Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-01-23
UNDERTONES.

Successor
should do after IL meets is tO turn out from
the main floor of the capitol all the bazaars
ard gimcrack stands that now cucumber the
corridors and lObbies of that noble structure
They are an eyeSore and a nuisance to per
sons having occasion 10 visit the building
either on business or pleasure. and are be-
sides an injury TO dealers elsewhere in the
city, who have To pay taxes, rent and other
expenses incident To carrying on business in
Washington. 1t is no excuse for the existing
state of things TO say that the stands are a
convenience 10 visitors, OF that the occupants
are needy and deserving persons. In either
case, all good purposes will be equally well
served by locating them on the basement or
ground floor. 1t is by no means clear how
ever, that even this much should be granted
The effect of all that sort of thing is to beIit-
tie and degrade the building and to set up a
class of privileged dealers. at the expense of
BONA nut business mep outside. Nor does the
plea of poverty hold good, except, perhaps,
in rare instances. 1t is stated on good au-
thOrity that at least one OF this favored few
is engaged in profitable business in another
city, through which, with the special privi-
leges granted at the capitol, he has succeeded
in amaSSing handsome fortune. Another
and even more fOrcible objection 10 the sys-
tenn is that once the door is opened il is
almost impossible to prevent the evil from
growing, or To draw the line without injustice
10 some and undue favor to others. AS Ham
let says, "Reforln 1t altogether"
Ladies who are accustomed to talk OF hear
others talk about laces Cf fabulous value
even up into the thousands of dollars per
yard-will be surprised TO hear that Mr.. 4.
L. Stewart, the famous dry goods merchant,
testified in one of the New York courts re-
Gently that the finest piece of lace he had
ever seen was in his own stOre,-a point
dAlencon tiOunce, seventeen or eighteen
inches wide, and worth $3.50 yard. This of
Clan hot 20 l....
OF greater value in existence, but it does cS-
tabiish very cOncluSivcly that there is a
great deal of humbug and false pretence in
dulged in aS to the great value and rarity of
certain styles of lace. Mr.. Stewart has prob
ably at some time or other seen some OF the
best.
The public has been so apt to look upon
California merely as a place where gold,
wheat and slang phrases are produced in
quantities to suit, that little or nothing in the
way of letters, except, perhaps, dialect poo
try and strong character sketches, is expected
of her Yet she has recently contributed to
the higher literature Of the day two works
that are likely to take front rank among
books Of their class, and which, TO say the
least, would be credit TO much older and
more pretentiOus civilization than the golden
state can boast. The first of these is a brief
but comprehensive History of Culture" by
MI JOllu WHO mas heretofore Deen
regarded as the statist and resourcist of Cali
fornia, but who in this effort gives evidence
ofhis capacity TO discuss much wider range
OF topics. The other, by Mr.. Hubert Howe
Bancroft, entitled Native Tribes of the Pa
cific States" is without doubt the most pro-
found and exhaustive account OF the pre-hiS-
toric races inhabiting that part of the CONT
nent that has yet been written. 1t is, indeed,
hardly too much to say for il that it will leave
little, if anything more, TO be written on the
subject. Some Idea of its comprehensive
scope and the patient research OF the author
may be formed when IT is understood that the
material in the way Of books, pamphlets,
manuscripts, maps, etc, gathered together
In advance and freely drawn upon In the
preparation OF the history amounts TO no.
less than sixteen thousand lots in number
that they were collected at an expense of be
tween $50 600 and $40 600, and that Mr.. Howe
has been engaged upon the work with a
large corps OF assistants nearly twenty
years, considerable portion of which was
spent in Europe in consulting archives
manuscripts, &c, not otherwise attainable
This brief mention il, of course, not intended
as a review, but rather to call attention To
the birthplace, SO TO speak, OF the works in
question-wlich, whatever their intrinsi
merits may he, certainly spea k well for the
intellectual growth and literary promise
the ''queen OF the west
%&*
Much has been claimed for the universally
of Shakespeares genius. And with great
justice; for it does seem to have COM
pretended all things, past, present, and 10
come. But who would have thought that he
could have had the scandalOus Pacific Mail
subsidy business in his minds eye when he
wrote the immortal tragedy OF Hamlet? Yet
he must have had; for in that play, 1st act,
scene ii, he says:
The eHtrayasant aud Irwin lerringl spirit hles
To his confines.
If men who attend theaters operas, and
other places of amusement and occupy front
seats should undertake TO wear their stove
pipe hats during the performance they would
provoke such hub-bub as would speedily
bring in the police, if ii did not break up the
entertainment. Yet fashlOnably dressed
ladies do with impunity, and immunity also
quite as much as men could do at their very
best to shut the stage out from the view of
those behind them. AnalySe their make up
for moment. There is, in the language of a
close observer, C) the natural hair; (2) the
dead hair, the use of which ultimately kills
natural hair; (3) a hat, with a high crown.
shaped very much like the mems; ~ mass
OF flowers; (5) an artificial insect, bird or
beast, sometimes natural and sometimes I'M
natural; (6) an amateur pompOn; % three or
four feathers, the ends of which are left to
wave in each passing breeze, or to quiver
with each stirring emotion of the gentle heart
which beats beneath them. These seven ele-
ments being combined in the proper proper
ton, constitute the mOdish hat of the season
and a pretty contrtvance It is for any one to
try to see through or around! But 1t is use
less to argue with lady when the dictates of
fashion are involved. The only hope theater-
gOerS have lies in the probability that these
seven story affairs have about run their
course, and that things will now go to the
other extreme. If they do not, and If a man.
sard roof, observatory, and flag staff are yet
10 be added, then there is no remedy but to
put In operation here the custom which pre-
walls in Europe, viz: that ladies in attend
ance at the theater and operas shall appear
as they do at a full-dress party-withoutiha hat
or bonnet. Then everybody could see as well
as hear. .
~.
Readers OF Mr.. Stedman's paper on the lat
ter-day British poets in the current number
OF ScTioner's Monthly will be very apt to be
disappointed that he does not, while treat
ing OF Mr.. Dante Rossetti's remarkable Pre-
Raphaelite poem The Blessed Damozel,' tell
them what the deuce il is all about Every
body appreciates its quaint melody and the
weird mystical imagery pervading 1t all the
way through, just as Mr.. Stedman does, but
few, IL any, understand what IL mea ms; and
this also is just what he fails to tell them. 1t
Is just possible that IL is too deep even for the
commentator, poet though he be.
*tx
Sybaritic citizen of Newark has lust been
made tn nav The sum of e5 nnn IN Misc n.aoa