Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-24
nnrLEKs rnoGRAMME.
How it Looks to New Yorkers-The
Rats and the PIumbers-CompletiOn
of Grace Church's Stone Spire.

is that which advises his followers to
pool their issues where they can with the
party in the minority. Were it not for
the fear that in some way Butler would
contrive to turn whatever electoral votes
he got in that way over to Blaine it might
be the part of wisdom for Democrats to
act on his advice in the States which
they cannot hope to carry alone. Sus-
picion of Buffers good faith, however,
causes the Herald, among other papers,
to denounce such making friends with
the mammOn of unrighteousness.
Even Cleveland's critics cannot deny
the merit of brevity TO his letter of ac-
ceptance, and his friends point to it with
/ pride as model of condensed good sense.
They can also claim, too. that not even
single sentence in it is borrowed from
WashingtOn's farewell address, which is
more than can be said Of the long-drawn
/ out pronunciamento of Blaine. The para
| graph in Cleyeland's letter regarding
sumptuary enactments appeals to the
/ class of people who in large numbers
! were already inclined to make him their
candidate.
Everywhere / find repeated proofs of
| German hostility to Blaine. For example,
/ when an actor made himself up TO repre-
sent Blaine at a variety theatre in East
Fourteenth street, frequented principally
| by Germans. the other night, there was
little or no applause. When the same YER
satile performer appeared as Cleveland,
the building shook with the plaudits Of
the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Teutons. Now that
Cleveland has openly proclaimed himself
their champion against the temperance
fanatics, more than ever will the Germans
rally to his support.
Slowly but surely the electric light is
supereeding gas throughout the city. 1t
has lighted several of the principal thor
Oughfares and parks in the heart of the
town, as we'll as the battery, for long
time, and its use is continually spreading.
The Mayor, on Tuesday, signed an author
ization of the extension of the system
along avenue a and First and Second
avenues, between Houston and Eighth
streets, and at this rate the electric light
will be in use in every part Of the island
by the year 1906.
The Herald has just ''tumbled" to a
<'racket' which gives a ludicrOus aspect
TO its war with the newsmen. The mana
ger of its distribution system, who had
been congratulating himself on the quick
sales of the journal, discovered a day or
two ago that his twO-cent newsbOys have
been selling to the three-ceRt dealers, who
are more than content with q cents profit
on a paper when they do not have the
trouble OF going further than a block or
two, instead of several miles, more or
less, for it. The HerdLdS newsbOys are
now obliged to make affidavit that they
will not sell to the cunning three-cent
dealers.
TIE PIED PIPER WOULD HAVE A LARGER
CONTRACT
on his hands than he found in Hamelin
should he ever visit New York. The city
is infested with rats, and the mischief
they do annually is apparently to be only
estimated in six figures. 1t is SAID to be
an undOubted fact that hundreds of thou
sands of dollars damage is done by rats
on Manhattan Island every year. How
can this be? When one is told that a lead
pipe is apparently the favOrite It'd bit in a
rats bill of fare, these figures seem too
small instead of being too large. The rat
is the plumbers best friend. Were it not
for rats his occupation would be gone in
summer. Every plumbers coat of arms
should contain rat rampant Why rats |
should have such liking for cold lead is !
a mystery | leave to Sir John Lubbock to
solve; the fact remains that the summer
bills of plumbers are principally for re- |
pairing the ravages of rats on the water
pipes. OF course, the rats gnaw the pipes
in winter, too, but the mischief they then |
do is unjusty ascribed to the frost.
How much damage is caused by the |
rats Partially for lead may be estimated |
apartment houses in Lexington avenue the |
plumbers bills due to their gnawing of the |
pipes last year amounted to nearly $4,000. |
Unfortunately for the owners of the prem |
ises wherein they most do congregate, |
rats eat other things not usually cOnsid- |
cred edible besides lead pipes. In down. |
town warehouses bales of silk, fancy |
leather, and similar merchandise, are |
continually found to have been ruined in
a single night, and a damage amounting !
to several hundred dollars is thus caused |
In a few hours.
Not the least extraordinary feature of |
the ravages of rats is that they are not |
on the most extensive scale in old and |
wooden buildings. On the contrary, new !
buildings, constructed entirely out of |
brick, stone and iron are the most thickly |
populated habitati0ns Of rats. They get |
IN while the structures are being erected, |
and make themselves comfortable houses |
in the hollow iron pillars, or between the |
arched ceilings and the floors. The lat |
tel, of course, they can easily gnaw |
through when necessary, and they thus |
have the whole house before them from |
which to choose.
Another way of estimating the damage |
done by rats is in the amounts people pay |
to have their premises freed from them. |
Two hundred dollars year is paid by |
many men to professional rat catchers to |
Tree their houses from the plague of |
rodents The money is well laid out, for, |
as everybody knows, plumber would |
charge that for repairing a single water |
pipe! The employers of the ratcatchers |
save money as well as free themselves |
from the annoyance of the presence Of the |
detestable little beasts. From the above |
figures, it viii be seen that the Pied Piper, |
in addition to having more work, would |
get better pay than he did at Hamelin, |
and tharn would no niGnufn whom the I
time for payment came.
Ferrets are universally used by the rat |
catchers to destroy the common enemy OF /
all New Workers.. They follow the pests |
into their holes, kill all they find and drive |
the rest to seek fresh fields and pastures |
new. One result, therefore, of one man |
freeing his premises from rats is the in |
crease Of the rodent column in his neigh |
bors' houses. The evil is balanced, how |
ever, when the rat-catchers go, tor then |
the rats, finding their new quarters too |
crowded, 90 back to their old homes. Not |
much use, therefore, is there in one per- |
son in a block employing a rat-catcher |
unless his neighbors follow his example. |
GRACE CHURCH's STONE sPIRE IS AT |
LAST COMPLETED
and the great cross surrounding it tow |
ers so high in the air that from the street |
it looks almost small enough to be the re- |
ligious ornament of which Pope wrote:
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore |
Which Jews might kiss and infdels adore.
Had the original plan, which was given |
up on account of the expense, been car |
ried out of surrounding the spire with an |
Illuminated cross there might have been |
another resemblance between the two |
than that of apparent size.
While sitting on a stoop in Second ave. |
nue. the other Sunday evening, l saw the |
Illuminated cross which tops the spire of |
st. Augustine's Church at the foot of that |
thoroughfare gradually light up. The |
sun had set, and as its purple glow by de- |
grees faded from the west rosy glow be- !
gan to permeate the foot of the cross. 1t |
almost seemed as if a bit of the sunset had |
been transferred to the top of the spire. |
The rosy glow slowly spread up the shalt, |
causing the still dark arms and top of the |
cross to seem darker by contrast. AS the |
light spread it grew brighter, and by the |
time the shades of night had fallen, |
glittering cross of fire sparkled on the |
breast of the dark blue armament.
lnfidels may well reverence the cross of |
st. Augustine for the good Of which it is |
the outward and visible sign. No church |
in New York is conducted ON such prac-
teal principles as st. Augustine's. 1t |