Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-17
A BASKET OF CHIPS.
DR.. Paxton In His Home-A Glance at DR..
Parkhurst-What . Late Easter Does
for the Stores-Sullivan's Hand.Shaks-
Few Short Tales From Real Life

|
-Pittsburqers still take good deal o
interest in DR.. John B. Paxton, though he i.
pretty well removed now from his birth
place and its associations as q fashionabl
pastor in the metropolis. His name ha.
been on peoples tongues lately all over tn,
country because Jay Gould saw At to give
S25 900 to the West Presbyterian Church
| over which DR.. Paxton presides. This
church is one of the most notable in New
| York, more on account of its enormously
rich congregation, perhaps than any par
ticular beauty 1t possesses sasacred edif1ce
1t stands on Forty-second street between
Fifth and Sixth avenues, and 1t Is crowded
every Sunday, and more money Is reported
to be in its pews than in any other congre
CATION in America. Among the rich mem
bers are Jay Gould, Russell Sage, Henry NJ
Flagler, Heber Bishop and Q half dozen
other millionaires DR.. Paxton Is not the
only one in the church's service who gets
we'll paid, for Miss Clementine De We're, who
| leads the singing at the morning service
| only, receives an enormous salary. It Is not
polite to inquire exactly what DR.. Paxton
now receives. but it is pretty certain that he
receives at least 10 times, possibly 20 times.
the salary of $500 a year which he got in his
first charge in a small country church at
Hopewell Cross Roads, Nd. From all
accounts DR.. Paxton hlls his peculiar and
| undoubtedly trying position remarkably
| well. He is intensely alive and of tireless
zeal.
A young lady who is we'll known in this
city visited DR.. Paxton the other day in his
/ handsome home on West Forty-sixth street,
and found him sitting in front of a blazing
CRATE fire and inst finishing a good cigar.
1.-THE way to make the world better" he
said to her, apropos Of the recent municipal
AfHrv Skof fSNv, o. oIl b.
terminate. The grandson Of Nero may be
| the Emperor of Christian Rome. A bad
father may have q good son. Roll your oYn
grain OF sand. I say. Sweep off your own
doorstep. Solomon tells us that since every.
| thing down here is merely vanity, there is
| no use in crying over it every day, nor
ssra,inhing str, hn our puny strength to reform every
stand and deliver clean dollars without .
speck upon them. People have made great
stir about Mr.. Gould giving $25, 900 for church
extension on Manhattan Island. All sorts
OF foolish and false things have been said,
and probably neither Mr.. Gould nor Mr..
Sage will ever give dollar to the church
again. I'm sure I would not blame them II
they did not. AS for accepting the gift, what
church would not? Are we to stop and wash
every dollar that comes to us 2" and DR.. Pax
toms tone implied that the church revenues
might be materially diminished by stirring
up the antecedent history of its collections.
Som ething of q Savonaroia.
In striking contrast to Dr.. Paxton, who
Is handsome, magnetic and scrupulously
careful in his dress, is DIR. Charles Park
hurst. who has succeeded in making him.
self the best abused clergyman in the coun.
try to-day. His temperament and his
methods are only modern in the way he
adapts them to the attainment OF specific
objects. Put him in a monks garb and
change his tongue to the tuneful Italian and
you would have something OF the same man
as savonarola. He is only happy when he is
leading a crusade or conducting an inQuisi-
tion. With his high forehead, piercing eyes
and clear cut face. DIR. Parkhurst is decided
ly one of the most picturesque figures in
New York, and one thing ought TO be re-
membered at this time, when the disposition
to blame him for indiscreet Zealousness Is
general, that DR.. Parkhurst has always
been consistent in his attitude toward vice,
even in its most attractive and aristocratio
forms.
He has said publicly that he would not
allow a daughter of his to enter New York
society, and he has made more than one Of
McAllisters 400 vince under a singing cas-
tigation from his pulpit. His congregation
is not SO much distinguished for its wealth
as for its intelligence, and I believe 1t Is
a fact now, as it was some years ago, that
the larger proportion Of his audience are
Tho Presidents Fatalisn.
-sT wonder whether four years in the
White House have shaken the Presidents
intense fatansm," said Federal Office
holder yesterday. II was with General
Harrison in Indianapolis from September
till after his election in 1888, and one thing
about him that I constantly marveled at
was his positive belief in predestination as
applied to the things OF this world. He
showed In his manner more than by any
actual declaration that he considered him
landa
was to be, was to be, and nothing he or any.
one else could do could alter it, his whole
attitude seemed to say; Those who were
his belief. even II they sometimes rebelled
against his Indifference. rs it appeared to
them to be. guess we were all more or
paisn. Since then President Harrison has
learned lots of things that they don't know
In indianapolis, but question if he has lost
much of his faith in predestination.
"1n fact, recent events have done so much |
to clear his way for denomination, so much |
has happened without effort or interven-
ton on his part to make him again a candi.
date, that to a man with his disposition and |
set of mind can quito believe that he is
more of a fatalist than ever. We are all Of |
us most impressed by theories that fall in
with our ambitions and desires"
"A Close Shave.
1t Is useless to launch sarcasm at a |
country barber: 1t may be dangerous, for |
even if you are in the chair the barber is a |
committee to be respected. Generally speak |
ing 1t is a waste Of breath, as found when |
fate and the Pennsylvania Railroad decoyed |
me into village on the western slope of |
the Alleghenies, and 1, with a daring that |
myself, allowed the local barber |
to remove a tender young beard of but two |
days growth from my face. I had pre- |
monition of pain when / observ ed from |
divers printed notices and implements |
about the shop that watches and teeth as |
we'll as the supert1uous hair of man occupied |
the BARRIERS attention. He was a jeweler by |
trade, a dentist by profession. and barber
by occupation. His mind. have reasons to
believe, was centered on his higher callings, |
while he allowed his hands to daily with the |
razor and the brush. He also dabbled in I
The chair in which 1 sat
q tooth jerked out, a picture taken. or your
face shaved, in that chair. If his dentistry
and photography were on par with his ton
sorial ability, I should hate to have the
could do justice to neither.
While he was dragging his razor slowly mp
and down my face, I heard a sympathetic
in tine yard & hs ba IL rne from
stayed his hand. He had not spoken before
Chis-the exclamations Of his victims were
music enough Tor him. But now he said:
wonder what's amiss with that pig?"
81 guess somebody's shaving him." ven
tured. .. -- II
The razor pursued its relentless course
unchecked. "We don't shave pigs here
he said.
Was it a compliment to met
Sullivan's Hand-Shake.
-'Sullivan's hand-shake is enough to
scare most men who meet him in the ring
out of their Wits" said Pittsburger who
las seen considerable of the leading pugilists,
1,,1i in ~ ha ha IN nion of the world ssTbor> |