Year: 1872

If Mark Tapley were in town to-day,
he would find such combination of out
ward circumstances that he could not re.
sist the temptation to be lawfully jolly"
He would pity the suffering horses, to be
sure-but then he would find great con-
ISOLATION in the fact that the epidemic
which afilicts them is only an affiictien,
and not a fatality. He would go with
out hot milk to his coffee, or ice to his
goblet, with the utmost cheerfulness-
confident that both of these adjuncts to
his breakfast would reappear with. the
sunshine, and contented till the good
time should return. If Mark had had to
walk down town to his place of business
in the sloppy rain of this morning, he
would have chuckled over his wetness,
insisting that there was some credit to be
gained by looming out strong" under
conditions discouraging to uncheerful
men-perhaps swinging his hat aloft in
triumph, as he did when he turned his
back upon a snug home and buxom
landlady to seek his fortune in some
quarter of the earth where the atmosphere
of comfort might prove to be less ener-
waiting.


But Mark was not in town to do all
this. Quite the contrary. Neither he
nor single representative of his family



lyn for three days. Broadway was
thronged yesterday and this morning
with sour and damp pedestrians, wearily
| trudging their way on foot through heavy
downfalls of rain, looking hopelessly for
q conveyance, and gloomily wondering
chow long this sort of thing was to last"
The unfortunate beings whose homes lie
above Fiftieth street in New York, or ION
the hill, " in Brooklyn, three miles away
from the ferry, came down painting with
fatigue, and wetter than drowned rats.
Those who essayed to go to places of
amusement last night found it impossible
to engage carriages at their favorite sta
bles. The grocer failed to appear prompt
the butcher also failed; the baker
became invisible; the merchant can
not to-day send home the goods
purchased by his customers; the express
companies cannot deliver bundles at
the piers; the railroad and steamboat lines
are compelled to reject new freight until
such time as they can clear away the
enormous accumulations that tax their re-
sources to the utmost; races are deferred
because there are no well horses to strive
for the prizes, truckmen are losing daily
the proceeds of the labor which supports
their families; thousands of households,
JnlS Saturday, neeu coal lOr sunday, Dub
will have to do without it; doctors make
their calls ON foot; and Mrs. Potiphar,
who doesn't like to be put on footing
with common people, remains sulkily at
home, feeling as dismal as Irving's famous
traveller caught in country inn on q
rainy Sunday. New York has never
seen anything like this since the dreadful
riot week in 1868, when everything was
stopped-includIpg the good order and
safety of the community. Neither OF
these is at risk now-and that is con-
ISOLATION amid the general misery.


But if this condition Of affairs goes on
much longer, there will be need of new
edition of Rogets "Thesaurus," Nobody
seems to know what name to apply to the
prevalent disorder. One of the newspap-
ers calls it typhoid laryngitisi another the
hippozymosis; others, the horse plague,
disease, or distemper; others again, more
elegant in their tastes, style it the
equine epidemic"-and this morning
there is pleasing variety and novelty in
the application of such terms as epizoJtic,
epizooty, and epihippic viii some one
invent name which all men may agree
upon, and be able to pronounceY And
shall we not cultivate our patience till the
frost and sunshine come to end our woes.
! NJ Y. Commercial Adcerttser.