economy, industrial designing, cutting and fitting garments and accounts. Bach school is equipped with a kitchen and workshops for making corsets, feathers, and other staple articles of trade. Girls are admitted at 14 years of age* and remain three or four years. The day for such schools in America is at band, and the tendency toward recognizing this fact is very gratifying.

Town Tallc.

THE OWLS'KEST.

It is not enough to have a tribe of Red Men and a drove of Elks in the list of secret societies. The enthusiasts must go further and establish a nest of Owls. In this nest must be all the leading masons of the city, for tbe screeching of the flock must carry weight wherever it is heard. To-night the Prairie city nest is to be built,

and the occasion will be one of tho great events In tho history of local secret doings. The architectural work and general superintendence of construction on tbe nest will be intrusted to Nest No. 1, of St. Louis, and the ability of this body of screechers to perform the task is vouched for. The flrst step in the momentous proceedings will probably be the endowing of tho fifteen Terre Haute nestlings, recently^fena^ed ipp-*)* Lfnis neat, with, all the powers of the order. Then will follow the formal construction of Nest No. 8, which is to be one of the most prosperous lodges in the country. The 125 applicants for tail feathers, among whom are the most prominent citizens of the city, will not be subjected to the full incubating process, but will witness the full initiation of the fifteen partially fledged birds. The institution of the nest will take place in Chapter room No. 11, K. A. M., and it is very likely that the two hours succeeding 7:30 o'clock will witness the complete triumph of these ambitious young birds. The members of the present embryo Owls have the reception of visitors in charge aud will greet the strangers on their arrival at the Union station. These are Robt. Van Valzah, F. C. Danaldson, Thomas R. Long, W. E. Boland, W. C. Durham, G. Pugh, G. W. Ballew, Ton? Mani foe, Frank Peker, R. A. Campbell, E. E. South, Frank Sargent, The©. Debs, John Graul and W. E. Burk. They will meet at Masonic hall and will march to the dopot headed by the Ringgold band, which is to furnish music during the afternoon and evening. The reception at the station is expected to be a little love feast, as such a meeting of fledglings and parent birds should be. The St, Louis blrda are royal blooded stock, full fledged, and especially endowed with power of vision during both day and night. A manifestation of this supernatural quality will be given during the nest's visit here. This afternoon their eyes will be wide open taking in sights en route to-night thoir orbs of vision will open to enormous sbse over an installation proceeding and subsequently over an elaborate banquet at Germania hall. This latter ceremony will be attended with a filling ol craws to fullest limit of endurance, and if some wings are deprived of the flopping power before the craw is loaded, the proof will be convincing that the success of the nest of owls is an accepted fact. This will make the fifty-second secret society in the city. tornado rossnut.rrnss.

It is barely possible a cyclone will some day visit Terre Haute. There isn't one chance in a thousand that such an unwelcome visitor coming this way could be turned out of its course. The So-called bluffs east and west of the city would only prove to be Insignificant hardies over which the terror would jump with greatest tease. So far as protection goes, l^ouisville la far better off than are we, for on one side at least are hills that really are hills. But nevertheless that city tornado came and was as destructive as though the community was without a safeguard of any kind. If nature so decrees the same late could easily befall Terre Haute. Just imagine the damage a tornado could do. Picture It coming from the north and traveling in a straight line from the hub and spoke factory to the distillery. Nearly every building of public interest in the city would be destroyed. The Keyee' works,

St. Ann's hospital, Rose Polytechnic, Vandalia shops, the Union depot, NoH mal school, opera house, court house and distillery would at the least fall victim. Indeed, from all recent indications, the. Union depot would be absolutely sure to go, for the forewarnings providence has given promise that a cyclone would go mile out of its way to take in this relic of by-gone civilisation. As the average insurance agent would say to yon were the opportunity given him: "Now is the time to take out tornado insurance." And as he would possiblynot say: Do it while the scare is on. It is a fact indicative of the effect such a visitation near at home can produce, that a great many people here are now? adding cyclone policies to their insur-* ance lists, in anticipation of such a calamity. The city council has joined In the procession, and with a very broad discrimination has had $25,000 wind protection placed on the new Normal building. So whatever happens in the line of unexpected wind storms, the oity will be able to rebuild the Normal, even if .the old market house is forever lost.

