St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-06-24
Our New York Letter.

To the Editor of the CdledORi0n j.:
Some of our suburbs would make
very respectable capital cities of almost
any other country and one in particu-
lar, Brooklyn, is important enough to
rival Gotham itself in some respects.
Some terrible fires which have recently
ragged along its water front have at
tracted attention to the enormous val
lie of the goods stored there, amount
ing on an average for some years to
close on $500, 000,0OO a year. Part of
the Atlantic Dock and the PierrepOnt
stores have succumbed to what is said
to be spontaneous combustion, but is
probably the butt of n surreptitiOus
cigar or the ''heel of a pipe" smoking
being an objectionable otfense i'll these
stores. The burning of the Pierrepont
stores, full of rich tropical products,
hard by Wall street Ferry, was grand
sight and drew better than any theatre.
The grandees on the heights at the
bdCh vi W llOSC
like those of Babylon, are sometimes
actually laid out on the tops of other
stores, were in sore alarm for while
lest their richly furnished manors
should fall victims too.
Dead newspaper men were few
years ago as rare as defunct mules, or
dead cavalrymen i'll the early days of
the war, but the boys are beginning to
drop Oft nOw-the last is Jack Hamil-
ton, genial, witty fellow, who gradual
ted on the Herald, but earned hand
sOmer salary than newspapers can af-
ford to pay men of his calibre, as the
literary man of Barnum's circus. To
him we owe these marvellous, spirit
stirring broadsheets that annually drive
the young and unsOphisticated crazy
with yearning to view the wonders
of the show, and even i'll the most pre-
pOsterous of them were diScernible the
fine touches of the trained journalist.
He was Il general favorite with his
brethren of the double pointed lead
pencil, and his sad fate-he was run
over by the cars at Peoria, His gen
orally regretted.
This may he called the week of com
mencements, and in this vicinity they
have been held with fatiguing frequen-
cy for those whose task is to chronicle
them, or pleasure it is to assist at the
triumph of young friends. The doc
tors, allOpaths and homeopathic, held
their celebrations at Coney Island and
warmed up JOLLY inside to make up
for the most unpleasant weather out
side. The delicious damsels at the
Packer, which is the Brooklyn rival of
Vassar and better liked by the girls
because of the flirting which goes on
as they wend their daily way to and
from its classic walls, had gorgeous
time and were almost buried in vast
banks of flowers. One of the most
promising of the class died ut Easter,
but was represented by superb silver
vase presented Gin memOriam" by her
mother to the class of 81. "The An
cient," in the shape of the most Objec
tionable of the text books, has been sol
EMMY cremated or otherwise ignomin-
iously put an end to by the students
of half dozen ncighboring institutes
oflearning, and altogether the;bOys and
girls have glorious send off. The
weather and the well-tO-dO are begin
ming to fit to summer regions, actors
and actresses are back from their pro-
Vincial tours, business is getting slack
er and the signs are patent on every
hand that, rain or shine, summer at
last is here.
A wet sheet and a flowing sea, brill
liant sun, sky and sylvan splendOr of
Staten Island greeted the New York
Yacht Club on Thursday, and gave
them every chance for a splendid race.
The fixture for June is generally held
to be a mistake, as calms and light
winds usually prevail, but the breeze
had the breath of October in it this
time, and calamity the craft respond
ed to it. There seems little danger of
the America cup passing away from
hands so well fitted to keep it. 1t
seems that the little dory which crossed
the Atlantic is on its way back. An
other tiny craft is now on exhibition
near Fulton Ferry, which is to try the
same voyage. Now this thing has
been done, and its possibility estab-
lished, good scamen should be discOur-
aged from so risking their lives for
even under the most favorable circum-
stances, where the boats are life-bOats
and can't sink, they are apt to he ter
ribly knocked about, and the fatigue of
such an expedition is enough to shorten
any mans life by fully ten years.
When sewing machines were invent
ed the idea at first was that domestic
necdlewOrk would become so much
lightened that an immense burden
would be lifted off the mind of the
good house wife, but it wasn't. Then
came new tucks, ruflics, and other
mysteries, which once cost enormously
and were only found in royal ward
robes, but now were within the reach
of all. The feminine fancy is never
but roams freely in the direction of
taking and making trouble. The latest
''fad" is to double the labor of the post
office clerks at an expense, if the force
has to he reinforced, of perhaps thou
sands of dollars, by having to cancel
one red and one blue stamp on letter
instead of one green one. 1t looks so
awfully sweet, you know, something
so periodically scrumptiOus to have
red, white and blue instead of one
business-like stamp. Perhaps the in
PRODUCTION of tri-cOlOred stamp for
fashionable feminines might satisfy
their longings for the artistic, but then
again perhaps it wouldn't, for such folly
is tickle, and is never satisfied unless
troublesome. RADIX.