Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-07
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS,

1.-THE gilt-edged youths of Gotham have
adopted a new means Of nocturnal amuse-
ment that is as brutal as they think It de-
lghtful," said Walter Floyd, the New York
broker. at La Normandie yesterday. 1.-The
latest fad is cat hunting. You are familiar,
OF course, with the crusade against cats
which the women of New York started
some time ago from humanitarian motives.
They regarded every cat that prowled
around the city as being homeless, and,
therefore, tired of life so they went around
catching them and putting them to death
by means of anaesthetics. The young bloods
have followed their example but in a differ
ent manner. Homeless felines are their OBJ
JectS Tor annihilation Also but thew use
bull terriers and fox terriers instead of
chloroform. You can imagine what a fight
there Is when a vicious dog OF either of the
species named tackles a cat who recognizes
that 1t must battle for its life. The young
men who pursue this brutal pastime make
regular engagements with each other for a
cat hunt, and really dress for it, They wear
old clothes and rubber-soled tennis shoes
SO that they may keep up with their dogs
and not attract policemen with their noise
In running. l heard two well-known young
men at the Brunswick one night recently
gloating over their experiences of the night
before and describing to an interested group
the great fight that occurred when their
dogs attacked a cat on the steps leading
into Mrs. Paran Stevens residence. and the
cute way in which they escaped from the
ponce who were attracted by the noise of
the battle. j know all this is utterly de-
PRAYED and shocking. but it is true. never
theiess."
An American who has spent several years
in Italy and studied the conditions of that
country with great interest is Edward c
Eliot, relative of the famous president of
Harvard College. At the Arlington yester-
day he talked on the subject
THE present disastrous condition of Ita-
ly." he remarked, lis the result of an at
tempt on the part Of the Crispi government
to uproot the Catholic religion, and in this
way diminish the power Of the pope In TIA
ly. The attack was first made on the
schools, with the idea to not only destroy
the teachings of Romanism in them, but to
allow no other teachings to take its place
and thus let practical atheism supplant the
former faith. In hundreds of instances the
teachers were expelled, to be succeeded by
non-religious instructors. Then, too to
keep down the religious feeling the sacred
ness of Catholic festival days has been de-
stroyed This has been brought about by
me government orders to take the larger
scholars in the schools and march them OFF
TO some other festivities while the services
appropriate to the day were being held in
their church. Many active adherents of
SfisPi are the OWNERS OF FACTORIES, and they
have entered into a scheme of radical poll
tics by compelling their employees to work
on sundays, giving them Monday for a day
of rest. Anti-clerical clubs were also form
ed, which by the judicious expenditure of
money keep many peasants from going to
church by entertaining them with gaieties
These are few of the means by which the
government is seeking to crush Catholicity
out of Italy and altogether are responsible
for the appalling condition of the country"
1.-The British government is forever ex-
perimenting with its fighting appurtenances
in order to ascertain just what IT can
do in case of trouble with some other
country" said Joseph Markell of Boston, at
the Ebbitt. For some time past 1t has
been trying to find out just how long it
would take to get its men and supplies
across the American continent in case of a
difficulty will Russia. a short time ago
a special train, carrying armament and
supplies, was dispatched from Halifax to
Esquimault, British Columbia, with in