HOW TO DO IT.

A week or two ago, the suggestion was made that some plan be devisea for acquainting people with tbe meaning of tbe weather signals on the Normal building flag staff. As no scheme has been forthcoming, T. T. has ope to propose. It is this: Let small tin signs containing the code of signals, be tacked on convenient trees and poles at the corners of the Normal campus. These signs would be wheie every passer-by could read them without going afoot out of the wwy, and would afford an immense satisfaction to several hundred of the curious.

RIVER SCREENINGS.

It will certainly be a blessing when the new filters at the water works are in position and ready for use. Suoh water as patrons of the service have been compelled to put up with during the las six weeks can not be tolerated much' longer. This week the river has been on a boom as usual when high it is carry ing its bottom with it on the course to Evansvllle. Consequently the water works mains are choking with sediment, and the minute a faucet is turned a chunk of mud is just as likely to be thrown out as anything else. The little water that co«iea thro»|gh is to ap* awful degree. Some one was so extravagant as to say it would float cast iron. But this may be expressing it too forcibly. In all events, the new filtering operation cannot be inaugurated any too soon to receive the lasting thanks of suffering customers.

WHY USELESS?

Vol 20.~No. 3 TERRE HAUTE, ESTD., SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 26,1890. Twentieth Yeai &*j

SSi.

.'.-Fremvery pointed remarks made on several sides, there surely must be a current belief that an aerial truck could be of no possible use in Terre Haute. Such a belief is the most exasperating fallacy of the day. What could be more evident than the uses of such a pretty piece of machinery? To enumerate only a few of them: it would certainly be a godsend in making it possible to clean the swallows out of the National state bank eaves this summer this alone would pay back its cost moreover it can be used in putting salt on the tails of the pigeons in the Asbury church steeple or for whitewashing the Congregational steeple or for changing the weather signals on the Normal school flag staff or for building oil well derricks or for carrying up the city tax rate or for county fair exhibitions or for posting bills on the west side of the court bouse dome or for making possiblepaiachute descensions without balloons to go up in or for elevating the pennant the ball team is going to win in the Inter-State league or for knocking chestnuts from the highest trees in Vigo county or for casting to the four winds posters announcing our superiority over other cities in point of wise municipal government, especially in the line of economy. There are no end to its uses. Considering all these great and extremely desirable qualities, who can say it is not worth many times $3,400 to the city. It is a shame public sentiment will stand idly by and be thus predjudiced against such an excellent thing. Laboring men are to be severely criticised for not contributing building and loan shares with which to purchase half a dozen of such modern necessities, considering all these various avenues of public use. The community must have lost,its reason to seriously remark that we can get along without an aerial step ladder.

THE REASON.

It isn't often that an out and out fight between women occurs in this city, and when one does take place, there is excuse for making special notice of it. This is probably the reason why one or two of the daily papers devoted so much apace and energy to detailing a set-to indulged in by north Water, street females, several afternoons ago. It is possible the offense will be excused on this ground.

Old Dan Rice has been almost forgotten. He was a clown so many years ago that few people care to admit a recollection of his earliest efforts, Mid he retired from the ring

90

remotely that younger

readers have never seen him at alL He living at Long Branch, S. JTn hot he goes to New York every week or so.

England's Beggars.

EUGENE FIELD ON THE PRACTICE OP PEEING MET WITH FROM ONE END OF ENGLAND TO THE OTHER.

The Englishman's greed for the tu'pence is notorious, says Eugene Field in the Chicago News. Every foreigner who has visited this island will bear me out in the assertion that at the practice of universal begging, no other so-called Iciviiized and enlightened people can be counted in the race with the English.

