Evening Star Newspaper, February 18, 1882, Page 2

THEN AND LD GEORGETOWN BOT. boyhood how often I think 3 we've had om tue bills near tay | un tired ont, how we've ald by thy site aie of thy rocig, UU the cool even- recotlections come flowing tn now years have passed, and their marks With par honed lef thy shallows o'er eravel and sand, “s nth brow | Trem m SUN as the heydays of yore, — | And p them more @& never before. | ts rolled up h 4 held tightly in | | | quickly we'd stop was nearer the top. 1 the wild flowers that grow by thy S with true boyish pride, heart attracted might be, t get for a boquet from me. Anda simil | with ed from thy recks by | ehave piu re ta shore. ed stay there ana | When old winter mantled thee thickly with ice We'd drop all eur studies wit nt And © om tI! Hote tn the d How sweet Fm now grow. | think of our playmates and plays, bered pleasares of Uoso youthful 18 W mount » few now remain tug in our strain. thy ughts, oF te On the banks of thy waters whera often we've a ny now silently steep neath the sot. pir old songs resound, and they sweetly sle: D mod ‘The sobiier, the satlor, tne doctor, and priest, The rich and the poor, the greatest and least, Phe mother and daughter, the father andson, est there in peace, now their work fs all done. The birds warble sweetly their notes in those Js strew the graves of those loved ones. h flowers, And sad is the thought as those flowers we strew, | That we know mot how soon they muy deck ours ‘Tread lightly around where those loved ones now Drop a tear on their graves: breathe the zephyrs a sigh; That thoy waft them the them ere long And sizg with them then a more beautiful song. ought that we'll join | ‘Then, there on th “In its bosom of shade, with the friends I love | ‘alm could T rest” in that to1 Fes, retreat, And sweet could I sleep with them; sleeping so sweet, LD MONU- | | ING STAR: Thay Bshed commit of the Cumber!: ving in view the erection in one of the public squares of Washington of & monument to the memory of the late President Garfield. The plan proposed for raising the | necessary funds is good. but, taking the history | ofthe Washinton monument as an illustration, whose half-iinished proportions represent the Interrupted toil of thirty-three years, I think it will require but little arzument to convince those interested that something more than a ill | arn, they able. [make bold ily and briefly out- on whom must rest th determine its merits = for the mmittee to appoint | ttees in each city and town. to be | ‘s “* Committee of the Army of the Cum- berland for the collection and f. iz of | tington, D. C., of 1 Commit- | consist, where possible, of either gov- . state, or city and in lieu | nent private citizens. Then nend that a certain day, say the | y of July be appointed as a time thro United Siates of the mer murdered ident. The should be of suck character as best adapted to the particular shaving in view the purpose for | ided and ihe resuit desired to be ae. of the largest pos- For this reason {| us hall in each ‘vices, and charge y- and while the i in arousing inter- est and enthnsiasm in their districts, the head | shall have selected designs for the ! Proposed monument, or should the time be- tween now and the day set for the holding ot services be insulficient f er selection | 8 we other ap- | ed and engraved yle known to the art, from | which plate copies shall have been printed on ! Peper of fine and enduring quality, and a cer- tain number, determined by the judgment of | the sub-committee making the request, shall be | forw Vto each and every sub-committee in Whose district memorial services have heen an- nounced and are to be heid. Upon the entrance person to the hall where such exerc be conducted, and upon payment of | the required would select the most ¢ city for the holding of suel suniferm admission f i: propriate di a in the best possible s ith a copy of such engraving as a f the occasion, and to be valued as j reof a member of the | | and timothy certitieates | be od condition incash. As it would be cons to return the cert mentab th the equi pride, it of them will be ly and willi et by purchasi result in t t for the 1 pile which inot h tion in the same breath with the Albert mem rial group in. 1 cord wonld be Kept and | picuous part in the completed | he part taken by each city id be an incentive for every | one to exert himself to the utmost in the effort | to sell the t "nuunber of certificates | for the credit of the city claimed as home. In addition to the certificates being presented | on. committees might be | formed, the members thereof to canvass the city | for their sale, the holder of each one to be | admitted to the hall upon the showing of the | same. The newspapers, ever ready to grant their | space for purposes of public good, would not | hesitate to cive the enterprise such notoriety as | a frequent and lengthy reference to the matter | might require. H Sueh is the plan I offer for the consideration | of the sentlemen forming the committee and nting the Armyof the Cumberland in the fort to give to Washington and the United {| States a monument which eannot be too maz- nificent to honor alike the memory of the reat man whose name it bears, the lora! people who embrace the oppo ity of testitying their admiration and devotion. and the splendid city Sppropriately chosen as the place of its erection. Eocar Laxpox TaYior. Indianapolis, Ind. —— A Haxpsomz Lapy ent and inquired for a “tw himseif tax THE CAUSES OF THE | seaport towns with loads ofthem for exp. } champion: (importers say there | the same time native po banks in Oak Hitt would I rest | the same dealers from $1 to 81.25 per bushel, | jand he or she will be | © | whole he ,isno chan THE EVEN NG STAR & WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, FEBR UARY 18, 1882-DOUBLE SHEET. TE ITY MAR TS. DECLINE IN POTATOES— IMPORTATIONS PROM SCOTLAND AND IRELAND — A SCARCITY OF APPLES, AN ADVANCE IN POUL~ TRY, AND APATHY IN THR FLOUR TRADE— OTHER FEATURES OF THE WEEK. 1 change has taken place in the arkets, with the exception of a weaken- nthe potato trade; a scarcity of p advance in poultry, and a duilness in the flour trade. There are several causes which have contributed to the weakening of the price of potatoes; one is the increased and continued importation into the now well stocked markets. Another cause is the prevailing impression among the dealers that when the surplus stocks held for seed by the farmers through Northern ew York. the states of Michigan, and Ohio and Canada, where the crop was comparatively good. finds its way into the markets, that thereis likely to be a tumble in tie prices A cause whigh has contribated somewhat to the preseat ug of the market, is