Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-09-19
THE TOPICAL TALKER.
TraRedy-A Lovers shrewd Device
Diagnoses Extraordinary-A Tiny Or

TraGedy-A Lovers Shrewd Device
Diagnoses Extraordinary-A Tiny Or.
acle.
WHEN the time com es in the very dim and very
distant future for the great American poet tC
arise in his strength and snatch from the mere
earth of prose the tragic tale of Johnstown't
flood and write it on the heavens in letters Of
starry gold he will not improbably congratu
late himself that he has such reliable guide
and provider of fact at his hand as "The Official
History of the Johnstown Flood. ."by Frank Con
nelly and George G. Jenks. The aforesaid great
American poet will have the advantage of his
predecessors who have attempted similar
tasks Tennyson had no such reliable memo
rial of the great Arthur to aid him in writing
the immortal "Idylls of the King" and taking
one by one each of the heroic poets of the past
we find that they all had to employ imagina'
tion to a far greater extent than the genius
who shall attempt the tragedy of the Cone
maugh.
1t is a very complete history of all the Incl
dents of that terrible disaster. The actual
story of the food itself isgraphically told, with
enough spirit and intensity and without exag.
geration. 1t would be hard to magnify the
horror of that fatal finale of May, the month
of flowers. The newspapers at the time told
all there was to be told, but necessarily the tale
was disjointed In this book the history pro
ceeds evenly and completely from chapterto
chapter illuminated by excellent photoen-
cravings and full index.
The charitable work which saved the sur
vivors of Johns.own's population is also care
fully described, and list of the identified dead
arranged alphabetically is another valuable
feature of the book. AS memorial of the
greatest calamity this part of the world has
it deserves the official Endorsement bestowed
upon it by General Hastings. The book is well
made, printed on the best paper and sensibly
bound.
In one Of the iron mills IN this city there is a
gallant furnace man, who is in love. This is
not told as anything unusual. A furnace is a
capital tutor for lover, for it teaches him how
to sigh. But this lover is at sad disadvantage
he cannot read at all. The fair one to whom
his heart is pledged writes him fearfully long
letters. They come often. A young man reads
them to the ardent lover. Some one rallied
the latter the other day upon his being forced
to get another to read his love letters to him.
'Sure, an the young man knows nothin' at
all about thin lethers," replied the lover, "for
whin he reads 'em to me, 1 put my fingers for
ninst his ears, and he can't hear wan wurd he
reads"
PERHAPS this may be interesting to doctors
of all schools.
A man suffering with dropsy in one Of his
lower limbs was brought into the hospital. An
elderly doctor examined the patient first, and
then, by way of explaining the pathology of the
case to several younger doctors present, he
said: "GentlemeD, it is evident that this man
is suffering from dropsy, because his legs hang
down."
AS THE gray clouds were closing in the sum
set yesterday beautiful Manchester horse car
gave splendid imitation of moving over the
Sixth street bridge. The car was filled with
tired clerks and young women. One of the
latter was so young that her face was nearly
lost in a big poke bonnet, and she sat upon the
lap of an elderly lady-presumably her mother.
Presently newsboy poked his head into the
car and cried: "Here yer are. All about the
ball gamer'
From the recesses of the big poke bonnet
came small voice shrilly: I'VE don't want to
hear all about the ball gamer
And above the fare-gong's exclamation and
the rattle of the loose windows, there arose a
wave of applause and laughter.