Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1900-08-25
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{ SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
l came by the famous Old Corner
Bookstore lbuilt in l712 and almos! II
not quite the oldest building i'll Bos.
ton in mercantile use) today anu
Thought how the evolution OF time hau
robbed it of Il brilliant array OF men
who gave it its greatest fame. Mos'
of them are dcad-all | think with the
exception of DIR. Edward Everett tiale'
now an octogcnarinn, and Rev cyrus
Burtol, now almost Il nonogenarlih-
and there seems none to take thelr
places. | have seen there in Il single
Thursday Holy Thursday 1t used 10
be called, when the clergy from sur
rounding towns would gather there 10
meet old friends, pore over books III
many cases beyond their humble Salt-
ries to purchase, swap stories worthy
often of being pcrpctuated-Haw-
thorne the first to die and who mas
been dead nearly 10 years, Emerson,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Rev. Francis
Parkmal, the historian, whose ford
language when treating upon the most
common events was Il treat to be treas
ured up In memory, Edward Everett
Hale, then young clergyman from
Worcester, Cyrus 'BartOl, just emerg-
ing from the conservative teachings Hf
Or. Lowell. whom he succeeded i'll tue
former West church pulpit, holding 1t
for GO years, James Freeman Clarke,
who even then was evolving the fam
Gus "Rcsolutions' offered later mt the
Cambridge Divinity scha>.r-the
death of Theodore Parker, which came
lat. ,l,in
Unitarian body, Parker himself and
DR.. Lowelrs son, james Russell Low
ell, the poet Agassiz, Longfellow ana
many more. What Il mighty galaxy,
and who is there to take their places!
l did not realize what fine body OF
men the Italian contingent of Boston
included until | saw the parade the
other day in honor Of their assassin
ated king There was very long pa.
rade and it concluded with 4 yolley or
II guns from the navy yard, an eX-
tremc mark of respect by our govern
mcnt rs represented by Admiral
Sampson. BY the way, this demon
stration brought out in strong RELIEF
the utter folly of the blow Of the as
sassin. 1t simply brought into warm
life and deep earnestness the feelings
of almost every American Of Italian
birth. Many of these men believe in
republican rather than monarchical
forms of government; but to snow
their hatred and detestation of any
such crimes rs those Of the socialists,
they turned out in large numbers to
honor the royal victim. In his deata,
hAy rhI NV m n n Y
who thought of him little, while living.
The socialists plot was worse than
useless, then; il was really directed
against themselves and their own
aims.
The evils of the infamous SpOils Sys-
:em have never been better illustrated
than in the suicide the other day Of a
man have known for years, Mr.. John
\. Raycroft. formerly chief clerk In
the ferry division Of the street depart
mcnt. He was among the number sus-
pended by Superintendent Wheeler
about three months ago, and since that
time he has been despondent. Mr..
Raycroft had been employed in the
ferry division nearly twenty-scven
years. working his way up from the
very bottom to Il handsomely salaried
position. At the time of his discharge
there was II great deal of jusiiiable
comment because one who had been in
the employ of the city so long and had
lasted through administration of every
political complexion should lose his
position because of politics. Raycroft
or Johnnie" rs everybody called him
was one of the trucst and most dOmes
tic fellows in the world, and shot him
self at his own table, his wife having
left the room for minute. 1t was
horrible.
The recent break in the big water
main in front of the big new hotel. the
Tuurainr, and which entailed damages
by liuud ii will cost the city, the met
ropulian water board or some one uI
in the iiundrpdS of thousands of dollars
TO settle. seems to have been entirely
due To dishonest or incompetent work
Most recent of the discoveries Is the
finding of Il concrete pier which hat
been started rs Il support for the Di!
main. but which. for some reason, wa:
never finished. Engineers and Others
ut work in the big excavation say tina
if the pier had been finished the breal
would never have occurred. The mail
was - inches in diameter and waite
under high pressure passed through |
for two and a half hours before
could be stopped.
The Cuban teachers who have beel
here ana the fad for five or six week
have gone home. They have beel
feted and tXcurSioncd and kettle
drummed and lioniZel generally. The,
have doubtless had Il tearing goo
time and Il whole lot of people her
got newspaper notice by entertaining
them. but ii is doubtful If the adue
knowledge they carry back will be u
much use to their pupils. The tri
will broaden them out, however, an
hosts and guests will probably be tn
better for II.
The increase of the city'S gross del
by nearly three millions of dollars
Che past seven months. OF course give
the opponents of the prescn, admins
tration something to criticise an
chor,le over. and they are not slow
improve their opportunity. 1t max,
little difference what the eXplanatio
may be, the true and non-partisan fn'
is that the momentum of municipal Z,
penditure cannot be arrested in a si
gle month or a single year.