Evening star., 1896-06-06

said or anything been done about a fourth
of July celebration. To the old resident,
who looked upon the fireworks in the White
Lot on the evening of the glorious Fourth
as the great event of the year, this seems
strange. Speak to any of the members OF
the Oldest Inhabitants Association ana ne
will surely agree with me that our fourth
of July celebrations, day and night, OF
thirty, forty or fifty years ago were in
deed glorious events, and | would be hap
Iy if they would be restored so that our
grandchildren could for once see how We
did things in our day. Our hest fireworks
were made in the old arsenal. at the foot
of 4l2 street. and cost from $500 to $1,000.
and were paid for by an appropriation by
Congress or city councils. We gave as
Much attention to the Fourth as do the
people of the New England towns. ana had
parades. brass bands and general cele-
bration. Every one enjoyed it, and II made
us feel more patriotic 1t may be We were
wrong and that the modern way of ceie-
brating the glorious FOurth,by tying up TWO
or three sandwiches IN paper and Jump
ing on a bicycle and riding out in the coun-
try or dusty roads in the boiling sun. is the
more patriotic, but the old inhabitant cam
not see it that way. There are many
changes as time passes along. but, ike
many other old people. l regret that We
forget the glorious Fourth and do not pub
licly celebrate it any more.
x
''Storekeepers' signs have always been an
interesting study to me-. said Rev. F. H.
Smythe. visiting clergyman from Illinois,
who was a guest of Vice President Steven
son during the past week, but l do not
think / ever enjoyed them so much as L
have here. The first one which struck my
eye was that of Rich & Co. bankers What
a wonderfully happy combination of name
and business l saw the sign of Mr. Hack
Ie ar,1 her =
plenty of evidence gathered about the place
TO show that he was in the hackney car
riage business. | ran across Mr. Garden.
who, of course. is in the flower business.
What else could he be in with such an ap-
l.ropriate name? The following day | had
the pleasure of seeing the sign of MIR.
Plugse, a tobacco dealer, and on that even
ing the sign of DIR. Songster. who is voice
and throat doctor. The entire combination
surpasSes anything in that line l had ever
seen, read of or heard Of
x
THE carp as a food fish," remarked a
well-known fisherman. rs of the
things that were. Great things were
promised and the government spent many
thousands of dollars introducing it in our
rivers and in fish ponds. The carp grew
splendid1y. but after 1T grew no one could
eat it. That is, eat it with relish. for
the reason that It is a mud fish. 1t never
takes the trouble to eat plants or roots.
which make the trout and other fish
desirable an article of food. 1t IS hardly
possible to estimate the damage done hy
the carp III the way of destroying the
spawn of other fish. Most of those who
had ponds Of carp have destroyed them
Icy turning the water out and allowing the
hogs to devour them. The carp did great
damage to the shad and herring in the
Potomac, ard will continue to do so until
every one of them has been destroyed"
x
fs -,T1y- L. Oh
prominent blacksmith. that nearly all
Of the anvils used by blacksmiths in this
country are made by one firm in Brooklyn.
New York. All kinds of substitutes have
been invented and put on the market, but
after using them the blacksmith generally
goes back TO the wrought-ron anvil, which
is handmade. There are plenty of cast
iron ard steel anvils for SALE but they find
but little favor from blacksmfths. who pre-
fer an anvil that sings. The cast-iron anvil
has no music about it, and does not give
any more response to the hammer than If
one was hammering on stump. 1t is music.
or singing, as the snithy calls il, that Is
wanted blacksmith does nearly ali his
taking to his helper by the sounds made on
the anvil by his hammer. As far as the vii
lage blacksmith IS concerned. singing by the
anvil is his constant advertisement Or
twenty years, that is, If 1t is handled care
fully, though there are many anvil5 that
are now used by sons which were used by
the fathers during their entire lifetime"
y X X
1.-The Marine Band concerts at the White
House grounds" observed James Ryder
who has figured as hotel waiter for near
ly half q century, were before the war
& closed event as far as we colorei people
were concerned, for no colored persons were
ever admitted to the grounds Unless they
went there in the capacity of nurses for
children or attendants upon elderly per
sons. To the knowing ones however. there
was TO difficulty. All we had TO do was to
90 there with some white boys OF girls and
represent that We were servants. or some
ores servants sent there for children or
others No one then objected, and we
could listen TO the music just the same as
others l was there when the 'Mockinc
Bird was first played. 1t was lie Heated 10
Miss Harriet Lane. the niece of PresidanI
buchanan. ard its first performance was a
big event Iaik about whistling popular
songs or marches these days, why, they are
simply not III it. The 'MOcking Bird was
whistlei by the press. the public and cler-
gy.. and nearly every one else who could
cock ZIP; Ihere were Mockins Bird
waltzes. poikas, redowas ard other things
in that line until you could not rest AS the
hand finished the first public rendition of
the 'MockinS Bird all eyes turned to Miss
a
group en- the south pOrtico. She bowed her
a acknowledgements and thanks. and Joined
the others i'll clappinS her hands applaud
ing the band. COIOreJ people always wore
their Sunday clothes when they went to
the music. as it was called those days
and l wish more of them did so now"
+ *
To ME it is a matter of the greatest re-
gret sail an inventor who has spent some
time about the patent office recently. that
every man who has been killed or wounded
in battle since the world began has been
killed or wounded on wrong PRINCIPLES.
that is, killed or wounded by the wrong
shaped ball. So. also. has every squirrel,
bear. deer or other animal that has been
shot with slug or bullet
The mushet or rifle of the soldier, as
also the cannon. has either fired a spherical
ball or a conical-shaped slug. fiat at one
end and pointed at the other. Now, both
are wrong. decidedly wrong 1t is a we'll
known fact that military officers or soldiers
have never invented any article used in
warfare. The bayOnet was invented by n
1armer and was put in use in spite of the
men of that era, as were a number
OF other similar inventions 1t Is not sur
pElSlhg, therefore, that military officers
ana naval officers as we'll should oppose
l0trOIurriOr1 of