Evening star., 1897-07-31
~; Il ING: t';*S(S;$:?;&EI}4S31e


northwest. and being an ardent whig and
supporter of Mr.. Clay he not only showed
his colors by displaying the emblems of his
party, including live coon, but employed
a drummer and tifer to play by the hour
Rally. Wings 'Tippecanoe,' Clay and
Frelinghuysen' and similar tunes Messrs.
Brown and Mackey were the musicians,
and every afternoon and evening they
would, to the delight of the crowd, pound
ard blow these old tunes, sometimes the
crowd singing the words. Rally, Wings.
was the taking tune stirring, martial
air and to this day We frequently hear the
strains. Though / have never been aught
but q democrat, l have always admired the
old tune, and as it was about the best
thing left by the old whig party when 1t
went out of business. there is no reason
why new (and non-partisan) words should
not be recast to the old tune, for national
hymn"
X X x
THAT some of the old-tine stores of
Washington kept little of everything
that could be called for" says an old
timer, I'VE old folks have only to recall
Alters, on 7th street northwest, and
Clark's, on AZ street southwest. and some
others of fifty years ago. They were known
as grocery stores. but hardware, paints,
oils ard glass. toys. crockery, drugs AMI
medicines made them yeritable variety
stores 1t was an ordinary occurrence for
wagerS to be made that nothing could be
ns med that could rot be found at Alters,
or. at least. something which would an
swer the purpose. 1t is rela ted that one of
the clerks WAS asked if they had second
hand pulpitS in stock, and before he could
answer the proprietor, remarking that he
thought he had, led the way to the cellar
ana. brushing away the dust and cob
webs disclosed an old-fashioned pulpit also
aJerh-
boring church, which was being remodeled
at the time
X X x X
people outside of the service have but
an imperfect idea of what it costs an Off
Ger to keep up his stock of regimentals or
uniforms observed a naval officer to a
Star reporter. There is an idea in many
sections that the government pays for the
uniforms of officers, it does for soldiers
and sailors, but officers know to the con-
trary, to their cost. Recently 1 made an
inventory of my traps in the way of uni
forms. hats, sashes. &c. and found that
it stood me. including my sword. at be-
tween seven hundred and eight hundred
dollars, and 1 am by no means extrava-
giant or as well provided for in this regard
as many others above and below me In
Iank. For my dress trousers including the
gold stripe, l paid the last few weeks $50,
ana know other officers who have paid
even more for theirs. Army and naval off,
GERS make no complaint against the officers
OF the various militia organizations so
closely copying their uniforms but they
seriously object to officers of ron-miltary
bodies copying the same + Strangely
enough there is no law which prevents
this copying. and if one of the .seer-drink-
ing social clubs of Cincinnati Chicago or
any other city should adopt the uniform of
the admirals of our navy or our generals.
there is no law to prohibit it. Their. are
several organizations of this kind and the
tendency of them is to lower the dignity
OF the service. at least in the eyes OF out
slders. Things are managed differently
abroad. Only recently at a yacht race in
Cowes. England. the officers of the yacht
club In some particulars closely copied the
uniforms worn by officers of the royal
navy. The attention of the British naval
officials was called to it, and there was a
stop put to it instanter. Should such a
thing be done in this country it would raise
a howl from one end of the land 10 the
other"
There will be no more heard of the jap
enese bicycle" remarked a bicycle agent
to Star reporter. (which was to be sold
at low price. for the reason that under
the new tariff act il is simply shut out by
the duty which is not only laid on the COM
pleted wheel. but also all of the parts
There was much more talk in this con-
nection than there was foundation for it.
The Japanese, or, as far that is con-
cerned. any other nation cannot co-,aete
with US in turning out bicycles
Indeed. it has been demonstrated by
this seasons sales, as is evidenced by the
consular reports which are constantly be-
ing received at the State Department. that
we can meet any bicycle compatitors even
IN their own territory. The drawback 10
all the foreign made wheels is that they are
far too heavy i'll construction. and I doubt
II they could fiad a. market in this country
even II there was no duty levied upon
them. The bicycle trade. however is un-
dergoins setback. which is the reason
why the cuts are being made in the prices
II Will end up all right. though. for there
will be steady increase in the demand
for them The wheel has come to stay.
though the pneumatic tire has probably
seen its best day The wheel of the
future will have cushion tire. Riders are
tired OF pumping up their tires and long for
the od-fashioned cushion tire which il
sure to come back. They are so glad to ger
rid of the rcZor edge tire that they willing
ly used the pneumatic tires. The cushion
tire will, of course weigh somewhat more.
but there will be such thing as pune
the market again. There are already a
half dozen patterns and grades being ex-
perimented with. though any of them is
superior to the pneumatic. The cush-
ion tire will cost less than the pneu-
matte. and the price of all wheels will
steadily decline, as the sewing machine did.
until I. bottom price is reached. which will
eventually be less than one-half of the
original price