Life — January 12, 1888 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 bs “While there's Life there's Hope.” VOL. XI. JANUARY 12, 1888. No. 263. 28 West TWENTY-THIRD STREET, NEw York. Published every Thursday, $5.00 a year in advance, postage free. Single copies, 10 cents. Back numbers can be had by applying to this office. Vol. 1., $1.50 per number; Vol. II., 25 cents per number; Vols. III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX. and X. at regular rates, Rejected contributions will be destroyed unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. Subscribers wishing address changed will greatly facilitate matters by sending old address as well as new. ; MASHES on the Elevated railroads are no longer funny. New Yorkers must live somewhere, and heretofore it has seemed to them worth an effort to get from their places of business to their homes every evening. But if these nar- row escapes on the Elevated continue, LIFE will look to see a revival of the old and simple habits of our ancestors, when the merchant's family lived over the store, the lawyer slept in his own back office, and the grocer’s clerk had a bunk under the counter. One of the most fortunate classes of the community is the guild of janitors. They live, in great measure, in fireproof houses, their place of business is at their door, and their families dwell with them. They do not have to waste their time and energy, and imperil their lives, hurtling through the air up and down Manhattan Island. They can stay at home, exposed only to the risk that an elevator may fall with them, and if they are adroit they can train their wives and children to do the biggest part of their work, and leave them at leisure to carry the ward and make large fortunes. Oh, yes; in this congested metropolis it is a great thing to be a janitor and stay at home. Next to that it is well to live so near your place of business that you can reach it on foot. As a last resort, go buy yourself an accident insurance ticket. When Sir Cyrus owned the Elevated, did these smashes happen? No, indeed! The good man rode on his air-lines himself. But Mr. Gould goes to sea in his yacht, and, safe on the bosom of the deep, leaves us to take five-cent risks on his property. * * N the description of the Lawyers’ Downtown Club, which opened a week or more ago, LIFE noted with gratifica- tion that a corner of the club had been set apart for ladies, as a place where their husbands or other male attributes might bring them to lunch or dine. In this provision, which is a novelty in New York clubs, though it has long obtained elsewhere, lies the germ of the woman's club as it ought to be. Ladies don’t want a club for themselves, where they can go and spend their leisure. They are so constructed that the shops are more delightful to them than any place outside of their homes. They do not care to look out of club windows, nor to play cards or billiards with one another, nor to sit around small tables and smoke and drink things. But to lunch or to dine on occasion in a club restaurant may be grateful to any woman’s spirit, and the innovation in club customs which makes such a novel experience possible is happily conceived and worthy of imitation. * * * HE increasing propensity of Gothamites to dwell out of town suggests, too, the value of ladies’ restaurants in clubs as trysting-places. The most noted club of Boston long ago made such a provision for its gentler constituents as the Lawyer's Club has just adopted, and it was reported the other day that a new Philadelphia club had done the same thing. It is true that neither Boston nor the Quaker City has a Delmonico’s, but nevertheless, their example in this matter is a worthy one, and LIFE is glad to see our own town tending in the same gallant direction. * * * T is a matter for public congratulation that the Reading strike fizzled out. Its failure seems to mark the final collapse of the Knights of Labor organization as a power for harm. When the Reading Knights refused to quit work attentive ears could catch the dirge of the walking delegate, sighing and whistling through the telegraph wires. The walking delegate is unpopular. Since the Anarchists were hanged and Mr. Jay Gould went on his travels, there is no one left in this country whose claim to a monopoly of public odium can be compared with his. The sooner he is seen walking on his “ uppers” and soliciting funds on the street corners, the better it will be for everybody, but especially for us warking-people. * * T appears that three futile attempts have been made within the last three months to gather a quorum of the general committee of the Grant Monument. It must be that there is no money in monuments. * * * INCE Thanksgiving Day Yale College has determined that the quality of liberal education that she imparts is worth more than heretofore, and has raised her tuition charges ten dollars a year. To the victors belong the spoils! * * * LYMOUTH CHURCH seems to have abandoned for the present all notion of importing a preacher, and has hired Lyman Abbott as her regular “ supply.” LiFe doesn’t feel half as sorry for her as Dr. Berry does. comicbooks.com