The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-05-04
ROUND ABOUT GOTHAM.
THE MEN, MANNERS AND MOVE
MENTs OF TIE HOUR

Evangelist Moody at Work - The
Henry Irving of the New York Pull
pit-Blue Japa-The Two Ms. Street
sweepers That Vote.
(COpvrfoltl
NEW YoRK, May S.-Heroes in their
war paint are among the ''sights" Of every
great metropolis. but the old stager knows
that the sights of most hnterest are those
that don't meet the eye. To know your
man as he really is, pop in on him when he
is not prepared to receive company. See
him in his working apron; catch him when
he IS not looking, if you want true
portrait. Betwixt the portrait in war
paint and the naked realism of the Paul
Pry school of interviewer there are
a hundred possible portrayals of us all.
These depict the 'sights" of daily routiDes.
hurry graphs Of men and women doing the
daily round of duty, all unsuspectingly Of
us, the peeping Toms and Tables, who, all
the same, are going to pop in upon them In
true surprise visit fashion. One thing is
sure-we shall get nearer to the real person
atty by catching it when not posing to be
photographed. When a man poses for
effect ten to one he is imposing at the same
time.
Look at the smart fellows whose phizzes
appear in the papers because they have won
some prize or other for guessing che number
of pips in a melon, or for angelic beauty, or
maybe they >re celebrated because they
took the pie IN clam swallowing match.
Queer thing how every man jack Of them
tries to look es near as possible like Shsr-
man when taking his last stride of the
Georgia march. l guess they would prefer
to be mistaken for so many Napoleons
crossing the Alps. Moral, always pose as
potential conqueror when you sit for your
portrait. Never mind if your countenance
is trifie vacuous, young man; you
can always go west and get your cheek ex-
banded
Talking of this, there is another side to
the question. A man who has proven him
self something above the common herd
owes it not only to himself, but to those
who believe in him, that he should keep up
the dignity of his reputation by his de-
meanor. Some don't. Strolling, or rather
sliding. along Fifth avenue, one of the
slipperiest days of the scrag end of the
winter allotted to us Gothamites, / skated
into certain hall in the afternoon to look
at and listen to O group of celebrities
who were to advocate the cause
of free libraries. One of the first
to climb, laboriously the. plat
form was ex-Presidsnt Cleveland. Thai
he is a man of weight and solidity nobody
will deny, and great mans greatness in
creaseth with the years, as witness that
maniature mammoth of wit, Marshall P.
Wilder. But the ex-President disdains to
pose for the Observation-Disclosures.
There he sat, or sprawled at ease, but
scarcely easily, and he permitted veil of
lassitude, sort of an air of wearisomeness
of the flesh, to mask the manliness OF his
face. In repose his expression had the dig
nifty of massiveness. aud in action, as when
he was speaking, there was the dignity of
force, lit up at intervals with fash of
vivacity. But when somebody else let OFF
a little joke, it drew tears of sympathy into
the eyes that saw the painfully slow efforts
of the ex-presidential face to thaw into the
beginning of a sunny smile. But the frost,
bitten jokelets perhaps accounted for it.
Even without this provocation | have ere
now seen other great statesmen look as
moody as hypochondriacal parson at a
burying.
Now, the Reverend Evangelist Moody has,
as matter OF fact, as comfortable, tri-
umphant an air as you would find in any
Bismarck or Parnell of the day. | called
N upon him the other morning at one of
the three Fifth avenue Presbyterian
churches where he has been superseding the
salaried pastors in their own department of
duty. Mr.. Moody looks every inch of his
goodly rotundity a safe man. What's the
matter with Moody! 0 he's all right, and
he prospers fishing us out of our adversely,
present or to come. And yet there are
no collections. Mr.. Sankey and he have
lately been out, so they say, and any
way, the sweet singer during the present
run has been Mr.. Stebbins, strength if not
sweetness. However, old friend Sankey
came up smiling soon after | took my seat,
and Mr.. Moody graciously announced that
his eminent friend would sing "a song not
in the bookso The book in use was a late
obi ~ = 10 feh II -
gotten up by Messrs. Sankey, Stebbins, and
another. Thus was heralded the advent of
vol. vi. for the delectation of a hungering
world.
Would you skip from the Falstaffian to
the Cassius type Of preachera So, the lean
and hungry Dixon, Jr., the burning, black
and-tanned pulpiteer, whose text ought to
be that verse-''the zeal of thy house hath
eaten me up" lean and lantern jawed, hiss
ing words like molten lead from the seath-
ing cauldron OF his ardent soul, made of
the stuff that apostles and martyrs were
made of in the grim days of old.
Successor of your Peter the Hermits
and Luthers and Wesleys. a giant in soul
measure, Henry Irving in what physique
there is of him. Yes, here is the one des-
perately earnest parson in New York. By
and by he will become a sort of Sunday
freak show to the shallow curiosity mon
ger, which, gentle reader, you will never
never, never degenerate into, for if you dc
--well-let's change the subject
The Sunday church-going tramp is sup
posed to be good for nothing but to heir
fill the plate. Yet they talk, yes, and
don't they gush at church gatherings over
the wonderful stretch of christian charity
when the hard-shell Somethingarian ex
changes pulpits with the soft-shell Nothing
arian. If the angels really do rejoice over
this device for Representing stale sermons,
why don't the preachers urge their pew
folk to change pulpits by going in turn tc
all the neighboring churches2 The same
good end would be gained in a simpler way
The church tramp is seldom credited with
the full amount of pulpit culture he has
laid in, and which makes variety and wide
range a necessity to his intellectual vitality
Anyway, tramp once, just once, to young
Thomas Dixon's rostrum. His people have
outgrown their church, and for the present
they meet in Christian Association hall
Twenty-third street. which is always
crowded. The preacher tackles tn,
live topics of the day without
gloves. His text the other morning wa
Tammany hall; next time it may be clan
chowder, likely as not. All is fish thai
comes to net. With this understanding h,
is anything but disciple of the talk-talk
clap-trappist school Simple, honest, ear
nest, had he but had the luck to have beer
schooled in one of the great seats of learn