Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-01

Written foI The Evening Star.
Il have had my first Christmas in Wash
irgtoh for thrty-five years" said Col. J.
". Smith to Star reporter, though /
have been in Washington three times since
ten. Before l moved down into Georgia
1 resided in Washington. ard was a clerk
in the Treasury Department for many
years after / grew into manhood. At the
solicitation of Howell Cobb who was Sec
rotary of the Treasury under President
Buchanan. / moved to Georgia, where
have since practiced law and owned and
operated n farm and other enterprises.
What struck me most peculiar in Wash
Lgton from what it was then is the
er tire change from the way Christmas l.
celebrated. In my ea.iy days Washing
ton was a purely southern city in its way
Of doing things Now 1t is different, and
il il hard fOI an Old timer, for l was born
anil raised here, to realize the changes. Ii
my boyhood days. while. of course. We
had fireworks. skyrockctS and things In
that line on the Fourth of July. Christmas
the big firecracker day of the year fol
the boys. The larger boys were never
happy until they had sngle-barrel pistol,
from which they kept up a very lively fir
irC from about 3 until 10 o'clock i'll
% Tho morning. Every boy who could get
pistol had one. and he found great sport
needless to say / heard no frecrackeTS
here on Christmas. and l have been told
by friends that the old styie-nay. the
SOut hcrn style, ii l may call it So-diSap-
pcarei soon after the war. The boys down
south still shoot frecrackers on Christ
mas. but the custom there is even not as
general as it was Another thing l missed.
and that was the coiored people going
about the city Christmas eve paying
visits among themselves and making
thi, ~ merry by singing Christmas mad
riSalS. AS far / could observe the
coIored people did not seem to be in it at
all in Christmas way. though l suppose
they have other WAYS of celebrating
Christmas eve and early on Christmas
M rning-
Judging from what .have seen since
havs. been here remarked Mr.. W. II.
Gates Of Santa Barbara, Cal. to Star
reporter. the people of Washington eat
a large quantity of grapes. They get the
New York grapes at about the same
tail prices as they sold in California
that is. what is called ten-pound has
ket for Il cents, though several weeks
since | saw wagon loads of them carted
about the streets and sold at 10 cents a
basket j cannot understand why 20 and
- cents per pound is charged for the big
California Tokay and Malaga grapes. To-
kay and Malaga grapes are sold in Cali
fornia all the way from s12 to SIS per ton,
and rarely bring l cent per pound in
large quantities. The rate charged for fast
freight to Chicago is but IL cents per
pound, and to Washington certainly can
rot TIC more than half or three-Quarters
of cert additional per pound by the car
lGau ma would make them cost, laid
doNn here, not more than 3 or 3ia cents Der
pound al the most. The difference in price
from that figure and that paid by the con-
suner therefore goes TO the middlemen
BUYERS he
mission men and the retailers. When the
'hiltornla grower gets ] to liz cents per
pound he thinks he has done very well
IL makes him feel bad. however, when he
Is IN this section of the country or tray-
ENG IN the cars to have to paw - cents
per pound for the same fruit. OF course
MaIttEaS Tokays and the other large va
RE utS of grapes which are grown in Cali
ioftit VIII never sell cheap as the New
YORK grapes in this section of the country
LoI ,ii+ question OF transportation and the
expense OF the various landings has to
come IN bat there is good business rea-
81 why there should be such a difference
in the Price
There is relation whatev.% ba+,oo,,
the rates charged for live passenger and
httd pody, explained a railroad passen-
ber agent TO Star reporter, land there is
n" competition in the hauling of the latter
'UNi Just no" IL Is exceedingly lively in
ies'ru To the former. and will likely be
more SO before the spring months nut in
a'i appearance live passenger enters
'ie CIR ana departs at the end of his Jour-
ney. and that is the end to him so far az
thdt trip is concerned. 1t Is entirely differ
eht IN the case of handling a dead body
IN the hrSt place, there is no railroad that
cares Tor the traffic. for the reason that
they 30 not like to have collins car,i.d
through the depOts, especially if in sigh,
al passengers. Then. again there are
MANY persons who are superstitious in
Surh matters. and If they see a coffin nut
INTO tue cypress car frequently take
another train. and, in cases where tbara
ahr more than one road from the Mace
another road. In the next place. the or
dlniry casEeted remains require ordinarily
".'"u' Tour men TO handle them in putting
thefn on the car and the same humber at
the place of arrival There are other ex-
p'nses about the matter, and these have
to hc calculated fox. so that It treouentIy
happens that the remains of one costs more
ih tiic Item OF transportation than a large
siZrd family who may accompany IL
transportation of bodies on roads mat RIM
throush several or more states is attended
DIV many annoyances, expenses and fees in
,i't matter OF the so-caiied sanitary regu-
laiionS. 1t frequently happens that these
i"-uittiOhs seriously delay TRANSFORMATION
OIL account of the number of Certificates
u.at nave 10 De secured in passing from
on STATE 10 another Some months since
u gentleman who resides in this city took
ms wife, who was suffering from consume
ton. TO one of the mountainous towns ~
Colorado in the hope that the climate there
Nndtd dement, her He bought two round
trip tickets In less than two months his
vii" died. and he was surprised when he
found ne co1id not bring her remains back
OK the ticket he purchased for her while
III me. Indeed, the expense of bringing
the body back was nearly FIVE times that
in going there
=
had a singular experience during re-
cent tour of Europe remarked a gentle
man prominent in the literary world to Il
Star reporter. in the search for one of the
simple ordinary butterfly neckties There
vas time when wore scarfs and ties
mof" elaborate. but that has passed. and /,
Ike many other men who have passed
the meridian of life, am content with COM
for, instead of looks. / had pretty good
supply of butterfly ties with me- but som.-
now L mislaid them while in Rome I
searched through near,y every store in
the eternal city. but could not find any, I
Iid a similar experience in Berlin and
We ma. ] was told. however that l would