Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-11-14

AiLks-NHf MAYOR GRANT Has GONE 10 ikk-
LASp-Losr N CENTRAL PARK.
Special correspondence OF The Evening Star.
NEw YORK, November ~. 1891.
VNHE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NAN
l. haitian Elevated Railroad Company is al
ways an interesting event This year one
OF the features Of significance was the in
dication Of retirement from active con-
troll on the part of Jay Gould, thus
furnishing another proof that this great
capitalist has been feeling the strain of his
gigantic operations, and is yielding TO the
warnings of his physicians and friends. For
'age," as Lord Bacon says. will not be de-
ned, even by such an iron viii as that Of
Gouid's The business done during the year
by the roads has been greater than ever,
though they seemed long ago TO have
reached their capacity. During the year
xoo. I45,IlS Passengers were carried, an
Increase Of 1900 500 over last wear, the 9th
avenue line bearing the brunt of the increase.
since the road was started !, 59l 500 927 passen-
gers have been carried. and not one person has
been killed by the ordinary operations OF the
road. Two or three years ago a number of per-
sons were swept of the frames BY the misun-
outstanding OF an order. and in this way were
Killed, but with this exception, il my memory
serves me right, there has not been any fatal
casualty from the running of the road. further
than that an occasional needless person or sui
cide has lost his life through no fault of the
company. This is a marvellous record, and all
we can ask is that il be kept up.
On the same day on which this meeting was
held the Sd avenue surface line also held their
annual meeting, and it appeared that this line,
which runs directly under the elevated tracks
and which it was supposed would be ruined by
the aerial competition, never carried more
passengers than now. and is able 90 pay IL per
cent on the capital stock; all of which shows
that railroads make their own patronage and
rarely hurt one another.
VIOLA eRErLocK, so CALLED.
mysterious female has wonderful charm
for that soft and sentimental being, the New
York newspaper reporter. He melted with
pity, therefore, at the romantic episode Of the
fair anonyma, Viola Greylock, who tried to
commit suicide by taking iaudanum in the
Grand Central station. As you doubtless know
he did his best to connect this mystery with a
romance OF the departments at Washington.
lie was not quite sure what department Miss
Greylock was in, but gave guess that she was
clerk in the patent office. Unfortunately. the
facts do not bear out these romantic theories.
II seems very improbable that Miss Greylock,
so called, ever saw the beautiful foliage or en-
Ioyed promenade on the unparalleled asphalt
pavements of Washington. just who she is
nobody knows yet. But she certainly is not
that romantic creature-the beautiful lady
government clerk. The idea now seems to be
that she came from soma neighboring town,
where she has earned an honest living as a
mlliiner or dressmaker, and that she has a
mania for suicide, having attempted her own
lie three or four times before this.
CARPETS BY THE THOUSAND MILES.
The big auction sale of which wrote last
week has been in active eruption all this week,
and a prodigious output has been the result
As said about $50 miles of carpets have been
sold, not TO speak Of duplicate lots. which will
probably bring the total milage up to 900, or
more than from New York to Buffalo and back
again. And TO keep up the railroad simile the
carpets have been unrolled. SO to speak, AT the
speed of at least a mile minute. Ii is inter-
esting to stand and watch one of these big
auctions. where the leading merchants Of the
country bid against each other in large
transactions The goods were put up in
lots OF ten rolls each and each piece
contains sixty yards the distance repre-
sented by each lot was 1.sO0 feet. and
the auctioneer travelled from one lot to
another certainly with the speed Of the empire
state express" This was fast travelling, hut
everybody was pleased, including the repre-
sentatiyes OF the big mill that were selling of
its goods. The prices have been wonderfully
firm considering the amount of the offering,
but they have brought little comfort to those
who believed that the Mckinley tariff would
raise the price of carpets. The friends and
the enemies of this bill have been alike dis
appointed in Its failure to put up prices on
certain lines of goods like carpets,
where it was supposed that there would
be substantial increase. As a matter
OF fact carpets are cheaper now than they ever
were before in the history of the world, and
while there is the customary talk about higher
prices in the future. it is doubtful if anything
Of the sort occurs. The terrible competition
which marks this industry. as SO many others
nowadays. may be depended upon to keep the
price down to the bare cost Of production, plus
q very narrow margin of profit.
Charles Lamb said Of bells that they made the
music nearest heaven. But, perhaps, he might
have granted an exception in favor of boy
choirs. Whether he would or not. these choirs
are just now the ecclesiastical fad" A splen-
did gathering has interested Brooklyn today
in the shape of the fourth annual festival Of
the Choir Guild. The singing was participated
in by $50 voices, representing twenty choirs,
the one at the Cathedral of Garden
City. 1t is q sure sign Of the near approach to
winter that these choir festivals are beginning
again.
AFFEcrIoNArE MAYOR GRANT.
One Of the sensations of the week is the sud-
den and mysterious fight of Mayor Grant to
Ireland. The ostensible object of his trip was
to smooth the dying pillow of an aunt who lives
in the Emerald Isle. But as he had never seen
this afflicted relative, aud had never evinced
marked tokens of affection and respect for her,
the announcement is greeted with a smile by
politicians and by the average citizen. The
common Interpretation is that some ticklish
appointments and other decisions have to be
made during the next three weeks, and that
the mayor, who is rather sensitive to criti-
cism, decided that this was a capital time
for disappearing and taken header and that
next month, when the skies are clearer, he will
bob up serenely and resume his usual functions
This is not a very heroic line of action on his
part, but it may be very prudent. At any rate
1t will relieve him from o most anxious and
month in the midst of Office seekers
and their hackers, before whose onslaught a
passage Of the Atlantic becomes a
holiday frolic.
LOST IN CENTRAL PARK.
We often hear exciting stories Of people who
wander off into the trackless wilderness and are
hopelessly lost in its depths, but We need not
60 further than the very center Of New York
city. find, to be quite bewiidered in rural
wilderness. At any rate l was myself CON-
pletely lost only yesterday in Central Park. 1t
was early in the evening, but already quite
dark, and, as wandered through the park,
''engrossed." as the poet Horace expresses
II, ION I know not what trife," sud
denly I was hailed by a cry from the
park policeman, who wanted to know where
I was going. Iexplained as well as could,
whereupon the guardian Of the park burst into
laughter, and said was pointed in
quite another direction. had already passed far
beyond my right exit, and would soon emerge
on the Harlem edge of the park. am told that
this ID a frequent experience. and that one of
the most frequent duties Of the park policemen
is to accost people who seem bewildered and