Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1876-07-27
Our Radix Letter.


dia-The Centennial Hos
pital-Affairs at the
Mint-Sorrows of
the Gate Men.
New YORK, July 81, 1876.
To the Editor Of the Observer:
No let up yet. Burning days
and sultry nights continue to fol
low each other in monotonous and
we'll. nigh intolerable succession.
Occasional thunder clouds and still
more unlrequent showers give de-
lusive promise ct the GOODNESS
which never comes. The little
rain we get is itself warm and its
only effect is to increase our dis
comfort by saturating the muggy
air and, by stopping the evapora
ton from our bodies, to cut off
the one poor means of relief which
was left us. The steady, pitiIess
heat has continued so long that it
has penetrated the usually cool
cellars and the most carefully
closed houses. The walls OF stone
and brick having no opportunity
of cooling during the night are
burning to the touch. The pave
ments and roofs send up culver,
ing exhalations. Even Central
Park offers no refreshing. The
great bodlders and masses Of rock
which usually fern the favorite
resting places Of the hundreds
who resort there in The evening.
are turned into huge radiators
that fairly cook their gasping oc
cupants. The weak ones among
US are dying fast, and every day
saps more and more the vitality
of the strong. The heat bids fail
to rival in destructiveness the Sc
verest epidemic.
Ifthisamountof suffering were of
mems infliction there would have
been a second revolution inaugura
ted here long before this. But a.
gainst theforces which nowoppress
US thereisno rebelling, so all that's
left to suffering humanity is en-
durance and such alienation as il
atttainble. In the case Of the
rich, this is considerable, as there
are plenty of places where one
can keep comfortable if he has the
money and the time for recrea-
ton. Foremost among the neigh.
boring water places is Of course
old Long Branch, famed for its
presidential occupancy, and the
unceasing patronage of New
York's creme de la creme. Run.
ming along a line of low bluff,
overlooking the oce IN, the town
or rather collection Of elegant
hotels and cottages-is almost
never without cool salt breeze,
which effectaally prevents the ar
dent sun from making a sultry at
mosphere.
AS a result OF short ice crop Of
last winter and the recent great
demands upon them, the ice men
have put up the price of that in
dispensable Gommodity,an should
a change not come soon, further
advance will be the result. Fort
unately the water supply about
which the alarmists began croak,
ing week ego proves equal to
the emergency, the chief engineer
reporting that we can stand a
month of drouth yet without SUI
fering that terrible deprivation.
PHILADELPHIA j ulY ~.
! This city has naturally severer
summers than New York and
thus while Its present climate is
ultra tropical there is not as much
notice taken of it as in Gotham.
The mercury has several times
reached 1852 in the shade and
worse figures yet have been him
ted at. At the grounds regular
hospital has been establish ed, with
large medical department, and
here have been treated as many
as 100 cases day, nine-tenths
being persons Frustrated by the
heat. Still the attendance does
not fall off as might be expected,
the daily average of admissions
ranging about 10000; nearly one
third of these are dead heads
though, SO the receipts don't get
over $4,000 very often. As this
amount comes in fifty cent coins
and stamps, whole, there are from
eighteen to twenty thousands of
these articles to be counted every
evening. This seems like quite
an undertaking till one thinks Of
the corresponding work at the
mint where they make and han
die five times that number every
day. The other minis having
been closed for repairs last month