New-York tribune., 1873-03-19
4 CTVIL SERVICE EYAMINA TON.

Marshal Sharpe ras examined for a Surveyor.
He was indeed. 1t is not yet disclosed In
what secluded apartment he was set down
under guard alone with his own conscience
and capacity and the solemn examination
scheme it is enough to know that he was set
down somewhere and confronted with cOnun-
drums that would have puzzled college pro-
fesSor and driven an undergraduate into emo
tional insanity of the most alarming kind.
He was examined under the Civil Service
rules, the genial General was-examined
for a Surveyor. With his little pen and ink,
and other necessary stationery, he wrestled
with the dreadful catechism and threw
it like man and Marshal. t
was an earnest examination. An ex-
animation that went to the marrow OF read
ing, writing, and arithmetic; that jostled the
English language with the most contemptuous
familiarity, tossed high in air the most alb
struse mysteries of physical geography, reveled
i'm the recesses of history, and crowded into
corner the most formidable features of the
laws relating to the collection of the revenue.
1t is with pride in our birthright as American
citizens that we chronicle the fact that the
Marshal, who has just been appointed and
confirmed as Surveyor of the Port, marched
boldly up to the manuscript and conquered it,
so to speak, with ease.
We have been favored with copy of the
Civil Service questions propOunded; and very
heartily do we congratulate the General on
the results of the engagement that followed
an engagement which ended, as all his en-
gagements do in his encamping on the battle
field. They asked him to "write at length
81, ,030 COG. .S2,n and at length he wrote it. They
asked him to "add !, II, and 2t," and he
added them like a lightning calculator in less
than half an hour and handed down his name
to future generations as the Adder Of his age.
Then they told him to multiply & and J." and
| he multiplied with modesty and success that
won all hearts. Urged to "reduce to
" decimal,r he reduced it with alacrity and
scarcely an effort of his powerful intellect.
The next demand upon him was to "divide
g. .568 by .O35.n We presume he divided. Then
they asked him to name "the principal lake
"portsn He was not unequal to it. For really,
if there is anything the late Marshal and now
Surveyor prides himself ON it is knowing the
| difference between lake ports and seaports; be-
| tween. say for instance, Duluth and Pittsburgh.
He must have smiled when he saw that conun-
drum.
| One of the most insidiOus inquiries pro-
| pounded, however, was this: "What are the
"principal articles of merchandise imported
from Russia ~ Now, to the unscholarly
carnal mind closeted alone with this insinu-
ating leading question, it would at once occur
that the object of extorting this information
was to furnish the Government with facts
upon which to base a treaty of annexation,
and the answer would Immediately suggest
itself, Bananas" We suspect the General was
not 80 entrapped, but that having in regard
| the truth that will not under any Civil
Service examination be crushed to earth, he
| made answer high, Leather and tailed
| one.
Perhaps they thought to stump him with the
inquiry, "What is an isothermal linef" We
| cannot believe they did. For he has read too
carefully the utterances of the Administration
not to know that this is one of the lines upon
which the country depends for " the rapid
" transmission of thought and matter by tele
"graph and steam" He must have so
answered it. After these the questions, "What
"year was Jackson bornfn "Who was Pres
ident when Texas was annexedf" &C., were
the merest bagatelle. Did they think to put
him to his trumps by asking, "What are the
principal revenues of the United States 7"
| Him, Sharpe, familiar as he is with the inside
of politicsi OF course he said, Compromises
with defaulters."
No, all these questions together, with those
as to the mature of bond" " how to amend
"the Constitution &C., were the merest child's
| play to him. He calmly surmounted the whole
of them, and sailed serene above the entire cate
chism. Let US be proud and happy that we
have such Surveyor-a Surveyor who can not
only add-Congress did that-and divde-let
us hope never with the wrong man-but who
can tell the principal lake ports" and the
"year Jackson was born," and all about the
| Hothermal limo" in the most encouraging and