Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-07-26
FIRST EDITION.
PHILADELPHIA.
our SATURDAY. LETTER.

her record. The second Eastward trip Of the
ship has been comparatively succe ssful aud we
are all of U.S. propOrtonatelY Jubisnt. There
are all sorts of calculation about the time made
but the less excitable allow 1t to be twelve days
and few hours The claim OF some parties
that the count should only be made from the
l3reakwater, as it Is there the trip COM
mences, il, of course, preposterous. One hun
dred miles fIom the sea il our misfortune, but
we should claim no immunity on that account
| However, theNmanagers may argue, shippers
will say the time of passage is firm wharf to
wharf, and no ingenuity of figures can
rub out that simple fact Still, the ship
has done better, much better than before,
and the result is encouraging. A twelve day
trip may not be anything to brag outrageously
about, but it Ii so much better than fourteen
days that the "Pennsylvania" seems another
craft The second vessel OF the line the ''Ohio
which started on her trial trip on Tuesday, re-
turned at noon to-day with favorable report
genteman who was on board Gays that the
public must not expect great speed from this
vessel, but that she is staunch and trustworthy.
But there we have the only point conceded that
is i'll dispute. The public may not expect
great" speed-that is at best but q variable
term-but it expects the speed of other first
class steamships. Failing that how can we at
tract trade which now goes elsewhere2 But
with the Immediate result in the case OF the
"PennsylvaDia we are content to rest on our
oars and await further developments.
There is trOnble In the construction OF the
| new bridge at Paramount, ~ much trouble that
| SPECIAL meeting OF Councils has been held to
consider the matter. Mr. J. +. kennedy Is cou-
tractor for the work, but by the terms of his
| agreement with the city it is allowed that the City
| Engineer shall be sole umpire on disputed points
| Therein lies all the disturbance The Chief
| Engineer, (iIr. Smedley), wanted certain things
| dobe, hlF kennedy did not want them done and
there WAS at once breach, aud by the terms of
| his contract Mr.. Kennedy had nothing TO do -but
| jump into il. The original plan OF tue work de-
| signed a solid wall west Of the river, and the
contractor went 10 work wi h that, understand
| ing, Later, however. the Pennsyv Inia Il. K.
desired to have this wall pierced with arches for
| the accommodation of some tracks they had Il
| mind To lay. The Engineer was of course on
| the side of the hallway Company, but he found
| kanuedy AZ stubborn III possible This was the
| besiuning-the end is tnat report has been
| authorized to be made to Councils resembling
| Kennedy's contract Rumor has it that he Is
| not sorry to get from under 30 heavy load 1t
| is hard 10 work under whole cargo of masters.
| henn 'dys work was well done no one disputes
| II but he would not be IN ado tool ia the hands
| of outside speculatOrs. Iu the me4ntime, and
until the little game can be set up afresh, this
| highly important work is inde fnitey delayed.
| One of the pleasnrable things We have to look
forward to is the establishment OF our Zoologic-
al Garden in the PARK. Work ls slo ly but sure
| ly progressing this design. and Ii is thought
| that during the Fall the Garden may be partial
| IL opened Whatever IL done then however, will
| be but All int'mal lou of the work to come Thif-
ty-iYe acres IN the Park are deyuted to this OBJ
ject of which it s proposed to utilize but eleven
acres at present. There is no douOt that this
feature Of the Park will AZ soOn as opened be-
come so popular as to encourage the parties CON
cerned to improve aud occupy all the ground at
their disposal The Geological department of
Central Park New York, is the delight OF thou
sands Of persons young aud old, daIiy, and 10 1t
wit be with us. The grounds referred to have
been leased by the Park Jomnisslon to the
geological Society, an association OF gentlemen
of liberal means and scientific tastes who have
, taken this pleasant method OF entertaining AMI
instruc ing thor felloS citlzens. Sl1ctss eau
be undoubtedly predicted for the Pnladelpuia
y ,O-Z ~"
lhe repetition OF drowning accidents at At
lantlc city unpleasantly impresss5 our p sope.