said by sume of ers, tobe a more general economy of the use of the potato, especially among the farmers themselves, who, to a considerable ex- tent heret e, have fed them out to their live This has been avoided the present sea- son, The large quantities used in the manvfactare of starch when the seasons have been preliiic i : and the ‘kets cheap have been withheld from such uze, and cyerytisinz in the potato line has been attracted to the markets by the prospect of sh prices. IMPORTATIONS OF POTATOES. Within the last two weeks not less than 40,000 bags, containing from two to twe anda half bushels each, have arrived by steamers in New York, and not less than 10,000 bags have arrived in Baltimore, besides the large quantities which have come to other ports wherever ocean steam- ers land; and althongh the sales have been ready a decline of from 5 to 10 cents per bushel s resulted. They are stiil arriving by every steamer, and it is said that the rural districts of ‘olland and other potato bearing swarm with farmers on their way to ortation to America. There will no doubt be a very lars quantity of seed potatoes put in the graund the coming spring, and much seed will be in de- mand. ‘The native potato is preferred to the for- ign. The “early rose” and some other favorite kinds are already in demand fer seed purposes, and it is likely that much of the imported stock will be used for the same purpose. The favor- ites among the imported kinds are the ‘Scotch 1 “Irish champions.” These, it is said, were originally cultivated plentifully in this country, and althouzh discarded for years have become the favorites in those countries where they have proved to be of superior qual- ity. The recent decline is generally regarded by ‘sas temporary, and brisk sales are antici- d until the season is over. Imported potatoes are now selling in Jobbing and wholesale lots from steamers in New York almost daily from 7% countrie me it is deducted. te these prices after the fr At they being much preferred for their appearence and flavor. FOREIGN POTATOES IN WASHINGTON. The sales by the jobbers in this city of the for- eign article is much in excess of the native— about ten bushels of the former te three of the i latter. The Scotch and Irish are time most plentiful in New York, which is the great market in this country. The native kinds now sell in this market, in Jobbing lots, from 50 81.3 While the standard pounds to fhe bushel, the ale dealers and here—G0 pounds he bushel. This universally established it was chat lature, it is current! the instance of to wei A “POTATO RING” which had a corner inthe market, and among the members of the ring were some members of | The retail dealers ever since | this law has been in operation have enjoyed the | the legislature. benefit of buying by the sixty pound rate and | selling at the fitty-six pound rate. OTHER FEATURES OF THE MARKET. Sweet potatoes are on the rise, and are now held from $4.50a35 per barrel. Turnips are also on the rise; they are uow sold in jobbing lots from $4a$4.50 per barrel tor white and $3.50 for yellow. The best kinds are known as the “Aberdeen ” table use. Cabbazes are also higher than eyer, he sales are necessarily slow and limited” They are worth $1 small ones at that. Apples are almost entirely out of the market. The few | to 5 for good, and $1.50 to $2 sales very slow. abandoned them all the foreign fruits. The sales of foreign fruits have not mach hanged, and sales are I dency for the sweet orang zrows colder. The prices range from $2.25 to per box of 200 to 225 in each. Much foreign frult. as well as apples, are represented as bein! have Many of the dealer advent of together since th het Z| shipped from the eastern and northern ports to | the west, where the prices generally range higher in the winter season. Dried fruit is in good demand, and sales brisk. Poultry h, the best chickens bringing 15 cents, and small size tur! sale; jarge turkey rise is said to be owing to the scarcity. Most of the supplies for this market come from the Vir- ginia valley Fresh eggs are scarce, and selling from 30 to 32 cents per doze The tendency is upwards. THE FLOUR MARKET is weak and dull. Sellers are not much disposes to make concessions, and buyers not much inclined to purchase at any price, except to fill orders. This apathy is accounted for from the fact that the foreign markets are well supplied, and the outlook is rather tending towards lower prices. The wholesale price for Minnesota Patent agd some other fancy brands Is $9: other grades of various patent process are 2 standing brands of family, $7; tra 6.75, and extra, $6.25. re is not much demand reported for grain, ar rally are demoralized in consequence of the plethoric state of the for— =n markets. Very little grain comes to our peat markets other than to the Georgetown mills. ‘The hay market is dutl ful. Good ele n in jobbing lots, and the supply plenti- is worth $14a¢16; mixed, £16, TaSlY per ton ling at jobbing lots at 45 cents; Butter is i fair to good, imitation 40a4: jo. second Pennsyl- e. and poor to rood ‘a and Virginia choice roll, 30a QUOTATIONS YOR PRESH AND SALT MEATS. Fresh Meats ct Jobbing Rates. —Beef is selling per hind quarter from 11a!2 cents, and front ones 7aS; veal, 12° cents; fresh pork, 8a9 per fresh loins, 12; spare ribs, 12; sau- —Beef, Sal: ge in smoked Game is searee and high. sellins slow on xecoant of the prices, and west- e lake ducks are selling cheaper than the Potemacs. Venison is scarce, as well as the various seasonable birds. Prairie chickens are selling at €9 per dozen. = nr ‘The Folly of Secret Sessions. To the Editor of Tux Evestwe Sram: Tue Star of yesterday had some timely words po rk, Ial2. There eats. as to the folly of secret sessions of committees. | whi silly, boyish in going into secret sessions will deserve and receive credit when the thing is abolished. It is tack upon the vicious, about the last relic of the Star Chamber in this | the country. Secrecy fails to keep secret in this case, and if it did not the American people wish nothing said about a candidate for place which cannot be said in open session. us hear from Tue Stax and its readers. : : ABove Boarp, Washington, D. C., February 14, 1882. eben A Difficult Matter. = = a —— ig he hag In fact, a matien r, Atul aht the dearest thing tome as her great Wealth of golden hatr, But when she wore it in a roll, Or down her back, a mass so rich, Aithouzh T stared, to seve my soul i could not tell just “which was switch.” r “My ganar” exclained a gemarem her, “is innocence itself. You can’ any. j | ts per bushel, and | Who sat at a long narrow table behind them. in them at | sare selling to | at the present | the jet zed by ourold “feather-duster” | {eters