Life — April 19, 1888 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

A WORTHY EXAMPLE. HE Rev. Dr. Pridges, of Athens, Ga., preached his own funeral sermon to his congregation two Sundays ago, having his grave dug and a coffin ready for the occasion. There are a great many clergymen in this great land who would do well to follow Dr. Pridges’ example, and con- spicuous among these is the Rev. Dr. Talmage, the eminent pulpit athlete of Brooklyn. * * * ONDON Punch waxes sarcastic over Coquelin’s article on the art of acting in Harfer’s, and goes for the histrion in an article entitled “ L’art! C’est moi!” of which the animus is that M. Coquelin’s art is all in his eye, this able joke being constructed upon the actor’s advice to his fellow- artists: “Take care to concentrate your whole being in the eye.” As M. Coquelin comprehends the English not with facilement, and as Punch's least elaborate puns are a study for an expert native etymologist in any event, M. Coquelin is to be congratulated upon his inability to appreciate the full horror of this dire and damning jest. * * * AYOR HEWITT’S table of statistics indicates that though the Irish may not have any right to fly their flag from the City Hall, they are entitled—so far as the numerical strength of the inmates gives title—to hang it from the roofs of the penal and charitable institutions of the city. “WHERE THE EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT WOULD BE POPULAR.” * * * HOUGH a Panama Canal might not make the Hima- layan Mountains more easily accessible than they now are, yet who can doubt that it would give us some Handy Andes! ECRETARY BAYARD'S order that the Enterprise storm Tangier, but that in no circumstances should a gun be fired, seems to have settled the Morocco disturbance; but we trust that the rumor that the guns are to be taken out of our men-of-war, in order to preclude the possibility of firing upon an enemy in a rash moment, may not prove true. For how could we salute our naval officers and cabinet ministers without guns ? , * * * Xe) District Attorney Fellows is really going to try another boodlist! Well, this is a rapid age that we live in. * oe * HE newspapers “op are abusing Mr. Fatty Walsh, the em- — 4 inent ex-gambler and 4% ruffian, who is war- den of the Tombs Prison, because he failed to prevent the suicide of Mr. Francis W. Pittman, the genial truckman, who had been sentenced to hard labor for life for the murder of a disobedient daughter. And yet, it is hard to understand who it is that Mr. Walsh has injured by his negligence. Pittman wanted to die himself: he was of no use to his family; he would not have ornamented society, as he was to be in prison for the remainder of his un-natural life, and he would have been an expense to the people of the State, because no prisoner is self-supporting under our prison system. Ergo, it seems that Mr. Walsh has achieved the solution of an economic problem in a manner satisfactory all round, and should be praised, not blamed. * * * E: Yes, I see it’s to be the same old story with us— “marry in haste and repent at leisure.” SHE: I don’t see how you can say that, Henry; I'm sure it took me nearly two years to bring you to the point. * * * M R. ANSTEY tells us of a Greek gentleman, who, at the funeral of an infant daughter, apologized for present- ing so small a corpse in so large a gathering. If Matthew Arnold had followed the Greek gentleman’s example we might tolerate his estimate of the comparative civilization of these United States with a better grace. -We may at least flatter ourselves that we have not an upper class materialized, a middle class vulgarized, and a lower class brutalized. comicbooks.com