Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-04
PEOPLE AND THINGS
Some Sights One Sees on the Streets
as Night Falls.
FEATURES PECULIAR 10 THIS CITY
Crowds Are Well Behaved and
There is Little Disorder.
ON THE LAST CAR HOME

-S----
Written for The Evening Star.
This is about the period when the even
ings are becoming brisk" that downtown
Washington begins to take on it's liveliest
after-dark appearance Of the year. The
avenue becomes Uttered with people who
are out for the exhilaration of walking, of
seeing the lights that blaze along the
sweeping thoroughfare, of sizing up each
other, and of playing choosings'' as they
gaze into the shop windows. At no season
of the year Is the avenue so crowded after
nightfall it is from the beginning of
November until after the holidays.
street is the strolling ground for the after
noon brigade or promenaders, but F street
after dark is to Washington what lower
Broadway is to New York when night
closes ina thoroughfare with forlorn,
forsaken atmosphere pervading it almost
from end to end
Inc habits of Washingtonians are so reg
ular that 1t is interesting to observe how
they use the downtown streets There is
morning crowd Of shoppers that begins
to make its appearance on f street and the
avenue around the neighborhood of 10
O'Clock in the morning. The afternoon
army of shopping women does not make
its appearance until close on 10 z o,cIock
ana then these two main arteries of Wash
lnSton commerce are comparable with
ou. any Stretcn OF the imagination (refer-
ence being had to this season Of the vear>
10 the most crowded thoroughfares of the
country. When the departments s'let ont,
az o clock the pedestrian on either one of
the Dig streets finds himself cOmpelled to
ADOPT a cfrcuitous path, indeed In order to
make any progress toward a fixed destina-
ton, suppostng he has one, and this fiuX of
pennsylvania avenue and + street naraders
continues until about ) o'clock Then tbere
IS a sudden and altogether unacc0untable
a. ttitinii1s IN the ranks-una accountable, until
II Is remembered that Washington dimes at
or q 0 CLOCK. The earth simply seems to
swallow the downtown paraders of Wash
lhstoh as the hour of ) approaches AS a
mater OF Iact, however, it is the street car
system that does the swallowing so that
the man who letters down town 1Jntil he
loie taxing a car for his home may feel
assured that he will stand up with the aid
OF d strap when he does get aboard
Bound for the Theater.
FROM D until about 7:3O in the evening
DOWNTOWN Washington is deserted to all
ll'ehts ana purposes. The population is
ulhihg or dressing in that interim Then
all roads begin to lead to the avenue. The
theater- bound focRs begin to show M as
early as 100 and lot of folks come down
town Just for the purpose of seeing the
theater crowds. Washington is such a
compact, easily traversed town that the
theater crowds, even on fashionable nights
employ the street cars in the ratio of 100
TO l. as they use other means of convey
ahce, ana therefore the people bound for
lile theaters are on exhibition. There is
surely no city IN the country that assem-
pies such contented. comfortable generally
well-sroomed looking people in it's theaters
as Washington. The women make no bones
about taking the street cars in their even
ing costumes and any downtown oar
around theater time is a nosegay of .'fasci-
majors and mantilias thrown over the
heads of theater-destined women-o1ite
nne-tehths of them pretty, it should be
said.
Meanwhile the avenue has become a
moving mass, as the reporters of cere-
monlal affairs put 1t, and thence on until
midnight ana after it casts up types in
panorama-from the huge justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States chew
ing on an unlighted stogie. to the perennial
cough-drop man, remembered just as he is
today by our grandfathers when the latter
were wearing blue brOadcloth coats with
brass buttons.
Possible in Washington.
Surprising six pretty girls, all laughing
and chattering, were to walk abreast after
nightfall on any of the crowded downtown
streets of New York or Chicago-but the
thought of such a thing Is not to be enter
tanned. That Is a picture often to be seen
on Pennsylvania avenue when darkness
has set in. however, and 1t seems per-
fectly natural and in the regular order of
things here. The girls all pull up to-
jewelers. window, pick out precisely the
pendants and marquise rings they're going
to annex when their ships come in, talk all
at once, giggle unsteady and voluby, and
nary a head Of man or woman is ever
turned about to gaze after them. They
stop and listen to the whmpering, beauti-
fully acted appeal of the tousle-headed lit
tie rufflan who claims to have been stuck
with a whole armful of New York evening
papers, and they press six coppers into his
claw-like little fist with many cooed ex-
pressions of sympathy The immunity
which the streets of Washington furnish to
women at all hours of the day and night
is one of the attractive features of the
capital.
The young men-they all seem to wear
top coats just exactly alike, not to speak
of hats, gloves, shoes and canes. all of the
same pattern-are out in droves, generally
in pairs. The question might be germane
to why the young fellows permit such an
anomaly as six nice-looking girls being
compelled to band themselves together for
an evening stroll down town, but il is pre-
Sumed that the young men know their own
business One young man, fl1ed with the
eXuberance that comes from sparkling No
vember atr-nothing more stimulating, it Is
to be hoped-is moved to take the handle
OF q street piano and execute u few of the
cut -and-dried pieces himself. to the content
of the grinning Italian and the entertain
ment OF the throng that quickly gathers
about the perambulating serenader. Then
the young man turns the crank the reverse
way, and achieves the effect, which is hor-
rifying, of rag-time music played back
ward. When the crowd becomes too large
the young man and his companion go their
way. In other cities that could be men
toned a young chap who would cut a
monkeyshine like this, harmless though it
be, would stand in grave danger of being
dubbed senseless by a STANDARDIZATION
cop and then accused of acute alcoholism
drunk and disordefliness and resisting an
officer. 80
Looking for: Good Things.
Passing the entrance to one of the hotels
one sees the sharp, shrewd countenance of
"short-card player who is impatient for
the session of Congress1to begin, but who
Is willing to meet other persons, of no Of
fetal pursuit interest whatever. with
money and a comparative willingness to
have the same removed from them These
gentlemen, or gentry, 1t should be re-
marked, are beginning TO get into town in
their usual numbers. but they are unosten-
tat1ous. close-moutlIed and selfcontained,
and they are only to be picked cut and
shown by folks who are down town good
deal o nights.
The ordinary hotel hoverers for rum stand
before the hostelries and ruminatvely pick
their teeth, waiting for the appearance of
angels but the sorry old brigade of Capt.
ttsrg.r. H., l-u-.