Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-04

| the top Of the house, SO that when he
| comes ciumping in at o clock in the morn
| ing he Is enabled to awaken all hands
from cellar to garnet. He knows all about
the under strata Of life" and while the
older men at the table regard him Gu
iiCGss..v over their eyeglasses he talks
rakishly Of how Marie Dressler has just
smashed faro bank at Saratoga; of how
his horse died in the stretch at Sleeps
head yesterday afternoon: of how he is
gong to knock OFF on absinthe anyhow
because he believes it's hurting him; of
, the mournfulness of being confined to a
government desk when there's so much
fun 10 be had in the world etc, etc. The
older men, gazing at the ba-a-ad youth
over their eyeglasses, bark refectively back
10 the days when they, too. hankered for
a reputation for extreme wickedness-and
smile profound inward smiles.
She Who TrilIs.
The young lady engaged in pursuing the
vocal art is to be found in the Washington
boarding house. She studies very hard,
always, and her runs and trills and STAG
catoes and colorature work are really quite
marvellous
Il do hope that my practicing doesn't
annoy you,'' she. often says to the other
Doarders in general at table
Not at all! Why, the idea. Certainly
rot! is the chorused reply
so glad!" mIrmurs the young lady en-
gagged IN pursuing the vocal art. When
she rises and leaves the table:
But q Je hear 1t this morning thought
says the young man who has been most
Nocrierons III declaring that the practicing
really soothed him. Holy smoke. 1t must
nave been before sunrise! Must a heard
1t way up at the Capitol. Nothing but
sbaies, either: Woke me up. and thought
the mouse was afire!' etc, etc. Feminine
portion of household delighted. and sub
9ect pursued for half an hour after men
have all gone to offices.
And the Poodle.
The lady who ckerishes the diminutive
black-and-tan poodle with the bark ordi-
nor1ly occupies room on the ground floor
Careful research would appear to war
rant the assertion that she does this in or
der that whenever the front door bell is
rung the poodle has chance to hear il and
to arouse the house and the neighborhood
over 1t. Moreover, she Is enabled to open
her room door on these occasions. and this
enables the poodle to slip into the hall,
paying like Great Dane pursuing a silver
wolf, and to scare timid old ladies' and lit
tie negro children bringing in washing, into
Mysteries. The lady who cherishes the
poodle is invariably such a profitable board
er that the landlady does not dare to
glance sideways at the dog The men in
the house pat the dog on the head and call
1t pretty little Gypsey doggie" when the
dog cherisher is within earshot; when
tIic pedSt : CIeTlSneT Is out OF earShOt of
the mouse, they boot pretty little Gypsey
dogSie downstairs, and say dark things
under their breath
Civil Service.
Through some queer dispensation of
providence. the man who believes in the
civil service law and the man who doest
believe in the civil service law always sit
exactly opposite each other at the Wash
irgton boarding house table.
Another queer fact that has been OBJ
served is that the man at the Washington
boardfng-house table who believes in the
civil service law invariably has a Job i'm a
government building while the man at the
Washington boarding house table who
doesn't believe in the civil service law is
always looking for one and growing vfsibly
II ore haggard day by day in the quest :
The pair go over the matter at breakfast
ana dinner every day. The people sit
uhs beside them cautiously remove the
Knives from the reach of the disputants
When the argument gets under Way
Chinese flaud-blasted blooming Chi
nese fraud and swindle perpetrated upon
the taxpayers of the United States,' de-
Claims INC man in search of government
Cesk. ard therefore unalterably opposed to
the civil service idea. Made for n lot of
sci DOL boys. The gall of 'em. to expect a
man who s been out of school for quar-
Ter OF century to answer such imbecile
Questions! Countrys gone to the devil
that's what! Look here, what good does n
do man in the Treasury Department,
adding up columns of figures for his paw. to
Know how far the planet Jupiter is from
the Cape Of Good Hope, hey? What
Those Questions.
But they don't ask any such questions
The deuce they don't! What good"
The good is replied the man who has
the job, warming up, that the civil service
law Keeps the government of the United
States from going to rack and ruin. that's
what the good is. 1t keeps a lot of thick
neaded ward-heelers and cheap-Jim poll
ucians from swoopirg down on the de-
paftments of Washington and drawing
huildoze people who know fifty times as
much as they know themselves" etc. etc.
Evaporation of the argument is unneces
sary. II has been heard by every man
woman, child and dog in Washington.
BESIDES the tenants of the Washington
noardlns house here mentioned, there are
others. "e