The Washington times., 1901-12-26
LIVE TOPICS ABOUT TOWN.

| pie from anywht else In the United
States would be swallowed and unnotfced
but the college boys are the most pervad-
Ifns and conspicuous ornaments on the
streets
~Ihey get younger and more conspfcu-
Gus every year" declared an old Wash
nngtoniHn. Now. healthy, busy man
never Perceivcs shat he gets any older
himself. but the rest OF the world keeps
getting younger. went up to my old
home last October for the first time in
twenty years. aud called around to see
my old professor at the high school. The
schoolroom seemed much smaller than
\ when was there. the desks looked like
Infants desks. and the boys were babies.
I was astonished to learn that the room
had been exte nded ten feet and that the
boys In the senior class averaged year
older than the class in which / was
graduated. Several of them were the sons
of my old classmates. So guess it was
myself who had been getting old.
The dinosaurs" said famous geolo-
| sist OF the National Museum. appeared
suddenly in the geologic period, and with
enormous rapidity became the most con-
spicuous form of life upon earth They
we're found in the greatest abundance
more SO than any other form OF animal
| life before or since. Then these tremsn-
dous lizards disappeared as suddenly as
they came. leaving no immediate repre-
sentatiyes. Why they sprang up so sud-
denly Is mystery. but Il is a greater
mystery Why they disappeared. since there
| are evidences to prove that she climatic
ana other conditions favorable to their
continuance persisted for thousands OF
years after the last dinosaur had died.
My belief Is that some sudden and un-
recognizable disease swept them from the
earth. 1t was probably a microbe, which
found the huge bulk OF the largest ami
mails the world has ever seen an easy
prey to its attack. and the mcrobe
died out and disappeared with its vic
tins. The wholesale Disappearance OF
many other plants and animals may be
accounted for in the same manner"
Army and navy officers always shave
themselves" said colonel OF the Reg
ulars Just back from the Philippines. ut
is an essential part OF military educa-
tion. man who cannot is at the mercy
OF his barber. My eighteen year-old boy
has just come home from Harvard. and
his Christmas present was a set of razors
and the rest Of the equipment. He pro-
tested that he might cut himself. told
him that he would have to learn not to
cut himself as l had before him. Any
way, he would not run any more risk
than though he let the barber do the shaw
ing Besides a boy ought not to pick up
habits Of small expenditures Of this sort.
II | had a barber shave me It would
cost about S25 a year, and that is the
price of a good suit of clothes Since
/ began shaving / have saved a thousand
dollars on BARRIERS. Eth? Mo. haven't
the thousand. but | have had Thousand
dollars worth OF fun in other directions.
oh. yes. | charged my boy ten cents for
the razers. II is an army officers super
stition not to give edged tools outright
as presents. It leads to cutting friend
ships
'"Tte most noticeable peculiarly Of
American speech. said visiting Amer
lean Consul from an English city. ''is the
habit Of preiixing every conversational re-
mark with Well People do it uncon-
sciously. but so generally that all for
eigners notice it. The English are rapidly
losing their so-called English accent. and
are speaking mora like Americans. Both
the long and broad vowels are being sho-t-
ened and the varied infections in the same
sentence are the principal marks of differ
ence in the English speech. | think that
the stage has had more TO do with unity
ing the sDeecb Of the two countries than
any other influence. American actors have
louder and clearer voices. I heard two
English actors at local theatre last night
Roth iisred in manner which would no,
be tolerated by careful stage manager in
American rhzir ,-nip fOn
low, also. a fault which springs srom the
fact that ths average British theatre has
not more tsan two-thirds the seating ca
pscity Of the American houses
when the new Bureau Of Standard
Weights and Measures gets fairly Mt
work. said an official long connected
with the Naval Observatory. Its first i'm
portant function will be 20 standardize
time for The whole country. OF course
there is no such thing as an absolute
measure of time. either by the sidereal
day or the solar day though the former
is the more accurate. The trouble is
that the earth -wobbles." and does not
revolve on its axis in precisely the same
time on two successive days. The posi-
tion of the moon the procession OF the
eduinoxes. the earths position as re-
CARDS the sun and the planets. are all
disturbing factors. So IN absolutely me-
chantcal second is used to average the
eTratic movements of the earth
While the errUr in cur standard time
is extremely minute. yet it can be still
further reduced until it will be less than
a second in year. No chronometer
will ever be constructed with so small
an error. because of the practical diff
cuties in the way of pcrfecting COM
bnation balance which will remain abso-
lutely the same at all temperatures II
a compound could be discovered which
would contract and expand in the same
absolute proportions with each rise and
fall of one degree of temperature. the
problem would be comparatively simple.
but the best combination may work with
absolute Uni iioTmity from 100 down to 81
degrees. then turn erratic from so to 60.
and show other changes below and above.
Business is good There is only one
vacant store on F Street and but one on
the Avenue OF any Importance. II 1 had
ten thoroughly modern store rooms on f
street Seventh Street, or the Avenue
said a real estate dealer. Il could rent
them on long leases inside of thirty days.
ANdllbbit iuNuAiuit0 ttAt oNdlNt iud lNtTt
is practically not d foot of ground ON any
Of the desirable squares which can be
bought at any price. The pressure OF busi-
ness will compel the erection OF a great
many new store and office buildings along
F Street and the Avenue within the next
i've years. u may not be noticed gener-
ally that Seventh Street buildings are as
4 rule more modern and up TO date than
he. l. gs.0H "a
exceptions. but then seventh Street was
IN established business street when +