The Washington critic., 1888-08-20
SOMETHING OF CITY LIFE.
A Fine Specimen OF Girlhood Easily Dis
tances One OF Our Young Men.


They were coming down a street in the
West End Of town, one Of the twentles, in
tending to take Pennsylvania avenue street
car
lie was an ordinary looking young man and
he was dressed In the popular sumnery-ath-
lctic style so common now, with a white
flannel shirt and white trousers held up by
wide, red sash.
Hanging demurely to his arm was a girl
that would chain the attention of trainer Of
athletes or any one whose eve is caught by
physical development. She was perhaps 20
years old, and her short, blonde hair clustered
about her regully-poised head In q profuson
of yellow curs.
In the line OF the upper part of her back and
her neck there was scarce curve, the index
OF suppleness and strength equally valued in
Il prize.lghter or sprintcr. The shoulders
that CLEANED through her transparent white
dress were poems Of muscular nexibity, aud
! the skin of her arms that showed in little da.
monds through the open embroidery Of her
| sleeves was the pale pink, smooth and satiny
| In texture, that showed physical condition
that an athlete would call "flne as silk" She
walked with n swinging stride. and the yellow
shoes that lodged IN and out from under her
white skirts had broad, low heels.
| While they were still q half-square or so
| from the Avenue car came in sight and the
| young man hailed it. OF course, neither the
driver nor conductor heard him and the good
natured, but misguided, people who 90 about
the streets stopping cars for other people, well
coined the opportunity TO stop the car for the
| pretty girls sake not however, until It got
some distance beyond the corner. The CON
ductor, as conductors always do, reached up
aud took hold Of the bell-strap with one hand
and beckoncd the two fares with the other
with q hurry-up p-or-plLstart-the-car sort Of
manner.
"Shal we run ~ asked the young man, and
the girl answered, "All right
| Dropping her escorts arm she broke into a
| swinging run Of astonishing swiftness and In
| a half dozen steps was ahead of her escort,
| sailing along with her elbows pressed close to
her loosey-stayed sides, her wrists bent with
the pink palms Of her half shut hands turned
| forward, rs easily and in as good form as ever
| q sprinter started to run u hundred yards for
| purse. On she came, the muscular motions
of her 1.-the limbs swinging her skirts from
side to side, her lips closely shut aud her ewes
| sparkling with the pleasure Of exercise and
! pride IN the ease with which she outstripped
| her woak-lunged friend.
Tho passengers looked out aud even the
| conductor forgot TO ask her to hurry up in his
| admiration for her muscular grace. She got
| to the car way ahead Of her escort and stood
| by the step as he came up, completely winded,
! and gasped out: 'By Jove What q runner
| you are, Miss Ethcl.n
The girl tripped up the steps and sat down
IN the car, her dress rising and falling regu-
|
the young man, but like person used to vio-
lent exercise. The pace was lively enough
| and they had run far enough to tire nineteen
city-bred men out of twenty, but this magni-
llcent specimen Of physically perfect grlhood
reeled off the distance "without turning a
hair" as the driver, who was something of q
horseman, said.
How the Internal Revenue Officers Are
| Deceived
Philanthrophy is not appreciated by the Vir
gnian authorities. The sale of intoxicants /:
prohibited in some Of the river counties aud
| any one who alleviates the dryness Is regarded
as philantrophist by q large proportion of
the population. This is done to a great eX-
tent by colored men, who 90 around with
their pockets bulging out with suspicious
looking and even more suspicious.smellinp
bottles, and any one who has kept his eyes al
all open soon 'gets on'' to the clever way IL
which the people who live In dry counties
obtain their drinks
But these peripatetic moiSteners are not al
lowed to go on their mission of alienation un
disturbed Unfortunately, they are violators
of the law, and have to resort to all sorts oi
clever schemes to keep out Of jail. Only
few days ago one of them, Mr. Burr Shorts
colored, was arrested for just this thing.
Sometimes when you have been driving
through one OF these ''dry" counties you may
have seen u negro man with dirty duster on
OF New York aud the policeman in "Evan
geline" nave Tfiadd,hSke its place as q part o.
our language, and man who looks as If h,
was half-dying for drink comes across thu
dusty road, and together they disappear be
hind clump of the bushes that dot the Vir
ginia hills.
They come out abnormally solemn and part
reluctantly, even aflectonately, though one II
white and the other is black. The negro may
say that he will be back again in a little Will,
tl.A Ill tg,H Ht,.
him. AS the negro walks along, he every few
steps pipes out his musical ''you know" tive
clear bell-lille notes that are tidings of joy tt
the thirsty farmers
This signal is simple and easily caught ant
remembered, and the Virginia lnocking bird
have caught it and pipe it ont from the trees
clear and shrlll, to the discontinue of grea
many people.
You may notice a man trudging through
the dust ahead of you suddenly stop as h
hears the signal. His face brghtens as h
turns, and he runs his tongue between his dr.
lips with smack of delight as he climbs owe
the fence and makes towards clump OF tree
in field. He arrives aud repeats the sigma
two or three times under the trees. His fac
falls as he waits for the answer that he doesn'
get, because the bird, for it was bird and no
man that whistled the call, has been fright
cned away and he gives vent to few mouth
, | filling, Virginian oaths as he realizes tina
he is the victim of feathered practices
joker.
Sometimes an internal revenue officer, wh
! has caught on to the signal, goes into tn
Q Virginia hills to capture few Illicit liquc
n dealers, and after running about all day !
answer to the birds CALL goes back and say
I that he heard lots cf the Illicit sellers whii
:. tie, but it needs large party of men to cal
: ture any of them, because they are so quic
at concealing themselves.
. The Kings and the Smiths Again Befor
the Public.
& There has existed between the Kings an
Smiths who live in the neighboThood of th
: Boundary and streets a regular Hatfield
:, Mccoy feud.
II They come into the Police Court, where the
= do their fighting, and charge each other wit
> all sorts of wicked things, and alternately q
. each other fined and written up in the new
papers with the utmost regularity.
8 Saturday officer Gantz arrested Mr.. Kin
/ for excessive conviviality, and Miss Smith,
Is blonde, Dutch woman, came out in the ale
= and said, "Ha, ha! You've got the right ma
K now.p
Il Mrs. Alice King, the prisoners betler-hal
d who has red hair, heard Miss Smiths taunt
Is which naturally led TO hair-pulling mattel
from which Miss Smith came off second bes