The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1880-03-06
Table Talk.

| The monkey climbed toward the raging sky
And twisted his tail round lofty limb,
| While the flood beneath went laundering by,
For he was monkey that couldn't swim.
| But the man was caught in the torrents mad,
And his dying speech in these words ran:
"If had "A tail as my forefather's had,
I'd be live monkey and not a drowned man.
| The mutilated coin dodge has become so dcci-
ded nuisance that all C. B. Il q. railroad agents
have been instructed not to receive in payment
of any dues to the company any clipped or hole
punched coins, silver or gold.
| The city marshal has been not little troubled
by the tearing down of election notices posted in
various parts of the city. Boys (whO are believed
to be the chief otfenders) and all others, should
| remember that detection in destroying election
notices, or any other posters not out of date, will
| lead to very serious results.
| The Board Of Supervisors Record takes up a
! large portion of our paper this week. We be
lieve, however, that it will be found useful and
interesting to our readers.
Now that the pamphlet is out and strangers
are going to flock into town (sic), a friend sug-
| gests o scheme for the improvement Of the tOpo-
| graphical appearance of the town. In many por-
tons Of Chicago where the travel on streets is
not greater than on ours in the residence portion
OF the city the wagon road is reduced to passage
about 20 or 30 feet wide in the middle Of the
street The strip of land on either side thus cut
off is put under the charge Of the owner of the
house it fronts. II is then sodded and planted
with trees, the walk running through the centre
OF the sod. Our streets are about SO feet wide-a
width Of land of no more use than a width of 200
feet BY cutting this down to say 50 feet, it can
be pikcd ut small expense and rendered solid by
gravel, 50 that the roadway can be kept in much
better condition at much less expense than now.
| The extra land on either side could be improved
as suggested-sodded and planted with trees,
while the splendid square paving tile made by
our own Tile Works afford q cheap durable and
beautiful pavement. As a general thing the ex-
| pense of these improvements could be easily
borne by property owners. II done the city
would De the handsomest in the west, as it Is
claimed to be in location.
| 1t is 10 be hoped the council VIII remember
! their promise (imphcd at least) that this spring
Ottawa Avenue will be gravcled to the cemetery
The cry for this Improvement grows louder every
day, and to let this street 90 while gravel by the
ton is piled on the sand hills of the sixth ward
would be an outrage That the public has been
compelled this long to haul the dead to their last
resting place over street but degree better
! than slough is anything but hattering to our
past city councils.
| Our old friends 4. Hess & Co. have been com
PEELED to increase the size OF their cigar manu-
factory, and this week moved into the room over
Bodwells saloon. Their shop now covers three
store rooms. Over their own store and Null
er's is the cigar-makers' room and over Bod
wells the packing and leaf drying rooms. Their
shop is the largest in the district, employing
about 81 johrney:Sen, which force is increased by
packers, shippers, DC, to about IS hands
A fine cock fight took place on Saturday last
between La Sale and Peru, for the championship
and purse of $50. The birds were Tennessee
IIuddleston- Red, owned by Capt. Monk, of Peru,
and Ramsey Tartar, the property of p. Malone,
La Sale, both weighing over lbs. The IIud.
deston out.fought the Tartar from the start and
won the fight in five rounds, the Tartar dying
game to the backbone; time, 10 minutes. On
account Of the breeding season being close at
hand, the long talked of main between Ottawa
and Streator has been indefinitely postponed.
| The weather OF the week has given a new i'm
pctus to sporting men. Ducks are flying freely
and many are being killed on the lower river
| The fishing, too, is interesting all hands though
it can hardly be said that the sport has begun
by sporting men. The men with seins however,
| are hard at work.