St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-10-21

NEW YoRk. Oct. IA. 1851.

nual fire. 1t was good one, and with
the instinct.Of Communist walked in
to the possessions of the wealthy in "a
whOlesouled manner. Vanderbilt, or
the chief transportation company he
controls, lost the Fourth avenue car
stables, with all their contents, but
perhaps after all that wasn't much of
Il loss, for the ground is nowadays a
great deal too valuable to board horses
on and will bring in an immensely in
creased income by having dwelling
houses erected on it. The Morrilrs
stores were destroyed-Of course they
were fireproof. Now don't laugh
They had concrete, and hydraulic ce-
ment, and vaults and plastered girders,
and the Architects of the Lower World
only knew what else, but they didn't
have iron shutters. So when Il few
million sparks from across the street
fell in through the windows, the con
tents were consumed as in a crucible
with excruciating dispatch. What
they were worth is still to he guessed
at, for no one knows yet, but the
amount is immense. Our richest folks
had stored their treasures there, results
of long years of careful acquisition.
Putting aside the sentimental estimate
of personal and family relics, the in
trinsic value of the libraries, bronzes,
tapestries, pictures, plate, .jewelry, &c,
must have been tremendous. a large
loss to come from perhaps the stroke
of a hOOf on IA cobblestOne or the butt
of cheap cigar, and no water to speak
of to put it out with.
Another kind of fire of totally diff
ferent sort has been comforting the
soul of your RadiX i'll the past chilly
DAYS. When other folks are running
around blue with the cold, and filling
the air with blue swear as they hunt
for plumbers, stOvetitters, tinsmlthS,
anybody with tools to put up their
many .jointed gas evOlvers, your RadiX
toasts his toes at his genial fire on the
hearth. 1t is domestic convenience
that he isn't quite so weak-minded as
to take down in summer, for it looks
nice, and as i'll Il CRATE one can light Il
little fire and let it out, or Il big fire,
and, improving on the CRATE idea, keep
it in all winter if he wants to, and hav-
ing arrangements for pouring out heat
ed air as well as warming by direct ra-
diatiOn it beats CRATE hollow then,
by having fresh air led from outside of
the house to the bottom of the cOntri-
vance it becomes the best and simplest
ventilating apparatus yet invented.
With all windows shut the air in a
room is changed every few minutes
and your RadiX is never bothered
either in person or numerous family
with colds, or typhoid fever, or mala-
ria, or any of the other ills and all
ments that atflict his neighbors and
their infant tribes.
| Pm afraid there'll be cold comfort for
our poor friends in Michigan this win
ter. fear Gotham hasn't been acting
with the arge-hearted liberality usual
ly so characteristic of the great city,
and heartily wish something could be
done to stir people up to give. | sup
pose scOlding won't do, or I'd scold and
hope to set the fashion. The Herald
talks of dramatic malaria" Perhaps
our pockets are troubled with "A tenn
pOrary attack of malaria of malignant
meanness, for in no other way can |
account for the meagreness of the sub
scriptionS for the burnt-Out farmers of
poor Michigan.
In sporting matters of an aquatic
nature we have to record the strategic
change of base of the victorious little
Scotch cutter Madge for Newport, and Il
cheerful race between those famous lit
tie Whitehall boats which ply at their
historic headquarters at the Battery.
1t wonderful what a lot of fun was
got out of the contest of those tiny
cracks.
In the larger pleasure fleets Though
the Whitehallers are decidedly more
for business than pleasure), the talk is
more or less exciting about the threat
ened secession of Il lot of the teakettle
men from the main society of wind
jammers-in other words the New Ork
Yacht Club, and the formation of an
other association devoted to steam rae
ing and cruising craft exclusively.
The military have been leaving us
by installments for Yorktown. Gov
|
the militia armOries are presenting Il
comparatively forlorn aspect. The
Thirteenth of Observation-Disclosures
Own-have wound up their fair, by
which they raised the eleemOSynary
amounts to enable their poverty strick-
en- delegation to participate i'll the
CORVALLIS Centennial, and will he off
at once. They ought to take along Il
few dozen of the recruits they keep
locked up for nOnpayment of dues, to
exhibit to our French and German de-
scendants of Lafayette, Rochambeau,
Steuben & Co., rs sample of the mod
ern unmilitary application of small
storekeepers' ideas to martinez militia
rism. The Twenty-Third, with the
stolen Sixth Army Corps badge, will
also be represented, and on the padded
breasts of the counter jumpers will be
medals for gathering in recruits and
such wonderfully martial eXertions that
will far Outshine the war-wOn and war
worn decorations of our visitors. How
funny militiamen do appear to soldiers
anyhow
Pm going to make my fortune. A
| little disagreement between an actor,
an author and an actors widow has let
me into a secret and Pm going to use
it, you bet. | find that all that is nee
essary to write playa successful
play, You know, with money in it's
to read some famous authors book,
iOt down some notes, pay the author
for the Use of his name in dramatiZing
his work, then hire some poor devil to
write out dialogues, invent situations,
&c.-then copyright the play. l have