So far as this humiliating practice concerns Americans, it begins as soon as one jembarks at any one of our ports for Liverpool. The first object that attracts the passenger on any of the Atlantic steamers, is a box hung conspicuously between the deck and the galoon, and bearing apathetic appeal for'charity in behalf of some English hospital Or school. "Spare a Penny to the Disabled Seaman's Home," "Contribute Your Mite to the Orphan Asylum"—these and sjjtiilar legends greet the voyager.

Invariably, wbile the steamer is in its course across the sea, some sort of entertainment (a concert generally) is devised to raise funds for the benefit of some English institution. Passengers give the entertainment and pay for it. Thousands of dollars are annually squeezed out of American tourists by means of these small, pottifogging, hypocritical practices.

After feeing everybody aboard the ship, the customs officers at Liverpool, the truckmen and the porters at the lock expect their tips. The train guard waits for his tu'pence—just fancy the conductor of a magnificent express train incepting four cents from a passenger!

Pn every side are men, women and tildren eager to get their tu'pence Information must be paid for. You'ask a »an how far it is to the railway station, id, whether he tells you or not, he ovels and fawns when you toss him a ha'penny for his alleged service—a tu'pence will send him in the mud at your ffi -1. ./f»n every side, too, are the everlasting l$?ging boxes, surmounted by a placard breeching you to contribute to &is hos-tlkior-to that home or to this asylum $^thatfciw*ty. Thesfebbxfeeonfrottt you in every hotel, at the theatres, at the street corners, in the art galleries, at the museums—in short, wheresoever you go you are haunted by the everlasting box that pleads and gapes for your penny.

But as there are more than two ways of skinning a cat, so is there more than one way of begging here in England. The servants in every public house are beggars. You patronize a restaurant or cafe, and you must give the waiter who serves you a fee. In many instances the proprietor of the place makes the servant divide this fee with him, and in some Instances the proprietor coolly gobbles all the fee!

At the theaters beggary takes the form of a charge for programmes. Herein is much discrimination practiced. The programme which costs the patron of the boxes 25 cents is vended in the gallery for tu'pence. At Mr. Charles Wy nd» ham's theater the extortion is of a pitiably humiliating character. You ask, "How much for this programme?" and you are told (with an anxious look): "Anything you please." At Edward Terry's theater, in the Strand, you never get back any change unless you stoutly stand out against tbe imposition.

It is fair to say that Mr. Henry Irving and Mr. Beerbohm Tree practice rigidly the determination that no fees of any kind shall be paid in their theaters, tbe Lyceum and the Haymarket. But in most instances where the legend "No Fees" is exhibited you may expect highhanded extortion.

The late Earl Sidney, whohftd the handling of the Queen's personal affairs, happened to bo standing in front of Buckingham Ifalace one morning when a party of tourists came up. Mistaking the Earl for one of the official guides, the party asked to be conducted through tbe palace. It was surprising enough that the Earl should have consented to serve as their guide but it was preposterous that he should haye accepted, as he did, a shilling for his services.

The guinea practice is one of tbe extortions of the genteel beggar. There is no such coin as a guinea now, but 21 shillings represent it. The sovereign is 20 shillings. When, therefore, the demand is for a guinea, you pay a sovereign and one shilling. The guinea (actually a myth) is the standard of the fashionable, the ornate, high-toned beggar. Professional men—lawyers, doetea's, actors, artists, aingere, et id genua omne—reckon by guineas.

The task of enumerating the methods practiced by these curious people In this island to mulct yon

of your

penniee la

too big a one for me to attempt upon the scale which their number and their ingenuity would seem to demand. Tbe Government itself cot only countenances beggary, bat actually practices ex tortion. The practice of imposing and collecting a fine on overweight letters ia a meanness which no progressive folk would tolerate. But the most outrageous evil is that which obtains during the Christmas holidays, when government

and municipal employes are suffered to go about extorting sums of money from the individual public. Every letter carrier has to render an account of the moneys thus extorted by him, and the grand total is divided among the men in the Service, even the postmaster-general coming in for his share of this picturesque addition-division-and-silence booty.

