New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-04-04
BOODLE on THE UIBISH.

A melancholy result of the recent Doodle cpl
demic in large cities is its effect on municipalities
whose guilclessncss has hitherto been estimated Ill
inverse ratio to the length of their bills OF NOR
talty As Grand Jury prcscntment once put
IT, the hydra-hcadc cankcr-worm IL dragging us
loathsome length throughout the land, and deVour-
ing the vitas of happy homes and many-pillareu
churches Amid all the gloom thus dliiused one
solitary ray of hope has glimmered. Terra liau'e'
Queen City of the Wabash famous as the nome
port of tall sycamorcs, and Of \. wards lminor-
tailed canal-cruiscrs, it. was thought had eScapcu
the general infection. Ncw-iork and chicago anu
Philadelphia might fall. Their City Halls ana
Council Chambers might become the scene OF
Aldcrmanic orgies; but Terra llautes skirts were
spotcss. and her fair forehead, to continue 'he
chaste metaphor of local poet, would remain
unsulied by the breath Of scandal
Alas that this trust should have been mis-
placed! Alas that Fasig's saloon, Terra ilaute,
which has borne fame second only 10 'hao VI
Frannccs's Tavern. or say the Pewter Mug" in
Frankfort-st., should be concerned in the revela-
tons There, according to trustworthy historians,
Dam Voorhees, first won his nickname. lhere
Mr.. Cleveland's friends met and vowed that they
never would desert him for any Indiana Demo-
crat and there IN industrious consumer of whiskcy-
refrain I've voted for Grover and I'm glad
that did, that helped Democratic defeat in
1883 There met one night. not long ago, a
party of contractors. each with Terra lIaute
sewer bid in his inside pocket There, one Kishcr,
it il said the big toad in the puddle engineered
"A compact that no bid should he placed at less
than $4,000 the difference between that sum
and 10000 the cost Of the sewer, 10 make a
divyy all around. When the bids were opened
in the Council Chamber imagine the combines
CONSERVATION at finding that Fred Fischer. Terra
Ilautcan. had offered to do the work for Sli,60O
The Council was urged by the City Engineer TO
freeze on Ia Flschcr's bid They frOzc. The
members Of the combine naturally went into
spasrn-, and promptly decided that ki>hcr had
betrayed them to Fischer. Kisher, it j.
said mclowcd by subsequent jubilee at
Fasi.'s boosted that he had dumped the combine,
whcrcupon the boys joined hands all around and
sang Aud Lang Sync at sunrise Then there
came turn OF the tide The Council rcscindcd
Fi,chcrs contract, suspended the city engineer,
and the citizens Of Tcrrc lIautc. opening their
yirtuous eyer. bean to ask uncomfortable qaes-
iions about q paving contract for SlJO,000 and
sewer contracts for 500, 900 recently granted by
the city 40 a result Contractor Fischer, it is
reported l. not exactly missing. but he il not
at home for a few days Says incorruptible
Tcrrc lIautcan. | don't know whether it il dam
foolism or Doodle that i in our Council but IL Is
one. that is certain Wherefore the good people
are refusing 10 shake hands with any of the Alder
men. and the windows dark Al Fasigs
Oh Tcrc iautc, who ever would have thought
it Of You II il had been Fort WAYNE. or
Kokoma. the country might have understood II.
10 be- sure. the aiicrmanic boycott saves you.
But no spring poet who has heard of that daylight
slcc-,inging Will ever again sigh to be- inspired by
the innocent surgc of the p.acid Wabash.