The Critic and record., 1891-04-08
THE CRITIC ABROAD

Washington Novelty Works at the corner
of seventh and Water streets, u South
Washmuon stands curious object,
which cNcitcs great deal of Interest ON
the part of passcrs-by From the Water
street side, whore the Wuvfariug citizen
often uau-as tu golc at it through q
friendly crack iu Che stOrm-begicu fence
IL looks as much like the biz Suulty-gJ-
connecting necklace of the belle of som,
departed tribe ol giants as 10 does like
anything modern tO which the curious
observer Us likely To compare d.. rs q
matter OF fact, II isa pump still.Durn iu
the brain Of the inventor.
The pump roper is constructed much
like any other specimen of lbs kind. lts
motive power however, like kccly's
motor, will not mote. u is represented
10y q series of Hat tim cups, strmgtogcther
IN what looks ike the aforesaid necklace
Of the gigantic belle, and hung Uycra wheel
about four feet i'm diameter whose axle
is fixed 10 an upright four feet or 50 above
the pump attachment, the latter being
about two feet i'm height In the too fer
tile brain AZ the inventor these cups were
caught by their open mouths In the cur
rent Of q running stream and In their
iocund journey round and round gave
propulsion 10 the wheel, which iu itsturu
impaired power 10 the pump Beyond
the rOsCatc realm OF theory, however.
their practiCality was nil. Whether he
himself became satisfied of the futility Of
his invention is not known, for one day
the long-hairCd genius of the pump. in
lieu of q tent folded his plans and speciii.
cations and, like the Arabs, silently stole
away without even so much as the hint Of
an explanatory goodbye But hc left be-
hind him at all events, a specimen Of
bran-fruit which is well worth visit by
lovers of the curious.
"What nonsense it is for merchants
who have any faith in advertising at all
to think that they do not need to a1yer-
tise all the time said Seventh street
business man to the Critic yesterday.
you, of course, have watched the pre-.
vailing eccentricity of the weather during
the past few months continued the
merchant. Merchants have purchased
spring stocks with the expectation that
they would have quick returns, butthc
winter for this climate has run clear into
the spring and many of them have b zen
disappointed. They have contracted tp
make payments in accordance with the
amount of business they anticipated. but
! owing 10 the unreasonable weather buy
ers have held nloof aud to-day goods are
lying on the shelves that ought To have
been sold q month or six weeks ago.
81 stole march on most Of the dealers,
though"
How was that?' asked the Critic.
"Why my policy has been tp advertise
| the fact that the unruly weather over
which had no control compelled me TO
| make generous concessions to purchasers.
| ! have demonstrated TO them that they
| would need the goods and that they
| might just as well buy them in March as
! in April or May
There is philosophy in judicious all
| vcrtising and shrewd observation, AMI
| through them have been enableito bring
| my sales and profits up to those which
| have been accustomed 10 receive
'Shc can never give a correct portrayal
Of the part until she has experienced Il
love affair, said Madame Modjeska some
years ago regarding Mary Andcrs)n's
Juliet. Now that the latter has fell the
tender passion and entered the state
| matrimonial q great many people wbull
| Ike to see Mrs. Navarro play the i'll
starred maiden of the house Of Clpalet.
| Genius in women who WOO the muses.
receives an additional impetus after mar
| riage; the gray and drab Quaker colors of
| feminine existence changes to a golden
| hucd, purple-Cdgcd roseate, that makes it.
self peculiarly apparent in the work of
| actresses and pOetesScs. Ella Wheeler,
after she added Wilcox TO her name,
changed her reG-hot adjectives tu white
heat and permeated her verse with a de
licious ileslIy flavor that was as contagious
as the grippe.
Amelia Riyes, since she has become n
ChRnlcr, has determined to out -llerod
Herod and her forthcoming new book,
| "a Woman of the Pavement will com
! pare about as much with THE QaiCk and
the Dead rs Il Dora ThOrne does with u
Gautier.
For these reasons the great public long
to see Mary lno longer ours, but Navar-
rO's) in itful roles of passion. They long
10 analyZc the difference between the cool
embrace of 80 and the perceptible clinging
OF lOl. wait and long for that moment
of DIAGNOSIS
There is always at this season of the
year more or less talk among the dealers
about the prospects for the fruit crop. and
a number of men were talking over the
situation on Louisiana avenue this morn
ing. Have you ever noticed" re.
marked Mr.. w. A. Baird, that il makes
but little difference how the spring opens,
the Maryland peach raisers always claim
that the crop is going to be a failure. Last
| year the crop did prove to be failure on
account of a spell of warm weather early
in The spring followed by two or three
frosty nights, No such weather has been
experienced this year, but the peach
growers are giving IL out that this pala-
table fruit Will be very, very scarce
81 will give you just a little illustrl-
tion," " continued Mr.. Baird. Away back
in lSi0, just as the boys were coming back
from the Mexican war, there was scare
started that there would be no peaches
In those days Daniel Campbell and myself
were running q small fruit store on Penn
sylyania avenue, between Four-and-a-hali
and Sixth streets. ] know that before the
season was over we We're selling peache;
as big as your fist for six and eight cents
q bushel, and many of the orchard
owners were dumping peaches into the
streets because they could not find a mar
kct for them"