Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-14

Written Exclusively for The Evening Star.
Tine toad story in The Star. two weeks
since. is nv excuse at this time for telling
of III. Herndor toad said War Depart
ment clerk 10 Star reporter Il I'VE al
Herndo.. Va and know of the facts in the
case ard know of them to be facts one
of the best known of the residents OF Herh-
con had and has pet toad whicn ne mas
kent about his place for several years. The
toad follows him about mis- farm ana
though toads generally do their trav-
cling at night time, this toad Is active
at nearly all hours in the day as we'll. Some
time since he decided to give the toad to
friend who resides in Washington. The
toad was carefully boxed up and taken in
the cars In less than two weeks after
ward the toad surprised its former owner
by app caring on the farm at Herndon. hav-
ing Travelled all the way back. To do this
il had either TO swim the Potomac or cross
ever the Aaueduct or Long bridge. If any
one doubts the story, we can show h1m IN"
toad Its tcen.ils were completely worn
off by the long distance travelled. over ten
miles.
y X
'"rhere is an impression among many
riders in the cable cars. and the Metropoh-
tan Inc as well. that fares cannot be legally
car conductor 10 a Star reporter. 1T is
mist AXE, though. for while We seldom col
lect any fares in Georgetown. We can do
so. If we desire The fact is. conductor
does not think it orth while to collect the
fares on his car until he passes over the
ridge which crosses Rock creek On the
LIP trip he generally has all his fares col
lected before he gets to the bridge. and so
seldom collects any fares in Georgetown.
This erroneous impression arises from the
former legislation on the subject. l have
heard II said by persons who were compe-
tent to express an opinion on the subject
that Congress in giving the charters to
these roads originally omitted the au-
thority 20 collect fares in Georgetown.
unless the municipality of Georgetown.
which was then an independent gov
eminent. consented This consent was
never given. simply for the reason that
i. was never asked for. When the munich
pality of Georgetown was abolished as such
and merged irto the District of Columbia
there is no doubt but that there was le
gal right given the railroad companies to
collect fares. 1t will seldom be taken adj
vantage of. however, for the reasons stat
ed. that fares are seldom collected before
crossing the bridges in going to Washing
ton. and are nearly always collected before
the bridges are reached on the return trip.
/ have often collected fares on the start of
the trip and again at the finish, from per-
had the legal right to collect fares and
Trough they never surrendered their opin-
ion. they pail their fares just the same,
bridge or no bridge
Naval officers always settle in the coun-
try when they can remarked a prominent
naval officer to a Star reporter. During
their active careers. that is. during the time
they are al sea. they are necessarily cramp-
ed for room. and while some of them on the
large modern ships have elegant and
sCrnptuous quarters. there is necessarily a
limit TO it This thing grows on Il man to
such an extent that the first thing he does
when he is retired. and in hundreds of
cases long before retirement. he hunts up
and locates on farm Three of the ad-
Inirais of the retired list, headed by Admit
raj ATnmen, are the owners of farms in
the Immediate locality of Washington. and
any number of other officers are similarly
provided for. though their farms are not
SO extensive. They seem to want stretch
ing room, and it will be noticed that when
they do locate they secure big places.
Their minds run into stock and chicken
raising. The officers of the marine corps
have been noted for years the owners
of the speediest horses owned or driven
about Washington. and they have been al
ways prominent in connection with our
racing associations and organizations. Nd
val officers have been similarly prominent.
II is different with army officers. Their am
cities. The naval officers ideas all run 20
ward the country. l don't like to give
names. but 1 could give dozens of Illus
trations to prove what / say if it were
necessary. Take look at the incoming
cars from any of the suburban places
around Washington any morning and there
will be sufficient proof Of what 1 say
\
II have looked into the subject enough
to satisfy me- said Judge Uruquhart Of
Georgetown TO Star reporter, that cats
should he licensed the same as dogs. They
are much more of nuisance in every way
than dogs. are kept in larger numbers and
much more revenue could be secured than
is received from the dog license tax. There
may be some reason for keeping dogs,
though I am not sure about 1t, but there
are no reasons whatever for keeping cats.
A dog bowls now and then at night time
during certain changes of the moon, and
is to that extent 4 destroyer of sIeep, and
thereby a nuisance. Cats. however. make
ten times the racket that dogs do and seem
to keep 1t up. change of the moon or not.
AS far hydrophObia is concerned, cas-
cause il as frequently as do dogs, for, after
all. it is a rare, though terrible thing. 1 do
not iEd that eats have ever been licensed
or tagged the same as dogs, though l can
not understand why not. i can furnish
plenty OF law on the subject for all the
law that is behind the dog license tax is
license cats. The people of Georgetown
seem 10 run toward owning and keeping
cats Every house has one. and some
houses have a dozen. The noise that this
class of nuiSances make is more distressing
more pain producing and more annoying
and intolerable than any made by any
combination of the other nuisances"
+
There Is constant complaint about milk"
said of the milk inspectors to a Star
reporter. though since the new law went
into effect requiring ali sellers of milk 20
be registered and their milk inspected the
milk has improved steadily. Dairymen will
not dare now to send in the quality of
milk they delivered here year or more ago.
simply because they know 1t will not stand
the tests the inspectors require of 1t. l
have noticed one thing. however and so
have a number of persons who use milk
and that Is the almost criminal carelessness
in connection with the way some milk is
handled by the dairymen who serve milk
routes. In many instances the cans and
milk measures are not clean. though the
quality of the milk Is good. Some Of the
delivery men, especially the younger men,
have very nasty habit of smoking cigar
cites while they at work. The milk
sometimes absorbs the flavor of the cigar
cites. Now, cigarettes may be good enough
In their place. though i have never thought