Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-12

or dement's of the different performers ex-
pressed in voices sufficiently loud to be
heard by all in their immediate neighbor-
hood
When the young lady sharpshooter was
giving an exhibition of her ability and
agility with the rifle one of the ladies re-
marked to her companion:
There! 1t takes steadiness of nerve and
quick,.ess of sight to do that kind of work.
La IKE to see a man do that!'
A few minutes later a young man was
showing his prowess in the same line, and
Getore he finished his act he stood upon his
read and fired hitting the glass balls in
the air every time.
There" said George turning to the
colonel; 1T takes stiffness of neck and con-
siderable backbone to do that kind of
work; I'd like TO see woman do THAR
And the silence that settled down over
that immediate vicinity was so dense IL
could be cut with cheese knife
"Crooked?" remarked the colonel from
Texas. who has just returned from an ex-
TENDED visit following the conclave in Eos
ton. Crooked, sab? Why, 1 never saw
such crooked and such narrow streets in
my life. Whenever I met gentleman
about my own build'-and he swelled up to
his fullest capacity to give color to the
remark-"either he or 1 had to crowd into
an alley to let the other by; and it was
very inconvenient sab, very"
Boston streets and sidewalks are not as
wide as We have them here?" quer,ed The
Star man. who had been listening very at
tentively.
We'll. l rather reckon not And crook
ed! think the men who laid out the old
streets OF Boston must have used the let
ter and figure for diagrams Just to
show you: was walking along Washir gton
street, one of the principal business streets,
one afternoon, and about rod ahead Of
me 1 saw the back of man 1 thought 1
knew-something about his build and cloth
ing that seemed very familiar-so / hurried
up to catch him. He started forward at a
more rapid gait at the same time, but I
gained on him, and just as we reached a
turn In the street little more abrupt than
Usual I put my hand on his shoulder At
the same instant 1 felt a hand on nv
shoulder and looking around. who do you
suppose / saw"
Can't imagine" replied The Star man.
Myself! Dang my buttons if / hadn't
put my hand on my own shoulder! Fact,
1 assure you" And he hurried away to
get ready for his duties the next day as
Sunday school teacher
The recent cruises of the new ships of the
navy have demonstrated one thing, and
that is that ship cannot be fitted up with
electric signals and be strung all over with
wire and be properly managed. In some of
the new ships there are ten miles of wire
and about three-fourths of the time 1t is
all out of order, and what still further
complexities matters, it cannot be repaired
when most needed. On one of the big, fast
ships of the navy it was recently found
necessary to carry messages from the deck
to the engine rooms when the officers above
wanted to communicate with those below.
1t is more than probable that the vast
amount of electric signaling in several
ships will be replaced by speaking tubes,
which are always sure. Electric wires in a
a nf oil
to get out of order especially if there are
too many of them.
Representative Mercer OF Nebraska and
Mrs Mercer have been making a regular
honeymoon summer of it. 1t. will be re-
membered that they were married in this
city last winter, and Dave did not allow a
little thing like that to interfere with his
congressional duties. But when the session
was over he and his bride began travelling
First they went on the Japan-China trip,
which IVES arranged by Representative
Doolittle of Washington. They remained
longer in the orient than the others, and
made a thorough tour Of the far east
They returned by way of Hawaii, and saw
a great deal of that interesting island
Soon after reaching San Francisco they
went to Alaska, and have just returned
from that cold territory, and are now at
home in Nebraska. Mrs. Mercer is a sister,
in-law of Commissioner of Pensions Loeb
rem.
One of the leading young lawyers Of
Washington went away from home recent
ly in a hurry and forgot to give all in
structions to his clerk. He had an Office in
one of the large buildings of the city. where
a lock post office box is supplied for mail
The lawyer particularly wanted some let
tiers forwarded to him that he was expect
ing, and so instructed his clerk in a letter
He addressed II in his own care so as to
insure delivery his office carly
closed his post office box key No letters
were forwarded, and he was in something
of a euandary. until he returned and found
tfat the box could not be unlocked. and he
had shut himself and his clerk out by hav-
ing his key mailed in his care. lock-
smith was called IN, but the Joke on the
lawyer got out and cost him several
rounds.
One OF the fads of Admiral Ammen, the
inventor Of the Ammen RAM is that bam-
boo can be profitably grown in this coun-
try. He has been attempting to demon
strate this upon his farm at Ammendale,
Md, where he has resided since his retire.
ment from the navy. The admiral is as ac-
tive as ever. and seems to think that his
life work should not end as long he Is
able to work. The bamboo is shown to the
visitors at his home, and he says that IL
proven attention is given to IL that ii can be
made as profitable as in the orient.
Assistant PoStT aSter General Jones says
that he would like to have a hobby. He
has one, but does not know 1t. His little
pet fad is the reform of names of post Of
fees throughout the United States. He
wants to cut down names to words of one
syllable. If possible. Failing in that, he
wants to cut the names down to one word.
He also desires to prevent far possi-
BILE the duplication Of pest office names in
the different states. He does not expect to
accomplish this, but hopes to prevent an
increase of Implications. 1t is painful to
him to find that there are twenty-eight
Springiields in the United States Spring
field, ILL.,, is his own town. Then there are
numerous other instances of large duplica-
tions. and the appearance of things ind-
Gates that there is not enough originality
in the people of the United States in the .
matter of post office names and the selec.
ton of names for towns. If Mr.. Jones re-
mains in Office long enough he hopes to
work an improvement in this particular
feature of the postal affairs.
All Danger Over.
From Harpers Bazaar.
Mrs SlimSop (Seyerelyl-Wilie thiS ladv