Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-10
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"Stin selling sodas six for a quarter"
asked fathery looking man of the white
jacketed drug clerk. who was wrenching
lemon phosphates out OF uptown foun-
tain one hot afternoon this week
''Oh. yes" was the reply. Have 70 do
il to keep trade
''All right I'll take half a dollars worth
of tickets" said the paternai-looking Gus
toner. The kids'll rob me of that much in
the course of the week. and l might as well
get the discount as for you to have it
The Star man. who was absorbing bro
mo settler at the corner of the cigar case,
noticed that the clerk tore off a prescription
blank and wrote something on It, passing
It over in exchange for the 81 cents
Whats the new game?' ne asked the
clerk. Cant this joint afford TO pay for
soda tickets any longer?"
'"Tain't that" returned the soda sharp
as he rinSed out some glasses under the
counter. Wed rather use tickets, but the
boys have taken to counterfeiting them.
Fact You know no fountain ever thought
of using anything but little colored tickets,
with Five cents" or ''One soda" or some
thing Of that sort printed on them. but the
first thing We knew last season we begun
to get more tickets of that sort than we
had ever had printed. The next thing. we
dropped to the fact that lot of the boys
around town had little printing presses and
We're drinking sOdas off the house at the
actual cost of the pasteboard and ink. not
even counting labor, because they were
doing the printing themselves. Well, what
could We do? We knew just about where
the tickets were coming from, but there
We're half a dozen youngsters of good fam
HES in the business. They Were selling the
tickets to the servants all around the block.
and one young philanthropiSt had the nerve
to contribute about 2o tickets 10 the ladies
-IE mir oh f4i 1pE
put them up III packages for the grab bag
One of the ladies very innocenty comment
ed to me on the sweet charity of little Viii
lie in saving his pocket money to buy the
tickets for the benefit of the church. and
said they made a great hit in the grab bag
Il didn't say what l thought of little Will
lie. but We called in all the soda tickets, and
didn't issue any more. If We mad pushed
the matter il would have cost us the trade
o. half the families in walking distance Of
the store. So now We just write Good for
six sDdas" one of our prescription blanks
and then check off each soda with cross
mark and tear up the blank when 1t is all
used At least. that is what we nave been
doing. but if you'll believe me the other
day one of those same youngsters came in
here and bought a quarter check, and then
had the brazen effrontery 10 ask for .
cents worth Of oxaiic acid. l don't coubt
for minute he is figuring on taking oUs
the ink marks with the acid as fast as l
put them on the blank. But I've fooled
that young man. I've got an indelible blue
pencil. and hereafter | am going to check
off sodas with that
THE recent death of RomanOff. the
Russian skater and the old-time champion,
reminds me-" said old resident to Star
reporter. ''of the fact that he gave exhibit
lions of his skating in this city over thirty
five years ago--both on the Potomac and
on the ponds then in the suburbs of the
city. in the neighborhCod of the brick-yard
regions, anywhere from n 10 Boundary
streets He was not only fast skater. but
he was specially skilIful in all kinds Of
fancy and trick skating. surprising in his
grotcsque skating any of the roller skaters
seen on the stage The particular exhibit
tioE which 1 remember. and at which I was
present. took place on the ice which had
formed in the foundation of the Luther
Memorial Church on nth street. The foun-
dation walls had been run up to about four
feet high and remained that way for the
years during the civil war. The winter
Ia rs generally put about two and half feet
OF water in the foundation, and when that
fTOze over il furnished near and very
safe place for skating. and was very popu-
lar with children VINO would not be al
lowed to go down to the canal or the river.
R0manlOf gave his exhibition 10 som4 of
his friends. who had been invited TO see
him by Mr.. BodisCO, long the Russian min
skater ! ever saw who could skate on hts
head He had fur cap on his head. on
which skate was attached. He would
turn handspring from his feet and land
on his head. and skate away upside down
He also did trick with skates on his
hands and feet in which he represented
bear skating on all tours. The founda-
ton Of the church afforded a skating place
seVenty-hve feet by about forty which
was sufficient for him to do his work the
audience standing on the foundation walls
on the occasion l refer TO he had an
audience of several hundred though he
afterward did some distance skating on tn,
Potomac under similar auspices"
L nave figured in quite d number of
varied events during ever a quarter of a
century Of active newspaper repertoriaI
life explained an old newspaper writer to
q Star reporter. hut / never got in but
one duel when it was to a finish. and in
the instance l -efer to it was to a finish.
assure you. l was only a looker-on, il is
true. hut l saw more than I wanted to
See. and more than | would willingly again
see. 1t was nearly twenty years ago, but
have not forgotten it. AT the time there
was "a gymnasium on Louisiana avenue he
tween 9tt and 10th streets The building
adjoining was the old central guard
house, the police station. One even
Ing l was invited by a friend who was
former newspaper man. but after
ward patent attorney and who also act
ed as tine resident Danish consul, to attend
the gymnasium to witness a sword COM
bat. In which two Of his friends were TO