Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-08-16

N6ic Asylum. nOpcftsnfl
wild. but weak, and liable TO die AZ
any moment. lie will leave property
worth between sixty and seventy thou
sand dollars. Maggie Mitchell Is at
her cottage in Long Branch, where also
reside the Chsnfraus, Henderson. Thco-
dore Moss Of wallack's, John Albaugh,
the proprietor Of the Washington and
Baltimore theatres, and Oliver Doud
Byron. All these own handsome places
and entertain royalty.
Mary Anderson's house, yacht, and
horses. with which she was won't to en-
ioy herself at the Branch, have been
sold, and she will not return to the
United States until about the LIST OF
October. During the recent visit OF
her step-father, DIR. Hamilton Griffin,
for the purpose Of experimenting the
above transaction, he showed me ma
lacca cane which she had purchased for
him for $3.50. 1t was an unusually long
and aged stick, with plain gold
head on which was inscribed, I" Pre-
scented to David Garrick by his friends,
Stratford-on-t hc-Avon." Robson and
Crane, Lawrence Barrett, Agnes Booth,
and the veteran John Gilbert are sum-
mering in cottages at Manchester-by-
the-sea and at Cohasset, Mass, and
pretty Estelle Clayton finds her home
in Madison avenue, New York,
more attractive than any watering
place. Perhaps it is because she is
writing another play as companion
to Favette. George Edgar, whose
King Lear and 0thello have
made him famous, and who un-
earthed Margaret Mather and made her
what she is, has discovered another
looming actress" whom he is coach
ing for debut in year or two. He
has also found in young lawyer, who
is one Of his pupils, comic genius and
burlesque performer, who can burlesque
even Henry A. Dixey, the Adonis, and
give him points besides. Mr.. Edgar
very wisely refuses to permit his fruit
to be plucked by managers until it is
ripe. The coming season, from all ac-
counts, promises to be much more sat
isfactory, both to the public and to the
performers, than the last.
WITS sHARPENED BY POVERTY.
The ingenuity which some people dis
play in these poverty-stricken times is
worthy Of admiration. A broken
down old merchant, who has been liv-
ing from hand to mouth for.the last ten
years, has recently struck bonanza by
inducing the importers and wholesale
dealers in sugar to allow him to sell
their samples. Heretofore these have
been retained and disposed of by
the Government appraisers, and the
sales have amounted to the pretty
plum Of fifteen or twenty thou
sand dollars a year, which was
divided among the officials as part
of their legitimate perquisites, but in
the gross it was so much out of the
pockets Of the importers. Now, the
control of these samples, which some
times amount TO one or two hundred
pounds per invoice, being vested in
single person and sold for common ac-
count, the principals derive fair share
Of the profits, while the retailers are
protected from being undersold. 1t is
estimated that the old gentleman will
realize from five to seven thousand dol
lars a year as his portion Of the pro-
ceeds, as a number Of the largest houses
in the city have given him their bust
ness.
In another instance a shrewd fellow
is making money by the sale of second
hand shoes. These are purchased from
the refuse carts, and the pickers up of
nconsiderate trifleS, in which the me-
.rOpolis abounds, at prices ranging from
four to ten cents per pair, according to
heir condition. They are then neatly
repaired, and in many cases made as
good as new, and sold at from fifty to
seventy-fiye cents, fair profit. Ser
want girls and wage-winners are the
principal customers, and the industrious
dealer from small beginning has built
up business that now requires two or
three assistants.
Still another industry is that Of SELL
ing misfts in cloth and other articles,
even to carpets. For a third Of the
original price person Of either sex may
dress in what are really eI-
pensiye goods, but which have been
thrown aside because of an innocent
wrinkle or some other slight defect.
" And so goes the world" d. +.