Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-04
THE TOPICAL TALKER.

Boston Had Better Learned of Pitrsburg to
Appreciate MIR. Richardson's Genius
The Domed Commonplace-Fruit md
Flowers in Peril-A Picture of COM
mon Scene.
ONE would suppose that if the originality and
potency of American architecture as de-
veloped by the late Mr.. Richardson were des-
tined to make themselves felt anywhere it
would be in Boston, where he lived, and
labored and died. But if the most notable
addition to Boston's public buildings is to be
taken as any criterion, Mr.. Richardson might
never have lived. l refer to the new County
Court House, which is now in course of erec-
tion. A picture of the building appeared in
Rdrper's Weekly of last week. The building
was designed by Mr.. George A. Clough, of Bos-
ton. 1t is massive structure of granite
almost entirely, only small portion being of
brick faced with granite The style is what is
known rs the German Renaissance, of which
the characteristics would seem to be heavi-
ness, severe simplicity, and careful balancing
of all the parts. Another feature of this style
as applied to public building is the employment
of central courts for light and ventilation. The
Boston Court House has four such courts. The
building is surmounted with a dome $50 feet
high. No public building could go up without
dome in Boston. Domes are as necessary on
public buildings in Boston as beans on the
breakfast table.
WHETHER it is the conventional dome, or
the rectangular propriety of the build
ing's lines, the new Boston Court House seems
oddly familiar. You are forced to believe you
have seen it before. 1t has none of the unique
beauty, the fruits of an imaginative creator,
that our Court House possesses. There isn't
particle of poetry in the stiff, domed, mass of
granite. The Court House where Allegheny's
curial prose is enacted is poem. The Boston
affair is not step forward. How could it be
when it is claimed for 1t that it resembles the
Palace of Justice in Paris. ard is built after
style originated in Germany a century ago.
a GENTLEMAN who has one of the largest
peach orchards in Allegheny county told
me yesterday that fully 80 per cent of his
peach trees will be barren this year. The un-
usual warmth of the winter months brought
on the fruit buds to such advanced stage
that when the severe freezing weather came in
the first days of March it nipped the blossoms.
Nearly every bud he opened in the orchard
had blackened core to show what the frost
had done. 1t is to be feared that this is not a
singular experience, but that there will be
very few peaches in regions as far north as
Pittsburg.
The spring promises to bring less color than
usuai 10 tne countryside, py reason Oh those
saine ugly irosts last month. Inc spiehuiu
blossoms Oh tne Japonlca VIII not nane so ire
quen@iy' LUZ they ylelueu very seherahy " INC
warm advances OF tne treacnerous winter, anu
tue mower ouds sweiied ana even ourst neIore
the cold waves came rolling IN from the west
saw hundred feet OF Japonlca hedge yester-
uay on wnlch am doubtful IL there Will De
single flower, owing to these causes. Inc real
spring Will be later than usual because OF her
counterfelts presence here months ago.
HERE may not be sweet little cheruo SIT |
ting up aioft to watch over the drunkard, |
but there seems TO De some power or other that |
cares Tor him as well as the cherup Is supposed |
to protect poor jack
Late last Saturday night-or, to speak pre-
clseiy, IN the hrst hour OF Sunday was
traveller on an express tram running out OF
fltlspurg. Inc halI OF gooo cigar anu the
lact that was mlserapiY wet anu chiiieu
tnrougn-you remember now IL sno"ea tnat
nlght-reconclled me TO seat IN tne smoking
car In the seat next tnat reno Oh parparlsm'
tne stove, sat the usual drunken man say
usual because on tnat tram II Is ten 10 one tnat
youll nnd an intoxicated person cooking Dy
the stove. IL IS the last nelghoornooa man IN
such CONDITION should choose-that is also the
reason bsuppose drunken man always plcksl
out
Ihere was nothing picturesque about this