Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-23

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with the Washington people the day was
made more of than even the Fourth of
July, and as l recall that when | was ten
years of age more noise was made than
now. The evening and night before and the
day of the 18th was the length Of the Holt
day season, and the boys crowded every
conceivable species of fun and frolic into
That perind-not boys alone, but our fathers.
too, joining in. You may know that we
had no such facilities as now. 1t was COM
mon to borrow a coal of fire from neigh
Dor when the old-fashioned finder box. with
It's fllnt, steel and tow, was not at hand
and to set off firecrackerS we carried a
piece of burning rope.
Perhaps continued the old man. my
own experience at that day NAV interest
TINS generation. We then lived near the
site of the Post Office Department building
and patent office, on F street but the lat
Ter building was not then built nor the pres
ent structure for the former | remember the
pussy times at our house in preparing for
the DAY, Tor there were six children in the
mouse. we assisted in choppins the mince
meat, for it could not then be bought. as
now, and 1t appeared that every housewife
nad tler own recipe, and not every one could
pulid satisfactory pie; and there We're
some, too, who would not attempt it,
ifen the ginger cakes We're rolled out
ana baked Children were early To roost
those days, and { O'Clock found MS in bed
after having hung up the largest stockings
we conld md; but having learned the
legend OF Ben Sniggle,' ere day broke We
We're peerng into the stockings cramu,ad
with ginger cake. oranges, apples, with a
levy, mp or cartwheel cent, in the toe
anu anu toEs-a wooden dog lamb or d stiff
hn I, papef-headed dpll-at the top Has
tilE dressing, We We're soon on the street
'hat Is, US boys-making noise
foI TINS We used tin pans, horns, penny
Whistles and the locust'-the last a
%noGen rattle. For fireworks We had the
crackers, only to be bought through a COL
ored person. who could give no testimony
LOT II was violation of law to sell them
ana remember that some of the storekeep
ti, soid cent cigar for a levy and gave
me PACK OF crackers as premium and one
oid lady, thinking she could not afford the
cigar, sold walnuts at a levy apiece ac-
eolnpallylng each with a pack of fire.
"Rins-TaiI Roarers.,
There We're no cannon crackers tben b,t
thefe was one about double the size of the
common ones, known, from its loud re-
port, as the 'ring-tail roarer' and we
also mad one which, from making two re-
ports, was known as the "double-headed
Dutchman Then We had the toy cannon
-o1ten piece of gun barrel The favorite
was the spit devil made by wetting the
powder with spittle. These were set off nv
the fire end Of cheap cigars or burning
rope. There We're no blue lights and other
coiored fireworks then but few wears
laler druggist-who is yet gratefully re-
membered by scores of the boys of that
day-prepared and sold chemicals for maxi
ing other colored fire with the powder.
We mad our fun, but when dinner time
came the table found us in our places and
turkey as now, was the principal dish
Inc afternoon was spent like the morning
but it was long time before We ran down,
and the following day there were no signs
of Christmas to be seen other than the re-
mains OF the tirprr3ckarE
marks on hands and faces. and the rem
nant of turkey, the latter often utilized as
the foundation for pot of soup. Free
Quently the visit of the physician to attend
one guilty of excess or the victim of acci-
dent was a sequel.
There We're before Christmas" said the
old resident, some fairs, the churches and
some other societies holding them in Apollo
Hall, the Perseverance engine house and
other places. We had no Sunday school eel
ebrations, no Santa Claus, nor trees but
with the juvenile parties we had enjoyable
times"
Old Times in SwampOOdIe.
We'll" said one of the early residents
of 'swampoodle,' between forty-five and
fifty years ago things We're as different
in our section from what they are now as
We're the wIlds of that period from the
paved streets and fine buildings of the
present, There were but few houses in
Poodle when l arrived there in 1872, and
While that name was applied to a little
hamlet near the Tiber, between G. and II
streets, popularity the Poodle took in the
Tiber on the east and New Jersey avenue
on the west, and G ana IL streets and
nine-tenths or over We're natives of the
Emerald Isle. 1t was so distinctiveIy an
lrSh settlement that We We're generally
known and even called by some Of our own
countrymen the wild Irish
You ask how we celebrated Christi
hat could you expect but the old
cfNF1n t,l
and Jerry and other mixed drinks. but the
real stuff was the favorite, and there was
plenty of it, For the children we had the
stocking feature, and but few or any gifts
Were exchanged among the grown people
The first duty Christmas morning was TOO
attend mass, and so faithful We're the
people of that section that but few grown
persons remained away from the early
made between end 7 o'clock, and then
the fun commenced. Breakfast was not
thought of, but visits were made from
house to house. In the use of gunpoWder
We We're very temperate, then not having
learned American ways, but as to drink
ables We needed no teaching
For sport we would sometimes have n
row, resulting in cut head or two. never
awning serious; but such games as hand
pail, Jumping, running and casting the
stone were the pastimeS. Seldom was there
a bail or party on Christmas night unless
that day fell on a Saturday, for that was
shindig.' 'Swampoodle' Christmas was
enjoyable TO the residents and if there was
any disorder in the camp it was not known
outside. When Know Nothingism appeared
the men of 'Swampoodle' had different eX-
periences, as well as those of English Hill:
for not only on Christmas days, but at
other times, there We're pitched battles be-
tween the belligerent forces.
Incident of Late Date.
when the Police Court was located on
c street between AZ and 9th Streets" said
an old reporter, Judge Smell held sessions
Christmas mornings, at which the scenes
were foreign to those outside. The judge,
however, in the midst of anti-festive sur
roundings for number of years, felt hap
Ply in the possession of a letter received
the night before, or on Christmas morning
which proved that in one case at least his
confidence had not been misplaced.
"A young man having come in possession
of his share in the estate of his father
several thousand dollars-had run through
it, and in so doing became what some of
his relatives denominated stationary
tramp; that is, one minus the energy to go
from place to place, but with ali other
qualifications of a hobo Every effort was
a. 80 hi L,,t