Evening star., 1897-01-09
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whom are men. 1t is this way: Out in the
courts of the War. State and Navy De-
partment building there are ordinarily over
one hundred bicycles, belonging to the
clerks. If it looks to the owners and
riders of these wheels in the morning that
II will rain in the afternoon, they rarely
ride down to their offices, and the result
is that there are but few bicycles in the
courts If they think the weather will be
fair at the closing hour they all ride, and
the courts art. as a consequence, filled
with bikes. Now. when 1 want to ascer-
tain with anything like certainty what the
weather viii be at O'Clock and the hour
or so following, 1 simply look out into the
courts. l am the proud rider of a wheel
myself. and though not exactly wheel mad
L necessarily come in contact with other
riders, and l am in full sympathy with
them Should a storm promise in the mid
die OF the day. l can discern 1t without
studying meteorological conditions, other
than to just look out into the court. A
coming, unlocked for and sudden storm is
indicated by the hurry and scurry of the
wheelnen and wheel women gathering up
their machines and placing them in cor
ners and halls. here and there, which are
covered. so as to escape the downfall In
the same way l can tell whether or not 1t
will be windy or otherwise disagreeable in
the afternoon by the number of wheels in
the court There is no use talking The
bicycle is an education of itself"
X ::
Just Sixty-one years ago today" said
an old resident yesterday, II was one of a
large crowd who attended the cornerstone
laying of Jackson City, at the Virginia
end OF the Long bridge. Though l was
but boy at the time. l remember the day
very well and the occurrences. 1t was the
first time l had seen Gen. Andrew jackson.
A couple of weeks before that the pro-
moters of Jackson City. the owners of
the land thereabouts, wrote President
Jackson inviting him to ofiiciate ON the
occasion of the founding of the place and
asking him for permission to name the
coming city after him. They also indi-
Gated that January 8 would be a desirable
day for the dedication. January Presi-
dent Jackson formally responded to the
invitation, promising that he would be on
hand, as would also the members of his
cabinet, and was willing that the city
should be named after him. The several
lodges of MaSons and Odd Fellows of the
city and three or four military organizations
had also been invited, and they were pres
eEt in large numbers. The procession
formed at the corner Of 14th street and
PENNSYLVANIA avenue and marched over to
what was to be Jackson City-preceded by
marine barracks. A large crowd for those
days followed the procession, President
jackson and the members of his cabinet
riding in carriages. The Grand Lodge of
MdSoii9 FORMALLY ldld ana Qedlcated the
corner stone. 1t was estimated that there
were 1000 persons present, which, con-
sidering the population of this city those
days as compared to what it is now, was
very large crowd. There were number
of speeches delivered and the future of
Jackson City was glowingly depicted. 1t
was seriously thought that Jackson City
would in time become great city. Some
how the place never prospered, and besides
road house or tavern, a blacksmith shop
nr fnY1 of fhar h,ril1 limo
nothing was ever added. The place never
had twenty-five actual residents at any
time in its existence until the gamblers
and race horse people moved there four
or five years ago. Even the sporting peo-
pie have about deserted 1t now, and there
is hardly anything left but half dozen
tumbling down shanty buildings and
memory"