Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-10-06
For the Telegraph.
PHILADELPHIA LETTER.

4 all ps.EtAcutdT 70 utuliOu llidl nave
taken my pen in hand, for this reason =
Once, when a child, was taken to see
pot pOurri kind of an entertainment, where
the eighth wonder of the world was on ex-
hibition-namely, woman, who in the ab-
sence of arms and hands, could write let
ter with pen guided by her toes. That
this was a truly wonderful feat, no one can
deny. but, despite the novelty thereof,
was deeply impressed with the superior
graeefulness Of the hand, especially for the
purpose of writing, and besides all this,
quite like the good, old fashioned manner
of commencing letter. 1t is convenient,
as well as explicit and saves the trouble of
thinking up"a beginning.
hope am not too previous, when tell
you that the long suffering shack bone of
the hot weather is, at last, broken" 1t has
been severely bent, several times, since the
news -so-be-for, often moi t. of July, and
each time, many persons were deceived into
thinking that the final fracture had come
to pass. Alas, for too eredulous human
nature! Old Sol had not quite done the
Centennial He felt that his presence was
necessary to give proper warmth to the
celebration Of so great an event as our ma
tion's birthday. and so he fingered on un-
til we were heartily tired of him, and
should have given him polite invitation
to depart for Greenland's icy mountains, or
some other region, where his presence
would be more agreeable, had it not been
for the great hospitality for which our city
is so famous. If tits not now, it will be,
after this year, for surely, no one of our
guests can, yet, complain Of having met
with cold reception.
The obnoxious" storm is upon US at
the present-that is, it is either the storm
itself, or one of the aBAeses, doubt if Old
Probabilities himself could tell which, but
the rain does not prevents thousands of peo-
pie from visiting the Exposition grounds,
daily, and can see no reason why it
should, for there are but few persons but
that can be interested, for one day, at least,
in the tWenty-one acres Of exhibit contain
ed in the Main Building. 'F
Speaking of the Main Building has re-
minded me of little joke, which is so
good that must tell it you, even at the
risk of your having already heard lit. A
party Of :'Down casters" came to visit the
Centennial, and decided to commence their
first day with ride round the grounds, on
the narrow gauge railways charming lit
tletrip it is, too. They passed one after
another the different State buildings, COM
menting upon each one, according to their
ideas Of its merits or dement's. At last at
one Of the little stations the conductor call
ed out ''Main Building" when one of the
Yankees jumped from his seat, beaming all
over with gratiied pride and patriot en-
thusiasm, and exclaimed: SPY hokeyI
k1esC our State would take them all DOWN.
1t is unnecessary to add that this was
Maine man.
2 One sees and hears a great many ridicu-
lous things during days visit at the Ex-
position. There is, in the Peruvian depart
ment of the Main Building, a.large collec.
ton of antiquities, which are supposed to
be valuable for their extreme age-certain-
ly, not for their beauty. Among them are
several specimens Of mummies, and If one
mummy can look worse than another, then
these are the champions for ugliness. But,
OF course, they are not accountable for
their looks, any more than we are for ours,
and, probably the poor things were on ex-
hibition at the last Centennial and are tired
Of being 'fshown up so often-but am
depressing, as it was not my original in
tention to comment upon the personal apt
pearance Of these ancient Peruvians, bu-
to tell you of little Incident that occurred
during one of my visits to this department,
and which changed the current of my
thoughts from the sublime to the ridicu-
lous, so to speak, in remarkably short
space of time. was wearied with long
day of sightseeing and had aYailed myself
of the only unoeeupied seat within reach,
and which happened to bring the aforesaid
mummies directly within my range Of vis-
ion. The sight had caused me to reflect
upon the transientness of beauty, as well
as everything else connected with this life,
and the vanity of earthly things in general,
until had become quite serious and sol
emn mover my meditations. Presently there
came along an individual who had evident
", been samphng some of the wines and
brandies little too extensively. He was
inclined to be sociable, and making up to
one Of the full grown mimmies saluted
him in a hale fellow well met" style.
Upon receiving no reply, he felt insulted
as well as extremely indignant, and strik-
ing an attitude which was intended to add |
force to his remarks, said: ''You're pretty |
(hic) looking old (hic) cove, you are, to (hic)
refuse to speak to 3 (hiel gentleman. Say,I
(hic) hadn't you better Qhic) pull down |
your VestF' With a look expressive Of the |
most whitening contempt, he turned gway,
probably, to search for mora congenial |
:'spirits," and, doubtless, he knew pretty |
nearly where to ITO find them.
Salts Saperque, pro tenpOrs. N.
Philadelphia, Sept 25th, 1875.