Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-26
A WASHINGTON GUIDE
Tells Of the Sort Of People Who Do
the Sights.
old RESIDENT TAKES A DAY FOR IT
Very Little Unseen When School
marin Party Makes the Rounds.
"NEW YORK" FOREIG NERS

Written for The Evening Star.
Yes said the guide with the seedy
suit. the well-polshed if non-waterproof
| shoes, the black derby that had seen bet
| ter days and the frazzled yet Immediately
| white linen-he hovers expectantly in the
! general vicinage of the Peace monument,
| which, it will be remembered, is not too
| far out of range of establishments where
! the largest size of schooners may be had
| for tie price-'this big, comfortabie-lookng
| man in crash linen clothes and a Panama
| hat hired me to take him around one after
| noon last week. He had guide book, map
| of the town ard all the rest of the gear
of visitor. He noticed my badge in pass
| ing along this way, and says he:
| Just tote me around and show me the
| whole thing
| Then he called a calash and We started
| out Took him through the Capitol first
| and then the Botanical Gardens. Then we
| did the ride up to the top of the monument.
| Afternoon about wound up them ana
| he said he'd meet me and we'd finish up
! the rest of the sights the next day. He was
| on hand all right with another wagon the
| next morning. and away we started again
| Did the Smithsonian, National Museum,
| Medical Museum, house where Lincoln died,
| Corcoran Art Gallery. Treasury, War; State
| and Navy. patent office. the whole works.
| Interesting place, very, said he, when
| we had about covered the town and he was
paying me off Had no idea there was so
| much to be seen here
| "'Oh,' says |. in an off-hand. I-know-it-
| all way, .Washingtons the swell show town
of the country. First time you've ever been
| here?'
| lie looked al me kind o funny like out
| o the slants of his eyes, and says he:
| well, no: l wouldn't exactly say that.
I've been living here steadily for the past
| nine years-in the government service. New
| err had look around town before, though.
| Spent all my vacations out of town. and
| you can't much of anything here after
| / O'Clock. Thought I'd just take couple
| o days of my vacation to look around the
town that I've been living in for nearly a
| decade And then he went his way.
| Fact. Honest. Cross m heart Here
| I'd been throwing all kinds o'-well, pipey
| things-fnto him for two days, thinking he
| was from Omaha Minneapolis. or some
Old place like that, and that he'd never so
| much as got off the cars in Washington
| and he ups and stuns me with the informa-
| ton that he's been here nine years, which
| is five years longer than I've been here
| myself But I'll bet hat that he swal-
lowed all the-weil. just call it persitiage-
| that l filled him up with about some O
| the sights we took in, just as if it really
! had been his first whrl in Washington
| that is. just as If he'd never been here be-
| fore.
| Plenty Customers Here.
| And, say, l want to remark that if l
| could get all of that kind of business that's
| here to be got, 1 wouldn't have to hustle
| for visitors to show around. l mean that
| the departments here are chock- a-block
! filed up with clerks, from $60-a- month folks
up to the top-notchers who haul down the
| big government coin every month, VINO,
| after several years of residence here. don't
| know half so much about washington as
| bunch of Baltimore or Philadelphia school
| marms, who fit in here on cheap two-day
| excursions and cover the town with drag
net from the minute they get in until they
| take the train for home I'd ike to nave a
| two bit piece for every man and woman IN
| the government service in washington
who's never even been inside the capitol.
| Sounds singular doesn't 1t? but II on
| the level all right. I'd be Wiling 70 Oct
| that not more than one in twenty-five OF
| the government folks have ever been up at
| the top of the monument, and that not
| more than five, or, at the most, ten per
| cent of them have ever passed osneatn tne
| liutels of the Smithsonian, the Natlonai
! Museum or the Corcoran Art Gallery why
oh, that's easy enough AS my man. "iio
| had lived here for nine years, Satd, rev Oh
| the show places in Washington can be got
| at after O'Clock In the afternoon, ana SO
| they are practically of no GOOD TO ,iie
| reople in the departments Ihey hesita.e
| about taking a day off now and then from
| their annual leave for the purpose OF look
ing over Washington, and Wheh tneir Naca-
| ton time comes around they want " ~ -
| their homes, or to the beach the floui noun
tains ar some place for change. Don
| blame them, at that. Ihey go Oh p osu
poning their sightseeing from year 10 yea;
and the result is that slews OF depar lii,enta ,
nnnia have spent years here, lived ana
| died here without ever seeing nucli niois
| of Washington than Pennsylvania avenue,
street and the route oeLwse,a drift
here at inaugurations. and big aHtiis ~ IN
| that some of them do turn out WIN WIZ nh
| visiting kinfolk and look AROUND :" ~,
| ,neton a bit. and the obs and ans ,they
morL off over sights that have peeh lying
rioht here alongside them for years are are
actnalIy funny to listen to- Duriiis ~ the
peace carnival lady VINO s. or 1eamnrv of
| treasury Department since the menloi .S NJ, 20
| ,an .fersits it so to speak, engaseo ~.
III mo-, taIa her and couple of visiting women
friends from the west around to"h'
Had Not Time Before.
".Now. who would think there
| many interesting spots around the o"p,.
| hniIdiner said she, when l was sho"h'e
! them around the crypt o5
of course you've seen EN- all d sooN
| MANY times before. ma'am says l. ,,
=" No she said kind O. hestatngly. We
| o,1,, heen in the Capitol building twice pc
fore-once to hear Charles sumner inhhs a
speech, and the last 1ime Win the Tilden
preme Court was CONSTRUCTING
| ".Well declare said one of her visit
ing friends, I'd really be ashahieu " "o
M 81 am acknowledged the lady, who's
hAen in the treasury since the days OF Gen.
| IA guide in this town rubs up agalnst
some oueer propositions in the course OF
the year. Say. / plowed around Win d
narty of twelve-even dozen-schooI teac c,
ers from Buffalo not long ago Hau ~, en u
ont from o o'clock in the morning untll .
| o'clock in the afternoon, and what they
| didn't see in that time isn't in the guloe
hook that's ALL Well. talk about your
| Dutch treats-what dye suppose they did
when they were through with my services;
WHY. each of 'em dug into her purse and
pulled out two dimes. They passed their
dimes to the lady who seemed to be the
boss or forewoman. and she Clipped in her
two Dimes and handed me the twenty-four
ten-cent pieces. didn't have any kick
Coming about the amount-we don't ever
expect to buy railroad bonds and such like
off the fees the ladies who teach school
give us-but the solemn way they handed
me those bangle coins got going. l
wanted to laugh and l had to. Then they
all looked at me carefully over the rims of
their glasses. and they probably thought l
was crazy. But L had to laugh, all the
same
Another party of school teachers-fve |
of em-that 1. had out during the peace |
/ cal do fer with ha-