Atlantic is Phlltd5iphi4 in the summer. as far
resi- tents are concerned, for aim pst all it's fre
qleners are from this city, therefore a3ci-
dent happening there is much as though it hap
puned al home. Three men have been drown
ed this week and number OF others rescued in
an exhausted condition, II does not require
much figuring to show how such repetitOu5 of
disaster must work badly for the reputation of
place of resort Atlantic City b sole protection
against accident i'll the surf seems to be cell
ebrated swimmer named BOyntOn, employed by
one Of the excursion houses to protect the bath
era and who ID supposed to patrol the entire
length of beach aud look out for parties beyon
their depth. B1ynton may be all that fancy q an
paint him and yet not be worth much two
or three life boats well manned and a lot of life
lines and bouys. 1t is strange that the simplest
and most evident prec lutipns for the safety OF
life are not taken ut place 30 constantly fire. |
quentlv by ignorant and reckless persons.
The New York papers keep on coming early, |
and our own morning papers continue not to like |
1t a bit. Some days ago there WAS sudden oes- |
sation. with an announcement from the Penn-yl- |
vania Co., that the olock A, M, train ~ dis. |
Coz Ii Ined, The next day however the Her I'D |
appeared as us dal the story going that 1t engaged
special locomotive and tender to carry its bum
dies to West Philadelphia. This was continued |
for two days and yesterday entertained |
with view OF all the " great dailies at seven |
O'Clock in the morning. The Adams Express Uo., |
is the mover in the new enterprise. The New |
York publishers pay handsome rates for using |
the tram, and with such backing the Express |
Co. thought it could Afford to run at the early |
hour, considering too that there i, always an |
cumnlatlOn OF matter to be shipped Westward |
from New York. The news agents cannot tell |
whether the enterprise Is now upon hrm foot
ing not, but they think 1t likely, and are tax |
lug numbers of subscriptions upon that SUPPOSE |
ton.
The death OF Mrs Thayer was an event that |
made an Impression such as seldom attaches to |
such departures 1t has been heralded that this |
lady was the oil lest actress ia America. but that
statement gives no idea of the hold she had up |
on the pest classes of Philadelphia play-goers. |
Few now living, and may say none Of those in |
the habit of going to the theatre, can RENE mber
the local playhouse where the rhayers were not. /
They were part of the institution among us as
much 30 as the names and very walls OF the Old Il
Walnut" aud Arch" You recollect that Mr.. /
Thayer died year or two since, after a c)u sid |
erabe retirement from the stage. His wife /
continued steadily to act, however, until the |
close OF the 1874, retaining much OF the /
humor, vigacity, and sharp appreciation of char
acter which distinguished her to the very end.
Think of this in woman past seventy years of
age-a grandmother long ngo, yet "golng on
night after night i'll comedy. farce and burlesque
There may be other Instances of the kind in the
profession but | do not know of them Mr.. /
Thayer was not as old as his wif9 when he re-
tired, yet his case was considered remarkable
PhiladelphiaHs entertained very genuine res
pect and affection for this worthy couple. They
were sterling players both, aud their
private lives were beyond reproach. Mrs.
Ihayer was known to this generation
,as performer Of old woman parts, in which line
she was quite without rival, but she had in her
time played "Juvsalle" and "lea1ng' business
with equal success. just as her husband known
only to us for his old men had formerly been
dashing light comedian Does it not seem
strange, the rounding of two such full careers
Many of your citizens must remember these gem
ial players of the old School, School of which |
we have so few examples left Mrs Drew and
Mrs Maeder, (Clara Flsher) are the only other
performers now or until recently connected with
our theatres whom place IN that category.
Young people are coming on but they do not have
the delightful charIn of those who have gone or
are fast going. Or IS it that our younger bro, H.
ers and sisters feel the Same charm in the new
race of payer5 that we did in the old H. La pos-