Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-09
THE TOPICAL TALKER.
IL Is the Same Old War and Murder =
Where Folly and Health Go Hand.in-
Haud-The Paina of Riches,


1t Is the Same Old War and Murder
Where Folly and Health Go Hand.in-
Hand-The Paius of Riches.
BOY with rosy cheeks, ragged knicker-
booker suit and stockings bright in red and
blue, diligently sold many an afternoon paper
yesterday at the corner of Smithfeld street op-
posite the postoffice with the CRY: Same old
war and murder"
Though he knew it not, he described the
Samoan sensation pretty accurately.
50
THE following dialogue took place recently at
the Ponce de Leon Hotel, at st. Augustine, be-
tween guest and the clerk:
Guest-What is my bill2
Clerk-Two hundred and ten dollars, sir.
Guest-How?
Clerk-Two hundred and ten dollars, sir.
Guest-Guess againl
Clerk-1 didn't understand you sir.
Guest-I thought you we're guessing at my
pile.
1T is the belief of good many people who
have visited st. Augustine that bills are drawn
up by the hotel clerks to ut the pocketbooks Of
the guests. But if batchelor is taxed $50 a
day for his room and board he certainly gets
accommodation of an order that is not obtain
able anywhere else on this continent
#sz
THERE are not very many Northern visitors
at st. Augustine now, but there are many more
than when mention was made of Florida's win
ter industry in this column a few weeks ago.
Probably at the three great hotels to-day, a
gentleman who has Just returned from ST.
Augustine tells me, there are not more than 500
guests. At this time last year there were l 500
or more.
The winter has been a very damp one for
Florida. Rain has fallen every day until the
last week or two. Now it is fair, and the place
is of course delightful.
#s#
NEARLY all the people are at Mr.. Flagler's
palace, the Ponce de Leon, but nevertheless the
Cordova and the Alcazar, or the Casino, as the
latter is more often called, are being run with
lavish outlay, and the staff of servants are just
as large as if all the North were crowding at
their doors.
Last Friday ball was given at the Ponce de
Leon, and the hotel furnished a supper to the
guests which the swellest of the New York
crowd declared was as perfect banquet as
they had ever seen. The guests did not have
to pay cent for it. That's the style Mr.. Flag
Ter affects in his role of host. Nothing is too
good for his guests.
MOST of the sojourners in st. Augustine are
young people, and it goes without saying that
they represent the richest families of the
country. Some of the young men have their
yachts there, and to facilitate the emptying of
their greenback-gorged pockets, few charm
ing little games of chance are kept going pretty
much all the time in the cottage which some
eastern bloods bought last year from Pierre
Lorillard.
In fact there seems to be no end of fun down
Fa- A.
behind the hotels seem to enjoy the novelty of
conducting business that does not, and proba-
bly, never can pay.
BY the way some of the millionaires over in
England seem to be at a loss what to do with
their surplus funds. A young woman writes
to me from that country in rather sarcastic
vein about grand entertainment that has
been given at the Duke of Westminster's Lon
don house recently. Ellen Terry, Mrs. Ban
croft, Maud Millet, Herr Wolf, Isidore de
Lara, the son of pork butcher and at present
the idol of fashionable musical circles, and q
host of other great artists combined to amuse
an audience of tip-top swells who paid S. each
for their seats.
what was this superb combination of talent
and blood and fashion forf' my correspondent
asks. "Ohl to provide a home for the poor,
dear dogs whose owners, unable to pay the dog
tax, turn them out of house and home Of
course the dogs must be considered and pro-
vided for amply before a refuge is built for
poor, homeless, starving human beingsI How
generous of the Duke of W to lend his
mansion and his great name to such a cause
There! You see am heartless, and have no
pity for the poor lost 'doggies.' But when one
thinks of the hundreds and hundreds of Door,
degraded men and women homeless and hope
less it makes my blood boil to see such fuss
being made over a lot of dogs"
And there is a good deal of feeling Of this
sort among the men and women Of England
who think for themselves, and are not blinded
by the cataract of gold. 1t is the sort Of feel
ing that breeds republicanism.