Evening star., 1896-08-22

ne WlSn1nS Tree mas It's CeNOtetS Stedu-
ily. and 1 think they are increasing Of
late" remarked one of the regular sitters
in Lafayette Park. 1.-The great majority
of the wishers. however. seldom go near
1t until about dark in the evening. or dur
ing the night hours. 1t is amusing to
watch the wishers as they try to get to the
tree which is the large chestnut just west
of the Jackson statue, without being OBJ
served by others who are often waiting for
a wishing chance themselves. To me 1t
seemed the rankest kind of superstition
until a few nights ago. l went up to the
tree. and, placing my two hands on Its
trunk / made my wish. 1 don't mind tell
ing you. now that it is all over. that
wished for bag of gold Did get 1t? Oh,
no; not exactly. but, strange as 1t may ap-
pear. just before l reached the western
entrance 1 picked up bag Of smoking to-
bacco. l was paid for my trouble. and to
that extent am now a believer in the
wishing tree"
1T does not take long to train lot of
young men to play brass instruments, or
even organize a band to play the ordinary
marches. waltzes and music of that kind.
observed a popular music teacher, pro-
v:ded the pupils are in earnest. OF course
they have to be enthusiastic on the subject
and have some knowledge Of music The
best brass instrument teacher this city
ever had was Prof. Esputa. who at one
time led the Marine Band, and who gave
music lessons to thousands of young men
and young women of this city in his day
ESputa was a natural player as well as
natural teacher. L remember once he was
employed 10 organize band of young men
of the Carroll Institute; which then occu-
pied q hall on c. street. There were about
eighteen young fellows in the class. After
the money was raised to buy the instru-
mentS Prof. Esputa went to work on the
band. giving them nightly lessons in music.
There was considerable delay In getting
the Instruments from Boston. where they
hal been ordered. but. not anticipating any
delay. the band had fixed a date for an
opening public performance in Carroll Hall.
The instruments did not arrive until the
day before the band made it's first appear
ance. ard, strange as II may seem. with
cnly twenty-four hours of actual possess
sion of the instruments the boys played
several numbers in very satisfactory
manner
'It is a matter of some surprise to me.
said Mr.. F. L. Siddons. who has just re-
turned from Europe. why the e}ctric car
riasse. steam o. gasoline motor wagon has
not been seen in this city yet. for there are
no such paved streets and none we'll
adapted TO these carriages as those we have
here. Three weeks ago. when in Paris, l
saw hundreds of them. They are used for
business purposes. We'll as for pleasure
riding. and one can scarcely take trip In
the suburbs of Paris without seeing some
of them. The cost ranges all the way from
three hundred dollars up TO one thousand,
or no more than firSt-claSs carriage cost
here some years ago | met two parties of
"asEiHstonians out for ride in these
electric carriages One was made up of
some of the folks comprising DR.. Croffutt's
party and the other was Of Col Ed Hays
party. They We're enthusiastic about the
oil bnr. hot Il
they would be able 10 enjoy similar out
ing in this city.
The politicians manage their paradeS
and displays somewhat differently in New
York than they do here or in other cities,'
observed member of one of the national
campaign committees. They make twenty
times much display parades with the
same amount of an outlay as is done here
or elsewhere. As a rule. but few of the po-
litical clubs. district or ward organizations
own the flags, banners or even the uni
forms they wear. These are owned by the
local campaign committees. and are loaned
out to the clubs in the order in which they
apply for them on the return from pa
rade. procession. mass meeting or similar
gathering. tine campaign committee has its
agents on hand to gather up the parapher-
MALTA The following day or night the same
OF the pieces de resistance of a political
procession i'll New York is large cannon
mounted on gaily decorated set of wheels
Without cannon no procession is consid-
cred exactly nrSt-class. and organizations
which happen TO own their own uniforms
flags or banners have no hesitation in pa
rading with the borrowed cannon. Origi-
nally this style of doing things was in
vented by Col Samuel S. Smoot, who was
at one time a resident of this city He
managed II for several campaigns for the
republicans. In little while, however, the
democrats got onto the trick. the boys
say. The great advantage of 1t Is the saw
ing. Expenses of the clubs or organiza-
tions are thereby so reduced that it does
not give each member much trouble to pay
the regular dues. which are small, as also
are the expenses. Bands are in this Way
engaged by the month. and parade always
In The uniform Of the club which they lead"
* y
fhe maddest man I ever saw" said
Marshen Philips. was Gen. Sheridan, a
minute or so after he had been informed
that some one had sold horse Shoe get
ting high price for it. on the ground that
1t was one of the shoes worn by Sheri-
dams horse Winchester on his famous
war ride in the Shenandoah valley The
general fairly boiled In the first place.
said Gen. Sheridan, my twenty-miIe ride
never took place. for the distance was but
fifteen miles. The writer of those verses
was better poet than a topographer, and
We might excuse him for that. Next,
never had any horse by that exact name,
and II 1 had. myself or none of those
around me would have thought of secur-
Ing his shoes and holding them for a rise'
did my best to quiet him, and only sue
ceeded in doing SO by telling him the
relict whisky story, which used to be told
OF the barkeeper of the little place on 10th
street adjoining Fords Theater, the place
where John Wilkes Booth got a drink lust
before he assassnated President Lincoln
The place was run as bar room for sew
eral years after the government took pos
session OF the theater property. Visitors
TO the city always took in the bar room
as one of the sights, and some of them
took in the liquor sold there. The bar
Keeper had a way after telling the story
of the assassination of pointing to a small
demijohn and saying: Booth asked me to
hand him this demijohn, and he poured
out heavy drink and swallowed it down
In one gulp- There is little of the same
identical whisky in 1t yet Frequently
some of those who took in the story would
go further and ask for a taste of the whis-
KY. This wish was always gratified for
the price One day Maine man had a
taste OF 1t. For this taste he was charged
So cents The taste was. however a GOOD
sized drink, of the Maine regulation size.
too After putting down his glass he re-
Remarked: And so that was the whisky
that Booth drank lust heYora be LiIJafl u