are of uniform size and require little 'y said by the dealers, at | and are of excellent quality for | right here in this offi ce, and the Postmaster 20 per hundred, and are | t ranze from $t | for poor, and | j and dra | seconds of observation, however, sufficed to DESPATCHING THE MAILS. SCENES IN THE CITY POST OFFICE. SOME OF THE CURIOUS THINGS TO BE SEEN BE- HIND THE PARTITIONS—THE WONDERFUL BKILL OF THE STAMPERS AND DISTRIBUTORS—THE RUSH TO GET THE NORTHERN MAIL, OFF— S0ME OF THE OBSERVATIONS OF THE POSTAL EMPLOYES. It is seldom that one stops to think when he drops a letter into a box ona street lamp, or shoots it through one of the “drops,” at the City Post Office, what a number of busy hands the letter will pass through before it reaches its final destination. If the ietter could be followed through the hands of the sorters, stampers, and distributors till it is “tied out” and thrown with others into a pouch; ifthe rush to get the piles of pouches into the mail wagons, which rattle and clatter to the depot, where the pouches are taken again by other men, always ina hurry, could be seen; if then one could take a night ride on the postal car with the silent and swift workers, who deftly reassort all the letters, and then follow the letter whea its pouch is thrown from the car through another scene of bustling activity till it is at length delivered by acarrier at the door of the person to whom it was addressed, one would have before him, like a panorama, the whole postal system. It is an endiess panorama, for the work is never finished. THE POPULAR NOTION of the work of a post office is gained by peering through the windows and the glazed boxes at the heaps of mail bags and letters and tiers of boxes and shadowy aisles and passages to be seen within. A Srar reporter penetrated to this mysterious region the other day just as the | bustle was at its height in preparation for a} Mail which Would be sent to the depot in a few | minutes. At first there seemed to be a confused | gathering of men working at tables and boxes | 3 trucks about the floors. A few show that each man had his place and the whole force was working under admirable discipline. At one end of the room was a large table or | platform upon which the letters and postal cards mailed by the public outside kept con- stantly dropping. It was about, half-past four o'clock, and the letters rained upon the table very fast, as clerks and others on their way home throng the office at that hour. Uncle Sam's mail kept coming in by a rear entrance. It was bound in great sacks, and the sacks were piled up together near the middle of the great Toom. The letters and postal cards that kept sliding down upon the table were sorted as fast as they came by two men. These men had only to arrange them for . THE STAMPERS Cs eid were placed together. so that the “stamp” corner would always come under the hand of the stampers. There were three stamp- jersat work. They sat with their right sides turned to the desk, just as boys are taught to sit in school when learning to write. The | Stamper grasped in his hand a hand-stamp, while at aconvenient distance from his hand was a pad covered with the ink used in cancelling let- ters. In the space in front of him were placed ters to be stamped, and these he deftly | arranged with his left hand. The first letter he | Stamps very deliberately, making sure that his stamp is in order, then he works as fast as his | hand ca nove—so fast that the constant tap- ping of the stamp is like the beating of a drum. | The rapidity and accuracy with which these | stampers work is something wonderful. Their | hands are unerring. Ona good run, when the handling, the stamper will dispose of 200 letters aminute. When going at this speed.—his right hand going to the ink pad and back between each letter, he will note the slightest imperfec- tion in an impression. He is required not only to cancel the stamp perfectly, but also to make the date mark legible. Each stamper las a number, and his stamp impresses this number | on the envelope, together with the date mark. Ifan imperfect cancellation isdiscovered, by this number it can be traced directiy to the stamper who was at fanit. THE BEST POSTMARKING IN THE COUNTRY. “Ia consequence of tl idan old post office employe to Tue Starreporter, as thelatter stood | Watebing the rapid motion of the stampers, ‘the best postmarking in the country is done General will tell you so The rapid, unerring mechanical motion of the expert stampers only comes with months of practice. Each stamper has his own dies, stamps and little case of type, and is required to keep them in order, besides arranging his date marks. Whenever he changes the lettering on the stamp he is required to record an impression in a book, Tall the general rezulat somewhat less. The recent | | faint, showing that the type had Potomac ducks are | arranged antiquated practice of the ®enate | Packs are placed in the receiver of the machine. | When a “ieft-handed” letter comes to the hand, where it can at any time be found if a mistake in a date calls for investigation. Under Post- master Ainger’s administration not only have ions of the department | been strictly enforced, but such local re ‘culations have been adopted as to secure the utmost accu- rac} The system of numbering the stampers, | thereby putting every man on his metal, has re- | cently becn adopted in Philadelphia and other | offices. “The worst postmarking in the count: said the afoarmentioned old post office employe, *is done in Baltimore. Out of a dozen letters th t come from there hardly half of them will have jlezible postmarks. There any employe of the | office who doesn’t happen to be doing anything else at the time does the stamping.” RUN AGROUND. “He's run aground,” said Mr. Horace P. Springer, the superintendent of mailing and) | distribution, referring to a particularly expert | young stamper, who had suddenly ceased work. | The stamper rose from his seat, went to his | little case, adjusted his stamp, and, returning to his place, resummed his work. “There you can | see what the trouble was.” said Mr. Springer, pick- ing up the letter on which the stamper stopped work. One of the figures in the date was very “dropped down. The stamper, tho he was running the ers under his hand at the rate of 100 or more a minute, had discovered this defect almost instinctively. “4 The greatest drawback to rapid stamping is the fact that some people persist in sticking stampson the left-hand corner of envelopes, and sometimes in the most unheard of places. | | the human stamping machine is thrown out of gear at once, and the hand has to be reversed in | order to cancel the stamp and affix the date- mark properly. Now and