Life — March 10, 1892 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

‘LIFE: TE “OMhile there's Life there's Hope.” VOL, XIX. MARCH toth, 1892, No. 480. 28 West Twenty-Tuixo Street, New York, Published every Thursday. $s.coa year in advance. Postage to foreign eountries in the Postal Union, $1.04 a year, extra, Single copies 10 cents. Back numbers can be had by applying to this office, Single copies of Vols. I, and Il, out of print. Vol. 1., bound, $30.00; Vol. I1., bound, $15.00. Back numbers, one year old, 25 cents per copy. Vols. III. to XV1., inclu- sive, bound of in flat numbers, at $10.00, per volume. Subscribers wishing address changed will greatly facilitate matters by sending old address as well as new. Rejected contributions will be destroyed untess accompanied by a stamped ATOR DAVID B. and directed envelope, => HILL is still a famous —- man, but he is no longer the most noted man in the State. As a pre-eminent wonder he lasted about the space that wonders usually do, and then gave turn to a successor, The day before the meet- ing of the Senator's conven- y tion at Albany there hap- pened on the New York Central Railroad so sudden an accumulation of red-hot publicity that it has since been a disputed question whether it is fitter to speak of Oliver Curtis Perry as the David Bennett Hill of railroad robbers or of Senator Hill as the Oliver Curtis Perry of practical politics. On the evening of February 21st, Mr. Hill, if exhibited in a Bowery museum, would have drawn a bigger crowd than any other “ attraction” in the State of New York. On the evening of February 23d, under like conditions, Mr. Perry would have drawn a bigger crowd than Senator Hill. It may be mortifying to Mr. Hill to concede that itis so, but it ought not to be. It isthat way always with Fame. She is dy to be short off with the old a prospect of being on with a new. a fickle jade, and always love the instant there Tis tosuch masterful qualities as that Senator Hill owes his distinguished station. One only needs to compare his career with Perry's to discern that politics are far more worthy of an able man’s attention than irregular participation in the express business. If Perry cared for the expr the regular way, like Thomas C. Platt, in which case, in time, he might incidentally have achieved the political distinction of a Senator Hill. Perry, like Hill, seems to have been a temperate man, and though his morals were hardly as snug as Mr. Hill's, he enjoyed much greater re- ligious advantages than the Senator has ever cared to cultivate, He was at least as quick as Mr. Hill, and doubled on his track at Lyons and Rochester quite as suddenly as Mr. Hill ever did between Elmira and Albany. Yet, with all these useful abilities, Perry sits loaded down with chains in the Lyons jail. He has hosts of admirers, crowds come to look at him, reporters hang upon his lips, and doting women send him things to eat, but he is not happy, because the chances are that he will spend the rest of his life in prison, Look at him, young men! look hard at him and remember always that the greatest talents will do you no good unless you employ them in some work that is really worth while ! wie the several energies of Mr. Hill and Mr. Perry have found vent in widely different fields, it is recognized that there are traces of similarity about the qualities that have brought each of these notables to the front. It happened that in his last enterprise Perry took more chances than he could cope with. It often happens that way with adventurous men. Nevertheless he showed remarkable qualities, unwavering determination, boldness, the ability to think quickly under perplexing circumstances, and to act as quick as thought. Details never deterred him. His vigorous mind, always clearly fixed on the ultimate object, met them and dealt with them with easy mastery as they came up. He realized that the way to do a thing is to do it, and the way not to do it is to stand still at every step and speculate how the next step would appear in the eyes of a grand jury. He believed in one thing at a time, and would not overburden his energies by trying to be express-robber and grand jury- same time. man at the HERE is a difference of opinion as to the political wisdom of the call for a second New York State Democratic convention, to meet May 31st. There may be better ways of avoiding the candidacy of Hill than by the May convention; indeed it is likely that the business was effectually done by the Cooper Umion meeting and the presentation of a protest at Albany. HE New York Legislature is considering a bill giv- ing $70,000 a year to the Metro- politan Museum. The usual jackass has been found to bray against this proposition. Any measure which offers poor people a chance to get away from their tenements and saloons on Sunday, always tinds an exponent of this genus. comicbooks.com