The Washington critic., 1890-03-26
THE CRITICS" CAMERA.
PICTURES OF MEN AND THINGS AT
THE NATIONS CAPITAL.

Fishes as Practical Jokers-A Human
Hogan Interesting sight nc the
Fish Commission--How Real Estate
Values Have Increased.
Fishes are not ordinarily supposed
to be gifted with any great amount Of
intelligence, but an incident which oc-
Cured in Washington home u few
days ago proves that they have a keen
sense of humor and are fond Of practi-
cal joking. One of the young women
of The house in question has for pets a
baby mud turtle and several gold fishes
The turtle is frequently placed in the
same tank with The fish. The other
day he lay floating on the surface of
The water asleep, and with his four
feet sticking out.
The goldfish saw in this good
chance to play u trick on Mr. Turtle,
ana after putting their heads together
few minutes they divided into four
groups and sei2ing his feet in their
mouths dragged him to the bottom of
the tank. When awakened by his sud
den immersion, he had considerable
difficulty in shaking himself free from
his tormentors There cannot be the
slightest doubt that the fishes had some
means Of communicating their ideas to
each other, forit was plain to those who
observed the incident that the trick was
the result Of prcconccrted action.
*
An amusing specimen of human
hoggishness was witnessed the other day
in u woll-known Seventh street ice
cream saloon. y young man, who
from the style Of his clothes and the
verdancy Of his manner was evidently
from the country, walked 10, hand-in-
hand with young woman who had an
equally rustic appearance. Both sat
down at one of the tables and the young
man ordered one dish of ice. cream. 1t
was for the girl, of course, one would
naturally suppose. Not q bit of it,
however. The young man calmly ate
1t himself, apparently with great relish,
planked down the price on the table
and remarked: Gosh, but that's good !;
why don't you buy yourself some, too,
Sal? "Sap' said something about its
costing too much, and out they walked
together.
ut is a crying shame and a disgrace
that an appropriation is not made for
new Police Court building, or de-
cent quarters hired for it somewhere"
remarked q well known lawyer. "If
any private individual or corporation
were to attempt to transact their bust
ness is such place as the present Pc
lice Court they would be arrested for
maintaining nuisance. Many people
who should be punished for various
olfenses against the law are permitted
to so free, simply because decent peo-
pie will not go into such dirty NAL
odorous hole as the old building at the
corner of Sixth street and Louisiana
avenue, in order to prosecute them. II
is positively dangerous to stay in it for
any length of time, and I always have
great hesitation in accepti' case
which necessitates my pre- &c there. -
The interesting process of Matching
the eggs of land locked salmon by the
hundreds of thousands can be witnessed
any day at the central station of the
Fish Commission In the old Armory
building, corner of Sixth street and
Maine avenue southwest. The eggs of
the salmon are about the size of pea.
They are of transparent, pinkish hue,
and the wee fishes inside can be plainly
seen wriggling about in their efforts to
escape from their little prison cells. AS
soon as released the fishes are drawn
t,1t, In he
Matching jar to tank, where they can
sport about until large enough for ship
ment on the Fish Commission cars to
the points where they are destined tC
stock land.locked lakes or large ponds
Thousands Of these fishes will be
shipped during the next few weeks
In the meantime numbers of visitors
call daily at the station to witness theii
hatching out.
Another interesting feature of the
station are the experiments being made
with thousands of the common yellow
perch, natives of the Potomac River
These fishes are hardy and form val
liable portion of the small or fry.fsf
supply Of this city.
II is wonderful how the value Of
property has increased In the centra
portion of the city, especially in the 10
cality Of Tenth and Eleventh, T and G
streets. st. Vincent's Orphan Asylum
at Tenth and G streets, opposite ST
Patrick's Church, was built years ago
when ground and building materia
were cheap: The lot, which is ;
spacious one, runs back to + eventh an(
G streets. 1t is one of the n ,st desirable
sites for the building of bu ,iness houses
in the city 1t is learned fIJm a reliable
source that 100000 has been offere,
and refused for the property.
e
Bishop Newman, who was Genera
Grants pastor at the metropolitan
Methodist Episcopal Church, wants
with other professorships at the pro
posed National Methodist University i
this city, a chair for journalism; fol
says the good Bishop, Journalism Is
profession as honorable as that of law
medicine and theology"