"The Crack of Political Doom."

January 31, 1888, The Daily Graphic, Page 1 Illustration,

January 31, 1888, The Daily Graphic, Page 2, Column 2, THE CRACKED CEILING.

The cracked Assembly ceiling at Albany still menaces the pates of the august lawmakers who sit under it.

The possible catastrophe, introspectively treated on the first page of to-day's GRAPHIC, is, we hope, far distant. The gentlemen who sit under that ceiling and watch the widening crack as they lean back to listen to the eloquent address of the member from the Thirteenth District on the subject of sidedoors, must feel some degree of perturbation. When the member from Wayback arises to introduce a resolution against the use of lardine and feels a chunk of plaster glide down between his shirt collar and his neck he is in all probability slightly chilled and unable to properly present his views or the views of his constituents. When there is any little business being transacted between members which has nothing to do with public measures the sifting of a pint or two of dry mortar into their eyes is a reminder that they are there to look after the public interests and not their own affairs.

In several respects the cracked ceiling at Albany has its uses. It is a constant reminder of things done and undone, and while chunks of plaster and pints of pulverized mortar are not particularly pleasant interruptions, they serve to keep before the legislators the fact that the crack of political doom will menace them if they don't behave themselves.