Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1882-12-02
GOTHAM GOSSIP.

PERSONAL AMIABILIT Wis
CHARITY AND LOVE FOR AMI
MAILS. FASHION VAGARIES-- BON
NETS, WRAPS AND PoLoNAIsEs.
NEW YORK, Nov. %, 1882.
Special Correspondence Independent.
Thurlow Weed is dead, and the
papers are full of laudatory notices
of the man who during the last sixty
years, was certainly power in
American politics. On the principle
of De Mortits nal nisi bonatps, great
deal of gush is printed about him,
and to read the obituaries and biog-
raphies with which newspapers and
periodicals are flooded, one would
get the impression that one of the
greatest and best men the country
has ever produced has passed away.
The truth is that Mr.. Weeds infu-
ence on American politics was bad,
very bad. He it was that organized
wire pulling and lobbying into a
system and raised it to fine art. A
man of positive character and strong
will power, lie hesitated at nothing
when the accomplishment of an OBJ
iect was at stake. To him all was
fair, providing you were. The po-
litical "machinen is the outgroWth
of his methods, and it is all the
worse because generally the men at
the head of it are brainless dema-
gogues, with no feeling of honor,
ambition and patriotism.
Personally, however, Mr.. Weed
was kindly in the extreme. The
amount of money he annually gave
away for charitable purposes, the
time and labor he spent to do hun
dreds of poor fellows a service, would
hardly be credible if told in cold type.
True, he was rich, but how few rich
men who give to the needy any of
their superabundance. Mr.. Weed
was fond of young men in general,
and young newspaper men in partic-
ular. 1t used to be an impressive
sight at Press Club receptions to see
his tall bent figure, picturesque face
and silver hair. Journalists are not
as rule easily impressed nor are
they fond of the past. They live in
the present and the future. The
past is an old newspaper to them.
But when Mr.. Weed spoke to them
related his struggles and experiences,
and gave "his young friends" some
sound, practical advice, either re-
garding their profession OF on life in
general, they listened with affection
ate attention and respect.
Mr.. Weed was very fond of AM
mails. He used to stand at the win
dow of his study, and feed all the
sparrows in the neighborhood. They
knew him as we'll as the thousands
of people who took off their hats to
him in the street, and his appear
ance was the signal Of an amount of
chirping and chattering which would
have demoralized any one but a con-
firmed lover of animals. His spe-
cial pets, however, were a white pig
con and an Italian greyhound. They
were with him constantly until the
evening before he died. The pigeon
had to be excluded from his room
first, because it insisted in Nesting
on his pillow close by his Withered
cheek, and cooling as if to arouse him
to consciousness. 1t was locked up
in another room, and there it moan
ed almost like one in distress.
What a strange thing is fashion !
More tickle than fortune, and more
unstable than the likes and dislikes
of Der votaries, women. The latest
decree orders that bonnets for day
receptions and the theatre, must be
"composed' of velvet and flowers.
The great loose leayed aesthetic flow
ers which we had fondly hoped had
gone to ornament the fur garments
OF the Siberian beauty, or to hide the
scantiness of toilet OF the belle of
Africa, are quoted rs favontes
again. The evening bonnet at pres
ent is very small. no larger than q
good sized Alsatian bow. Yet this
very smallness makes it more eX-
pensiye A lady who is somewhat
economically inclined, tells me that