The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-05-24
4 NICE THING on PAPER.

Walking through the beautiful
streets of Indianapolis-one of the
most beautiful cities on the con-
tinent-we came upon that block
! known as the Governors Circle, and
the curious history of it seemed a
good illustration of type of folly
not by any means gone out of eXis-
tence. Indianapolis is laid out with
great regularity by rectangular and
diagonal streets, which cut into
| squares and triangles, and there is a
fanciful symmetry in its plot. The
city had the advantage of being q
foreordained capital, and it was in
tended by it's projectors that it's
streets should radiate in a manner
worthy of its high destiny. Bnt
the most fanciful of all its devices is
in the Governors Circle, a round
piece of ground in the very middle
of the city. What could be more
appropriate than that the Cover
nor's house should stand in the very
center of things, that the chief mag
| istrate might sit, like n spider of the
| "geometric" sort, in the center of
the nicely-spun web of streets which
| typified the irradiatiou of authority
| from him? Why should not the
man whose sway extended from one
end to the other of the Wabash and
Erie Canal, eat and sleep in a circle
circumscribed by squares which
were crossed by great diagonal
avenues pointing straight out
| towards the four quarters of his do
minions? This very pretty idea
was first put on paper, ald on paper
it greatly pleased the back woods
Solons of the early day. IL seems
to be fine way of crystalizing bun
combe figure of speech into streets
and avenues, and thus turning
spread-eagle for the first time into
a tangible shape. The ground on
which the city was built was as fiat
as paper, and there was no difficulty
in transferring the plan from the
| paper, TO the fiat forest land. The
circle was made, the diagonals laid
off, and the residence of his Hoosier
majesty built in the very center OF
the capital of his dominions. Here
the Governor slept and ate his din
ner, and wrote his messages from
the center of influence and the seat
of power. But it was not pleasant.
| itC hOI pdCk dllL " DIS SA-
posed to the street on every side,
and the Governors clothes-lines
were not only Haunting their flags
in the face and eyes of what was
then Henry Ward Beecher's church
and the other churches built around
the circle, but they were exposed
to the tender mefcies of thieves.
Governors families refused to live
in utter publicity, and the guberna
torial parsonage was deserted
Then it was filled with offices, anG
it soon became n rare old rookery
disfguring the town, and hateful IL
all property-holders. AT last came
happy fire, wiping it out of exis
tence, and neat g. ass-plat has tax
en- its place. Ana that is the his
tory of nice thing on paper.
Many another nice thing On pape
has proven equally worthless il
!, practice. The short and easy meth
DDS of making fortunes are gene
} rally nice things on paper. w
: have seen it demonstrated by fig
} ures, which never lie, that man ma,
/ make fortune out of one hive o
l bees. Bees swarm more than tire
: times year if well managed
: You'll have more than ten thous
and swarms in ten years, to sa,
/ nothing of the honey. In twent
, years you are rather richer than A
e Z. Stewart if you have stuck 1
bees. But somehow the men VIII
have tried it find it like the Cover
nor's Circle, a very nice thing-o
paper.
T The patent right men and ne1
! device men and double-back-a ctio
: improvement men have ell foun
: out some nice things on paper. w
: know a rich man who made his fol
!. tune selling County rights" for
patent broomhead which is nc
!, worth cent. He figured a mic
thing on paper for those VIII
). bought, and 1t was nice thing j
= the pocket for the protector OF tn
:. little scheme. Generally, the me
! who will show you the shortcut
riches. are the men with nice thing
on paper.
The educational people are yer
: fond of this sort of thing. The
4 like to make programmes and time
tables that shall show the time an
: mode of attaining the highest d.
: velopment. Projectors of ne,
!, schemes talk glibly abou. them, an
= on paper they arc very nice. III
: Sunday-school people are very fon
of this sort of thing. We beliel
they are now engaged in building
: machine warranted to run withoI
: winding seven years, and really III
: thing looks very nice and feasib
on paper.
=. Sometimes an unseen but insu
!, mountabIe obstacle adheres in
= plan. Jefferson found once that ]
: had very good place for winl
: mill on the summit of a mountai
= The mill would run, no matter
= what way the wind blew. A mil
:; wright was summoned and a say
mill was started. One day, win
the mill was half-completed, the e.
President inquired of his mi
e, | wright what he thought of the sit
e, alton. The latter answered that
q seemed fine one 10 him, with o.
N exception. Jefferson could n
5, bear that there should be one dcfe
ii in his pet plan, and SO he demand
II with warmth what that exceptil
might be. 81 don't see,- said {