Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-27

Written for The Evening staE-
The sundown guns fired at Arlington
and the arsenal at shutdown each evening.
remarked one of the watchmen on the
Long bridge to a Star reporter, AFFORD
much amusement to river men, even if they
do not furnish much accurate information
as to the incident of the day that they are
supposed to signalize. They are supposed
to be furnished with the same information
as to the matter of sunrise and sunset.
and though they are in air line about
one and half or two miles distant from
each other they seldom fire their guns at
anything like the same time. Geographical
" the arsenal should fire the shutdown gun.
a fraction of a second 50 ahead of that
at Arlington. but the reverse is always the
case. Indeed on Sunday evening last the
gun at Arlington announced sun down at
least ten minutes before the gun at the
arsenal was fired. The cavalry does not
like to play second fiddle to the artillery,
though in army matters the artillery ranks
first. the infantry second and the cavalry
third, and ii manages to beat the artillery
out every evening
THE improvement in bicycle saddles did
not come a moment too soon,' said we'll
known surgeon to a Star reporter, "and it
would have been better had it come earlier.
The fact is, though 1t was not fully
demonstrated until a couple of years after
the bicycle was firmly established as
vehicle of pleasure and transportation. thai
the old-fashioned bicycle saddle, while good
enough for slim and average built persons,
did serious injury to heavy-built persons.
The weight of the riders rested on the back
bone or spinal column. and in riding over
rough pavement5 roads, the jolting pro-
duced painful and dangerous results. if not
permanently injuring the spinal column,
the only relief from which was rather
difficult operation. / would not like to ven-
ture any opinion to which Is the best
saddle, for l am not sure about it. Riders
can now have their choice of at least twen-
ty patterns, either of which does away
with the old-fashioned razor back pattern
saddle. The latter has injured many. though
they did not seem to realize it for year or
SO after the injury occurred Any saddle
that has any kind of central support
body SHOULD be supported by the parts that
nature has supplied for such purposes, and
hot by the spinal column
X X
Though it may not have occurred fire.
quently. / am convinced that some wash
women here hired cut my linens during the
tine they had them to be washed" said
lady department clerk to Star reporter,
land / make the announcement to save
others from similar treatment. Among
laundry women. while the great percentage
of them are honest. though not careful
at times as one could wish. there are few
who are not. and it is to get at this few
that / am speaking. Whenever a wash
woman excuses herself from delivering
clothes at the appointed time and promises
to have them finished early next week.
there is room for suspicion-and it will bear
investigation Circumstances, of course
arise, rainy weather, sickness and the like
which prevent even the most prompt laun-
dry women from returning the clothing
when they promise. bat when this thing
Is kept up and the clothes are habitually
kept over Sunday. il is a safe venture to
Bet another person to do your laundry.
Ordinarily there is not person in ten
who has other than a general idea of
where their clothes are Numbered. They
Know they are taken away. and after a
lew days returned. and that is about as
far as their informant ton goes. Indeed that
was all L knew for many years. Now, how
ever. am more particular. and / not only
know the particular place where my cloth
Ing is washed and the place where it is
dried and ironed. but 1 know exactly who
washes it. In quiet kind of a way l
have investigated somew what into the mat
ter. and find that clothing of both women
ara men Is regularly loaned or hired out
and then washed and ironed again before
being returned The only way by which
this practice can be stopped is for those
Interested to occasionally visit the places
where their work is done and see for them
Selves that their clothing. if not ready to
be delivered. is in the hands of those who
should have il instead of being on the
bCoies of those who hire or borrow IT
f'onapiy should say that violations of
IRIS KIND are less frequent in the cases of
residents than they are in those of tran
sients who stop at hotels and boarding
houses"
X 4
There IS no hurrying in the departmental
buildings in Europe observed a recently
returned American, a department official
TO Star reporter, land such a thing as
a Special is not known. No matter or
business can be made special or rushed
through To get an answer to the simplest
question requires from two to five days,
oftener the latter than the smaller number
1 suppose IL any one in high official position
should personally interest himself in a case
he could have il disposed of out of order
but even then there would be some delay
about 1t. simply for the reason that the
system operates slowly. In our department.
al business case can tie and is frequently
received and disposed of in less than an
hour, though in some instances it has to
so through couple and even more divi-
sions for action and note before it can be
acted upon by the head of the department.
Such cases are known as red card card or
blue card cases and are special They have
the right of way, and routine matters are
temporarily laid aside while they are being
considered and acted upon. These specials
are made 50 on request, and it does not
require d very heavy request, either, to ac-
complish 1t. There is no department that
does not have great many of them In each
day. On the other side of the ocean things
are run less in railroad fashion and there
Is absolutely no interference or interruption
with the way the wheels go around. In
the public buildings, far as@I could OBJ
serve, business is transacted ii is in the
departments mere certain number of
papers out of the newly arrived mail is
handed around to the divisions to which
they belong and by the chiefs of the divi-
Sons. in turn. assigned to the various
CLERKS for action and record. When the
work is finished IL is turned in. examined,
signed and mailed. but everything has to
go through this order. In Berlin I had a
postal matter to look after. On inquiring
at the proper office for information / was
told that no personal requests for informa-
ton could be considered. and 1 would have
to reduce my request to writing. This
did. i was then told that the answer would
be sent me in about three days. I argued
that as the Information / desired was
matter Of brief record. IL could be furnished