St. Paul daily globe., 1893-01-29
BEASTS and SLEICAS.
The Geological Gardens Of
Washington Considerable
Of a Sham.
Composed Mainly of a Sick
Elephant and a Naval
Collection.
Sleigh Riding at the Capital
Costs About a Dollar a
Minute.
Agitation Over the Possibility
of Mrs. Cleveland Wear
ing Crinoline.


WASHINGTON. Jan. 2S.-The National
Geological garden is name that sounds
very great, but like a great many other
things. not to mention people, in wash
ingtOn, its greatness is i'll the title
alone, for compared with the menagerle
of any ordinary three-ringed circus, the
geological garden shrinks into nothing
ness. The collection of animals in Lin
coin park at Chicago surpasseS it far,
and so far as anybody notes, it is
place given over to children and tour
lists. That, however, doesn't signify,
for most Of the town is given over to
tourists. The real and rare Washing
ton native is born, lives and dies and
never sets foot in the monument, OF the
national museum, or the COrc0ran gal
lery, or many other of the show places
of the town except when Aunt Cornela
and Cousin George come up from North
Carolina for visit and have to be
shown around.
But to return to the geological gar
dens They are a large tract of SparSely
cultivated land. with a steep hill or two,
and anarrOW road thrown i'll. The collec-
ton has as its foundation one elephant,
Il fraudulent old sinner whose trousers
always bag at the knees, and who has
rheumatism, and EOut and goodness
knows how many other remembranceS
of youth of dissipation. He was a
circus elephant in his younger days.
He belonged, they say, to Sells circus.
Once when the circus was entertaining
eager thousands here at the fed
eral capital the elephant fell
ILL Travelling had undermined his
delicate constitution. and his
owners, convinced that a removal would
kill him anyway, got beautifully rid OF
him by presenting him to the govern
ment. lie has dragged out feeble eX-
isUence ever since. Round him are
grouped the animals various naval Off
GERS have acquired in their travels.
When man in the navy picks up
stray monkey. or a new kind Of parrot
or they do say even stray cat In for
eign parts. he sends 1t to the geological
gardens. That is what ailS the place.
Ii might be an institution TO point to
with pride. but it isn't; and if your
Uncle Holman. of Indiana, can help it,
it never will De. Mr.. Holman doesn't
care for object lessons in Zoology. In
fact, he is c0nstitutionally opposed to
anything that requires an appropriation,
and the geological gardens being just
now in need Of money, are likely to go
a-begging for the nickel. The H0osier
statesman is lighting the appropriation
tooth and nail.
Washington seems to be seeing the
fag end of a cold snap such as the Oldest
inhabitant scarcely remembers. Fol the
rich it has been Il season of amuSementS
wholly new, and the livery stable keep
ers have fairly coined money. The man
who has had a sleigh to rent this last
fortnight may now retire on his gains
and buy absOlutlon for his sins, for he
needs it. His ways have been like unto
the ways of cutthroatS and sWindlerS
One young man came here from the
South and made up his mind to reVel i'll
the unaCcuStOmed delight of sleigh
ride. He reYcled for little more than
four hours UP and down the avenue with
Il brisk bay horse and dark green en-
ameled cutter. Then what do you think
the bill was? sixty dollars. Don't be-
lieve it? Neither did the young man in
question at first, but finally he had to
pay, and became a sadder and wiser
as we'll as poorer man.
-
For the poor the cold has been thing
of horror, and the suffering among them
has been terrible. The daily consump-
tion of coal in Washington amounts to
about one hundred and fifty carloads.
and as only seventy-fve carloads ar
rive here day, the scarcity Of fuel has
become almost alarming. The river by
which much of the fuel is brought in, is
frozen, and the canal is blocked with
ice This leaves the coal baron mon
arch of all he surveys. He sells to the
smaller dealers at enormous prices, and
ne has issued the edict that till the cold
weather ceases he won't sell to coored
people at all. 1t is hard enough for
these dusky citizens to raise the money
to buy fuel at any time, but when, with
the money in their hands, they are re
fused c0al-Well, It's murder, that's
what 1t is. Every drip of the caves in
today's sun sounds like a tear of Joy
from the burdened poor that the cold
weather is over. The charitably in-
clined people Of the town are doing their
best ami tickets to Mrs. John Sher-
woods reading for the benefit of the
poor have gone off like hot cakes,