The times., 1901-06-25
SUMMER VACATION PLANS
Wastingtonians Preparing to Es-
cape the Heat of the City.

The wealthy Form the Vanguard
of the ExoduS-Department Clerks
Only Beginning to Take Their
Leayes-Trips by Rail and WATER.
With the advent of really hot days
the shutters on Washington residences
are going up and mountainward and sea-
shoreward trains are filed to the limit
Those are only the annual signg of the
times Anywhere except Washington i'll
July and August is well developed SEN
timent which is carried out by hundreds
whose circumstances permit.
There is no better barometer of the
yearly exodus than the railway stations.
In fact the depots are an accurate gauge
of the commercial and the political ac-
tivity of the city. A visit to one of the
stations at this time sees the line in front
of ticket windows and the crowd hurry
ing through the gates clad in summer ap-
parel with caddy bags and tennis rackets,
indicating clearly enough that the con-
teulplated trip is one of pleasure rather
than business.
And it is the same way in the fall.
Portly gentlemen in silk hats and frock
coats marx the vanguard of the politi-
clans who gain the field early in order
to be well started for the fierce campaign
of lobbying which opens when Congress
convenes.
Vacation gossip-in advance-form., the
conversational stock in large degree tIbout
the various departments. The Govern
ment clerk is the ideal vacation man. He
always gets his leave and his pay con-
tinues. He has had much experience in
summering. Generally he outlines a plan
of action for the next summers outing as
l. III,
What spare time he has in working
hours is devoted to a recital of his plans
for the edifcation of his fellow clerks,
who, each of them, have plans as well
as troubles of their own. Each one. too,
thinks that he is fated to corner in his
two or three weeks or perhaps a month
of leave all the genuine enjoyment and
pleasure ever punched in such a short
time.
The city passenger agent of railroad
which probably carries more people from
Washington than any other said ir the
course of conversation about summer
traiIic:
There are lots of people getting out of
the city now, but they are mostly the
wealthy, who expect to stay all summer.
They flee the city as soon as the sun
begins to chase the mercury up the
little glass tube that attracts so much
attention on those scorching days when
the asphalt gets soft.
'',The Government employees have not
begun to go as yet. They are all Of them.
OF. rather, most of them who have been
long in the service. wise in their day and
generation. and they stand it as long as
they can. August Is the warmest month.
and the largest number try to get their
vacation then. There Is a certain element,
however, which stays at work through all
the summer and then takes leave in the
cool days of October"
But the railroads are not the only regis
ters of departures of heat-oppressed
Washingtonians. The steamer lines afford
q cool route and the superb equipment
of the boats makes travel on them more
a pleasure, even If it is slower than on
a railroad train.
Many take short steamboat trips to
New York and Boston and other Northern
points. using the lines from Baltimore
and Norfolk. 4 plan which a select few
have tried with what they say has been
a delightful result is to leave Washing
ton on one of the four-masted sailing
schooners which ply between the Capital
and New England ports with cargoes OF
ice. It takes from ten days to two weeks
to make the trip. The rates are nominal
and the sea trip a delightful one The
schooners, while they are coasters, do not
mug the shore very closely, Dull Dear well
out on to the broad Atlantic.
The Gniy drawback is the fact that the
vessels are obliged to run before the
wind in case of storms and are thus blown
well out of their course sometimes. Ar
riving at the Northern points return to
Washington may be made either by rail
OF in manner similar to the first half
of the trip.
The house boat is a solution of the va
cation problem often turned TO at this
time of the year with satisfactory re-
suits But there are difficulties. In the
first place, the lower Potomac is not the
coolest place on the Western Hemisphere
during the summer months. But for that
class, and il is by no means a small one,
which likes to acquire a healthy tan and
prodigious appetite by managing
house boat. the idea has unlimited at
fractions.
Bicycling has, to apply a nautical term
to a distinctly shore amusement, gone
by the board A party of Washington
young men. who are noted for the YER
satility of the manner in which they spend
their vacations, Will take a walking trip
through the mountains of West Virginia
this summer There is nothing particu-
larly new about pedestrian excursions
save that IL is rather uncommon in this
day. The route which they have out
lined lies partly through the Elkhorn VAL
ley, only a day or so ago the scene of
the terrible flood disaster. Cameras will
be an Indispensable equipment and il is
expected that views of the havoc played
by the food will form an important part
of the vacation albums upon the return