The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-02

T. y.
Mr. Hurlbert is in an inner room, and doesn'
hear you; and if he did he wouldn't answer
| you. The door is punctured with tiny slit
| for Yale lock key, and larger one for let
| tiers; that is all.
But those rooms are, or have been, until
assailed by the auctioneer's hammer, fur
nished in barbaric splendor that would have
| joyed the heart of an Oriental nabob. The
walls groaned under loads of trophies OF
travel in every cline. There were rare paint
ings by Guido, Raffaelle, Turner, Murillo;
| rich china and glass; Satsuma, Bohemian,
Venetian; gold and silver plate, arms and
armor, tapestries of silk worth more than
cloth of gold. The polished oaken floors were
piled knee deep with rugs from Damascus
and Cashmere, and furs from the arctic
cline. And framed or in cabinets were such
tokens as an autograph letter from the Shah
of Persia, the letter from Khedive Tewfik
giving to Mr.. Hurlbert, for the people of
New York, the famous Egyptian obelisk that
| Lieutenant Gorringe brought over and placed
in Central Park.
| All this wonderful collection, the spoils of
lifetime are to go upon the auction block.
MIR. Hurlbert is going to Europe to live,
and say those who ought to know, as what
he should have done thirty years ago-get
married.
THE RUG ARTHUR STOOD UPON.
Talking of tokens, and mementos, etc,
what do you suppose l saw in the window of
the leading carpet store in Brooklyn the
other day2 There were thousand persons
crowded around, gazing at it. 1 worked my
way in, got my hustle smashed, my hat
knocked over my eyes, and whole lot of
tobacco juice squirted all over my redingote.
But got there. And there hung a big
crimson rug, with blue and gold border,
and a card on it saying; This is the rug
President Arthur stood on at the reception
in the Academy of Music after the bridge
opening"
Well, it was awfully funny to see them
| crowd up there that hot afternoon, to gaze
at that rug 1t was just such rug as you
could get hundred duplicates Of in the store
at $50 piece. But they gazed at it as though
it were god. All the same, l was glad to
see it, for it showed that they were at least
ready to pay as much homage to a plain
Yankee lawyer as to any titled foreigner. |
remember that the spoons and knife and
fork that the Grand Duke Alexis used when
he was here were treasured up as something
sacred. But now it appears that the impress
of the Republican boot is as great in honor
as the grip of the imperial fingers.
mr.. Smith, l asked the chief salesman in
the store, What is that rug worth?'
Five hundred dollars"
'Why, can get lots like it at Warp g.
Woofs for $50 each"
'Yes; but the President hasn't stood on
them. We would have sold this one for $50
three days ago."
Yesterday passed the store The rug was
gone. Did you get $500 for it?' asked.
Yes" replied Smith; land might Just as
well have got 81 ,OO0."
HOWARD, HARRISON AND TOWNSEND.
'Tell me-" said l to the city editor of a
leading daily "the bottom facts of. the Har-
rison-Townsend fight"
1T was started, said he "by Gath's' let
ter to Philadelphia paper. He said that
Maude Harrison was living in - we'll, that
she was too intimate, and not in a purely
Platonic way, with a certain married man.
Well, the way he put it showed plain enough
for blind man to see that he meant Joe
Howard There never has been any love
lost between Gath and Howard, so the lat
ter determined to have his revenge. He
wouldn't take it himself, though, but went
TO Maude's big brother, and put him up to
it, Harrison didn't know Gath from Adam,
but he went into the bar-room of the hotel,
where he was told he would find him, and
asked the bar-keeper to point him out. Then
he went up to him and said:
" Mr.. George Alfred Townsend, l believe?
"'At your service, sir
'If you will step outside, Mr.. Townsend,
where we won't be overheard, / will give
you capital personal item for some of your
letters"
well, Gath accepted the invitation, and
followed him like a hound-dog after rabbit,
surprising he was going to hear some particu-
larly nasty story about some one. But
the moment they were on the side
walk, and without speaking a word, Har-
rison hit him one in the eye that pretty
nearly knocked his head off, and then
took bus down town. 1t was twelve
hours before Townsend found out who had
hit him.
1t is a pity that Joe Howard was born with
out conscience. He is one of the very
brightest, most versatile and most rapid
writers on the New York press. 1 suppose
he can turn out a column of first-rate copy
quicker than any other man here. And he
can write on any subject, and make the dull
est topic interesting. Bennett pays him S.,
900 a year to write for the Herald, and he
writes as much or as little as he pleases 1
understand that he makes nearly $4,000 a
year by outside work, correspondence, etc.
Cath" makes an income of $4,000 year
by Bohemian work, and spends it all.
His style is degeneratng. He writes
too much, and is exhausting his tai
ents. His handwriting is one of the worst
on the American press. The only worse one
l know of is that OF young John Forney,
son of the late celebrated Colonel Forney, of
Philadelphia. Young Forney edits society
paper and drives mis- compostors wild by
turning in copy that looks like Syriac on
bender, or the tracks of a mudlark in a
storm.
THEATRICAL TOPICS
A few of the theaters are still open, pre-
senting third-class plays to small audi
ences. Variety leg shows predominant. A
dreary comedy, Observation-Disclosures melo-
drama, comic opera, and salmi Morse's
upioue tomfoOlerv are tho chnioa offarad r.
the MISUNDERSTANDING public.
Lillian Russell, however, is still attracting
dudes by the hundred at the Casino; and
almost every day new engagement of hers
for next season is reported. She is certain
| ly to sing for Henderson, and for Rice, and
| fer the manager of the Comedy Theater,
London, and for Stephens and Solomon,