Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-21

invaded the quiet precincts OF the town,
and every one at once thought of the bell,
and the Councilmen equally with their
fellow burghers were interested in having
it put in place OF safety. The delibera-
tions anent the matter were long and
earnest. Finally it was resolved that the
bell should be sunk in the river. Once
in the midst of that stream, dread
full doubt possessed tie eustodians
of the bell. They could sink it in the
stream, but how should they be able to
find it again? The Burgomaster solved
the difficulty in an instant by happy
inspiration. He made the sign of the
cross on the waters, knowing that, when
the alarms OF war were over, this precious
sign of salvation would still be fixed on
the bosom of the running stream.
Teterow, another German town, WAS
also famous for its happy devices of more
than human wit. The town authorities
had dug deep we'll which was to yield
the people an abundant supply of crys-
tai water, drawn in old oaken buckets
which should hang in the well. Pleased
with their work, they determined to
know its depth by actual measurement.
But how to measure it was the question
1t was finally decided that the Burgo-
master should suspend himself from the
cross-beam and that the Councilmen,
in the order of their seniority,
should Chamber over him and
grab him by the heels, and
that the process should be repeated until
the bottom of the well was reached,
The programme was carried out very
fairly until six OF his associates were
hanging on the heels of the Burgomaster,
when his patience gave out. Hold
on" he cried, ''if have to support 30
many men by my unaided muscles, l
must spit on my hands," and he
promptly let go of the cross beam for
that purpose, with a result which the
good Burgomaster had never dreamed
of. And great was the outcry and labor
to rescue the self-sacrifcing officials, and
the scheme of measuring that we'll was
incontinently abandoned.
1t was at Teterow also that the brill
liant device for cropping the grass on the
ramparts of the town was developed. In
those days of war and wars alarums it
was the custom to have walled towns.
The officials happened to notice
that there was luxuriant growth
of grass on the town wall.
1t was at once voted that it
would be crime to allow this to go to
waste. The ingenious plan of raising a
cow to eat the grass was devised, but un-
fortunately the hoisting tackle was
placed around the animals neck. When
half way up the cows tongue hung out
its full length and distilled plentiful
stream of moisture. "Ah," said the
happy burghers, we shall not be obliged
to hoist water for COW like that" I'm
fortunately for the auspice, when the top
of the wall was reached the COW was
dead.
Is Los Angeles a modern edition of
Schildah and Teterow? We have already
had one election called for suing school
and sewer bonds, and the work has had
to be done over again through laundering
| in the form of the ordinance. Without
the right of way having been Obtained,
the voters will again be called upon to
vote for stipulated route for an outfall
sewer to the sea. In other words, they
will be asked to buy pig in poke.
With confessedly grossly inadequate
common school facilities, they will be
asked to vote 500, 900 for High School
and this High School is to be located at
the corner of CASTELAR, and Sand streets,
in an Obscure quarter Of the city, and
away from all convenience of access, on
a sort of a cutoff switch of single horse
railway With tens of thousands of
acres of dry and porous soil, which
would be enriched by the sewage, it is
proposed to carry it through swamp to
the ocean, where it will pollute the
waters of two of the most promising
watering places in America.
And then the interminable police
muddle The town councils of Schildah
and Teterow would have found it hard
indeed to have created a more stupid
and inexplicable mess than this.
Certainly Los Angeles is unhappy and
to be pitied in the direction which is
being given to her affairs. The injury
resulting to the city therefrom is simply
incalculable.