The Portland daily press., 1892-04-11
NEW YORK LETTER.
Gotham Comments by a Bright and
Vigorous Pen.
Etage-serucss-A Horrible Exanaple-Law-
making Run Wild-PEilosophy of Leg
isiation for Swindlcrs-A Wreath
for yTaitman's Grave.
IoopYn1ogr, 1921

lOOPYkIG2I. lb5Z-l
"Tcdy" Hamilton Of Barnum's circus
always has good story to relate Of in
terest to the public, and, as might be
expected, his stories usually have more
or less bearing on the circus itself. Not
the least interesting Of his narratives
relate to people who want to join the
circus, and great deal of Mr.. HaElil-
toms time seems to have been taken up
by these ambitious persons. 1t is a
very poor country town that does not
produce at least one young man who
has been allured by the gay spangles
and trappings of the ring and is salts
fed that a circus life is the life for him.
Not inf1equently it is a young woman
who is fascinated by the glamor, and
wishes to become great circus rider
and bow to the plaudits of the multi
tude. To these persons Mr.. Hamiltona al
ways has stereotyped form of re-
ply. He points out the dangers
and hardships of such a life
and the small remuneration that
comes as reward for so much
effort. There is no black spot in the
picture to which he does not call par
ticular attention. Sometimes" says
Mr.. Hamilton, "my efforts to deter
these people are successful, and some
times they are not. In one very well re-
membered instance they decidedly were
not" and he went on to tell about it.
sit was not exactly case of a person
wanting to join circus" said he "It
was Brooklyn young woman of good
family, well educated and exceptionally
handsome, whose ambition was to SO
upon the stage She was the step
daughter of friend Of mine, lawyer,
who loved her as his own child. Know
ing that had had experience with such
cases he came to me for advice and as
gisbance. He proceeded under my d.
rection for time, but finally reported
that all his efforts were likely to be in
vain, that whiie he was doing all he
could to diksuade the young woman
from such a course she was go
ing right ahead making her ar
engagements to enter upon dramatic
career. My friend asked me as final
effort TO call upon his stepdaughter and
urge her If possible to abandon her in
DSaLlQIl, d1lo L UJCh tAiO LII 81 OkJiSCI So4IAey
to do SC. / went to his home in Brook
1yn, and, as an old friend Of the family,
took the liberty to point out to the
young lady the folly of the step she was
SO seriously contemplating. She had
been accustomed to the comforts of
good home, and laid much stress upon
the hardships she might have to endure
in the event that the dramatic profess
sion proved disappointing in pecuni-
airy sense. believe even went SO far
as to suggest to her that it did not in
i luently happen that actresses were
obliged to pawn their wardrobes to sat
isfy the demands of pinching poverty,
and that the chronicles Of the profess
sion showed that the best OF them after
a bad season were often obliged to
count railroad ties in order to
get back hoEe In fact, l drew
e. narrowing picture of the, hard
ships and poverty which attended
even moderate success, and went away
from the house believing that had saved
this young lady from life Of wretch
edness and want. To my horror con-
tinued Mr.. Hamilton, ''I soon afterward
learned that, notwithstanding all that
had been said and done, she had actual
1y gone upon the stage And now what
do you suppose has become Of her?" and
Mr. Harailton's voice grew almost
husky with emotion. s'Poor child! poor
clai1d!'' he noaned "She was Edith
Kingdom, and she had not been on the
stage q great while until she was the
wife Of George Gould"
'sTl1en she is not counting railroad
ties as you feared?" suggested
Counting railroad ties!' chuckled
1lr. Hamilton. ''Why, she is actually
counting railroads that she owns, or ex-
poets to own"
LAwMAKING WITH A VENGEANCE.
Since the New Jersey legislature has
passed a law. legalizing the Reading,
I4ehigh Valley and Jersey Central coal
conspiracy, and the New York legisla-
trre has amended the insurance code so
as TO let in the get-rich-quick endowment
societies Il would seem that almost any
thing might reasonably be expected
from state legislature, at least from
these two state legislatures. In both
these cases the process may simply DO
characterized as passing laws to make
fraud legal The public awaits the
next step with breathless interest and
viii be surprised at nothing. By the
time this correspondence is in type
these extraordinary laws may have
been repealed or vetoed, but others
equally extraordinary may have taken
their place. These endowment societies,
which have just been legalized by the
New York legislature against the
earnest protest of superintend-
emit Pierce, of the s5ate insur-
ance department, promise to pay 500
for s25, and pay nothing. Their pros
pectuses are always alluring and they
catch gudgeons by the thousands. 1t
may be urged that anyone who goes
into a scheme where 500 is promised
for SIS, deserves to be swindled, but at
the same time state legislature should
hesitate before it passes laws to lcgalize
this sort of thing. The gentlemen who
carry on the green goods business
under some disadvantage should come
ii and demand legislation in their BE-