New-York tribune., 1874-08-26
ANOTHER STA TESM4N RETIRED.

ANOTHER STATESM1N RETIRED.
Another able statesman has retired from
public life, driven out by the outrageous con-
| duct of an unbridled press. He had sought to
serve his country and ameliorate the con-
a:ttoo aa:t;oon Of his fellow men at stated stipend
from the municipal treasury. Leaning for
ward from an advanced post of civilization at
| Morrisania, with his band curled over his ear
in the attitude assumed by the able statesman
waiting to hear from the caucus, he thought
he detected the voice of his country demand
ing his patriotic service If ever suffering
country syllabled its distress, ours did when
in its anguish it cried for "Charles f.
Matthias Having been out of employment
for some time, and, like most unemployed
American citizens, waiting call into the ser
vice of the Government, Mr.. Charles +. Ma
thias of MOrrsania stepped promptly forward
and answered "Here" That his country
| called him, Mr.. Matthias was entirely confident.
| II was only n matter of doubt to what she
called him. Possibly to be Secretary Of the
Treasury, though more likely Police Commits
sioner. Standing thus on one uneasy foot,
waiting to be assigned to duty, there came
call. Alderman Morris said suddenly "DOgsw
With that the Small Boy went off like fire.
cracker and the Small Dog like sky-rOcket,
and Charles f. Matthias unfolded his arms and
stepped forward serenely to his mission.
From that hour he began to gather dogs.
Irrespective of race, sex, color, or previous
condition of servitude, he took them all, from
the pnk-eyed poodle to the brindle pup. He
whistled. and 10 procession OF variegated
dogs unfolded like links from sausage ma
h. oil ma
and terrier alike, and each forgetting his mas
ter and his mission dropped into the wake of
Charles +. Matthias, as who should say 81
"come, come" SO accumulated the dogs
an irregular and sometimes turbulent assem-
bly,, variously voiced, given somewhat to wall
ing, and having appetites which must sooner
or later impoverish Mr.. Matthias unless the
city should come forward and take them off
his hands. Doubtless Mr.. Matthias made it as
pleasant as possible for the dogs finding an
asylum with him. He may have read to them
in view of their approaching fate the lines be-
ginning "There is a Reaper whose name is
Death !" while the dogs. little and big, sat
before him on their hind legs and lifted up
their beautiful chins in responsive chorus.
Possibly he visited them daily and congratu-
lated them upon the fact that in the land of
shadows to which they were fastening they
would not be asked once in five minutes what
they thought of the BIT. business. However
that may be, we may rest assured that the
dogs were well cared for. for in the sight of
Mr.. Matthias their lives were very precious.
And yet to Mr.. Matthias, having this collec-
ton of dogs gathered in response to the call
of the city by the mouth of Alderman Morris,
harifxy
of q dOg-catcher or utilizing his bright and
beautiful menagerie. Said Nh Matthias, look
ing in upon them as he waited vainly for his
appointment as dog-catcher, "Here, indeed,
"are tremendous possibilities. Here are pho
bias upon phObias, hydro and lysso, without
"end. can open the door, and in less than
fifteen minutes make New-YOrk as lively as
Brooklyn. Shall do it, and avenge myself
"upon community that will not recognize
talent in the appointment of dog-catchersf" 7"
It is not improbable that while he soliOquized
in this mood his eye fell upon the Address of
the Republican Congressional Committee lately
issued by Mr.. John A. Logan and thirty-eight
other distinguished statesmen, in which the
people of the United States are reminded that
the Republican party is in power, and unless
its representatives in Congress are treated as
faithful servants they will become faithless
and "make things hum" 1t is not unlikely
that he took his cue from this suggestion. He
Immediately addressed the Mayor in a written
document not unlike Mr.. Logan's. 1t was no
more necessary for him to describe each indi-
vidual dog in the collection and set forth the
capacity of each for promoting hydrophobia
than it was for Mr.. LOgan's committee to call
out by name the "pubic servants" who would
make it lively for tho taxpayers if people did
not stop talking about them. He merely
limited to the venerable official who presdes
over the structure of municipal government
that here were great many dogs, and that
so far as he knew he had no commission that
authorized him to restrain them of their lib
erty. In some of them he had observed symp-
toms of hydrophobia. This he mentioned in
cidentally, not as an argument for his appoint
ment, but simply in the interests. of medical
science, and perhaps with a vague idea that
the Mayor might be looking for two or three
Office pets for the Police Commissioners.
The Mayor, who was not by any means born
yesterday, was not slow to catch the drift of
Mr.. Mathiass discourse upon this head. 1t
was not long before Mr.. Matthias was dog
catcher duly commissioned and put under the