Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-04
LIFE IN THE METROPOLIS.
Love of Sports as Evinced at the Walk
-Ingersoll's Blasphemy.

very different from Louis XIV. 1t re-
quires very little to amuse them. Every
walking match proves this. The man is
easily amused, certainly, who can enjoy
sitting for hours in a cold, damp building,
whose atmosphere is rendered pestilential
bv tobacco smoke, merely to watch a
dozen or less weary pedestrians plod
around the sawduse track in the Madison
Square Garden, and the name of such
men is literally legion. Walking matches
were supposed to be ''played out'' in New
York. but the present one has proved that
the fools are not all dead yet. Neary H.
900 people attended its opening, which is
a larger number than was present at the
beginning of any previous match, and
large majority remained until morning.
The reduction in the price of admission
may have something to do with the in
creased attendance, but the reduction is,
one would think, none the less mistake.
The man apparently who is such an ass
as to pay fifty cents to see others walk
would, in seven cases in ten, pay dollar,
and the gate money would be proportion
ately larger. However, the interest may
not continue, and, perhaps, after all,
many persons make asses Of themselves
at fifty cents head who would scruple at
paving double that sum for the privilege.
There is one advantage, too. in the reduc
ton. The spectators are not so apt to
stay long. When it costs a dollar to
get in a man will stay half the day or
night, at place in order to get the worth
of his money. The same person Will be
apt to 90 twice and make shorter visit
each time at half the sum. While the adj
mission is less, moreover, there are CON-
paratively few complimentary tickets
issued so that there are fewer deadheads
in the multitude, which thus far almost
continuously crowds the Garden than ever
before.
One is not obliged to visit the Madison
Square Garden to discover that there is a
grand international siX-days-gO -as-you-
please walking match in progress. Bull
letins all over the city contain the scores
OF the pedes trians. There is hardly
well-regulated saloon which does not
boast an hourly report of the match.
Those that are not enterprising enough to
secure reports on their own accounts
copy the bulletin of their neighbors. On
all sides you see men copying the scores
with almost as much enthusiasm as they
did when siX-days matches were nov
city.
When it is SO easy to keep posted as to
the progress of the match one wonders
more than ever why people should bore
themselves by looking at the walking.
What amusement so many thousands can
find in gazing hour after hour at men
manifestly shortening their lives by over
eXertion is something no sensible fellow
can find out. Free admission ought to be
no temptation to anyone who had any,
thing better to do, and the reporters, who
are paid to attend, are the only persons
whose reason for being there can be APP
preciated by one not possessed with the
sporting mania.
non nNrur on
HIS BLAsPHEMOUs HARANGUEs
at the Academy of Music on Sunday eve
ming. The building was crowded, al
though the admission was fifty cents and
reserved seats were dollar. 1t is extra
ordinary that people will thus flock to
hear a half-educated man give vent to in
fidel arguments which have not even the
merit of originality. Ingersollism is
merely a rehash of Tom Paine, with little
modern skepticism thrown in. lngersoll
is inconsistent from his own standpoint.
Unless he is misrepresented, the first ar
tIcle of his creed is, "There is no God"
Now, this is even more unDhilosophical,
speaking from his own point of view, than
to declare that the universe had Creator.
If we, as the agnOstics claim, and by so
claiming derive their name, do not bROlC
anything beyond what we can realize
with our senses, we have no
right to affirm or to deny the
existence of a Creator. And, as,
so far as we know, every effect has a
cause, it is more likely that the world
was created than that it "growed,' like
Topsy, so that one who denies the exist
ence of God is more unphilosophical
than a believer in Christianity. When
Alden, the ''funny man" of the Times,
who is also, absurdly enough, the religious
editor of that paper, epitomizes the I'M
belief of men like Ingersoll into the I'M
grammatical formula, "There amt no
God,v he hardly misrepresents them.
Men who take delight in the secondhand
and inconsistent infidelity of IngersOll are
ignorant enough to use two negatives
whenever they wish to be emphatic, if not
on every other occasion. Let man be
an agnostic, if he cannot be a Christian
but let him have nothing to do with the
cheap. borrowed, unphilOsophical skepti-
cism of such men as Ingersoll!
IN THE FACE OF THE FACT
that Irving puts into his own pocket So
600 of the $405, $50 %, which were the re-
ceipts of his company for the 1S1 perform
ances that it gave during the twenty-siX
weeks it played in this country, let me
tell you what they think of him at home.
A New Yorker who has spent the past
two years in London writes me: "Irving's
apparent popularity over there is a great
surprise. | have never met person here
who liked him. | have talked with scores
Of people-educated Englishmen and
Americans. None have been pleased, and
most have detested him. He is a good
manager, a good cOstumer, admirably
supported, mise en- scene excellent, and all
that; but he is not a good actor. They
wonder at the admiration for him there,
and say it is mere fashion and tOadying
because it is supposed that he is liked
over here, which is anything but true,
speaking generally. When | heard him
in Romeo there was derisive laughter all
about me at his absurd attempts at love
passages. | see he has not venturel
upon that character in America. ] have
heard it said more than once that his plays
were so well put on the stage. and every
thing else was so perfect, that if he could
only be taken i'll and unable to appear.
and the leading part be taken by another,
there would be something to rejoice at
that he was the only drawback, the one
disagreeable thing that marred the play"
A prophet, indeed, is not without honor
save in his own country. Not only did
Mr.. Irving make a fortune in the six
months which he spent in this country,
but he was the recipient of more social
courtesles than ever were extended to any
OF his cOuntrymen, with one or two eXcep-
tiOns. He returned the hospitality of his
New York entertainers by a grand break
fast at DelmOnicOs on Tuesday, to which
seventy of the more distinguished actors
and literary and professional men of the
city were invited.
Mrs. Langtry, the representative of
England before the footlights, still with
us, has essayed a new departure in her
PRESERVATION of "Galatea," at Niblo's Gar
den. She goes on the principle that Pyg-
malion could not have fallen in love with
an ordinary statue, and that his creation
was made as lifelike as possible to begin
with. Accordingly, before she is sup
posed to be endowed with the vital spark
of Venus, she poses before the audience
ga perfect woman nObly planned" in
place Of making herself up to represent
lifeless marble. Even those who do not
agree with her conception are obliged to
acknowledge that she shows the wisdom
of the serpent, if not the harmlessness of
the dove, in thus refusing to disguise her
charms.
WHAT 1 SAID ABOUT THIEVES
frequenting churches last week, received
a fresh confirmation the other day. The
widow of the late Superintendent of the
Roosevelt Hospital noticed with approba-
ton the apparent devotion of a we'll
dressed young man who occupied the
same pew with her at morning service
at Trinity Chapel. She, accordingly, felt
no concern when she left her new silk