Our Man About Town

In walking around the city I tind a great many improvements are being made and not the least aniong them ia the property of J. M. Stafiord, corner of N. State and E . Catharine streets. He has out down trees and brush, removed the fences laid new plank walks, sodded out to the ourbing, and beautifled his honre in many ways. I think ït would be well if the council would look after tbe street sprinkler and have him sprinkle the crossings of the street. Of oourse, if he ia not paid to sprinkle them he ought not to do it, but it seems to me that where the merohants pay for sprinkling in front of their places of business, that the council might order the duat to be bid on the crossings. A prominent citizen said to me last Saturday, that the water from the water works in this city is as good as you can find in any city. This may beso. Ido not dispute it, neither do I wish to find fault with the water works or the company but I will venture to assert that not many consumers in this town use the water for drinking or culinary purposes without filtering or boiling. I notice well able-bodied men too lazy to go around, come aeróse the court yard lawn, and this in the face of being repeatcdly requested not to do so, and I also notice at the same time Lidies, evidently in a harry, keep the eidewalk till the proper approach is reacbed, which shows how much more appreciative of the beautiful lawn and the methods of enhaucing it the fair sex are. I do not think there are many men who can give a better record of their summer's work so far, than a lady who lives a short distance from this city. She has, with the exoeption of plowing and harrowing, done all of the work upon seven acres of land.both iu -doorn and out-of-doors. Has done her own dress-making, making butter from two cows, has a fine vegetable garden, and attended to all of her errands and marketing herself. Wlio can beat this record? I notice all through the ceinetery there is nothing to tie horses to except the trees and a great many of them have had the bark torn ofl. It is a sharae, but what can a peraon do. If one wants to get out of his carriage he must tie his horse, and if no hitching posts are provided for his acoommodation, why, the trees must bs used. Now why would it not be well for the officials to have placed in i!'ore8t Hill cemetery a number of hilohing posts and thus savo the trees. ■ Ann Arbor has somo new visitors, at least it is hoped they do not reside in our classic city, I mean the clothes-line thieves. Several ladies who reside in the fourth ward had various articles of wearing apparel stolen from their yards between the hours of 8 and 10 o'clock p. m. one night last week. It is strange, but as soon as our oity settles down to her summer's rest and quiet, then clothes-line thieves, burglars, etc, begin their work. I think we better have a vigilance committee appointed to look after things. They have a new way of trimining trees n this city. I noticed on South Universiy avenue in movinjj a house, no care was aken to proteot the trees, and some line arge ones had their branches torn off. ?hey look as if a cyclone had struck hem. This might have been averted had he house been moved properly, out into ;he road and not allowed to scrape along ;he side of it datnagiuj property. Such a loss oannot be made good and Ann Arjor's chief beauty is in her beautiful hade trees, and it is a shame to have ,hem injured by the carelessness or reckessness of meo. I would advise the owners of fine shade trees in front of their property, to be on the look out when a milding is being moved on their street. A. Wilsey says, in the month of June ie did the biggest business since he has een in his new store on Fourth street. Monday the f rienda of one of our editors were greatly alarmed at his appearance upon the street. He walked with luch a slow and oareful step that we hasened to inquire as to the causo. He assuredas he was not sick but was losing his Bole, - we remarked, well this shows that in editor has always been acoused wronglully, f or most persons say he has no soul . when our friend said with a peculiar and siokly smile, " I do not mean my immoral soul, but my shoe sole"- and was fear'ul it would be lost ere he reaohed his ïome. He had taoked it on when down street, but the taok had proved refraotory and would not hold. Did we say this editor anathemati.ed the tack or the sole ? Oh no, he did nothing but say, as ie went flippity-flop along the street " 1 am glad the folkn who live on this street are out of town." The opening artiole of "Peterson" for August is a beautifullyillustrated tale by Emily Lennox, and thon follows "A Diffloult Leeson," one of the daintieut society-sketches we have read in a long while. The initial chapters of "A London Succees" are as delightful as was to be expeoted from the author of that popular novel, "A Transplanted Rose." The other stories are all good ; any one of t hem is original enough to make the nnmber noticeable. Indeed, among all the stories and poems, there is not one but deserves special mention. Misa Elisabeth l'obinson Soovil's article on "The Care of Children in Infectious Diseases" is in her best style; and, as a writer on such subject, sbe has few equals, either in this country or England. "Peterson's" popularity seems eteadily to increase year by year, no matter how hard times may be. The Manchester Enterprise truthfully says: "It is not an uncommon thing for a newspRper subscriber to cali round a the office and order it discontinued, be cause he is offended at something he has rend in its qolumns. All newspapes have fuich experiences and as a rule pay shgh attention to them. The wind which blow from one direction to-day, may come trom anotüer quarter to-morrow, and the experienoed newspaper manager calmly pursues the course which he believea is right and safe, whether it pleases everybody or not. In all probabihty tbe article which offends one subscriber will please a hundred or a thousand. The paper goos nght along on lts useful mission instruoting and pleasiog thousands, while the hot-headed fellow who ordered it stopped has the mortifloation of seeing tliat it üounshes quite as woll without his patronage and that he is the ouly real loser, because he cbliges himself to go without or to borrow it f rom his bettr tempered neighbor. Stopping one's paper is like taking one's money out of a prosperous savings bank. The depositor simply spites himself and loses the interest on his investment." Any one has the privilege of stopping his paper but tbe meanest thing to do is to take it for two, three or four years without ever paying a cent subsoription and then refuse to take it from the postoffice. But such dead beats cxist in every community.