Yet, when you come to study the whole situation here calmly and dispassionately, can you blame these wretched little creatures who hasten to open your cab door for you and stand waiting with an obsequious "me lud" for your grateful penny? Can you wonder at the spirit and practice of beggary that certainly degrades every sense of manhood in this island? But what else can be expected of the subject when the ruler sets an example which justifies beggary and extortions?

Her Majesty, the Queen, has enormous wealth she is, perhaps, the richest individual in all Europe, and ber enormous riches have been contributed largely by the people over whom she rules. For fifty years this Queen has practically been a beggar when in that period has she not been a supplicant for more, aud always more and more? Abundantly able to provide for her children and for' tier grandohildren out of her private store, she has religiously refused to do so, and has as religiously religiously called upon her people to provide her with money wherewith to pay for dowries, weddings, funerals, equipages, households, pensions, etc., etc. Here wo find Dean Swift's epigram inverted, for here the big fleas have bigger fleas to bite 'em. "and so proceed, ad infinitum."

So, on the whole, you will perhaps agree with me when I say that the little beggars and petty beggaries in England would seem (however annoying) to be justified by the shining example of men dicant and miserly royalty.

Geraldines Letter.

MY DEAJR RUTH: La Grippe Is n& respeoter of persons. If It were it might prove somewhat of a blessing, provided it used sufficient discretion in the choice of victims. But, alas, it does not use tb lightest ^.walttw u^ boldiy last week and seized Madame Patti,-never stopping to consider that for every night she sings New York pays her six thousand dollars, and the failure to appear means the loss of that amount. She was to have sung the role of Linda last Saturday night, but a large and disappointed crowd were handed their money back, and a huge placard announced that Pattl was ill. One night last week, and three this week, means a loss of twenty-four thousand dollars in very hard cash, besides she may have to cancel her engagement in London, where she is expected to sing in Albert hall early in May. Now there are voices which could be spared just as well as not. We had one or two of this type singing to us last winter. Madame Levy's terrible voice I can hear yet. Why doesn't La Grippe look around for such as she, and thereby confer a blessing on a long suffering public? Why doesn't it? Can you tell me why so many, many things, in this world ef ours, are seemingly so badly arranged? A recent death in our midst made me wondef why those persons have to die who are so eminently fitted to live. Why does their bark, bright and beautiful, and freighted with the hopes of loving ffiends, go down even in the sunshine, and tho lightest of breezes, while others with battered sails, and gaping seams worthless, and woiue than worthless, float serenely along, and no harm comes nigh them. We are taught that all these things will be explained by and by. I hope they will be. I do not think any of us will be entirely satisfied until tbe hard and incomprehensible problems of this life are explained, until we can see, and know, and be entirely convinced for ourselves that all these things are right, and for the best. They do not look so to us now, surely.

Those who attend church have been counted, and tbe announcement made thatwerarea church going people. I often wonder as I sit in church, and look upon the well dressed, well fed, well to do people,who attend regularly,the mvae ones sitting in the same pewa, Sunday after Snnday, year after yew, if after all the church is filling up the-full measure of her duty in ministering solely to these. There are good people, would-be good anywhere and under all circumstances, but there is a class who are bad, who need to be helped, who ought to go to church, bnt who never do go. Why do not Christians devise some means to get them in Praying fer them la doubtless necessary, bnt my dear, praying alone will not do it. How It can be accompliabed is beyond my ken, but it does seem a little strange that among all the zealous, pious, and able leaders and thinkers in the church, that none have been able to work oat a plan by which the masses can be reached.

