1884-11-20a The Saunterer

Occasionally, there was just not that much local news to fill page 4 in the Hamilton Spectator in 1884. That was the time for “The Saunterer” to make an appearance.

          The Saunterer was the persona adopted by a Spectator reporter to share his observations about life in the city.

On November 20, 1884, The Saunterer appeared in the Spectator.

There was considerable interest in the presidential election in the United States, and  there were a considerable number of former Americans living in Hamilton in 1884.

 The following observation made by The Saunterer while riding a Hamilton Street Railway reflected those two matters:

“The other day two old men rode downtown on an east end street car. They were Americans and they hadn’t seen each other for years, but of course their topic was the presidential election, and they quarreled.

“One was a warm Republican, the other a Democrat. They had been good friends in the days gone by, but now their friendship was forgotten.

“From politics they drifted into personalities. They abused each other for all they were worth. One man called the other a thief, and the other retorted by calling him a liar. They kept at it hot and heavy for several minutes, to the amusement of all in the car.

“By and by, they got dignified. They sat up straight, wouldn’t look at one another and wouldn’t speak. Their thoughts were hard and uncharitable. The divine spark of Christian charity was far away from them.

“By and by the car got down James street. Passing a dead wall the tattered fragment of a tawdry show bill fluttered in the autumn wind. It was part of an old Forepaugh circus poster.

“One of the men remarked that he had seen Forepaugh’s circus when a boy. The other remembered seeing it too. They got talking of their boyhood days, and in the recounting of memoirs of the blessed past, their hard thoughts were forgotten.

“By and by, they smiled and laughed and looked into each other’s eyes with the light of their old-time friendship shining firm, and true and strong.

“And the other passengers looked at each other and smiled.

“And the two men were friends as before, and their opinions on the election didn’t alter the result one hair’s breath.”¹

¹ “The Saunterer”

Hamilton Spectator. November 20, 1884.

William J. Scanlan was an internationally famous singer who had recently made an appearance in Hamilton. Scanlan’s specialty was the singing of catchy songs, in many of which he assumed an Irish flair.

The Saunterer noted that Scanlan had made an impression :

“When W. J. Scanlan was here some weeks ago, he sang a number of new and very pretty songs.

“It would have been a mercy if he hadn’t. Now everybody who heard Scanlan and thinks he can sing, howls them.

“Go along the street at night and every other fellow is whistling Only to See You Darling, or Over the Mountain, or Bye Bye Baby, Bye Bye, or some of the others.

“It’s almost as bad as the plague.

“Scanlan is probably the finest ballad singer that ever was in Hamilton, and after hearing him, it is eternal misery to hear his songs screeched by non-musical voices, without regard to time or details of taste.

“The raising of a fund is being talked of, to hire an assassin to kill off a few of the worst.”¹