Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-09

Star writer Il do not speak of nv neigh
DORIS IN the broad, biblical sense of the
term, that includes all living, sentient be-
lngs with ten fingers and ten toes. l mean
Tie people that live in my neighborhood-
the friends of my wife. i like TO throw TIE
responsibility for my neighbors upon NV
wlte like to say to her. when any of
my neighbors reveal petty unlikeable traits
or indulge in minor meannesses, Well
they're your friends, you know: YOU made
en- you inaugurated the running hack
and forth, or, at least, you encouraged IL :.
so l suppose you mean to stand for Their,
Row, do you not? When 1 out 1t I'm this
way (Which is about on a par with other
little digs 1 work in at home for the con-
servation of autonomy she always swears
that have been thicker with the unmask.
ed neighbors than she ever was She takes
1t foc granted, you know that because.
when the neighbors run in do not drive
tnem hence from my abode-that l do not
heap contumely and vituperation and scorn
upon them and throw dishware at them
l actually do love them as myself Well
! oon {. guess there must be something
fundamentally wrong about me, for / GER
fanny don't love my neighbors as myselr
by long shot They're all right ali Of
them. and l could not bring any specific
cnarges against them that would land any
OF them In Jafl-eminently respectable men
ana women: but I'm built on such out-of--
Whack lines. probably, that 1 often envy
Danlel Boone for the isolation he en- lowell
from neighborly offices. and his immunity
from the miseries of the running in habit
With a Jnundiced Eye.
This running in habit is what makes me
regari my neighbors with q jaundiced eve
according to my way of thinking-which is
the result OF quarter of century of OBJ
servation from the point of view of a
tanned family Neutrality-suspicious. are all right
10 look at For example. 1 like to see the
man who lives in the house to the left op
me pottering around in his front ward. i
ENJOY seeing him work. 1 enioy seeing
anybody work. My pottering neighboT
gives me something to think about over "A
pipe, as L observe him from a window of
my house. 1 wonder why he doesn't give /.
htack man and brother a dime for doing
that bit of hoeing and hedging and vine,
framing, and stay inside and smoke him
SER to the verge of the other world. like 7
90. The matrons in my block. bosom
friends OF my wife's, present a cheerful
spectacle as 1 pass along in the morning
loinns up the front curtains into wads. and
DONG all OF the sweeping and busting theu-
serves, while their holsemaids regard then,
approvinsly. The young women in my
nelghborhood, tried and tested. weighed
ana proven and forever and ever sworn
friends Of the young women of INV 70 nil
are exceedingly amiable- looking and at
traclVe young women I'm my eyes when 7
see them framed In the lintels of their own
MONIES as skate along The Young cubs
In the neiShborhood 1 live in are manly
Well-conducted little chaps, as / see tban,
ABOUT Two blocks away from INV house
Piaylns Skinny with my boys. By all means
neisnpors were devised for purely orua,
mental purposes. to sort o. fill in the com
position and color scheme. l amend the
reno OF parDarism maxim Children should
De seen, not heard by striking out the
woro children and inserting 'neighbors'
But started to unburden myself on
this running in habit. It's an importation
from the west In the minor cities of the
west every citizen has more or less of a
yard around his home, and yards are great
~ conducive to the formation of trene,,d
ously thick friendships between neishbors
When the washing is being hung out in
Inc back yard on Monday mornings the
Wie and mother at the head of the house,
noid that has just moved in is pleasantly
greeted by the wife ard mother next door
ana the exchange of condolences begins
rlSnt OH. When the man comes home from
work IN the evening and prowls around
the grounds Of his new establishment In
ms shirt sleeves to get the lay Of the land
the proprietor of the 'dobe next door also
IN his shirt sleeves, leans over the fence
ana volunteers the information that it's
going TO rain, and couple of evenings
later the adult members of the two fami-
hes are playing euchre and eating sponge
cake under the same roof, the young wo-
men declare to each other that they seem