Have you read Madame Daudete sew book, "A Parisian Little Girl?" It lea little book, as well as a story of a little girl, only a matter of fifty pages or so, bnt most exquisitely written. It Is said that she gets much csedit for the work

her husband does, and he is the Alphouse Daudet, whom Henry James calls "the greatest living writer." Madame Daudet is said to be one of the best, as well as one of the cleverest of women. Her devotion to her husband is something wonderful, for certainly no woman ever had a greater amount of forgiving to do than she, during Alphonses'"little intervals." It «is a well-known faot in Parisian circles that she helps her husband write his novels. And now listen to the charming way in which she tells of her share in the work, "Our collaboration is like a Japanese fan—on one side subject, people, atmosphere, color on the other light swinging fragments, petals of flowers, ends long drawn out of little branchos and pieces of things, whatever chanoes to be left over of color and gilding from the palette of the painter. And'tis I who do this minor work, while the upper side of the fan is being made, and my flying storks continue the winter landscape, or the green sprouts, and hollow brown sticks of the bamboo, while the spring time is blossoming upon the prlnoipal side of the leaf." Was ever anything dantier than that?

When, if ever, did we have as perfeot a performance, through and through, as that of the opera Monday night? Emma Juch was the ideal Marguarlte, she is distinctly of the Gorman type, and is young, so tbe illusion was complete. A passe Marguarlte, or Rosalind, or Juliet fails to interest, the charm Is gone. Miss Juch's voice is fresh aud wonderfully sweet, and her acting didn't seem like acting at all, It was so natural. I never heard *'A King of Thule" sung as exquisitely as she sang it. I never saw the prison and death

Bcene

so well given,

and the tableau of the Apotheosis of Marguarite looked like a group of Fra Angelica's angels. You rather scoffed at me for saying that Mr. Scovll is a Chevalier, and that he married the rich Miss Roosevelt, of New York. I told you then only what I had heard. I repeat it now with authority, I had it from the lips of one who knows. He is Chevalier Scovil he married Miss Roosevelt, a great heiress, and he is rich himself. Ho .' is on the stage because he loves it. He is my ideal of a handsome man, he has the most refined, the most intellectual face I ever saw on tho lyric stage, which together ""with his fine singing and*^*^*^ his fine acting makes him a great favorite. MephlstopLolos looked and acted tho part, while Taligapetra made the best Valentine I ever saw. I *. have seen abetter Selhel. Tbe orchestra divided the honors with the singers. How beautiful, how perfect that accomplnament was. Geraldine*

UBOUT WOMEN.

Eugene Field says that all English women have big feet and drink plenty of gin.

Mary J. Holmes, novelist, will spend the summer with her husband in Alaska. v, 7-v.j-

A daughter of General Rosccrans has become the effianced of Governor Toole, of Montana.

Mrs. L. May Wheeler has become the manager of the National Women's News association of Chicago.

Miss Emily Falthfull will probably abandon her proposed visit to this country. Her he&lth is not good.

Mrs. Noble, wife of the Secretary of tho Interior, has a very unique collection of gold, enameled and silver spoons. I

Jennie June, in the Woman's Cycle, calls for suggestions, plans and inventions that will help on the co-operative housekeeping idea.

Mrs. Caroline Donovan, who lately died in Baltimore at tbe age of 87, gave 9100,000 to found a chair of English literature in Johns-Hopkins University.

Elizabeth Storrs Billings Mead, widow of the Rev. Dr. Mead, and cousin of the Rev. Dr. Storrs, has been formally elected president of the Hoiyoke College.

Mrs. Sarah Cowell Lemoyne Js said to have made the poet Browning popular in New York by her very excellent dramatic readings of some of his poems.

Twelve years ago Mrs. William 0. Choate, of New York City, started the flrst Woman's Exchange, where the handiwork of poor gentlewomen cojild find a sale.

The principal reader at the Century office Is Mrs. Christine Terhune Herrick. Liliie French is an independent reader of Harper's and is a handsome woman. Edith Thomas is the reader for St. Nicholas.

It Is not generally known that Dr. Mary Walker has become a cripple for life. On Decoration Day last she fell and broke her right hip. She will never again be the man she was. It is probable that Congress will now pass: her claim for #2,000 for service- rendered as nurse during the war. _Si*,, $4!

Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett Is said to have an income of about #50,000a year, made np of tbe royalties on the play of "Little Lord Fanntleroy" and on the sale of her books, together with ber editorial salaries and tbe like. The New York Ledger alone pays her $15,000 for a serial, and she get* #7,500 a year for editing a children's department*