Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-09-20
Ehrni1tg Gt1at

The Berks and Dauphin turnpike.
whose owning company is under fire
before the Public Service Commission
to-day because of the condition of the
road, is the second oldest highway in
this part of the State and from some
testimony presented to-day one of the
worst in spots. The oldest road of the
"spokes" of the road wheel centering
in Harrisburg. is that between Middle
town and the State Capital which
dates from before 1875, Lancaster
court records showing that highway
to Harris Ferry was projected. It1
was much travelled by the time of the
French and Indian war. The road to
Lebanon is believed to have come not
much later and it was a highway for
settlers and others travelling from
Easton to the south by way of the
foothills of the Blue Ridge. Many of
the ancestors of people in the Cum
berland Valley and in the southern
tier of counties came over the road
which figures in to-day's. proceedings.
That 1t was an important highway is
shown by an entry in the docket of
the first court held in Dauphin county,
the year of its erection from a part of
Lancaster. This record is dated Au-
gust, 1885, and refers to branch laid
out to THE Great Road From Harris
burg to Hummelstown." In 1916, the
Berks and Dauphin Turnpike Com
pany came into being and legislative
report of 1922 tells that it had thirty
four miles completed at an average
cost of $4,000 per mile. The individual
stock subscriptions were S63,000 in
round numbers and the State of Penn
sylvania kindly took $4,000 of stock.
| Gradually bits of the turnpike have
been freed until there are no toll
gates until after Hummelstown is
passed. 1t is u State highway and
some day the State will take it over
If it does not condemn it.
Fall housecleaning time has come
and with it the beating of rugs, the
''cussing" of the man of the house and
increased sales in disinfectants in tho
city drugstores. One druggist says
that he never did a better business in
moth balls despite their increased
price In many of the suburban dis
tricts mothers are taking advantage of
the closed schools to put Johnny and
Mabel to work helping with the clean
ing and on many a commons the
small boy can be found grumblingly
beating from the carpets the dust
which he tracked in during the sum-
mer.
Officials of the Bell Telephone COM
pany in this city tell good story about
a man in an adjoining county who
unconsciously gave the great utility
corporation it's place in the life of the
| 1pitV in which he rpSi6eS Now
it seems that gentleman in Adams
county was dissatisfied with the way
some postal matters were being han
died and wrote to the Postmaster
General about it. The man was liter
ally without a post office address and
to overcome any difficulty to postmas-
ters' chief might have in communicat-
ing with him, he wrote: I'm case you
| want to reply to this letter, don't
! write. 1 have no post office address.
You can call me on the Bell phone"
A Harrisburg professional man who
/, entered the service recently saved him
self a lot of annoyance and at the
Z same time passed all requirements as
to his attainments. 1t seems that
when he forwarded his application he
was requested to send his diplomas
3 were all framed and hung on the
/ walls of his offices. Uncle Sam de-
4 manded proof He did not want to
. unframe the parchments so he had a
= notary come around and then read off
r each paper verbatim and took oath to
r their genuineness and to the fact that
. they were in his office The assem-
= blage of Latin and English was then
= solemnly sent to Washington.
S One of the stunts of bulldog with
a fine undershot jaw which is owned
n by a colored resident of the city is to
e carry a drop pipe. He wears it just
i like any man and appears to be rather
n fond of the attention he attracts. He
n will thread the street between automo-
= biles and cars and never think of let
: ting go of the pipe and he will walk
along the street and avoid groups of
: people with the same care for ap-
y pearances But the other afternoon as
y he was passing the federal building he
t saw two other dogs playing on the
n lawn. The owner had to pick up the
r pipe.
: A/friend calls attention to the fact
: that the name of the hotel or tavern
Z. which occupied the Grand Opera
L house site, about to be selected as the
= location for the new hotel, was called
n the Mansion House. There was an
= earlier inn on this site, but it was
e soon replaced with the Mansion House
: and was kept by Daniel Wagner The
h State Capitol hotel was on an opposite
corner of Third and Walnut and was
y next door to the old Exchange. These
I latter sites are now occupied by the
u federal building lawn.