Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-10-03

THE first br0wn-StOnes front houses Duhe
in this CITY," observed a stone mason, are
on C street between Sd and AZ streets
northwest They look as well today. as
far as their fronts are concerned, as they
did when built, nearly fifty years ago. One
of them was built for DR.. May, the sur
geon. and the other for the late Dennis
Murphy. who was for so many years the
official reporter of the Senate. one OF
the houses is now the home of the Saen-
gerbund. These houses do not attract
much attention these days. but there was
a time when people f1ocked to look at thenn
THE stole work was unusually good as
is evidenced by their condition today. Inc
novelty of a stone front was very catchy
and though there were plenty OF Drown-
stone fronts in New York. Philadelphia
and Boston there were none here until
these houses were built. The brown stone
front. however. coon ran Its term. ana
though they were exceedingly fashionable
in their time fashion changed in ten or
fifteen years There have been no brown
stone fronts built for many years in this.
or, indeed. any other cities Like the
= French roofs of twenty-five years ago,
there now none so poor as to do them
reverence"
~ People are frequently on the look out
for short loads of COAL" remarked a deal
er, ''but they seldom find any. The fact
= is. dealers are very careful in sending out
each and every ton of coal to be sure that
there is the proper weight. The risk OF
being caught with a short load is too much
for any ore with sense to run, for If the
police found a short ton of coal on any
cart it would seriously injure the business
q of the yard which sent it out. Though
the public seldom get on TO IL there are
many cases where sawed and split wood
is sent out where the proper quantity Is
not put in the carts.
I'm this. however dealers are not di-
rectly to blame, for they leave the filling of
the carts TO the yard men, Some men can
load cart and 10 the inexperienced eye
it is full, when the real fact is IT is often
from one-thrd to one-hfth short OF
course dealers have to be careful in this
respect. where the wood is for their regu-
lar customers, who are In the habit of
buying regularly the same amount and
who expect it to last the usual time.
Should il not last the usual time they
would readily discover that the wood was
not properly packed An example Of this
occurs many times a day with The wood
Eawkers who sell their load of country
wool for 81.
They pay US for the load from sixty to
seventy cents They pack it in their wag-
OnS as TO make il appear that 1t is
solid LOAF Those who buy find out the
difference. They also fnd out that the
load is packed IN lot of rubbish bags.
etc. There are but few real countrymen
selling wood on the streets. and they, as
rule. only do SO during the winter months.
All the others are fakirs. pure and simple.
The same people who willingly pay them
81 a load for sawed and split wood would
kick like steers if we sent them such
trifiing amount of wood for the same
money
There is not much money in street
music as there was some years ago."
said street organ-piano player. but
If a man has good route he can manage
to make lving-that is. if he works ten
hours each day and works hard. Sweet
Alice. Ben Bolt. is the best received tune
though there are other favorites. Work
as hard as We can We have trouble to pick
up $50 per day We will have to be sat
ished with that. however, for while
Street music will do better after the cleo
TORS. l own the piano I play. but the
most street players do not. They rent
TO 40 cents per day Does music pay one
cent tune? No. indeed. That used to
be the rule. but now We are glad if we
get penny for every three tunes"
There a number of stories in circula-
ton going to show why the Executive Man.
sion was called the White House, and by
whom it was first called SUCH" said local
historian. but 1 think the best evidence
tends to give that credit to James Madison
who was the fourth President and who was
driven out of the Executive Mansion wher
the British burned it in 1S14 The Exec u.
tive Mansion Is built of free stone, which
was quarried down on the Potomac river
The Capitol proper was constructed out OF
the same stone though, OF course, the wing:
for the Senate and House of Representa-
ttves are built of marble. with granite fOun
dationS.
AT The time the British burned the Execu
tive Mansion they did lot of other dam
age. and the country was pressed OR money
to repair the same. The walls OF The man
sion were but little damaged, other than be
Ing blackencd by smoke. AS / said, money
Was scarce, and Congress made an appro
priation 10 have the outside Of ;he nous
painted. White was selected as the hes
color. The Capitol was not painted 10
nearly twenty years afterward. Madison
in letter to a personal and political friend
wrote, Come In and see me any time. Yol
Will always find me in al the White House.
The Executive Mansion may nave beel
called the White House before that, but
have never been able to find any record o
II. The letter from Madison had an i'm
portant political bearing and was yer,
extensively circulated. If. therefore. Madi
son did not o;ficiate at the christening h.
certainly took prominent part in publish
ing the fact that the White House we
forever from that time 10 be the name o
the mansion. Up to that time the EXecu
tive Mansion. which is the legal name TO
II. was generally spoken of as the Presi
dents house.
"Birds are extremely nervous in thei
organization. suggested a well-know
raiser and dealer in singing birds, IAN
those who enjoy their company should DC
allow themselves TO forget it. In nine case
out of every ten, when birds lose thei
song. IT Is because they have been fright
ened. They so high strung IN the mat
e ter iof nerves that a fright results i
paralysis. which in many cases results pei
,manently- l don't think there Is any cur
for It, unless ii is to endeavor to assure tn
bird that II will have better treatmen
thereafter Persons should never show
stuffed or dead bird TO Gagged bird
only recently one of my customers ha
fayorite bird stuffed. 1t was one oe
pair. The stuffed bird was shown to tn
bird and the result was that the bird die
In less than an hour. 1t simply could nc
stand the fright. 1 have known a humble
Of birds TO have been frightened out of the
song by seeing stuffed birds on the hats an
bonHets of ladies. Take a frightened Dir
In your hand and you will see and feel ths
the pulsations of its heart are very rapl
and violent. Heart failure kills many bird
though other causes are blamed for the
deaths. When ladies put their DIRE!
hats, especially IL they have stuffed birt
on them, they should keep away from hi,
cages.
THE patent office has made many a do
lar out of inventors" complained biacl
smith. 80 far there have been nearly tv
hundred patentS issued for horses hoes