then letters come to hand having as many as six or eimht stamps, and each stamp requires a sep: of the hand to the ink-pad and back. centage of left-handed | i jer, “is small, but still there | ber of them.’ different | arate trip “The per- ” said Mr. Spring- area great nun. STAMPING MACHINES. A little removed from the stamper’s tables are | two small machines worked with an ordinary | crank and balance wheel. These are machines de- vised to take the place of the human machines at the stamping table. The smaller one is in- tended for postal cards, and has been in use in i ' this office and other offices for some time. The other is intended for stamping letters, and is just being Introduced. ‘In the Boston post oltice,” said Mr. Chauncey, an old postal | employe who had charge of the machines, “the postal cards accuinulated so fast that the office got 400,000 behind. The postmaster called | in Mr. Leavitt, who invented this machine, ex- lained the situation, and soon afterwards i vitt produced a number of these machines. They cleared out the office in two days.” The postal cards haying been in even A man turns a crank, and for each revolution of the crank, which is one of short leverage; one of eards is properly arked and thrown receptacle below. The rapidity with | which the cards can be stamped depends entirely on the speed with which the crank can be whirled. The letter stamping machine workson the same principle, only the letters must be of uniform thickness and other respects to work well. “Left-handed” letters would have to be sorted out by the oper- ator and run through as one batch. It is esti- mated that 400 letters can be stamped in a min- ute by this machine. It is ae me where, as is frequently the case, so! arm mailed thousands of the envelopes all of uniform size. “Tt will never completely fill the place of the haman machine,t! sid a anger. ,” said Mr. Springer, point- pile of government mail toma d from the ts no credit. { that most of the DISTRIBUTING THE Turning from the stampers, the reporter next observed the process through Which the letters passed when they left the stamping table. There were two long tiers of boxes or pigeon holes placed upon narrow tables or counters, the top row of boxes being about as high as aman of ordiaary stature could reach. In the aisle be- tween these baxes eicht or uine distributors were hard at work, with coats off, eac having # little section to himself. The letters were di tributed In some sections by states, the distrib- noting the state to which the jetter wed and threwins it into a pigeon hole assizned to that state. This was a process in which Mr. Springer said aman of fair intelli- gence could beeome adept ina few hours. In other sections men were distributing the letters according te post eflices and routes. This work ismuch more difficnit, as it requires the dis- tributor to uote on the’ superseription both the post office and state, and also to know at once not only the locality of the post office, but the mail route to which the letter should be sent. The distributor is required to inform himself of | the constant changes in the list of post offices. “We have one sectioa,” said Mr. Springer, “embracing four states, which covers over 7.500 post offices. The work of the ofice compris 17,000 post offices. it would be almost i sible for one man ina life time to be abie to know all that must be known to have the letters properly distributed.” The distributors, who are required to stand as they work, show THE WEAR AND TEAR of the work ina very few years. Many become round-shouldered, und there is a certain ner- Vousness of action noticeable in all of tie oliter distributors, It is rather Interesting te study their different metiods and habits of work. Here is one who, as he works, unconsciously sways his body sideways with a clock-like reg larity, as though he was standing In a rail car. Another has a slight genuflexion, which he keeps up constantly and rapidly, bending his knees just enough to make the motion percepti- ble. At least half of the distributors have a habit of making a false motion, such as tapping the letter they are about to part with sharply against the next one before throwing it inte the | box. There are three sets or crews of distrib- | utors, who work eight hours each, and the work never ends. rapid distributor can dis®| pose of from 1,200 to 1,500 letters an hour in the state boxes, and 800 or 900 when distributing by post offices and routes. “TYING OUT.” When a distributor has filled his boxes, or it is time for him to send his letters to the mail pouch, he “‘ties out.” The letters in each box are tied in a little packet, with a paper label stating the route or state to which it belongs. This lavel alse has the distributor's number upon it. When the packet is opened, and reassorted on the mail car, if any letter is found where it does not be- long, the error is noted on the label, which is sent back to the office. Here the errors are charged up against the distributor. The errors of this sort, which, of course, are not serious in their results, average about forty-five a mouth toeachinan. When It is considered that each man distributes from 3,000 to 5,000 letters a day it will be observed that the percentage of errors is very smail. THE LAST MINUTES. Meanwhile the mail wagons have been backed upto the platform at the C street entrance of the post office, and the bustle andactivity in the office seems to be on the increase, “You will be behind hand,” said Mr. Springer, quietly tapping one of the distributors on the back, at which ad- monition the distributor, glancing at the clock, redoubled his exertions, and soon “tied out” his last packet and threw it into the great basket, already brimming full. This was the sreat mail of the day—the mail for the north, closing at five o'clock. The department mail be- gins to arrive at the office about four o clock. “It would be like making water ran up hill,” observed Mr. Springer, who is something of a philosopher, “to «et a department official to sign his mail before half-past two in the afternoon. ‘They expect eight or nine men here to di ute in an hour the letters that it has taken 3,600 or 4,000 people all day to write.” POUCHING THE LETTERS. The letters having been “tied out” the last interesting process was witnessed in a part of the great room which was concealed from the view of the stampers and distributors by a partition, which extended half the length of the room. On the other side of the partition was a great number of boxes arranged ina semi. circle the rows rising one above another in amphitheatrical form. Under each of these boxes was hooked a mail fiouch into which dropped anything thrown into the box. Ti