Year: 1873

concerned and their designs. we congratu-
late President Lerdo and his fellow passengers
on their escape, and on the fact that their eel
| ebration was not marred by any serious acci-
| dent or disturbance. We have great hopes
that under President Lerdo's administration
the opening of this important railway will
mark the beginning ola new career of internal
peace, enterprise and prosperity to our sister
republic. ms5
Justice TO Hoax Ames-ssHonest, Honest
IaEO"


1t would be a grievous wrong to the subject
of this article if his exact position in the
scale of badness is not without delay assigned
to him. Unrecognized demerit is serious in
jury to the ambitions of certain sinister minds
and when man courageously erects pedestal
of infamy for himself he should not be con-
demned to stand on it under cloud As q
great garish sunAower holds up its yellow face
to the MONDAY sun, SO does the man of defiant
turpitude challenge the iercest glance that the
world can bestow on his brazen efrontery
The fercer the better for him. It is with feel
ings of profound awe that We approach
the task of posing the man of
the Credit Mobilier on his pedestal, and
craving beneath his feet the damnatory
lines which will be sufficient to crafty his
vanity. He might in the excess of this spirit
Of vainglory desire them to be printed in
large letters on placard upon the stoop of
his back or stamped in high relief upon his
forehead. About that we do not gluch care,
leaving the final decision in his own hands.


At first glance, as the story of his terrible
alluring temptations of the congressman and
his success in catching 30 many with his bait
roll before the mind, Hoax Ames seems dis
solving from his outward shape into the weird
personation Of Mephistopheles-fres as when
newborn from the brain of Goethe. The
which he demanded Congressman's body
and SOUL the delights Of dividends of the
national Fausts, their remorse too late and the
harsh, sardonic laughter with which he
triumphs in their desolation, are all brought
wildly forward. We would dub him the
Mobilier Mephistopheles and leave him
there with the devilish leer of that triumphant
moment wrought upon all the lines of his
face; but even Mephistopheles is not sufficient
to fill the bill. The leer is too perceptible, the
tread too firm and he is altogether too rollick-
ing. There should be more righteousness in
the tempter's smile; the gait should be more
gliding, as if he could steal upon it into
mans soul and never be felt getting there
on account of the fabrication Of that oily
smile. Then he should appear to torture his
victim unwillingly, but, at the same time, stab
and fay Indignantly and mercilessly. All
Iago." Was Shakespeare prophet, looking
down the mists Of three centuries to
find in Hoax Ames the incarnation
of the human fiend he built with
such subtle skill from all the smooth-faced
deviltry that ever worNned is way above the
earth? There may be some, we admit, who
will deny to Hoax Ames this conspicuous dis
honor. They will plead that he was what he
was because of circumstances and beliefs, as
they will plead the honesty of Judas Iscarot.
They will say that any man almost might have
been as bad ifhe had had similar opportunities;
they will, in fine, endeavor to rob him of the
discredit of his steady purpose so artistically
carried out to delude and in the end denounce
those he wound within his tolls. Idle objec-
tons Let us take the first scene between
Roderigo (Mr. Kelley and Iago Hoax Ames).
How glibly the lines run in counselling the
anxious Roderigo to conceal his thought and
then the scorn of outwardly seeming what one
is at heart


But will wear my heart upon my sleeve


For Dawes to peck at.


The iteration of ''put money in thy purse
becomes painfully fitting until Kelley so re-
solves. Then, as the victim walks away, how
the face wrinkles into smiles as Hoax Kisses
after him.


Thus DO ever make my fool my purse


Of Roderigo more anon. We can feel the
plot advance under the pressure of that one
relentless hand, behind which is the face,
serious, impassioned or seductive, of Iago
Hoax We need not worry through the acts
We can come t9 The thrilling time when the
pitiless snarer Of innocence ~ is about to
begin the slaughter. Cassie Colfax has been
denounced, and he mourns his good name
Does not this consolation fit the lips of
Hoax2