Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-12-10

bNSibNs ipcC. Q, 1000
MEssRs. EDITORS The city is yet under
the travail of preparing for municipal election.
Temperance cliques, Parker House cliques,
and axe-to-grind cliques of various orders, are
rubbing up their machinery-some with phos-
phOrus, to shine stealthily by darkness-some
with effrontcry, that bears daylight and exam
nation.
The corruption of city governments has
reached point of maturity which would seem
unbearable to poor or a careful community !;
and still the vast expanse of waste, and private
pocket-flling goes on. 1t will probably be
some years before it will reach the unBearabIe
! point.
We have appointed, to spend the city's
money by hundreds of thousands of dollars
men that not one citizen in a hundred would
trust with the custody of one hundred dollars
of private property.
The system of nomination or selection for
office needs odelling-rearrangin
city officials Of lowest rank to national officials
of the highest. Wirepulling is altogether too
powerful.
| The topic Of main man interest here now, is
the session of Congress and the Presidents
message Various indeed are the warm COM
ments upon the latter The topic of ,oon,an
interest is Piccolomni. If the poor little pretty
| girl can survive the toadyism of blank praise
which has been spread around and about her
she must be of really superior material-of
truly noble blood! The wave of excitement
regarding her advent begins to roll steadily
now. Lovers of music are counting up their
old dimes and dollars, and looking up their kid
gloves or apologies therefor, as the case may be-
There will be many hard mental struggle
between opera tickets and certain presents for
Christmas Sixteen thousand people can't 90
to two-dollar opera, without drawing hard on
the funds of some; but full-blooded rant is
not easily satisfied, except in one way, and
there are a great many fathers, husbands, and
lovers, too, who know altogether better than to
finch from Opera tickets
Regarding dress, the dread word has now
surely come over the Atlantic from Paris
Alas for skeleton frames in exaggerated pet
ticoat form Alas for hoops Alas for those
many females who do so doat upon sweeping
the sidewalks with silken fabrics Imperial
Eugene has said it the word is: short skirts
for the street, with only full petticoat full
ness. Trip-trip! How the neat little feet
will trip, trip, along sidewalks, laughing at mud
as the short skirts become bit shorter, STILL
from instructive habit of oden time, in case of
storm. Short skirts for the street and trains
for the drawingroom. Possibly the good hab-
1t Of outdoor exercise will be induced. Skat.
ing is paving the way nobly. Fashion SAYS,
skate! Fun says, skate; and so the ladies
VIII, Dull men are learning that if a large
pond of water can't be spared from the Co.
chituate reservoir, all in one day. it may still
be possible for it to be yielded by degrees, in
time for freezing; and so the chances still are.
that we shall have fine safe skating ground,
large enough for part of the people, if not
aristocratic enough for all
Until skating comes, indoor amusements are
to be well patronized, although balls and par
ties are not frequent yet.
Small social gatherings of a dozen or so, are
becoming more common slowly, and if fashion
endorsed them, they would soon become the
most usual entertainment of our people Their
influence is good one. They are without
the glare and false gloss of formal costly par
ties, and they form means of pleasant recre-
alton and social Improvement, at a trihing cost.
The incivility of surprise parties, fortunately
Is at length perceived, and the coarse and
selfish order Of amusements they afford, is
giving way to more agreeable forms
The chances are, that we shall get compar-
atively well civilized here soon, and have social
customs that are pleasant and cordial, without
endangering ones independence. We have
lived on stills too long. The sooner we recog-
nize and acknowledge the homely matters of
life, and present ourselves to each other in
our every day habit, the better we shall feel,
on an average. The real glowing satisfaction
OF meeting old and valued acquaintances, will
become more frequent, and all know that that
is very comfortable feeling.
An artistic taste is advancing slowly with
us. Various exhibitions of fine pictures have
aided this, and promise to continue so doing.
Winterhalters picture of "Florinda" now
being visited by large numbers, excites much
interest. The opportunity which the very
fashionable Stereoscopes opened for healthy
advancement in love of simple art, is being de-
based by bold array of vicious bordering
upon the gross, if not the indecent.
YoURs, BERNARDO