St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-06-15
Our New York Letter.

-EVANGELINE.
NEW YORK, June 8, 1877.
To the Editor Of the CalelOnian
In trying to decide what has been the
main sensation of the last seven days, /
am divided between the suddenly ter
minated Ring suit, the seventeen-year
locusts, and the fish plague. l suppose
Peter B. Sweeny would hardly thank
me for the compliment of bringing him
into such locu-mpany, and, beside, we
have the latter at least as often as once
in seventeen years, while a man like
Sweeny doesn't turn up--luckily fol
taxpayers-nearly as often. So think
we shall have to give this gentleman
our earliest attention.
The remembrance of the dramatic
scenes, the oratory and the great length
of the Tweed trial had whetted the
morbid appetite of the public for this
sort of enjoyment to high degree of
sharpness and curiosity being further
stimulated by the former prominence
and recent years of exile of this mag
nificent thief, the opening of the Sweeny
trial found the court room packed to
sutfocatiOn with an audience that was
all eyes and ears, ready for protracted
session. But it was destined to be a
disappointed crowd, for, after the brief
est of preliminaries, consultation of
the lawyers on both sides was entered
into, and, after few hours, it was an
nounced that the claims OF the city had
been compromised, and that all pro-
ceedings were at an end. 1t was a dis
gusted assemblage that then filed out of
court, freely expressing their indigna-
ton at the turn things had taken not
so much, probably, that the idea of
compromising felony grated upon their
sense of prOpriety, as that they were
thereby deprived of the pleasure of
picking the bones of such scandal as the
suit might unearth
The amount for which Sweeny has
persuaded the city to give, in effect. a
receipt i'll full for stealngs of over a
million, is 100000; and even this the
cunning criminal has arranged with the
city lawyers to accept as coming from
the estate of his dead brother James
Sweeny, so us to leave in the record of
the case nothing to show that he him
self was required to refund stolen money.
He thus gets himself whitewashed at
the expense of his brother; and being
left with technically clear reputation
and large fortune of other peoples
money, he is said to contemplate re-
turn to active political life, taking up
his old Democratic affiliations. Rumor
even goes so far us to lay out partial
programme for the employment of his
peculiar talents; programme embrac-
ing the election of the Legislature next
year with view of giving Mr.. Tilden
Mr.. COnkling's senatorial shoes in 1879.
The present seems, indeed, to be the
time spoken of by the poet ..when the
swallows homeward fly Woodward
and Sweeny have already ''hOmeward
few" been taken in and done for, and
now Dick Connolly's son-in-law pops
up and plainly intimates that that dis
tinguished statesman would like to leave
the elevated society of the Alps and re-
tuIn to the city whose finances he kind
ly cared for some seven years ago, if he
can arrange to do so without having to
cool his nose for ii period against the
grating OF IA Ludlow Street cell. And
the city, having her hand in, just now
III 'hlo ouSluCSS,
back that she shall be happy to see him
and will only charge him 81 100000 for
the privilege. The two will probably
haggle over the price for Il while, and
then Mr.. Connolly will turn up in his
old haunts and settle down to the en-
ljOyment of the s 600, 900 or more which
this arrangement would leave him.
Meanwhile, old Tweed shakes the
bars of his cage in angry indignation al
F this easy treatment of his junior con
tederates, but cannot us yet shake of
the clutches of the law which seems to
have singled him out as the one scape-
: goat on whom to pile all punishment.
The seventeen-year locust, who comes
next to the above mentioned gentry in
order of present Importance, is, en-
pbatically, queer bird. Why he shows
up at such long and odd intervals, like
a comet, is a mystery. The conundrun
of what he does with himself in off years
, is too many for even the bug -fanciers
/; Why he grows so big and accomplishes
so little and dies so soon are all among
chose things that no fellow can find
out" All that is really known about
him is that he hangs around under
ground somewhere for good while ill
he gets good ''ready," and then bur-
rows up to the top, leaving a little
round hole to mark the place of his APP
7 pearance, as regular and clean cut as
that of a pistol bullet. How he per
forms this latter operation is another
puzzler, for when he gets to the surface
he is still tightly encased in the hard
transparent, yellow shell that has pro-
tected him during his subterranean res.
idence. But he manages it somehow
and on his arrival in the air, cracks his
shell and comes forth IA little soft white
bunch which hardens and darkens and
enlarges with IA rapdity totally incred,
IDLE to one who has not witnessed it
so that within Il couple of hours from
leaving the chrysals lie is complete il
every part.
A finished locust of this variety il
more like an enormous fly than any
thing else | can think of. 1t is almost
an inch and Il half long, with black body
and head and little google eyes exactly
like two dots of red sealing wax. Its
only beauty is in its wings, which are
as large as a small willow leaf, delicate
gauzy and prismatic. ] remember hear,
, ing years ago that this insect ALWAYS
appeared in time of war, of which il
bore the sign. Curious on this point,
picked one up the other day to look fol
this sign, and, sure enough, on eacI
, wing found "a w as plain as pikestaff
Whether the Russo-Turkish struggle is
, enough to satisfy its predictions, OF
whether we have got to get up row
, in this country to save its reputation al
prophet, time will tell.