Evening star., 1897-08-07

Written Exclusively for The Evening Star.
1T is rare thing nowadays for a GUS
toner to ask for hair oil,' remarked a
barber to a Star reporter, though twenty
OF thirty years ago it was equally rare Ii
a customer did not. There were hundreds
of oil preparations or hair tonics. they
were called, in old-fashioned days. though
1 think bears grease or bears oil was most
in demand. Pomatums were also much
used and sold. for in those days BARRIERS
sold all the hair preparations. As time
passed along this trade. which was very
profitable, went to the drug stores. In all
hair preparations castor oil was the grease
used. For the so-called tonics it was cut
with alcohol and colored with alkanet or
cochineal and perfumed. In latter days
about the only grease called for or used
by customers is vaseline- To tell the
truth, after forty years experience in
the barber business. / don't know of any
thing that will make the hair grow. know
this though, when BARRIERS controlled the
hair tonic and hairdressing preparations
trade. there was n ore money in the bus1-
ness than there is now, for many is the
week 1 made good wages fixing up and
selling hair tonic. We often sold a gallon
of ii in a day. Now you can't sell a gallon
in six months
1. x X
THE reference in The Star last Satur-
day." observed an old resident to Star re-
porter, Ito some of the old-time stores in
this city reminded ME of other general
stores where everything from groceries to
dry goods. hardware, boots. shoes and hats
was sold, among them being the store of
Mr.. Firth, at the corner of Indiana avenue
and Sd street northwest. The younger peo-
pie of the present generation. of course, do
not remember it. though it was only closed
In the past fifteen years. but their par
ents and grandparents do. Mr.. Births
store was an institution of that section of
the city, and many is the older resident
who was not only fed from there but was
clothed as well, for he kept almost every
thing. One of MIR. Births specialties was
cider, which he disposed of in large guam
titles. He had 1t in three forms. new. me-
dunn and hard. All of 1t was good. but bis
hard cider was very hard. People from all
sections of the city dealt with him. and
there was a saying that anything that
came from Births was good. In slavery
days Mr.. Birth sold much of the dOmestics
and ginghams which were worn by the
slaves who were kept in this city. Much
of his trade was with country people, whose
wagons could be seen packed about his
place on market days, after market hours.
A famed 9TH street store was PauluS Thy
sons. between / and K streets. Mr.. Thy
sons was a hardware store, and though he
may not have carried as large a stock as
some of the modern stores in that line do.
IL was very large and comprised about
everything that could be asked tor from a
knitting needle to 2 steam engine. Builders
could always find everything in their line
at Thysons. and he did an enormous busi-
ness. Nearly all the farmers who came in
from Montgomery and Prince Georges
counties, Nd, got their supplies from him.
The boys regarded an old-fashioned Barlow
jack knife bought at Thyson's, as the
greatest prize which could be had"
x X X
Il have been much interested of late in
hunting up the origin of the yellow envel-
cpe as a vehicle of transmitting depart
mental discharges said literary man to
a Star reporter. but 1 have not met with
the success 1 desired. Most of those with
whom 1 talked about it think the yellow
envelope had its origin in the Treasury De-
partment. but ] have been unable to au-
thenticate their impressions by any official
paper or authority. The thought came to
me that may be The Star would take inter-
est enough to allow it's columns to be used
for the purpose. The saying he got the
yellow envelope is common here, though it
is never heard in any other city. How the
yellow envelope came to be used in cover
ing discharges, or what was the origin of
the custom, is what 1 am after. / have
never heard of an appointment being sent
stand why the yellow envelope has always
been used in connection with DISCHARGES
Mr.. Fitzgerald, the librarian of the War
Department. who is an authority on such
subjects, assures me that. though he is lin-
able to cite any authority, he is confident
that the yellow envelope was first used for
discharges in the Treasury Department
He thinks that the phrase the yellow en-
veiope, Is nearly as old as the departments
themselves. The yellow envelope has never
teen used in Europe in an official way the
only envelopes used there being white and
due L nave ascertained that, though the
!eiIow envelope In former days was nearly
always used in sending out discharges and
removals. it is seldom used in latter times
there being no distinction made officially
between discharges and appointments. 1t
mas been suggested to me that yellow is
the color OF mourning of the Oldest nation
the Chinese, and as discharges frequently
nave been the cause of mourning, the
yellow envelope was used on this account
me ming had to have an origin. and that
Is what L am after, more than sugges-
lions"
Il =
There may be some instances though I
do not now remember any, where a man
ever amassed great wealth by his own
personal efforts, but my experience has
been that when men have secured great
riches it is because they have been for
trnate in combining the efforts of others
III tHeir iHteTeStS ana tHuS increasing their
possessions explained a prominent and
very wealthy man to Star reporter 81
can speak better of my own case than any
other. and it fully illustrates my idea.
started out in life professional man,
but only did fairly well at my profession
/ then satisfied myself / could do better
in a financial way by engaging others and
putting them at work to my profit NY
start was in merchandising in the west
ern country / did all the buying and en-
ployed others to do the selling. Some 1
kept in the store. Others put on the road
drumming up trade. When l got the busi-
ness in pretty good shape / employed one
of my best clerks a manager, though
i kept my eyes on the business. AS soon as
i found that the business was running
along well i started into other enterprises
Using the same tactics. In one thing and
another in ten or fifteen years / had a
dozen different business enterprises in run
ming operation. 1 managed to get a little
profit on each one that employed. and after
awhile / had hundreds working for me.
The profit from each one was small, but
when IL was combined 1t counted up.
have dealt very extensively in land and
timber speculations. and was always con-
tent to sell out when 1 could do so at
profit. OF course. 1 employed middle men
to sell the properties, and / never worried
about how much they made, provided
came out of the transaction at an advance
Of the price paid. i always believed In the