Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-03
IN HOTEL cokRrDoRs.

II have encountered some funny things
In more than twenty-five years of travelling
as a salesman, but the most novel of them
all l ran up against in Philadelphia a few
weeks ago." said James H Irwin of o.
wego, N. Y, at the Normandie. cit was
Saturday afternoon and I was coming up
Chestnut street from a visit to one of my
customers. 1 had Just crossed It'll street
when my attention was attracted to a man
in front Of the Quaker City National Bank.
He got up on step ladder and took the
large sign down from over the door. This
carefully slowed away, he came back and
took away the bronze sign at the side of
the door Then the sign under the front
Window, a long board sign bearing the
name Of the bank. was deposited within
and the door securely fastened. 1 noticed
that IT was easy for the fellow to take
down the signs, and I wondered what the
object was. At the hotel 1 inquired of the
clerk and he told me that the bank takes
In its signs every day when business is
over. They are suspended by hooks as
to be easily removed. The janitor looks af-
ter this duty every day. and he is as pune
tual In putting up the signs and taking
them down as he is to see that the bank
presidents desk Is devoid of dust when he
arrives in the morning. An irreverent fell
low drummer who was a listener to our
conversation volunteered the suggestion
that, as it was Saturday night the signs
were perhaps to be given a Sabbath rest"
Mr.. Robert c. Moodey. treasurer of the
Cleveland and Buffalo Transportation Com
pany, is at the Raleigh for few days on
his way home from a pleasure trip through
the south. Mr.. Moodey's home Is in Paines-
vile, in the heart of the famous maple
sugar producing belt Of Ohio. This is the
time of year to be in Ohio despite the
caprcious weather changes of the climate
there" said he to a Star reporter. "a per-
son who has never been in the woods in
sugar making season cannot appreciate
what pleasure it is. Geauga county, just
south of my county, produces more maple
sweet than any other county in the world.
And 1t Is the smallest county in the
state. population considered. The sweet is
made from the sap of the rock maple tree
tree which must grow on the right kind
OF soil and in climate where it alternate
ly freezes and thaws. A small hole Is
bored into the tree about an inch and tin
Spite Is inserted, upon which a bucket is
suspended. The sap runs out one drop at a
time and is clear as water 1t takes about
thirty-fiVe gallons of sap to make one gal
Ion of sirup. If the sap is properly evapo-
rated its color, when thick enough for
strip, is rich yellow and it's flavor the
most pleasant and healthful Of any sweet
In the world. Yes, 1t has become a great
business with the farmers. A grove of
naples 1--WE call them sugar bushes) of any
size Is a valuable adjunct to a farm, and is
the means Of bringing in considerable ready
money Dealers are paying only 90 cents
gallon Tot this years product, due doubt
less to the fact that they were unable to
dispose of last years entire product
There are very few persons in this world
who have not some Individual conception
of what they consider the meanest man or
woman, and that title is nine times out of
ten applied to some one who has at least
local reputation for stinginess," said
Charles H. Brdgman Of Sioux City, Iowa.
at Wizards. "a week or SO ago 1 was in
an Iowa village from which free delivery Of
moil is given to the rural towns adjoining
The carrier had just returned from his
route and was RECALLING some of the town
folk at the hotel with his experiences. Be-
fore starting out that morning the wife OF
banker, the weathiest man in town, came
to him and requested that he deliver a
package to her grandson, who lived several
miles away She impressed upon him the
Importance of not forgetting to deliver it.
as it was birthday present He assured
her that he would do it as favor; and
once more she admonished him of its i'm
portance. 1t seems that both the banker
and his wife were known for their greedi-
ness and niggardly dealings. The carriers
curiosity was aroused, and he was deter
mined to see for his own eyes what princeIy
gift was to be bestowed by the grand
mother or course. it was hardly the
proper thing to open the package. but he
did 1t. There was revealed to him an or
binary penny sponge such as is used by
children In primary schools. He carefully
rewrapped 1t and on reaching the town de-
livered it in person. He had expected to
meet small boy, but found instead that
the recipient of the gift was a husky
farmer lad of eighteen years. / don't know
that you would call that meanness. But
what would you call it?'
IT have been In Washington great many
times, and never fail to pay visit to the
Washington monument" said James R.
Sovereign, who was formerly at the head
of the Knights OF Labor, and who ia in
Washington attending the investigation of
the mine riots in Idaho, to an Evening
Star reporter at the Vendome. 1.-THE far
reaching Potomac, the Virginia hills. made
historic by so many battlefields, present a
view that to me never grows monotonous
or Wearisome.
II went over there the other day, and
that particular visit shall ever remember
guess 1 must have been in a dyspeptic
mood, for things didn't look and seem Just
as they ought. Among those who went up
in the elevator with me was a man whose
form was slightly bent and who was APP
parently about seventy-five years old.
Holding tightly to his arm was a little old
woman whose wrinkled face gave evidence
of a sorrowful life. AS the elevator started
on its ponderous journey upward her hold
on the arm OF nef companion heightened.
Once at the top of the monument this old
couple looked timidly out of the windows
at the gorgeous cycloramic view.
1.-The man had many questions to ask, and
every one of them was directed sQuarely at
me. Several times l changed my position
to anether window. but soon be Intercepted
me. l fear that the mnce pie / ate the
evening before was the cause of my making
my answers 80 short. The questions came
with such pertinaeity and regularity that
finally began, in a half-disgusted manner,
to point out places of interest without CIV
ing him a chance to ask.
And that building over there with the
white pillars in front I said, after enumer-
ating a number of other places, is the old
home Of Robert E. Lee
What! he exclaimed, as he grasped my
arm firmly, the home Of General Robert E.
Lee?' placing the emphasis on the word
general
" Yes said I, impetuously, that is the
home OF General Robert q. Lee
"'Well, WELL said he, that's the most
sacred spot on earth to me. and am going
to pay a visit there if it's the last thing 1
ever do
Great teardrops welled into his eyes as
he spoke. From the little old wrinkled face
of his companion tears afso came. The oou-
pie looked again and again toward Airing
ton, now the national cemetery Of the
Union soldier dead.
II fought four years in the confederacy,'
said the old man, breaking the silence Of a
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