The evening times., 1901-12-16
LIVE TOPICS ABOUT TOWN.

scheme for paving alongside car tracks.
said a street car magnate yesterday. We
have tried everything, and yet our bill
for repairs to the paving next the rails is
something startling It is one of the
largest items of maintenance of way
Where asphalt is laid next the track the
vibration due to the high speed Of the
heavy cars skaters the edges of the paw
ing and then the rain and weather do the
rest Vitrffed brick of the best quality
is something of an Improvement, yet they
are far from answering all the require
ments.
so far as public service is concerned
| it would seem that the underground troll
ley was about as far advanced as it can
get, but from an engineering standpoint
it has a long road to travel The first
great problem to be practically solved is
to prevent the breakage OF current,
whereby eIectroIysIs is set up in all the
iron water pipes. gas pipes, electric light
and telephone cables and even in the
steel frames of buildings. These are be-
! ing steadily eaten by vagrant electric cur
rents, ard we are actually afraid to face
the iss1e. OrS of these days We VIII
wake UP to discover in some big city that
the whole gas and water system have
been practically destroyed Twenty mil
lion dollars would not replace them in
| Washington, nor $500, 900 0OG in Greater
New York"
Twenty per cent Of the public school
| teachers said a supervising principal
the other day, Say 'haow' and 'naow-'
These are no longer New ElgIandisms,
| but proof of the pure English origin Of
| teachers from Maryland, Virginia, and
/ North Carolina stock. There is need of
bringing all the public school teachers
| OF the District into some uniformity Of
/ pronunciation In France and Germany
/ greater care is taken to teach children
/ to speak correctly and to pronounce ac-
cording to the best standard than with
1 any other branch Of education Engiist
! is destined to be the world language.
/ The commercial supremacy Of the Eng
! Iish-speaking peoples has settled that.
and it ought to be standardized as rapid
4 iy as posst5l:.
Gould phonetic spelling be generally
| adopted English would be one of the
| easiest OF languages to acquire That re
| form is now sought in a feeble way, but
/ If vigorously pursued it could be estab-
Ished in twenty years Standard time
/ was suggested twenty years before it was
! adopted. We also need TO get rid OF
some intermediate and obscure vowel
sounds. Half IS pronounced haf, hahf
harf. and hawf: patent IS patient, pay
tent OF patient. as you wish; exist is
of
being permitted TO retain its Latin flavor
as eoksist- and so on Were Ben Frank
lin and George Washington to come 10
life and talk from behind screen a dis
tinct Individual and archaic favor would
be noticeable in the speech OF each Even
a hundred years has made marked
changes.
The Government takes great care f5at
/ TO one shall get anything OF value from it
without showing proper authority in the
ninuIest particular. and il is right that it
I should DO SO. There is as much formality
/ in drawing a dollar from the Treasury as
/ in drawing a million dollars The post
Office IS also exeeisIug great care to see
that letters fall int the hands OF the
! proper parties. No one can question for
a moment that it is a wise and just pre-
caution Last week a lady received no
tifcation that there was letter with
money in It at the postof1ce Tor her hrs
band. That gentleman was away, and the
lady had to get a certified cory Of an or
der Of the court that she had authority
TO administer his affairs That cost a dol
lar. She also spent half a days time and
% cents for car fares She got the let
Ter at last. Il had 10 cents in il
There are geniuses among animals as
we'll as among men, deeIarcd a naturalist
attached to the National Museum I
have seen geniuses among holh domestic
and wild animals. and they exhibit many
| Of the eccentricities Of their komotyPes.
The animal genius IS apt 10 present some
physical defect. and brings its superior
brain power TO Offset this serious disad-
vantage. I had a fox hound once. which
showed quicker intelligence than any of
the pack IN which he ran
Though he lacked staying power on the
run. he was invariably in at the death.
He ran by ear as well as by scent, and
would drop well behind and then cut eff
all the corners and circles. He studied
the country thoroughly and could gen
orally identify a fox by its scent IN
stead Of following the trail Talleyrand
would classify the odor and proceed IeiS-
ureIy to that particular fox's earth and
wait for the fox to run home with the
pack yeIping at his heels We caiied him
TaIIeyrand because he Iimped. aDd never
told the truth when a lie would answer
the purpose He had Nc favorites and
left no descendants
nnp cRn-