Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-01-04
THE HOME OF HARRISON
Indianapolis and Her People Viewed
Through Strangers Speetaclts.


/ lCorreSpondeuce Of the New York Mail.1
/ Indianapolis is distinctly provincial.
! The old railroad depot resembles a loco.
! motive barn, with general air of Wsut
! of sweeping and palEt abouti il. The street
[ cars trundle along In lszy sort of vsy,
| and look as If they had been swapt in,
! The principal business thoroughfare is
| busy enough, with CONSERVATIVE kind OF
| look, which seems to say, II do not care
| 20 be any bUsier." Wsen You leave the
| business streets you are immediately
driven By your cioeroue-everybody who
is any body drives in IndjanapoI,s-alon
the avenue fringed with private residen-
ces. Whist homelike city," you exclaim
luvoluntarily as your eye rests on hand
some houses with oriel Windows, smooth
shaven lawns and tastefuly sham pooed
terraces. There ere miles of such av-
eaues.
Every body seems TO own or rent q
home in Indianapolis. There are no
blocks to speak OF, no long rows of IN
hospitable looking straight-up-and-d down
bricks and brown-stones, suuh as sadden
the eye of the homeless wanderer in New
York and Brooklyn. There is no hud,
ding together as with us-the family in
the first floor turning Up its nose at the
up with sublime contempt upon the fam-
ily upon the third. In New York or
Brooklyn You can tell by glance at the
faded curtalus aud the unkept doorsteps
that house is devoted to the housing of
bOarders. In Indianapolis real bona
hde boarding house looks like molder-
ing trst-tamlly residence.
There is suggestion of homemade
pies about the villas of the middle classes
and the cottages Of the toilers. | men
ton middle classes advisedly, becsuse |
have never eucount4 t4red a city which
boasted so many first families as Indian
apolis. So far as antiquity of nue8ge
and dignity of department are concerned,
Indianapolis mig hit sit for the portrait of
an American Toledo, Saragossa or Ma
drid. First families meet you al every
turn of the roads, in carriages, buggies,
TocKawaSs, on horsebsc., or on foot. The
gentleman who did me the honor TO show
me the sights belongs himself to the very
first families. | have reason to suspect
that his family was seated IL the center
of the forests when the city was laid out.
Riding in his company along a fashion
able avenue, | observed that he bowed in
sole mn aud d'gnlhed manner to many
persons whom we passed upon the road.
The Indianapolis man, 50 far as | have
seen him, is solemn. He has dignity to
sustain, and it weighs upon his mind
There is none of the we'll dressed frivolity
of the giddy G1thamiJe. or the brassy
self assurance of the Cnicago man at out
the lndianapelitap. Ths affairs of the
nation sit upon him weightiiy. He does
not laugh much. When he does indulge
In that weakness his laugh is loud and
long. When it ceases, his face assumes
its natural soiembity of expression. l
have an idea that quinine has something
to do with the characteristic male de
meauOr in the capital of Indiana. 1t may
be an overpTessure of religious zeal. |
am not prepared to swear to it. He may
have committed some terrible crime in
past ages, cOlOnized a district or bribed |
voter, or done some thing dread ul OF that |
kind. The Indiana politau Is terribly in
earnest, and is to be. e.trusted not to turn
the government of this or aLy other
country into ridicule, or to joke upon af-
fairs of state.
If the uer of Indianapolis are some
WHIT grave of ASPECT a striking contrast
is presented by the ladies'. Indianapolis |
girls are pretty, rosy and jolly. You fall
in love with several of them at first sight. |
into a fellows heart, a soft ipsinuating
way which ia very catching. Indianap-
otis girls all drive. They patron;ze Sc "
ing circles, literary and musical societies,
and are very, very good. They nearly all
sing, and those who do not sing whistle.
They are frank, unaffected, intelligent,
well read and witty, and have the pretti-
est, rOsiest mouths in the world. l have
no hesitation in saying that the capital of
Hooeierdom Ia not quite safe place for
a New York married man to go to. 1t
makes him dissatisfied with his home
Under the coming administration there
will be DO lack of fascination in the
drawing room. Should Mrs. Harrison
surround herself with q bevy of pretty
HOosieresses there will be no bache lor left
to see the unmarried girls home. Mar
riage will not be a failure under the Har-
risOn administration.