Musings from a particularly single-minded “Jottings about town” column from The Daily Morning Astorian, April 24, 1884:

• There is a town in Germany where each citizen draws a yearly dividend from the receipts of the treasury. The streets are in fine condition in that town.

• Yesterday would have been a pleasant day to do a little repair on that sinkhole in front of Suprenant & Ferguson’s shop.

• Our hardware stores are full of such supplies as are usually employed in street work.

• Disinfectants should be purchased before the druggists’ stocks run low. Lime and dilute carbolic acid tend to neutralize the miasma arising from putrescence.

• It is among the many other rumors flying around that the next breeze that sweeps from the east will bring an order that the ocean steamers shall not go above Astoria … Anyhow, a lot of the streets need to be cleaned.