St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-04-16
Our New York Letter.

SOME NEW YORK SHOWS-STILL ANOTH-
Err WALKING MATCH-OUR "GREAT-
EST SHOW ON EARTH"-vERY LIKE A
wHALE-A PRETTY BIG FISH STORY
ASTONISHING FIGURES.
New YORK, APRIL 9th, 1880.
To the Editor Of the CdledOnian:
To maintain my principle of writing
on the subjects which seem to fill most
fully the public eye, l shall have to con-
fine myself pretty closely this week to
the shows of the city; for at this mo-
ment the various forms of amusement
quite overshadOw other topics not only
in number but apparently in attractive
ness. First of all there is our six-day
walking match. Now, l am aware that
with respectable persons walking
match" is-or ought to be-a fighting
word, and | apologize for multiplying
words on a subject that has been a
dozen times called in. In fact, every
time mention pedestrianism, or any
thing connected with it, instinctively
look round with the expectation of hav-
ing to dodge something, very much lis
IL man does when quoting Pinafore or
referring to the ais Puzzle"
But what is veracious correspondent
to do when crack Drained public will
turn out by the ten thousand, as they
have done through the past week, to
witness the same old spectacle of half IL
dozen or more or less crippled men
chasing their own shadows in dreary
monOtOny, mainly for the benefit of
hackers and the betting fraternity ?
Had any one asked my opinion us to the
chances of another walking match sue
ceeding here, l should have said that
money would he safer invested in Wild
cat mining stock than risked in so
playedOut an enterprise. But the Ie-
suit shows that this pedestrian fever
has fastened on to New York as the Old
Man of the Sea bestrode Sinbad of old,
for the lessees of GilmOre's Garden are
making money hand over fist. There
is one point, and only one, in connection
with this match which is really worth
notice, and that is the manner in which
the African element is looming up in
this form of contest, the two darkies,
Hart and Pegram, covering themselves
with glory an inch thick, and cOnclu-
sively proving that the sons of ham are
fully as strong on their pins as their
cousins of the Japbet family, previous
popular opinion to the contrary not
withstanding.
Another show that absOrbs its full
share of attention is Barnums new turn
ont for 1880. Whether old Phineas
has discovered in his roamings the ver-
liable fountain of youth, or whether he
is merely doomed to reach the age OF
Methusaleh, is perhaps not material !;
but somehow or other he cOntrives with
each successive Spring to come brisk
aud smiling with IL more Outrageously
unheard of combination of novels and
curious attractions than ever before.
| This year it is what one of the papels
facetiously styles an Eight clown
power circus" from the large number of
these venerable jOkers it contains in adj
ditiOn to a menagerie. a squad of train
ed stations, flock of trained doves, a
wonderful leaping stag, and an intrepid
} II
ably liberal compensation consents to
be shot out of a cannon twice each day
| to the Mortified delight of the gaping
multitude.
Yet another spectacle has been af-
fOrded the sightseeing New Yorker this
week which to my thinking is better
worthy the interest it has awakened
than either of those above referred to.
All of us can remember, if we do not
now experience, the wild enthusiasm OF
our youth over the exploits of whalers,
and have probably all of us-those OF
the male persuasion | mean-hankered
at one time or another for the excite
ment of such a life and the chase OF
these great kings of the deep, who seem
like living relics of that remote age
which produced the monster mastOdOns
and plesiesauruses and zeuglodons and
a multitude too numerous to mention OF
creatures with endless names and fire.
quently still more prOtracted tails,
| When, therefore, | saw advertised an
exhibition of big, dead whale down at
a certain dock on the East River,
grasped at the chance of, verifying
otherwise-my youthful conceptions OF
Leviathan, and went down forthwith
To tell the truth l rather expected to
be disappointed in the size and general
appearance of the animal; but on the
contrary | WAS surprised at both. In
fact stood for while like the veriest
rustic and gazed in open mouthed
establishment at the critter. Not
however, half as open mOuthed as the
critter gazed at me, for his mouth meas
ured 10 or ] |, while mine is-well, not
much larger than Brother Talmage's
The great mass of blubber lay upon a
couple of dry docks, which were sunk
under it, and then raised by pumping
the air out of them. Most of its surface
was covered by thick, smooth, shiny
black skin, that looked for all the world
like india rubber. but along the sides
near the head the color was wbitish
and the surface so regularly corrugated
that it looked exactly like the overlap
ping boards on boats side. The eyes
no larger than those of COW, were
hardly to be found in the broad expanse
of its leathery hide; but perhaps the
strangest thing about the Hncapny
creature was the throat, which had to
convey all the nOuIisbment from that
vast mouth to the yet more capacious
NAV, was barely two inches in diam