arrangement is used particularly for the di tribution of newspapers and printed matter, which are placed in bags separate from the le ter pouches When the mail is “tied out,”how ever, each packet has to be placed in its proper pouch, Two men were hard at work at this when the reporter came upon them. Taere were fully fifty boxes, each representing a sey arate pouch hooked beneath The outer row Of boxes was fully ten feet distant from the dis- tributor. A rapid glance and a toss of the hand was all that was required to deposit the packet in its proper place. The distributor having be- come, by long practice, as familar with the location of the boxes as a pi case, hardly needed to follow the flying ps with his eve to be sure that it reached its des nation. One unaccustomed to the work wi not be able _to throw a newsps the proper box once out of three trials, even if he were sure of the location of tie box. “ALL IN!” “All in!” shouted a man who had taken a last survey of the work. A dozen hands were at once engaged in closing the pouches. There was a rush of feet, and the pouches were drag- | ged rapidly through the adjoining room to the platform outside; sturdy arms threw theni in heaps into the mail wagons; the drivers leaped to their plazes; there was a cracking of whips and a rumbling of wheels. and the northern mail, with all its messages of grief and love, dry business orders, and red-tape correspondence was gone. Something Needing Attention, To the Editor of Tur Evevrxe Stan. Please allow me a space in your popular and People’s paper to call the attention of the Di trict authorities to the condition of our police lock-up stations: A few days since a white boy only fifteen years old was arrested on a false accusation, kept ina cell all night and discharged before the court | the next day, where he fully established his Innocence. The cell in which he was kept had only a hard plank seat on which to sleep, with- out bedding of any Kind. In addition, in one corner of the cell Was a water-closet perma- nently open. This boy was taken from a com- fortable home and bed and obliged to breathe the efliuvia coming from the closet, endanger- ing his health. On ing! . 1 was told that this was the condition of the celis in the lock-ups of | the city. I find no fault witty the police, they | are not responsible fur the condition; I tind no | fault with the officer who arrested the boy, he only did what he was required to do; but I} want the public and the authorities to know that any other innocent person can and may be arrested .and undergo the same hardship. “We have a society for the “Prevention of Crucity to Dumb Animais,” and if there is not something done to change the condition of those places there should be a simi society for the benetit of hu- man beings. The miserable wretch, Guiteau, whom all Christendom detests, has a clean, healthy cell in which he lives and sleeps, while this innocent boy for a whole long wigter'snight was kept in a cell endangering his life by breathing the noxious air from a water closet. I do not know who is responsible, but pre- sume it is the duty of the District Commission- jens, and I trust that they will see at once to having such changes made that there can be no further complaint. I could hardly believe that in this enlightened and humanitarian age, in this great city, gnnb.. piace. under the authori- ties of the nation could exist, but the evidence of my own eyes and the statement of the officer that it was the best; accommodation they eats impels me to make this appeal. I have no doul parties arrested are in the main guilty, but there should be some discrimination and certainly there should be places where sons cleanly in their and Tariana du cai Shree at the autho! we DO ‘@ remedy will be made. ee Pro Bono Postico. Women do not possess logical minds, and be- ing very imaginative, are, therefore, not fitted for debate, so Emerson says, but we say that when it comes to poipeess cone ba penne is a or proper for 2 man to go wn af- tor soy ve ‘wolkaa can give the moat logical man a nile start. and not beat him with her imaxination, but fix it so that he wont leave the house till after breakfast next Siftings. per or letter into | SATURDAY SALAD. “May Thave the pleasure of your company in the next valse?” was the inquiry addressed to an eiegantly dressed yeung lady at a ball, the other evening, by one of the lah-de-dah young men, who think “it is’at good form, you know, to wear gloves at an evening party; the Prince of Walesnever does it, don’t you know “Well, yes,” was the rather hesitating reply of the young lady, as she looked at his red, per- spiring hands, and then at her handsome dress “yes, if you will kindly go to the cloak room and bring me my water proof wrap.” * oe Miss Ransom, who still retains her studio in Colonization Building, left the city yesterday for Gieveland, where she will at once commence painting fer Mrs. Garflelda portrait of the late President. Miss Ransom has also received a commission to paiat a pert ef General Gar- field for the Army of the Cumberlaa. The latter work will be life-size, and probably three- quarter length. Peed A recognized authority on the usages of polite society says there is hardly anything in every | | day life which so plainly gives evidence of good | breeding and consideration fer the rights and feelings of others as care and correctness in pro- | nounciag and spelling people's names. Espe- cially, it is said, should this solicitude be exer- cised in addressing a fetter andin giving personal | -introductions. Inattention to this simple rule shows both want of thought and want of respect, | and in neither of these requisites wouldany true | lady or gentieman be lacking. The peculiar way | in which the christened or sur-name of any per- son is spelled or pronounced may seem to be a | small matter to others; butthere issome reason | for that pecnliarity, which the bearer of the name regards as necessary or satisfactory, or it would not be adhered to. The fact that it is so spelled or pronounced by its owner should be | sufficient reason for everybody else; and the | form or style thus adopted should on no account | be ignored or forgotten by others. Oue persen | has no more license to take a letter frem or add | @ superiiuous letter to the name of anotherthan to perform any other act toward either friend or stranger which woald be everywhere considered offensive or disrespectful. « ae It is said that the Natural Bridge property in Virginia has lately been bought by a new com- pany, which will try hard to make the place & popular summer resort. It is to be hoped these statements are well founded. The Natural Bridze is one of the few curios- |ities of nature in the world