Life — March 23, 1893 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

LIFE “While there's Life there’s Hops.” MARCH 23, 1893. No. 534. Twenty-THirp Street, New York. VOL. XXI. 28 Wi Published every Thursday. $5.00 year in advance. Postage to foreign countries in the Postal Union, $1.04 a year, extra. Single copies, 10 cents, ‘Rejected contributions will be destroyed wntess accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. ‘OR many years the late Dr. Peabody, of Cambridge, was a source of confusion to the orthodox, because of his obvious facility in rec- onciling a saintly walk and conver- sation with the tenets of Unitarian theology. To hold him in affection- ate and respectful consideration has been a tradition among Harvard un- dergraduates for more than thirty years. His qualities were accurately set forth when Horace wrote of that contemporary of his own who was Integer vitae, scelerisque puris, Every thousand years or so a man of that sort happens along, and it is a salutary thing for Earth and happens. * . . T would seem that our devoted country is entitled to a full meas- ure of whatever satisfaction is to be derived from the possession of a physically sound and durable chief- executive. Among other things that Mr. Cleveland is, he is abnormally tough. He seems to have got no serious damage from standing bareheaded for an hour in a March blizzard on inauguration day. How much of an exploit it was to come through that day without detriment appears from’ the effect of the inaugural proceedings upon other persons. Besides a general complaint of pneumonia and bronchial and pulmonary difficulties dating from March 4th, we have as results of inauguration weather: G: Brown of Maryland down with peritoni the resignations of all the officers of the 5th Maryland regi- ment in consequence of a row, and a grave personal diffi culty between Colonel Streator ard Capt. Brazier of the State of Pennsylvania. If March 4th had been a good day, Gov. Brown would not have caught cold in his stomach, while the military difficul- ties would probably not have ensued, if food had not been scarce, whiskey plentiful, and the weather so bad that every- one felt the need of having something inside of him. As the works of this last inauguration day come to light, it seems more desirable than ever to abolish the fourth of March altogether, and have April 30th appointed in its place. If Congress won't do that, at least it ought to limit future inaugural processions to six hacks and a street car, and have the swearing-in done in the Senate Chamber. . . . HERE is just one thing to be said in favor of having inau- gurations on the day now in use, and that is that the March blizzards are very unhealthy for office-seekers. But even that is not so good a point as it seems, for some office-seekers don’t get to Washington until the President is fairly in- stalled, and most of those who are on hand for the inauguration, having just arrived, are still plump and hearty, and better able to stand exposure than some months later when scanty and pre- carious lunch counter meals have begun to have their effect. A very considerable number of seekers seem to have sur- vived the blizzard this year, and the correspondents have devoted many columns to them and their desires. Alas for them! The impression gains strength that for the great majority of them nothing will be opened, no matter how persistently they knock. The fear of disappointing office-seekers is not the overmastering dread that it was. It has been given out for one thing, that men who held office during Mr. Cleveland’s former term are not to be admitted to the trough again, and another report is that Mr. Cleve- land does not intend to spend his substance on editors, as Mr. Harrison did. Of all foolish ways of bestowing patronage, the foolishest is to give an office to an editor. If he accepts it, he either quits his job and ceases to be useful, or he is justly stigma- tized as a hired man, with a proportionate diminishment of his influence. Editors should not expect to hold office. The conscious- ness of patriotic duty efficiently performed is a great reward in itself, and if there is still something lacking, the adver- tisers and the legitimate opportunities of blackmail should supply it. The other announcement that no former office-holder un- der Mr. Cleveland shall have an office under this adminis- tration, is harder to understand. Perhaps it only means that nobody can have two helps from the official platter. comicbooks.com