Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-11-26
PEOPLE MUST BE AMUSED
This Holds as Good Of Washing.
ton as Any Other Place.
Gambling and Guzzling No Longer
countenanced i'm the National Cap
ital-Good Stories Of Theaters
and Actors.
Especial washington letter.


The poet told the truth, although
there will always be some doubt con-
corning the authorship of the lines.
The words have a jingle of merriment,
wine and wassail, and indicate that
they were written by man; and by
just such a man as Col. John A. Joyce.
But Ella Wheeler Wilcox claims their
authorship:
Laugh. and the world laughs with you.
Weep, and you weep alone.
This grand old earth must borrow its mirth.
1t has troubles enough of its own"
Phillip Phillips, the celebrated singer
of sacred music, used to sing verse
containing the words: Though you
may forget the singer, you will not for
get the song" and so l. makes no diff
ference from whose pen the lines came,
and it would make no difference If we
never heard of the controversy concern
ing authorship-the words contain a
truth which is universal.
The moralists and theorists of all ages
have discussed the best modes of living.
There are ascetics to-day who believe
in the repression Of mirth, even in chill
drcn. There is priestly class who live
in seclusion, and, meeting each other,
always make the cheerful allusion:
Brother, we must all die" There are
others who look upon the world through
glasses of q different color, and who be-
licye in extracting all the pleasure pos
sible out of this feeting existence.
Some of them are the careless ex-
tremists who clink their bumpers and
sing: Eat, drink and be merry" But
there are still others who attain happy
medium between extreme recklessness
and extreme asceticism, and they are In
the majority.
People in the national capital who
live in the ease and luxury of comfort
able incomes, the families of statesmen
and of the higher salaried government
employees, the foreign ambassadors and
ministers, and the wealthy visitors who
make this winter resort, are all in pur-
suit of pleasure. The majority of them
are reasonable in their quest of enjoy
ment. In the hotels where families of
congressman spend the winter there
are little card parties given by the
ladies, whereby long evenings are pleas
antly passed. The ladies on the first
floor of the hotel go visiting the ladies
on the fifth floor, and the ladies on the
second floor visit the ladies on the ninth
floor; and thus visits are exchanged in
the hotels just as calls are made at
home from house to house.
Then there are other card parties in
which gentlemen alone participate, and
sometimes large sums of money change
hands. 1t is proper to say, however.
| that gambling for money is growing
less and less among gentlemen every
year. In my brief experience in the ma
tional capital it has been pleasure to
notice the fact that gentlemen are doing
less gambling, and that the habit is be-
coming Ieprehensible. Forty or fifty
years ago drinking was not regarded
as a grave fault, but the temperance
spirit has grown during that time so
that drinking is now regarded as u
vice. Healthy public sentiment is thus
driving out the evil spirit of gambling.
The most popular pleasure here is the
theater, and many box parties are given
during the season. Washington is 4
small city compared with our CONNER
cial marts, and so we do not have the
best plays long continued. The star
performers and their companies seldom
| stay in Washington more than a week.