Our Man About Town

In alluding to the republioan meeting of last Saturday, one man said, " Well they have a crowd of perhaps 200 or more' mostly women, who can't vote, bnt they help to swell the crowd." I think we had better take up a oontribution and have the etreets in front of the post office sprinkled, if the goverument wont give the little money which ig necessary to lay the dust. 1 was amused last Saturday evening at the republican meeting, when one of the speakers asked for those from a certaiD ward who were to vote for Harrison to come up and sign their namep, to see two lone men go forward. I heard a good mauy of the bioyclers had considerable to say about the fifth ward ditch, and one young man in riding through it was thrown from his bicycle. I do not wonder the people are indignant over such a gutter. I think it would be well when putting gravel upon the streets to piek out the small boulders. In driving over some of our newly graveled roads you are Hable to get a good many bumps unleaa you are on the look out for stones. I should thiDk there might be stone walks laid from the street lo the four doors of the court house. The oíd walks are iu a dreadfully dilapidated condition and at the sanie time I thiuk it would be well to fix the stone step? on the south and west sides. QThose men who have been helping theinselves, after dark, to lumber, lath, etc., from a certain house, building in the eastern part of the city, better be pretty careful as somebody has bis weather eye on them and if cauht it might go rather hard with them. I was told a pretty good thing the other day. It seems that one of our brewers dropped his order book and it was picked up by a man who in trying to find out the owner read the following: " Please leave at my house, street, a keg of beer, but be sure and come after dark." Let the council rnake a small appropriation for the wetting down of the street corners. The idea of sprinkling the streets and skippingthecrossings. It looks very small I thiuk not to have it done. I am sure it is as necessary to have the crossings sprinkled as it is to have the streets. Those men who have kept the grass from growiugon the court yard lawn this summer have had a diversion in their occupation . A dime circus held forth on the vacan t lots on L. Ann street the flrst of the week, and they havo been busy up there holding down the stones, boards, etc, which surrounded the tents. I heard some one say the other day that he wished Ann Arbor could have a milk inspector. Upon inquinng I wns told that he was positivo that there was chalk in the milk left at his house that morning. If such is the case truly a milk inspector is sadly needed in our city and I would suggest we have a vinejar inspector a'so. I was told that several bicyclers startec for Whitmore Lake laBt Sunday, anc when they had gotten about half way there they were overtaken by a very se veré rain storm. They were completely saturateJ and had to bire a farmer to bring them back . They preaented rather a drooping appearance as they drove into town, and I understand they tried to reach their homes by the back streets. K I was told the other day that one of our prosperous merchants had occasion to dun a man for rather a good-sized bill, when the man dunned went to the store of that gentleman with bood in his eye, and proceeded to give him a lecture for daring to send him a bill. Our merohant, so I am told, promptly ordered the delinquent debtor from his store and he went too, but threatened vengeance. I think it would be well if the couucil at their next meeting would appoint some one to investígate the oause of so many of our trees dying. I notice on Fourth street several fine large trees which will soon be dead, also one on Kast Ann street near División. A tree is of such slow growth that it will take years to replace ;he lost ones and it seems to me that something might be done to save the others. I wonder if the uuiversity uuthoritics have ever thought how much prettier the campus would look if tbe unsightly 'enoe which surrounds it were taken down. It would be a vast improvement and I canuot see the nocessity of kseping t up, and if the fence must remain standing I think it would be a good idea to build a decent one. This old one might be whitewashed to bring out ite atent beauty. One of our editora carne prutty uear getting into trouble Tuesday. While visitng the Utah exposition car he broached ;he subject of mormonism and proceeded to teil what he thought about it, when he noticing the peculiar manner of the gentleman he was conversing with concluded that " discretion was the better part of valor," hurriedly closed his interview and left the car. He says now he will hereafter post himself before ho in;erviews a stranger. I think the alderman in the tifth ward iad better put in one more gutter and ;hen go and soak his head. He has just put one in which is four feet wide and ;welve inches deep, which ought to have 3een at least eight feet wide and not over !our inches deep, as it would have carried off the water without the least danger of overflow ing on account of the lay of the land, but instead of that is one which, when you ride over you must brace yourself, grab hold of the vehicle and cling for dear life or else you will be landed before you are ready. I hear a great deal of fault found about this crossing. A gentleman who believes a woman's place is at home, that it is her business ïo keep the domeBtic machinery well lubnoated, that a woman has no rights of her own which man is bound to respeot and who ueldom thinks it sary for her to go anywhere deliberately put on his hat and Sunday clothes to go to Ypsilanti to see "Barnuru's great moral show" cooly handing his everyday trousers, redolent with perspiration and dirt to his wife to put on a patoh wbile he was away enjoymg himeelf. Verily, verily, the selüshness of these "lords of creation" is something wonclerful. Saline wants open air concerts this summer. Ann Arbor wants them too but ït seems she has not enterprise enough to have them . All it needs is for a few persons to have a little go-aheaditiveness about them and this might be accomplished. At a small expense to our business men we might have delightful open air concerts once a week at least, and which would not only be en joyed by many but would be the cause of calling many out to eDJoy a few hours' relief from their wearied feeling af ter a season of steady labor, and the good housewife would uail them as a truce tó the daily routine drudgery of housework, cares and anxieties and favor them with an opportunity to have a little breathing spell in the open air, but it would encourage the band boys to renewed energy.