Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-22
IN SUN AND SHADOW,

Garb Everywhere-Bidding Against Her
selt-A New City by the weigh-spring
Early Here-Buds and Blossoms-Notes
by the Topical Talker.
Happily, the death lists in the papers are
diminishing, and the returns Of the Board of
Health show that the fatal reign of la grippe is
coming to an end. But the epidemic has left
plenty OF reminders of its devastating course.
There are certainly more women in mourning
in Pittsburg to-day than ever before. You can
see that for yourself If you will but watch the
crowd of pedestrians on Fifth avenue for a
quarter of an hour this afternoon. The demand
for mourning goods, such as crepes. cashmeres,
Henrietta cloth, and India silks, in black, has
been simply enormous, was told at Rorne's
yesterday. In corresponding degree. the sales
of bright-hued dresses and millinery, attuned
to the lively air Of spring, are this year below
the average.
Yesterday nothing impressed me more after a
couple of months absence than the omnipres-
ence of black attire and pallid faces wherever L
went. 1t seems to me that after shakinghands
with, say couple of hundred people, / can't
remember single indi vidual, man or woman,
who did not have struggle more or less severe
with la grippe to tell of. There is nothing like
absence, be it ever SO brief. to qualify one to
detect the changes in ones neighbors and ac-
quaintances and am sorry to say that In
nearly every case it has been change for the
worse that these faces have shown me. have
not seen SO many prominent cheek bones and
unwhoesOme com plexiOns in Pittsburg before.
This is the truth. and sad witness 1t is to the
afdiction of our city of late.
Bidding Against Herself.
There was great congregation of farmers
wives and country folk at a sale OF furniture In
an Edgeworth boarding house the other day,
and the auctioneer enjoyed some novel sensa-
tions. For instance he offered an ironing board
for sale. and a nice little old lady started in
with bid of twenty-five cents.
Twenty-Five cents bid; who says thirtyT
said the auctioneer
The little old lady nodded her head In reply
and of course the auctioneer went on: Thirty
cents bid-who says thirty-tivef'
Nobody but the little old lady hankered for
secondhand ironing board, it appeared. for she
alone responded to the auctioneer's appeal
with a nod, and again the price went up:
"Thirty-fye bid; who says forty?"
The original bidder, unleaTned in auction
sale lore was determined to have the board
and again raised her own figure cents. The
auctioneer inhumanly corking up his amuse-
ment kept repeating the formula till the dear
little old lady had bid up the price to IL %.
When he could no longer keep his face straight
the ironing board was knocked down at
81 % to the sole contestant for its possession,
who was greatly excited and perspiring freely
after the desperate struggle with herself.
Weigh Out of Sight.
The day Chicago express on the Wabash
route was running gayly north the other morn
ing when from under the spring bonnet Of
pretty st. Louis bride, who was enjoying the
honeymoon luxury of a parlor car seat. came
this startling query: George, dearest. ever so
many freight cars have Capa City on them
where is it, dearestT'
George blushed, but he didn't forget that he
was bridegroom, and he answered: "Capa-
city, my own? Guess it's weigh station"
In Rustic Neighborhoods.
In the first week of May last year the foliage
hereabout was not so far advanced as it is now.
The warmth of yesterdays sun worked mira
cles on hill and dale. bringing out the orchard
blossoms and breaking the buds everywhere.
The Ohio Valley is wonderfully beautiful just
now. The orchards on Seven-Mile Island are
all ablaze; late peaches apples and cherries all
blooming together. The river hills are streaked
and patched with radiant green, the unfolding
of the naples leaves Even under the somber
classic shades of Woods Run the apple trees
are scattering perfume and petals The pris-
ouers within cannot see these silver heralds of
the spring. but they can catch the fragrance of
their gospel on the breeze, and sunbeams are
just as golden upon prison floor as anywhere.
These are the bees busy days, and also for the
birds, if an able-bodied robin who garnered and
gulped about twenty worms before my eyes
yesterday morning in two or three minutes, was
a representative laborer.
Two New Theaters.
The new theater on Sixth street is rising very
fast. and some idea of MIR. Davis plan can be
had already from the frame of the first balcony
and the supports of the parquet floor, which
are already in position. The proportions of
the house are evidently to be large enough to
allow of roominess in the auditorium, a most
desirable feature, for which Pittsburg theaters
are not noted. From the progress made already
the theater ought to be in perfect condition
for the opening night in September, unless the
promised disturbance in the building trade
shall interfere.
Chicago has gained theater as nearly per-
feet IN every respect as the world has yet
known by the fire which destroyed McVickar's
Theater last summer. The new theater is the
ing, in the country. This is the opinion Of a
far better judge, for last week w. J. Florence
told me that in all his travels in England, Aus
tralia and America he had never played in a
theater so admirably appointed and designed,
both before and behind the curtain, as Nc.
Vickar's Mr. Florence said moreover that the
of the house could not be i'm
proved upon. AS for the scheme of
it is exceedingly rich and
noble; and one marvels that such effects could
be obtained with SO few and slight departures
from the dominant terra Gotta red in which
the mouldngs of the balconies, proscenium
arch and walls are painted But the most i'm.
portant merit of all is that the ventilation is
thorough, and you can sit through long play
on a close muggy evening, as it was when was
there last week, and still escape from the
theater without headache or a parched throat
from breathing foul air.