Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-18
MURRAY'S MUSINGS.
Sights Along New York Water Fronts
Why Ear Maids Are Not Popular in
America-A New Drinking Scheme

| Sights Along New York Water Fronts
| Why Ear Maids Are Not Popular in
America-A New Drinking Scheme
Society on the Stage.
Two white-haired, bright blue-eved old
gentlemen were trudging along the North
River wharves the other day viewing the
| shipping. One was Judge Robert Lowry,
| long distinguished occupant of the ju-
| dicial bench of Indiana and subsequently a
| member of Congress from Fort Wayne; the
| other was Judge Beckwith, of Buffalo, a
friend of Grover Cleveland's. These two
| judges had met at the Democratic banquet
of the evening before, and were thus putting
in the day seeing the sights of New York
"And what greater sight" said tie amia-
Bile Judge from Buffalo, "can be presented
to visitors of New York than that which is
to be seen along this water front. never
come here" he continued, "without taking
trip down the bay and running about the
wharves. l never get tired of inspecting
steamships and noting along this water
front the evidences of the greatness of
New York. Judge Lowry and have been
taxing the customary trip down to Staten
Island and back and are winding up by the
inspection of one of the latest ocean gray
hounds. Along the Hudson river wharves
one can see the, products of the civilized
world. Yes, and great many products OF
that portion of the world which is not civil
lied. You can tell at a glance by the goods
piled upon the wharves and heaped upon
the trucks just what part of the world the
vessel lying at that particular point halls
from. suppose in the course of time these
wharves will present a more substantial as
pect than they do at present. The city OF
New York has expended vast sums upon her
waterfronts, but nothing, however, in COM
parison with the money spent in many con-
tinental seaports. The American CONNER
c1al growth appears to be rapid that we
mat
ter of accommodation. In the attempt to
to do so, we seem to be perpetually torn up
and doing things over and over again. This
is to be seen not only in the CITY wharfage
but in the leading thoroughfares in the
heart OF the city itself"
Like Tobies in Pittsburg.
Quite number of cigar stores about
town leave small cigar box with nickel
cigars lying exposed on the showcase. When
a customer wants nickel cigar he comes in
and deposits his nickel and takes out a
cigar, lights it and leaves the store without
disturbing the clerk or proprietor. Some
times he sees nobody. 1t is noticeable, how
ever, that none of the imported stock that
sell for Is cents straight up to 81 is thus left
lying about, subject to the honesty of the
customer. Perhaps the dealers have come
to the conclusion that the man who would
have the courage to smoke a scent cigar
may be relied upon as always able and will
ing to pay for it, whether watched or not.
Brains in the Mail Service.
1.-THE present postal service of the
United States is by no means as stupidity
conducted as is often represented" The
speaker hailed from Boston. "To illustrate
what mean" said he, 81 received a letter
the other day addressed to me IA Beacon
street, New York. The letter had lost no
time on the road so far as could tell from
the post and delivery mark, but had been
Cp1 tra1 n nv in
used to be SO that such misdirected letters
went straight to the Dead Letter Office at
Washington, much to the annoyance of
those who sent and those who should have
received them. OF course, it was easily seen
that the letter in question was intended for
Boston because there is only one Beacon
street in the world-as there is also but one
'BaWston.'"
Statistics on Pies and Sandwiches.
The amount of food consumed in some
of the downtown lunchrooms every day is
something enormous. 1t seems all the more
incredible from the fact that it goes up in
small lunches. Colonel Hayward informs
me that his place opposite the postofflce
consumes on an average for the midday
lunch to business men 1880 sandwiches, 10
cans of milk, 40 dozen pastry of various
kinds, 95 pies and 500 to 1000 oysters served
in every style Besides these some 800 per-
sons get hot dishes of almost every descrip-
Eighty-five pies represents $40 pie eaters in
one resort among hundreds of the kind.
This is not considered great place for pies,
either.
What pity that Superintendent of the
Census Porter did not include in his stu
pendous conglomeration of facts and fancies
some statistics about pies. A carefully ar
ranged tabular statement of pies and pie
eaters of the United States wonld be of
more use to the health authorities and more
interesting to the general readers than q
mOnOlogue on swamp lands.
Bar Maids In America.
The experiment of barmaids has been
tried several times in New York with IN
satisfactory results-that is so far as the ex-
perimenters are concerned. Notwithstand-
ing these repeated failures 1t is shortly to be
tried again in a Broadway establishment
down town. The difficulty in the way of sue
cess in previous attempts of this kind was
in the character of the material from which
local barmaids were selected. 1t Is easy to
find in New York pretty young ladies of or
binary intelligence willing to do almost any
thing that is honest in order to make liv-
ing. When one comes fresh from London
after seeing the results obtained from bar
maids there, it is quite natural to imagine
that the same thing could he made easily to
work here. A pretty barmaid in a black
dress and white apron Is very attractive
feature of any place.
The barmaid theory is all right, but there
are number of reasons why it cannot be
successfully reduced to daily practice in
New York. The mixed drink is the great
est bar to the employment Of women
in this capacity. Very few women are ever
able to acquire the art of shaking drink
together. Being served by the prettiest girl
in the world would never compensate an old
drinker for the misery of wretched cock
tail or brandy smash. At the London bar
very little is sold except straight drinks.
Every American who goes abroad knows
hoy RI 0nIt ia n n t1f1iI cd
drink. Few barmaids will ever attempt it,
and those who do in London get together a
fearful compound of liquors quite too dread
full to think of, once tasted. For this reason
the London barmaids that were once
brought to New York to serve in q promi-
nent establishment made great failure. 1t
will be hard to find intelligent American
girls to stand behind public bar and.ladle
out drinks to men, although, for that mat
ter, it may be quite as respectable as stand
ing behind lunch counter in the same es-
and :" cone in the dark" "three brown and
other appetite destroyers.
Why She Tolerated Him.
Heard on a Broadway car-Madge, why
do you drag that stupid DeSmith around
with you everywhere you go2
Madge-Why. .Cholly is stupid, to be sure,
dear, but he always wears his clothes to
match my dress.
The Dog a Luxury.
There is a great deal of money, consid-
cradle time and any amount of patience ex-
pended on dogs in the city of New York
Why a man wants to keep dog in great,
big, hot, close city the year around is |
enough to stagger the reasoning faculties. |
But men do keep them and go to any amount |
of trouble and expense to do SO. According |
to the city statistics there are now about |
!, 600 licensed dogs in New York and accord |
no to ueDaral fO1nresaioDS there arc Gonna |
TO- 000 unlicensed. There are dog refugees, dog |
dog lnctnTa dnQ fanciel.s |