Evening star., 1901-09-14
EARLY FALL SYMPTOMS

/ This" remarked the sarrulous man in
| the rear seat of the trolley car, lis the sea-
! son when you don't just know where you
4 are at It's the indeterminate period of the
year. It's a case o neither fish. flesh, fowl
nor good red herring. Just notice how kind
1 o. seedy and rundown most OF US on this
car look. men and women alike. Our duds
| look crimpy and dusty and dandruffy and
| back -numberish. We've got the summer
out of them. and yet the time hasn't ar
| rived to salt them away. Just take look
at the straw hats of all the men you meet
1 They look like six days on the Stag dump
| SO to speak--twisted out o. shape by rain
4 fiickers that couldn't be lodged, speckled,
sunburned and the marks Of perspirey
hands on the front rims. And the Wo-
mems top-pieces too, IL you look at EN-
4 right close, have sort of caterpliiar-pe-
sieged look about them. They're about 20
pass up their actual summer dresses or
| have passed 'em up, you'll observe, ana.
I in conjunction with autumn or winter
| skirts, they're wearing out their stock OF
i summer shirt waistS-a sort Of half-and-
| half, compromise arrangement. Ihey don
| want to actually let go of the summer, and
| yet they've no disposition to give their
| summer skirts another pressing and wear
| ing before putting them aside for the year
| You'll observe, too, that, while most OF us
| are still wearing low-cut shoes, tney re
| pretty well worn down at the heel as
| rule, and were not so careful In having
| EN- polished up we were awhile back.
1.-THE summer shirts of most of US fellows
are pretty well faded out from the summers s
washings, and our nice summer cravats
are beginning to look thready and frayed.
| The belts, for which we dug up IS cents
| in real legal money what time the asphalt
| began to soften, look soiled and Timber
| We're not SO particular about the creases
| in our trousers at this queer season. and
you'll see more men with baggy knees be-
| tween now and the 1st Of October than at
any other period of the year. And were
not quite so finnical about keeping our
| selves well shaved as we generally are,
| for we feel that our general appearance Is
| sort o. fraZzled out and run down, ana SO
| we don't much mind whether we dodge a
days shave or not.
."Then, we're so tired of the regular
amusements of the summer that we've al
most entirely let go of them. Still, IT'S not
yet quite time, according to my way OF
| feeling to go to the theaters, and so there's s
nothing much to be done when the work OF
| the days finished except to NOPE around
| and look out of the window and say to
| yourself, 'Ah. what's the use, anyhow!
| You feel like keeping under cover as much
| as possible at this period, anyhow, because
! you feel your seedy exterior There sun
| too much balminess to the atmosphere TO
| induce that brisk feeling. The s7n Is De-
| ginning to shine slantwise and yelloWy,
| and the yellowing and crimsonlng leaves
on the trees are just making up their minds
| whether they're going to drop ana swift
| around in the cutters or not.
| Your wife is blowing in half your sub
stance to buy sugar and crooks whereWith
| to put up her preserves, and at the same
| time she's throwing out little feeiers as TO
| that silk-lined tailor dress that you've been
promising her for some time back. In
very short time from now she'll be coming
| right out fatty and demanding the dress,
| but for the present she's content to keep
| you in mind of it.
1 "A fellows beginning to inquire in sort
| of half-interested way whether they re bit
| ing yet in the upper Potomac. but he hasn
/ quite got around yet to the condition OF
| energy that causes him to hike over to
| Georgetown to hire boat and actually go
| after the fish. We haven't quite got down
/ to the consumption of oysters yet. we
read the stories in the papers about the
months with the r in them without much
interest, only remarking idly to our
| spouses. We'll, oysters begin now, eh?'
| We're getting kind o. tired of sweet corn
/ on the cob and peaches and cream. and
| we're wondering in desultory sort of way
| when the roast-pork- rk-and-apple-s e-sauce game
| is going to begin lot of us are beginning
| to wonder whether were going to be able
| to get another fall out of the light over
| coat. but few Of us have enough energy to
climb up to the attic to look the coat over.
| We look now at the passing ice wagon and
| wonder what the fellows on the wagon Go
| for a living during the winter, and when
| we the coal cart on the street we are
| rather acutely reminded that the time is
| pretty near at ndnu WncH we Ii nave 10
| make a dicker for the winters supply.
| IT'S lull, that's what it is and l con-
| slider it the dreariest season of the year,
not excepting the lowering, gray, rainy
| days of March When it's March you feel
| that you've got something coming, and you
| just know that the suns got to break
| through and force you to take the light
suit to the cleaners in a short time, but at
| this season your energy has been so Wilted
| and you've been so eneryated by the long
| summer game that you haven't got enough
get-up left to look forward to anything.
| This is about the season when as the fell
low said. it's too chilly for beer and too
| warm for the hard goods.
| But in about two or three weeks from
now watch the whole caboodle Of us wake
| up with a start The nippy, brisk, winey
| days will come along, and then We'll all
| hop out O. bed some morning with the feel
| ing high within that it's good and glori-
| Gus just to be alive on top of the earth.
Then we'll get shaved two days beneath
| the hide and tog out in the complete fall
| outfit, from shoes to hat, and then We'll
fare down the street stepping high and
| drawing deep breaths of ozone. Well be
| capping each other on the back and
| thrusting our shoulders to the rear and
| looking chesty. The women'll be bursting
| forth in their new rigs, and the whole ap-
pearance of F street, for example, will be
completely transformed in a single day.
The change is positively startling to a fell
| low who studies it closely. You won't see
| any individuals on the thoroughfares with
| that wilted look-theyll be too busy think
| ing what fun it is to be just existing and
| moving around.
| "Rut these are the human dog days.
| There's nothing doing. They make a fel
| low feel as if he'd succeeded in making
nothing but a hash of his existence.
| burned If l don't believe a chaps self
| respect oozes away from him some at this
| betwixt and between season. Funny, isn't
| it. that a crisp sparkling day and new
| outfit Of clothes give most of US a re-
newed and enthusiastic interest in life?"
Il
| Life in the Sea.
| From the North American Review.
| life on the bottom exists in it's greatest
1 in yata hat ir