The Washington critic., 1886-01-12
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
General Sherman to Take Up His
Residence in the East.
SENATOR EvARTS' NEW HAT.
A War ReminsCenCe Of Laura Don, tho
Actress.
TELEPHONES IN VIRGINIA.
The Man Who Looked Like Cleveland
and the Trouble 1t Gave Him.
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
SENATOR EvARTs' NEW HAT.
TELEPHONES IN VIRGINIA.

Laura Don, the actress, Is slowly
| dying Of consumption at her mothers
| quiet country home on the Upper IIud.
son. Possibly some of the readers of
THE CRTTC will remember her pretty
face and voice rs EJedRor in "Davy
Crockett years ago. They may not
all know, however. how she was
promised as bride to thousands of
men. That was twenty one years ago,
as a New York correspondent of the
Chicago JoVrRdt tells the story, when
she was young girl in Brooklyn. The
war was going ON. Several clerks in Il
bank hit upon the joke of advertising
that a weird ustrolOger would send for
twenty-five cents a picture of any
bachelors future wife, The idea was
TO get up some amusing correspondence.
The responses were surprisingly nu-
merous. The fellows found that con
siderable revenue was coming in and
nearly all from soldiers in the field,
who were quick to seize on anything
TO relieve the tedium of camp life,
The amateur fortune tellers had
sumptuous weekly dinner on the cash
proceeds. Nor did they disappoint the
senders of the small coin. Each Gus.
toner got photograph of handsome
girl-that of Laura Don, who deemed
Il good fun to let her face be multiplied
so long us her identity was not dis
closed. Thus for a month or so the
mails were laden with her pictures, and
doubtless the recipients dreamed SEN
| titppntp1lt Of hnr 1np,,;tn ha;, ;,av,1
ulity. Professional swindlers soon
took up the notion, the coterie of bank
clerks retired from it and soon the
postal authorities stopped the others;
but in later years, Miss Don, the act
ress, sometimes wondered whether in
her audiences were here and there war
veterans who discerned likeness be-
tween her and their necromantic bride.
AS TO her own matrimony, she married
youthfully, got divorce after few
years and never afterward permitted
herself to become entanglcd in wedlock.
o1e
Says the st. Louis Spectator. "Whcn
General Sherman was retired from the
army he came to st. Louis with the
avowcd intention Of spending the re-
| Iuiluttl VI llO lllt uuiouS us. IL w It's
from st. Louis that he rc.entered the
army at the outbreak of the war. He
had multitude of friends here, and he
looked forward with pleasure TO years
of peaceful retirement after nearly
twenty.three years of continuous pub
lie service. The friends of the hero
are more numerous in st. Louis to-day
| hnf 1,,,t Ia, l.,
changed his plans, and in few months
he will seek home somewhere in the
East. While ! am ignorant of the
reasons which have brought about this
change Of plans, know that thousands
of soldiers have read with deep humili.
alton the petty slurs cast upon him by
one of our daily papers. No oppor.
tunity has been lost to annoy him and
seemingly to crafty a personal spite
toward the greatest living American
soldier. 1t will not be pleasant com
ment upon the good name of ST. Louis
when the world shall know that Gen
cral Sherman has left us. 1t is quite
possible that reasons altogether foreign
to what has been here intimated may
have determined his course, but the
facts remain, and the people of the
United States will draw their owr
con clusions."
~
| am glad to announce, says tho
correspondent of the Philadelphia
Record, that the Hon. William Max
well Evarts has new silk hat. Every
body remembers the shocking bad ha
which he wore when he was Secretary
of State. 1t could not very well be for
gotten, for he has worn it almost eve
since. But at last, through the favo
of an admirer, or out of wager on tn,
election of David B. Hill, or in SOM
other accidental way, he has acquired
a new and shiny hat. He Is as careful
of ii rs he was careless of the old one
He only wears it on bright days, ant
then never trusts it out of his sight
! He will not let it be hung up in tn,
Senate cloak room, nor even in his owl
committee room, but he takes it int,
. his seat on the floor of the Senate. No
that he puts that precious hat on tn
floor of the Senate. Oh, no He put
! his new gold-rimmed Eyeglasses on
and, lovingly caressing ii, places th
: hat carefully on his own desk or in tn
t vacant chair of an absent neighbor.
~
r Three Senators have only three leg
between them-one apiece They ar
Butler and Hampton of South Carolin
, and Berry of Arkansas. Butler lost hi
right leg at the battle of Brandy Sta
ton on the 9th of June, 1868. Berr,
= lost his ut the battle of Corinth, Miss.
October 4, 1862. Hampton, after ridin,
> gallantly through the war withou
= serious injury, lost his by fall from
his horse. He has to walk with eau
and Berry has to haye two canes.
~'4
In conversing with some Virginian
: the other day, the correspondent of tn
. Richmond Stdte was surprised to lear
: that in Prince William County the
have telephone system that is provini
itself one of the greatest convenience
imaginable The towns and villages o
7 Manassas, lIaymarkct, Brentsville, an
several others that | cannot now re
o member are all connected by telephone
y and instruments are also being place
! in many houses of the county to con
meet with the system. The cost is nc
great, and people who have the telC
phones would not give them up sine
they know the advantages. The phys
clans find them invaluable and peopl
!. who want to send for a physician ca
, so to one of the towns and summo
II the doctor by telephone. 1t saves tim
= and dispenses with long rides owe
>, muddy roads in bad weather. Tn
k system is growing, and within yea
, there will probably be hundred telC
Z. phones in the county.
a@s