The Washington critic., 1888-06-26
soMErnINa on o1rY L1FE.

How many people realize what they are
doing when they put money IN their
mouths?
Last winter young man from outside
the city got position as a street-car con-
ductor.
He was given an Avenue car, and
sometimes when making change hur-
riedly he would hold a coin between his
teeth
This grew to be habit with him, and
he never thought of evil consequences
until short while ago, when his mouth,
which had been sore for some time, be.
came so much worse that he could not
eat any solid food.
lie stopped putting money in his
mouth, but the sore grew worse, spread
ing to his lips and finally necessitated his
stopping work.
He is now under q doctors care and
gradually getting better His experience
should warn other people who use their
mouths in this way. When one stops to
think what coin has probably been
through, how many dirty hands have
held it, into how many diseased mouths
1t has been put and that it has probably
never been clean since 1t came from the
mint, there is no danger of his putting IL
into his mouth.
Early last week some one raised small
crate over a sewer that runs under an
alley between Ninth Tenth and X streets
and New York avenue, and put q couple
of kittens down in the sewer and lett
them there. The stencil has become un-
endurable. A lady living near the alley
notified the policemen on the beat twice,
paid two visits to the Health Office, and
the kittens are there yet. she was told at
the Health Office that they would attend
to the matter, and the policemen also
promised that they would get the dead
cats removed. 1t would be interesting to
know the reason why the health authori-
ties, who, in saying that they would at
tend to the IN after must have recognized
1t as their business to do so, have not
done anything yet and also how they ex-
pect the public to take proper sanitary
precautions when they themselves are so
remiss in such matter as this. 1t is not
q lack of time, because the first notiiica-
ton was given last Wednesday.
If you are smoker you have noticed
that on top of tie glass show cases in
nearly all the cigaI torres there Is round
rubber mat, the u, er side of which is
| thickly covered W "A small upward pro-
| iecting spins of IT. tuher. This Is one of
the modern conv uiences and is really u
luxury, 1t is aim st impossible to pick
| up a coin from th smooth top of q show
case but when change is placed on one
| of these mats tie flexible spines while
| they hold the we, bit of the coin, allow
| the fingers to be pressed down around it
and the coin is easily lifted But you
| have perhaps noticed that when these
mats have been in use short while the
! spines in the centre of the mat are all
| gone. The natural conclusion that they
were worn off is wrong. An Avenue
cigar shop-keeper told me that nine out
| of every ten men who came into his
| place were cranksand pointed to the mat
on his show case, from the centre OF
which all the spines were gone rs proof.
While the writer was pulling at one OF
the remaining ones the shop-keeper told
him that smokers had discovered that
these mats fit so closely upon the glass
| that the suction prevents their being
raised when lifted by the centre. OF
course as soon as one discovers this he
naturally tries to lift every mat he sees
by taking hold of the spines in the cen
always pulled off because it's almost inn
| possible to raise one of the mats this way
| The desire to experiment with every one
of the mats they see has become n mania
with cigar shop patrons and this is the
reason why most of those mats are bald
in the centre.
Charley Ogden, the correspondent o.
the San Francisco Associated Press, had g
very lively time during the recent Repub
lican Convention, according to the Chi
cago NeipS.
Last Tuesday morning he. started from
his hotel to the Convention Hall. As hi
was walking along man at his side
pulled out a pistol and shot himsel
through the head.
About a block further on Mr.. Ogder
saw horsecar run over man. Wher
been separated from the lower half of hi:
right leg.
Then the fire department came along
and came very near running over Mr.
Ogden. In trying to effect his escape h,
fell into coal hole and lost one of hi!
diamond shirt studs.
A kind gentleman helped hip out o
the coal hole and expressed sympathy fol
him. Ever since then Mr.. Ogden fha
been ascertaining the time of day from
people who have held on to their watches
At the corner of Jackson and Stat,
streets Mr.. Ogden bought a glass o
mauye. colored lemonade and got ;
counterfeit half dollar in change.
When he got to the Convention Hal
he found that the cool-air fan had jus
broken and that his seat was next to w
Eleroy Curtis, a gentleman who weigh
260 and radiates heat like No. s cooking
stove.
"I'm smart enough to unload" said he
and he sold all his pool tickets on tn,
races to Curtis for half price. Every on
of the tickets won double money tha
night.
from his mother.in-law in Frisco, 1t wa