Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-06-29
AT THE CITY BUILDINGS.
Scenes In the Corridors Of the Commits
sioners' ONCE.

scenes IN tine Corrfd0rs OF the C0mmts-
sioners' ONCE.
TRANCE CHARACTERS THAT HAUNT OFFICIAL
HALLs-MEy WHO SEEK oFFIcE-rHE wooDES-
LEGGED MES-BooK AGENTS AND PEOPLE WHO
COME AFTER THEIR PAY.
Among the people who throng the corridors
Of the District buildings during the busy hours
The character student can find some curious
types. All kinds and conditions of men and
women, too, haunt the District buildings on
almost every imaginable errand and the his
tory of day in the life of District Commits
sioner would make interesting reading for the
uninitiated- The scenes and incidents that go
10 make up a day are most of them amusing to
the casual observer, but many Of them are pa
thetic and show the sorrowful side of life.
THE PROCESSION
begins to move up the long iron-bound stair
case as soon as the old gray-bearded sergeant,
who stands sentinel at the entrance, opens the
doors. The stream of people pour in from
that time until 2 o'clock, when the doors are
shut. The Commissioners arrive early, as
rule, and go right to work. The impatient
throng that crowds the corridors, pac-
ing restlessly up and down like Gagged ami
mails, or sit like buzzards along the stairrail,
life has been injected into these walters" and
they brisk up like soldiers on parade. The
Commissioners are allowed about time enough
TO get comfortably seated and get well into
the morning mail when the crowd solemnly
files in and patiently await their turn for an in
terview. Generally, it is upon some trifing mat
ter which a subordinate could just as well at
tend to, but to the caller it is the most i'm
portant thing in the world, and he will be sat
isfied with nothing less than a hearing by
Commissioner. The Commissioners are oblig-
ing and every one is heard, no matter how
tritilng his mission.
PAYDAY AT THE BUILDINGS
brings a large crowd to Auditor Petty's Office,
and all day long the halls resound with the
tramp of heavy boots as well as the pit-pat of
fanltless patent-leather CATERS. What
Grangely-assOrteh company Is this that stands
at the long counter in front of the window
with a look of expectancy upon their faces.
The poor laborer unable to sign the payroll
stands beside the wealthy contractor, the
dapper employees, big bluff policemen and the
hundreds of people who assist in various ways
In running the District government. 1t is
wonderful what difference roll of bills will
have on a mans disposition, and all of them go
out looking happy.
THE sECRErARY's OFFICE
of very different class are the men who
drop into the secretary's Office during the day.
Most of them hobble. The peculiar sound
made by a woodenIegged man climbing the
stairs is heard often at the District buildings,
and at least half a dozen permits to the work.
house are issued every day. They are pitia-
Bile lot from the very dregs of life. Tired with
the rude buffeting of this knock-about world,
weary of the struggle, deserted by friends and,
mayhap, children, despair kills hope and they
seek forgetfulness by dropping out of the
current in the oblivion that the
L D.,to ill hax-a
small ray of hope remaining, and they ''go
down" only as last resort.
One of the most frequent visitors in search
Of permit is
JOHN HooLIHAN's WIFE.
She is never Mrs. Hoolihan, never anything
70 herself or to the employees about the build
ing but simply John Hoolihan's wife. She
'bobbed up serenely" the other day after an
absence of some weeks. She looked little the
worse for wear, and time is beginning to tell
on her robust constitution. Her hair was
matted and disheveled, her face red and
bloated with the carousals of half a century,
but her voice was as loud and shrill as Of yore
She wanted to be sent down for couple of
months to recuperate her exhausted vitality.
rest from her labors at working the GROWER
and chasing the duck" and attempting to
quench an unquenchable thirst. She
stumbled into the secretary's Office and
deposited herself in one of the large
chairs with grunt of satisfaction
and opened long rigamarole about politics.
religion. and the workhouse cooking, but al
ways concluding with the inevitable Faith, 1
never wanted for cup of tay while John
Hoolihan lived" But the beloved John had
long since departed this vale of tears and left
his ''widder," who now wanted to be shelved for
. little while. The effect of the warmth of the
room was to make her mellow and too vocifer-
Gus, and when told to keep quiet she COM
menced TRADE against every one in the build
ing. The patrol-wagOn was called and after a
desperate resistance, in which Fletcher, the
driver, had his stovepipe driven
down over his eyes, she was placed in the
patrol-wagon. crying out in her defeat I'll
not let dommed mayer lay hands on John
Hoohhan's wife"
BOOK AGENTS AND cANvAssERs
make the District buildings their stamping
grounds, and every day two or more may be
seen meandering through the hall buttonholing
every one who seems to have a moments
leisure. great many people have more than
enough OF this, and anything that will vary the
If only a little, is gladly welcomed.
and so the lnsistent seller of books gets not a
few subscribers. queer lot are these people,
and the practical jokes that are PLAYED upon
them does not seem to dampen the enthusiasm
which they show IN the work of getting sub
scribers. One of the most familiar figures
among them is man who can scarcely be
shining beneath his battered hat and a thin
Ratchet face with a pleading look His tat
tered threadbare coat reaching to his knees
hides still other tatters and his rubber shoes
with their gay checkerboard uppers, are worn
more for the sake of economy than for the sake
of comfort. His thin quavering voice breaks
in on the hum-drum of the Office in shrill tones
and makes one start. He is pretty successful.
however, and does a good business. Another
character that may be seen almost every day
about the building is the
woULD-BE FEMALE DETECTIVE.
She has a craze in this direction and for
months she has haunted the Commissioners
trying to get an appointment ON the force. She
claims that she has had great deal of expert
ence as detective, and says that the force will
go to rack and ruin unless she is appointed.
She claims to be related to President Harrison.
Is well as several dead Presidents. During
the past month the building has been oyerru1
with
oFFIcE-sEEKERs.
Ever since the advent of the new Commits
sioners applications for Office have been pour
ing in on them both by letter and personally.
There is hardly an Office within their gift that
two or more applicants are not after, and to-
day there is filed In the Office nearly five hun
dred applications. Nearly every UNEMPLOYED
person IN the city seems to have been seized
with the idea that awaeninU oh a.