Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-07-16
TI,e Watering Places.

cd States that people are perpetualy distracted
az RI which to choose What to Wear, and
.,Vhere 70 &c" are the peryading and preplex-
ing problems of the watering place season: AS
thc New York Journal Of Commerce truly re-
marks. the selection of Watering place is
made more embarrassing every year by the
new candidates that appeal for custom. With
each successive season, dozens OF new places
are advertised as possessing all the attractions
bathing. boating. fishing, beautiful scenery,
lovely walks, plenty of shade, fresh, cool AR,
and all the other good things set forth 10 the
best style of the real estate arctloneers. This
year, there are two or three hundred spots 10
New York alone compctngtor summer tourists.
| We are astonishcd to see 1t stated by the New
York Journal of Commerce that by far the
larger number of the so-caIled watering places
! of that State have not spring IN their entire
limits Our Virginia watering places have not
vet got up to that Yankee dodge. They have
plenty of mineral water, end generally other IL
| uuids besides Our contemporary says with
truth of his own latitude that lit is not exactly
for uuict and freedom from the giddy round of
| social fo!iics that watering places are sought
| for by the iairer part OF the household, but for
new OPPORTUNITIES of display and conquest.
These are afforded only at the few great water
ipr. places-w eau be told off on the fugcrs;
| and if man cannot escape the doom OF taking
his family out OF town in the summer, proba-
bly the best thing he can do is to bear them
away TO the largest and most crowded and most
| fashionable Of all the resorts. Or he may try
them in successon-a week at this, fortnight
at the next and so on. The larger and the
oder established watering places are on the
whole, the most comfortable, and give the best
Though still far from Adequately return for the
money. The hotels there more nearly approach
those in the city in table aud appointments.
| One is not wholly deprived OF town luxurles,
| though he will miss the most Of them. The
general expenses Of living at these first-cass
places arc but little, if any, above those of the
second and third rate kinds. Extorton is the
rule at all of them. They all vlctlmIze the
creduIous New Yorker; but he is less dis
satisfied bp Sojourn at the great and tumul'
tuous watcring-paccs than at those which az
| feet to be quiet and modest without being so.
| We think that this is the experience of water
ing place veterans certainly, when they take
wives and families with them But it is only
choice of evils whether one shall throw away
his money in pursuit of more or less dis
comfort at this or that place. The
watering-place system Of the United States is
deluSiou and snare; and sensible people are
coming more and more to believe so. 1t is cx-
travagunt, heated and fussy, and Injuries the
health aud the morals 4 trip to Europe may
| be taken as cheapy as season at some crowd
ed American watering place, and with Ten
| times the profit to body and mind. The drain
| Europeward this ycar-which is excessive
will have depressing effect on the watering
place spectators, aud force them, we hope, to
reduce their prices next season.
These remarks, in general, do not apply to
any of our Virginia Springs, except as regards
the high prices paid at some OF them. The
chief watering places in our State are as well
| ordered aud delightful as refined social party.
Those which profess to be quiet and modest
are so in reality, and are most charming re-
medicinal waters La these, as in all other re-
spects, Virginia is the land of reality and not
| OF sham. The only objection is the enormous
prices at some Of them, which cffectually keep
out all but the rich The healing waters Of
our land are certainly not dispensed, like the
waters OF salvation, so that all may drink
LyachLurg Ne,os.
AN ENTERpRIsING CORONER Butcher,
when We knew him, was coroner up in Will
Transport. Business that winter was drcadfully
dull. Nobody died suddenly, or was drowned
| or murdered, and Butcher not only had moth
ing to do but he made no fees and was as poor
AS Walt Whtmau's poetry. Suddenly maDia
Tor committing suicide hy poison seemed to
break out among the people. Mrs. Brown fed
herself with Strychninc; both the Smith girls
stuffed themselves with arsenic; Aleck Jones
took dose of laudanum; Johnsons colored
girl swallowed some bug poison, and Mrs. Muir
phys little son ate four boxes of phosphorus
matches. These events occurred at intervals
of few days, and 10 each case, DO sooner were
the facts discovered than DIR. Bumm was at
once on hand with his stomach pump. He
emplied Mrs Brown all Of sudden; he pump
ed out the Smith girls; he tore the laudanum
out of Jones; he separated the poison from the
colored girl, and he nearly turned Mrs. Muir
phys boy wrong side out All Of them recov
cred. The coroner viewed the proceedings
with regret. He went to Bumm and suggested
that he would give one huodred dollars if the
doctor would close out his pump, and fifty
more if be would 60 out of town for three or
four weeks. The coroner said he did not want
to seem importunate or Intrusive, but ne was
tired of having doctors NEEDLE with his bust.
ness. Then DR.. Bumm affirmed that he would
not only not sell, and not leave town, but when
the next poisoning case occurred he would buy
steam engine. attach it to the machine aud
pump the patient throughout the uneDdng
ages of eternity if he wanted to. That night
Butcher bribed the doctors boy to bring him
the pump for few moments. Then he rub
bed some nitro-glycerine around the end Of the
piston and sent it back The next day Mary
Jane MEG uire took oxalic acid The doctor
came; he inserted the apparatus in her throat
and plugged the piston down. A snap, q
shrek, loud explosion, and Mary Jane, oh
where was she Forty-seven pieces of her
we're found and they picked up twelve. frag
ments of the doctor, so the coroner had a
chance for 6fty,nne inquests, the fees Of which
enabled him to buy barrel Of flour, have his
wagon fixed and give his wife ink-sIk dress.
He was the most enterprsing coroner they
ever had in Wilamspnrt.
WASHINGTON NEWs.-A fire broke out at
about $50 yesterday morning in the third story
back building Of the Navy Department, prob
ably originating in the printing room. The
fire department were promptly on hand, and
working with great efficiency soon had the FIRE