, 1890-01-12

II $ DEVOTION.
People of Toronto especially love to
tell OF Erastus Wiman, who, beside being
a neighbor of mine On Staten Island, is
regarded among Canadians as a phe-
nome1on, because he started there as a
newsboy or pea nutter and is proud of II
yet. He was brave and venturesome and
with a cool head and Yankee enterprise,
for although the millionaire of to day
was born on Canadian soil his parents
were American and he was born in the
Dominion while they were visiting there.
We will let that go. Sufficient that he
makes a good speech, lecture or railroad
deal on the spur of the moment, and to
show his Democratic methods l will only
add that last summer, during the great
Washington celebration, he not only
furnished the boats for an army of gov
ernors from the North and South, sena-
tors, judges and statesmen. but when he
found that seats were scarce, he took off
his coat and busted two hundred chairs so
that his guests could be comfortable. To-
day he has a hundred irons III the fire at
once, and yet none of them suffer. He
can made a good speech, open a bottle of
Mr.. Elijah Halford's Justly celebrated
sauce, walk four miles, deliver a lecture,
buy a telegraph or railroad, pay for it and
come home by the 1850 boat. He pro-
poses o to have direct Communication
via the Baltimore & Ohio railroad to
England, the freight being rehandled only
on the shores of Staten Island.
The Dominion buildings in Ottawa
rank first. in my estimation, in the line of
public buildings outside tie capitol at
Washington. They are even more arts
tic and beautiful than the state house at
Columbus, Ohio. The capitol at Colum.
bus considerinR the great men who have
graduated from it, Is what Mr.. Tennyson
would call quite rocky. The base is fiat
and some like the Tombs in New York,
though not so picturesque. The tower
is a large round bandbox, which is out of
all proportion to the rest of the building.
Nothing but the wnrmest and truest 10y
atty can keep the p~opulace from pulling
it down, as did the French, with much
less reason, the beautiful Nendome col.
umn in Paris.
The buildings at Ottawa are grand ex.
%ternally and beautiful internally, COM
Portable In arrangement and a great credit
to the young Dominion. Should she
ever wish to Join hands with us, she can
always point 10 these buildings with
pride, even as the Rev. Joseph Cook does
to himself.
However, Canada considers herself too
great a country to unite with any other,
and she very likely will not. Moreover,
the United States Is a republic already
large enough, and it would be now almost
unwleldly for me to govern, together with
my other work. We do not need area
now so much as we do good government
and good times. Good weather and m
ported maladies we have already, duty
free. If the authorities would coutine la
grippe to The street car lines | would be
very much obliged. I've had more than
my share of it for three months.
| saw a queer fashion item in a Cana
dian paper the other day. 1t was not in
the funny page, but it should have been,
| thought. 1t was this:
There has been a great falling off in
side whiskers this season, and now full
boards are are to be seen on every hand"
Ibid not know that they were to be
worn there.
Looking over this letter | see less about
Canada than | had at first intended to
say, but the printer will expe,t me to
stop pretty soon, and so | will close with
a little poem. There is nothing that
soothes and lulls to rest the weary reader
at the end OF a long letter, filed chiefly
with statistics, like a sweet little poem
that one can readily understands love
poem-and so | give one here that |
found In an album-an albuminous poem,
as 1t were-which | wrote many years
ago and found yesterday on the center
table where | used to spark, but where
now, alas she is another's:
FIRST VERSE.
d nv darling n my dorlJng
Wilt you ever think of me?
For my darling, for my darling,
VIII oftimes think of thee.
And my darling, oh my darling,
Nhen l oftimes think of thee
II Will be indeed n pleasure
you erstwhile think OF me,
Thus my darling, oh my darling,
should you erstwhile think Of me,
whist my darling, oh my darling,
l shall oftimes think of thee,
We will think about each other
III the bright eternity.
SECOND WE'RE.
II is fun TO write n poem
While l pause to think OF thee,
For know you'n not forget me
While you pause TO think of me.
Thus adown life's sunburnt pathway
Lolter l 10 think of thee,
For l hope and trust that also
You may sometimes think of me.
THIRD VERSE.
1t is not so very wearing
On the thinker, | can see,
Just TO think ofycu, my darling,
Asyon Doubtless think of me.
so, my darling, as l stated,
lfyour thoughts are true to me,
will do some heavy thinking,
Oh, my darling, just for thee:
And well think about each other
TIL the bright eternity.
Yours truly,
BILL NYE.