that have ; Rot been overdone by tourists and descrip- tive writers. Its remoteness from the great and comfortable lines of travel has kept it somewhat cut of public view, but when it is made tore accessible it cannot fail to prove a great attraction. ae Present appearances indicate that the portrait of Mrs. Hayes, presented to the White House by the Women’s Temperance Union, is likely to be- come as much ofa white elephant to that estab- lishment as the much talked-of $3,000 French china dinner set which she ordered for the din- ing-room, and left as a souvenir of her taste in ceramics. Asa work of art the picture seems ! to give good enough satisfaction; but when it is set up as typifying the total abstinence senti- ment of the country, irreverent spectators want to know how that can be, when its subject is clothed in a wine-colored dress, with a portly | punch bowl by her side, in the thin guise of a garden vase. and the whole euclosed in a mas- sivg frame, upon which are carved gra pes, galore, and in bunches nearly as big as those brought out of Eshcol. ‘The introduction of these Bacehic mbols confuses the mind of the rural visitor, and gives no end of trouble to the at- tendants in trying to reconcile things to curious & inguirers. But that is not all; nor the worst. The real tuz comes on in deciding where the pic. | ture itself shall finally bang, or rather stand. It was Intended by the donors for the creat east room, and here, they thought, it would find a fit resting place fore! For the want, however, | of a precedent in placing any other portrait there | | than that of President and Mrs. Washington, on | | the one hand, and. on the other, risk of compli- | ions that may in future zrow out of such a precedent being established now, there is danger that this part of the program may misearry. At present the matter appears to be undecided: and,—well,—but, perhaps the curtain had better be dropped at this point in the play, and further developments awaited. * ate The kind of a Notice to Sportamenan Egyptian land-holder is able to evolve from the multipl city of languages in use on the delta of the Nile is shown by a sign-board which stands in a field along the road between Cairo and the site of old Heliopolis. The waraing fuscription, in letters too xrotesquely formed to be imitated in any | kind of type yet mad A Itisa to shooting in This premises BEWARED; Jimsheezz *« No little surprise is manifested in a small and quiet way by the social guidnuncs of Washing- ton that the present British Minister to this gov- | ernment should adopt the French language for the invitations to his entertainments, etc. That | it shovld be used in Europe, where French is | the court language, they say is natural and roper enough; but tha ould be employed | by the representative of sturdy England, at the capital of an English-speaking people, they consider awfally odd, you know, and perhaps | just a little bit of an affectation, don’t you know? Still, it is observed that these people go to Mr. West's parties, all the satne. the invitations themselve: some clever friend who can. | If they can't read they ananage to find * Pe | Another matter to which the social guidnunc | g its weighty mind is the fact tat the | ident and Secretary of State have gone back to what the esthetes call the “Early Eng- lish,” and now issue their invitatations with the | word honor spelled. not in that crisp American way, but honour. With anu, mind you. This retrowzade mouvement on the part of these high functiounaries may impouse additionnal labours upoun thouse who write | orengrave the invitatiouns, it is true; but the re- | sults thereby secured immensely increase th favour bestoxwed upoun thouse who receive them, And then the povssibilities suggested by this louvely revival! Pouwdered wigs! Perfumed perrukes! and the stately minuct, dauaced to the gentle music of a haurpischourd! Buy our halidoum! the prouspect is: moust pleasaunt oune! ed Why is it that the followers of some few fa- vored pursuits in life are allowed to make them- selves a nuisance generally to the community, | while those following other equally if not more | useful occupations are required and apparently | willing to quietly go their way and earn their livelihood, with due regard to the rights and com- | fort of those about them? The-scissor- ‘inder, | forexample. What is there about his calling. pra that should privilege him to split every. ody's ear with the sharp jingle-janz er his confounded and confounding little bell, as he woes'wandering up and down the streets, in an aimless sort of way, pretending to be in quest ofascissor or two? He has “no story to tell,” once he has caught your attention, any more than Canning’s Needy Knife-Grinder. — Why, then, should he, any more than other vagabond bread-hunters, be permitted to set you half-crazy CONCERNING THE JEFFERSON SCHOOL BUILDING | ORIGIN OF THE FU STRUCTION —BIG SCHOOL HOT THB SITE NOT & GBOD ONK—REASONS WHY TRE COMMITTEE EHPORT IN FAVOR OF RE BUILDING ON THE PRESENT 'E-—DEPECTS IN THE LATE BUILDING TO BE MEDIED. On Tuesday evening, at the mecting of the Board of Public School Trustees, the committee | en buildings and repairs made the following re- | port in relation to the Jefferson school building, destroyed by fire on the morning of the 4th in- stant, and it was adopted: “Inaceordance with the resolution of the board of the 6th instant, the commicee met at the stroyed by fire, and proceeded to examine the same, with a view of ascertaining, if possible, the origin of the fire. Bpon an examination, as far 2s the present debris would permit, yeur committee came t from the boiiers, or any part of the heatiag ap- | paratus, and that, aside from the absence of fire- broofconstruction over the boilers, and of the steam ways, the heating apparatus was so ar- ranged as to be reasonably secure avainst Ganzer of fire from that source. Your commitice found THE VENTILATING SYSTEM of the building to consist of a series of main duets over the two hall-ways and also over the cloak rooms, which ducts were formed by a counter-ceiling placed about twe feet below the wooden floor and joists above these main ducts in the hall-ways connecting with a vertical brick fine or shaft which descended to the basement, and these connected with the up-take brick flue or shaft which extended above the roof, and within which was located a metallic smoke-pipe for the boiler furnaces. This arrangement was ball-ways of the central portion of the building where the latter joined the wings at each end. The school-rooms were ventilated by a rezister on one side of the floor, from whit wooden duct extended across the room under the floor and between it and the ceiling, these smaller