The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1900-03-16
Chase's Letter.

|
maybe in the country, especially on a
moonlight night when four eyes look at il
from a sleigh-look out over broad field
covered with white and sparkling as il
thousands of diamonds were scattered
over its surface. But it's different in the
city. Snow here looks out of place, lone
some, sorry it came, and when big lump
drops from the top of an eight story build
Ing on to a mans head he, too, feels bad
about it.
Saturday afternoon the elements start
ed in for fair sized Vermont blizzard.
Snow fell and the wind blew. For an
hour or more before | went to bed Satur-
DAY evening | watched the antics of ma
ture from my window-watched the snow
as the wind tossed it this way and then
that. watched it as, after hard struggle,
1t reached the ground, endeavoring to
form itself into symetrical mass over
the land. 1t had reached its destination,
earned rest but given not a minute to
enjoy 1T. A strong gust of wind blew a
mass of it into an irregular drift and then
came the trolley line plow pushing to one
SIDE all in it's way. In the morning
shovels and snow will disturb good part
of what remains and then will come the
carts into which the oft called beautiful
snow will be shovelled and from there
dumped into the Charles river, forever
out of the way. That isn't the fate of all
the snow that falls here, but it's the way
a gOOd amount OF 1t goes.
Typical of life, isn't it, in some re-
| spects? We blow through the world,
tripping up on this, stumbling over that,
humping against something else, either
trying to push some one out of the way
or being pushed out of the way ourselves,
until, battered and bruised, we step aside
planning for few minutes of rest and
peace, and then-the cart, the shovel and
the final dumping place. That's not ex-
actly pleasant view of the situation but
its the turn my thoughts took while
watching the snow in it's struggle to
reach the ground. And it's not SO far out
OF the way, is it?
The snow lasted all night and was the
Severest, in fact the only one of the sea-
son, but mild and pleasant, all say, COM
pared with one that blew in here a year
ago. when, for time, snow and wind had
their own way, b. ocking streets, derang
Ing wires, doing great damage and costing
the city much money. This one was
comparatively inexpensive, easily handled
and by Tuesday there was little snow left
in the streets to render travelling I'M
pleasant or feet wet.
The newspapers are now clamoring for
an arrangement of some kind in the Park
street su bway station to prevent people
from being injured by falling in front of
the cars. An accident of this kind hap.
pened late Tuesday afternoon. A lady
with small child was standing on the
edge of the platform waiting for a car. A
man came down the stairs just in season
to buy his ticket, made rush to catch
the car going his way. In all probability |
not more than five minutes were saved |
but they cost human life. He didn't |
mean to, OF course, and perhaps doesn't
know that it was his rush and push that
sent the lady under the car The acct
dent should be an example to the many
who pull and jam, regardless OF the COM
fort and safety of others, in order to get
into their car in time for seat. During
the afternoon and early evening hours
the Park street subway station is crowd
ed and the wonder is there are not more
accidents. People crowd to the edge of
the platform, waiting for the cars, and as
there Is nothing to hold them back, a push
from behind is any time liable to send
some one on to the track. The cars going
so frequently serious injury to one falling
from the platform is almost certain. In
thlS case the lady was caught between
a running Car and the platform, her limbs
being broken and injuries resulting inter-
has9y from which she died in few hours
The woman is the mother of five child
rem, the oldest ten years and the young
est ten months. In careless, thought
less moment IN the selfish pursuit OF his
DIV" object, one man has thus made a
home SorroWlul very sorrOwtul. IL is,
under stand, the first serious accident in
the subway and makes more evident than
ever the necessity OF railing or some
kind Of d guard that will prevent Sec
Ond.
\ short time ago | attended lecture
IN Sanders Theatre, Howard Memorial
Hall, by Henry Austin Clapp, on Ham
let" | fully intended to write brief ac- :
count of II Tor the benefit OF the eX-
Reading club of Bradford of
" Inch 1 had the distinguished honor to be !
a mt Der, but 1t Is a little late TO do that
now. What L stored up in my mind to {
Leil you, my dear brothers and sisters. {
laS taken its departure, gone the way OF {
All lnnumerable number OF other
things stored up there for future use and &
never on hand when wanted. | remem- 9
Der, though, that lie spoke of the play as I
,he first one of the great tragedies writ l
EN- by Shakespeare. Up to this time he -
lad been Writing gay, lghtL earted plays, l
ull Of the music and pleasu eS OF life. t
But, now, evidently, some great grief had l.
come INTO his lie. The loss OF dear q
rIend or relative, disappointment IN love l
II the discovery that his love had been
bestowed upon woman unworthy OF 1t
any one of these, Mr.. Clapp thought, o
night have been the inspiration that C
'aused Shakespeare TO write this great C
tragedy. There is not character in lit p
'rature that has exeTted over the think a
Dg, studying class of mankind the lnf1u- h
nee Hamlet has. Ia just what way the n
Dane has eXerted the In
iuence l cannot recall, as stated by Mr..
Jlapp. He has his remarkable traits and
ood points but he seems also to have AN
specially noticeable iadlU, prUcrds lna- 7
ion, continually inducing him TO put off
he deed his fathers ghost besheeched
i'm to do. If he had plunged the knife d
uto the king when he found him on
rs knees, instead OF saying wait till he ,
runk, send him into tue next world III 4
easily condition instead OF with plea
or forgiveness on his lips; if he had only L
llleu him that first good opportunity
1hy-the tragedy would have been spoil
d, that's all. But it seems as if that d
1as the real plan 10 have done the killing
instead OF waiting and then doing it by +,
he wholesale. Scholars have studied ~
lamlet, more books have been written
bout him than ut any other literary W
haracter but he's still "a mystery, no one
as yet satisfactorily explained him. L A
ould rather not try il myself. Uf the =
emile Uphelia the lecturer said a few u
supplementary things. She was beauLi-
Al, lovable, pure as a sunbeam and in Il
very way a woman of whose love a man
)uld well be proud. She gave much
lore love than was returned for Hamlet Oh
his love for her had been great, would
ave acted differently in the gave yard 10