Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1898-10-26
A LETTER FROM THE
CITY BY THE SEA.
The Philadelphia Peace Jub-
lice Celebrations
ARGUS" AAKES APPROPRIATE SUGGESTIONS
THE SUMMER GIRL AND OTHER ALLEGoRI-
CAL REPRESENTATIONS TO CAPTURE THE
QUAKER CITY.
ARGUS AAkES APPROPRIATE SUGGESTIONS

Political interests are temporarily
overshadowed. for few days, by the
great Peace Jubilee celebration in Phil
adelphia, and hundreds of our citizens
will go up to see the monster military
| parade. Aside from the curiosity to wit
ness such demonstration, it is due to
Philadelphia that Atlantic City should
return, in part, the enormous patronage
which she bestows On us in Summer. lam
glad to note that our fiiremen and our
military will be represented in the big
procession and also that large "hoat"
is to be in the Civic parade representing
the Atlantic City Summer Girl as she
appears on the strand in August, clad
in an attractive bathing suit and other
paraphernalia. | fear, however that
the subject will not be done full justice,
for it is impossible to transport any
considerable section of tie Atlantic
Ocean and have it appear in Philadel-
phia as we see it here, in the summer
time, filed with bulky old women with
legs as big as a mill post, and hundreds
of shapely young girls with not much
raiment to embarras their movements.
Then there are the gay old mashers,
with bald heads and false teeth, who
chuck the chippies under the chin and
rescue" them from drowning in four
teen inches of water, and occasionally
take celestial observations under the
Boardwalk when the police are looking
at the bathers. All this, and idfuiteIy
much more, might be vividly portrayed
if some mighty power could only snatch
up fifty acre patch of Old Ocean, with
it's August contents and gently drop it
down in the bulk next Wednesday after
noon on Broad street, in Philadelphia.
What holy memories it would awaken
among the denizens of that fashionable
avenue How their old hearts would
palpitate and their teeth clatter when
big wave up-ended a quarter of an acre
of lovely girls and landed them in pro-
miscous mix-up on the shore or in shOal
water But man cannot hope to
achieve the physically impossible; SO the
next best thing is to do the best he can
with the means and material within his
control. five cannot carry up great
slice of the Ocean to remind the Quaker
City mashers of the Halcyon days of
August, we can and will send them up
an Allegorical representation as near to
the real thing as it is possible to put
upon board platform on wheels. |
feel it in my old bones that it will be
grand success, and shall feel nightly
disappointed if the whole City don't go
wild with enthusiasm when Atlantic
City's "foat' heaves in sight with
George Cluin at the helm, and Emory
Irelan on the poop deck, and Stewart
Shinn in the hold, and bevy of summer
girls with "shapely" forms kneeling on a
pile of sand hunting for clamshells. Oh,
it is swell idea, and my blessing goes
to the fellow who first thought of it.
But what pity that this line of inven-
tive genins had not materialized before
There are great possibilities that lie un-
developed along this line. am SO dumb
l cannot think of anything original
myself, but sometimes when somebody
else has hit up an idea can add sug-
gestion or two to elaborate it. just
think what procession of ideas we
might have had developed in wood and
paint, and plaster, and hauled through
the streets of Philadelphia, as object
lessons to the rising generation We
might have struck it rich by elaborat-
ing our local and County politics into
Allegorical groups. For instance we
might have represented Senator Hoff-
man, and Mayor Thompson and Levi
Albertson as trio of Saints spurning
Office. We might have pictured "Sam."
Kelley putting dynamite ire-cracker
under Lew" Evans. There might
have been constructed large and pic
turesque crowd of Democratic strikers,
in expectant attitude, waiting to pull
the leg of Somers Doughty. Greatest
of all we might have had mighty
group of Republican Candidates tear
fully beseeching the colored man and
brother to come back and vote for them
lust once more" What tableau of
wax fggers"- to Madame Tus-
saud's, or the Eden Musee-could have
been knocked together in q harmony
group composed of ed" Lee, and
"Lew" Evans, and Frank Stoy and
"Lew" Donnelly, Congressman Gard
ner and John f. Hall. And then we
might have contrasted the big group
with little one representing candidate
| Ashley, riding in dead wagon, and
pointing to blackboard upon which
was inscribed "Ouly 500 votes behind
the rest of the ticket ~ Oh it makes
me almost sick when l measure the OPP
portunities we have missed by not hav-
ing somebody "think up" on the subject
a little sooner. feel very grateful and
| think all our citizens do, toward Geo.
Cluin and Emory Irelan, for doing what
they could in such short time to re-
present our leading industry-bathing;
but they are naturally too modest to
lead in such an exhibition. The commit
| tee of arrangements should be composed
of more hardened sinners-who could
face q regiment of mermaids without
| flinching-and ride forty miles with
them on pine board in dusty street
and not blush. The next time we have
war with foreign country-and q
three days 'tearout" in Philadelphia at
the tail end of it.-I do hope that some
body will get move on them q little
carrier in order to show the Country
what we have to show in Atlantic City.
The Police forceis considerably "rattled"
| Just now, over the shaking up that it is
getting at the hands of Mayor ThOmp-
son and hear that the case is so SER
ious that some of the force have actual
| ly refused an invitation to drink, and
tainted away at the sight of a lithograp-
ed mug of foaming besr. do not know
much about the inside facts of the quar-
rel between the Mayor and the discharg-
ed and suspended officers, but presume
the Mayor has good reasons for his
action. The Gty's peace and safety is
the main thing, and whatever stands in
the way of that will eventually have to
go. Mayor Thompson was elected as q
Reform Mayor to reform many abuses,
and the men who made his election pos
sible intend that he shall live up to the
letter Of the contract undertaken