dacts connecting at their opposite ends with the main ducts above described. By this arrangement it will be seen that a fire inany of the rooms entering the register would pass through the small wooden ducts under the fleor and thence into the main ducts in the hall-ways the cloak rooms, and ultimately reach the brick shafts. It is obvious that when ence the fire had entered these horizontal wooden ducts, not only would they be set on fire, but also that a strong dratt would be created there- in, which would CAUSE THR FIRE TO SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SYSTEM OF DUCTS with great rapidity; and your committee found such to be the fact, asshown by one of the ducts under the floor of a school room in the eastern wing. which duct is still in place, and is buraed to charcoal on its interior, while its exterior shows little or no signs of fire, thus showing that the flame was drawn through it with great force by the draft created in the ventilating flues. The fact is further shown by the state- ment of one of the firemen, who informed your committee, that when he entered one of the rooms where no fire was visible he heard a tre- mendons roaring ef the flames. which was un- doubtedly caused by the fire in these duets. Most of the air ducts. both large and small, were consumed, the only exceptions being in the boiler room, and in a few of the rooms not de- stroyed. Your committee further find thatallthe outer, and some, if not all, of the inner brick walls of the building were furred out and lathed, thereby creating a space between the lathes and the walls of the building IN WHICH THE FIRE ASO SPREAD, as is clearly to be seen,—these spaces also acting | 8 vertical flues, up which the fire was drawn to | the roof above. In many places the framing or vertical strips to which the laths are nailed, as wellas the laths,are burned out all the way up, while in other places the marks left by the passaze of the flames in these spaces a Plainly visible, although the lath and plaster still remain, The elevated or Mansar@ roof, which has been not inappropriately termed A LUMBER PILE, extended the entire length of the building, 173 feet, without any fire wall to break its continu- i nice extending entirely around the buildin: and when the fire reached the space under the | roof it speedily spread along it—one of the fire men expressing it by saying that when the reached the roof we could see it travel ri, along. The wooden stairs of the lower st: do not appear to haye been burned, as they still re main there among the d having been crushed by the falling of a portion of the walls at those points. In regard to THE REPORTED EXPLOSION OF CHEMICALS, your committee are assured that there were no chemicals in the building except an ordinary electric battery of six celis, which contained a fluid that would not explode. Moreover, the battery was located in the -eastern part of the central portion of the building, at least seventy feet from where the explo: is reported to have occurred. Whatever explosion occurred was undoubtedly due to the gas escap- ing from the injured gas pipes; for if even shit remaining in the numerous pipes would be amply sufficient to produce an losion on a smail scale, especially when it is borne in mind that one volume of gas mingled with nine or ten times its volume of air produces a com- eastern and western*hallways the committee found a water pipe about three inches ig diam- tending up to the second story: and on the main floor a hose was found connected to these pipes ready for use—the hose being NICELY COILED UP IN A BOX, at the side of the hall, for that purpose. The doors of these boxes, although unlocked, do not appear to have been opened, and the hose was apparently not used at the time of the fire; and it is very doubtful whether they would have been of any avail, because of the notorious want f water in the mains—the engines being unable ‘© obtain a supply until the water had been shut off from Capitol Hill. In regard to the OCCUPANCY OF THE BUILDING AFTER scmoOL Hours, your committee ascertained that an exibition of Edison’s phonograph was given to the teachers and scholars in the hall above the scivol rooms immediately after the close of the school; but that it occupied only about three-fourths of an 1 hor that no lights were used, and that the fires under the boilers had been ailowed to die down as usual at the close of school hours, and were not replenished at any time thereafter. 4 At about eizit o'ciock some of the mem-/ bers of the Jefferson and Literary Debating Society met at their library, a, small room | directly over the entrance of the north | front, next to the west wing, where they | remained that entrance, and re-entered the building at the eastern entrance on the same front, and Passed to th y | near the southeast corner of the building. As stated by them, the room was at that time 0 | cool that nyt ae Set os ee See { while there. ey did not pass through the with his ‘damnable iteration?” “And likewise the milkman. What license has he, and from whom, to fire off an infernal gong’ every few paces of his rounds,—disturbing thereby a whole mich they havea Heke, and wringing i which they havea igh the eyelids of the sick, who need it,—why may hedo this, we ask, while the baker on his cow any more sacred dough? Is milk any more precious than that the oppressions of its vendors are tobe. mitted to 0} may be to call all the body wants to they have no ly appearance of nearly the same size in | shall be treated at least as well as the convicted | but in sees buldii at all, and when left they ob- d Nothing unusoal $e er sboat Gre bailaion, WHERE THE FIRE BEGAN. examination, to} fied that the fire began in a smali room in the located on the north side of the hall, ts i He ii ! i} | wainscoating, thus preduciag a light in Tuins of the Jefferson building, recently de- | condition of the ruins and the great amount of | the conctusign that the fire did not originate | in duplicate, it being the same at both of the i ch point a | ity, and was provided with a heavy wooden cor- | the gas had been previously turned off, the gas | pound as explosive as cunpowder. In both the | | brave and libes ir It is more than prebable that the fire was burning quietly for hours before it was dixcoy- < or recon | ered, and that during that time it was epread= . gECON OL Hoteke conreuerm 4 ing through the air duets, alons under the Noor, and up inthe spacts behind the lath, both im | the outer and inner wails, until it finatiy burned through the floor, seized upon the casings and ne or which, showing through the means of iis discovery at more of windows, was about 3:20 aan. in regard to A CHANGE OF SITR, while your committer are of the opinion that it isnot good policy, ax a general rule, to ereet | buildings containing over twelve school rooms, both because of ibe greater danger from disease and from fires and panies arising from the eou- centration of such large numbers of scholars in one buildmg, aud also because, by a judicious | distribution of the school buildings in different | localities, the children will nave a less distance {to go in stormy weather, and the public be thereby better “accommodated, ana, notwith- tanding the proximity of the railroad tracks to hie present site, still, in view ef all the circum- stances—the large grouuds, the central location, | and the mauifest economy of ing Use ent building, together with the difficulty 1 not impossibility of securing other sites equally eood and in suitable localities, at any reasonable price—your committee are of dhe epinion that it | Wil be better to re } gard to mmitice have to report that an estimate made by the inspectar of buildings, committee were unuble to procure in ude in this report, The committee, however, will state that it ts Thought the build- ing can be restored at a cost of about #80,000— ssivly Som g WHAT THE COMMITTEE DO NOT PAvOT The committee are not, however, in favor of gitin the manner it was for obvious In reference to the resolution instructing the committee to consider the practicability of | erecting TEMPORARY ONE-STORY FRAME BUTT. DINGB for the immediate use of the schools, your com- mittee Lave net considered it advisable, for the r that arrangements are being perfected y Which the schools will be able to get along | until the building can be rebuilt, to accomplish {which steps are already being taken by the | Proper authorit | In this conection your committee teel it their | duty to call special attention to the fact. as stated by the arc . Mr. Cluss, (whom the | Committee met at the building, ) that THE HORIZONTAL WOODEN AIR-prcTs | leading from the school-rooms to the main atr- j ducta, which latter connect with the brick | stacks, and which main alr-dncts, as well as those over the cloak-roome, were formed bya | counter ceiling placed about two feet below the wooden joists and floor above, would necessarily | be a means of causing @ rapil spread of fire tm | any twilding where they are used; and inasmuch | as this same plan of counter-ceilings, composed of combustible material, is provided for, but not yet completed, in the High school and the two | twelve-room school buildings now in course of | erection, your committee take this opportunity j of expressing their unanimous opinion that such construction should be discarded, and that a sufficient nuuber of VERTICAL BRICK FLURS should be provided to enable each school and cloak room to be ventilated directly inte said | brick fines, similar to the plan adopted at the Peabody school building. Fortunately, this al- | teration can be made without much additional | cost, and in view of the increased safety and the better ventilation of the rooms, your commitiee {earnestly recommend that the honorable Dis- | trict Conmulssioners be requested to have sucia | allerations made before it is too lite.” j —_—— tO. = The St. Patrick’s Day Parade. To the Editor of Tax Evens Stan: A short time since an announcement was made | in the daily press to the effect that the St. Pat- rick’s day parade of Irishmen of thecity had been. abandoned this year. This was done, it was | said.sto aid the funds of the land leavue. No | doubt to support che land leazue is a meritori- ous action: and, as such it would not have called forth the remarks subjeined. Bat it voes fur- | ther and vainly assumes to abolish the obnoxious ) par There are certain Irish sc make up the membership of the y parade, and it appears that the gentiemen who desired to abolish it did sult their wishes at all. On the coutrar well known that the societies will pan | “s who usually Patrick's Mictous jot con- it is and re | that the citizens who usually meet on thal tes- tive occasion will again do so; and ‘oastold Irelaud, dear old Irclaad; Ireland boys, hurrah!” There is no good reason why the parade should be abandoned; and there are many for | the parade that ought to gain the approbation of the community, and the Irish in particular. | There is no nation in existence that bas not set apart ong day of the year and denominated it dw national holiday. Tt matters not what mis- fortunes ensue, in war, inpeace, and even in the | dire calamity of famine, tie national heart, if capable of ‘one feeble throb, then revives to | worship at the altar of liberty, and celebrate its | national existence. Hence it is that Irishmen | celebrate a nationality that was founded more | than fourteen hundred years azo. St.Patrick con- | verted Ireland to Christianity in the fourth cen- versary to Commemo- | rate that event, it has now become a national | holiday in a political sense. | Many a bloody day; many a long night of ‘errow and oppression is embraced in that long period; but it is the beast of the Irish race that ll the sacrifices which have distinguished peo- jes more fortunate, have been made by them; {ph Hy for a moment abandoned their eter connected with the street main, and ex- | ¢! Those who oppose their aspirations look not | with favor upon demonstrations which act as | bonds of union to Irishmen, and are besides sources of pride and recreation. Whether in : Dablin or London; in France or the United States, the demonstrations are orderly, and in | nearly every instance, where there is a street | parade, it isa picturesque and beautiful sight, | affording a great deal of pleasure. |. There are some people whe, although not ininical to the [rish national cause, do not view: )th demonstrations with a kindly ey They | argue that being American citivens, Irishism ts an intrusion here. Such people @e not reflect ‘that it isa most natural aud prop | Americans | brave the Fourth of July; and that the Irish are entitled to follow what ‘nature prompts every fiesta 3 people to do—to love lan a) this their fealty to their — utry is not diminished. Because the Irish brigade celebrated St. Patrick's day at mouth, Va., it did net caase them t the charge on Marye’s Heights. There is no man bold enough to assuine that any contin- | gency can arise that would weaken the fidelity | Of the Irish to the goverument of count cing St. Patrick's day deavor to abolish them. threaten and sneer at and ridicule the idea. iy? Because they know itis a dem in favor of Irish nationality, and they kmow if it could be abolished the aspirations of ‘the people in that. direction wouid be dead or dying. But are got dead nor sleeping, and the Irish- A1 will parade through the snow and the sleet as asual, each bold, strong