The times., 1901-05-29
LIVE TOPICS ABOUT TOWN.

The War Department is compiling
pictorial history of the Spanish-Ameri-
can war which. when finished, will take
rank with any Government publication
1t is a collection, very complete, of photo
graphs illustrating every phase of the
war. the equipment of the men. the meth
cd of march, the method of getting
horses upon transports, landing men. get
ting ammunition, and, in fact. every de-
tail that can be of interest The volume
will be made up of photographs enlarged
to a uniform size of ten by twelve inches,
and they viii be bound chronologically
The first picture represents the first scene
of soldiers life-eulisting-and then he
is carried through all the stages of his
military career. There are pictures of
drills, setting up exercises, cavalry and
infantry formation, etc. Then the actual
occurrences of the war are taken up; the
getting away from camp. the departure
from Florida. the landing at Guantanamo,
the battle of San Juan Hin. the entrance
into Santiago, the surrender of the city,
the hosting of the American flag over the
Governors palace, etc. fhe series has
now advanced as far as the landing in
Cuba. The photographs are, in many
cases, snapshots, but the officer who has
been detailed to supervise the work is
an expert photographer and has had great
success charging small negatives. Thou
sands of photographs have been loaned
to the Department and only the best will
he selected for use in the book. After the
Cuban campaign is put on record through
photographs, the Philippine trouble will
be taken up.
Beside the switch where the Fourteenth
Street cars branch from the Avenue line
at Fifteenth Street and New York Ave
nue. are two holes in the asphalt. One is
small and deep; the other is long and
narrow. Both are mute testimony to the
amount of labor performed by the switch
men who throw the tracks at that point,
for they have been worn in the asphalt by
the unremitting work of these men. The
switch is thrown by means OF heaVy
lever which is inserted in slot and pulled
or pushed over by the switchman. The
lever, that it may not prove dangerous
to traffic. as il would were it left stand
ing, is taken out of the slot and laid upon
the ground or held by the switchman
with its end resting upon the asphalt as
the circumstances may require. When
there is but little traffic and cars are
coming few and far between it Is usually
left to rest upon the ground. In the mid
die of the day, when cars crowd thick
and fast upon each other, the SWitchmau
has no time to leave 1t out of his hand,
! but has to keep it always with him.
Thus have these two holes been formed
in the asphalt. one small and round
| near the iron grating that contains the
slot, marks the place where the end OF
| the lever rests while the switchman holds
! II in his hand. The other, long and shall
| at the other marks the place where the
lever reposes during the slack hours. The
| deep end is marked with little lndenta-
| tions showing where the end of the lever
| strikes first as 1T is put down. The little
| round hole, which is some eight inches
| across, is nearly six inches deep, and has
! worn now almost through the asphalt TO
| the concrete base below. The long hole
! is one or two inches or a little more be-
| low the surface at the deepest point, but
| day by day both are growing deeper and
| deeper, and soon there will be need FOR
| some patching
Never a game is played by the Washing
! ton baseball team at home that there Is
| not to be seen sitting somewhere on the
| bleachers group of men with broad col
| lars and wide-bOttomed trousers. Jackies
| they are, and of all those who watch the
| game, these sons of the briny deep are the
| most enthusiastic over the outcome They
| lead the cheering of good plays. no matter
! by which side made, and take in every
| fine point of the play. strange as IL may
SEEM the average jolly tar is a baseball
| fan" He is just as much worshipper
| Of the national game as are men whose
occupation keep them ashore. 1t Is par
TALLY due to the fact that the sailors on
| american ships, especially American war
| ships, never lose a chance to go ashore
and bat the bah as we'll as run bases.
| that the game of baseball is known so
! widely. They play it wherever they go.
/ and ii promises to become a favorfte game
| in Japan, as well as in Australia and New
| Zealand. where it is rapidly supplanting
! the English cricket, which belongs to the
| inha abitants of those miniature continents
| by inheritance.
| Every man Of war has a ball team. and
| though the members can't do much on
! shipbOard they take every opportunity
! to get themselves into shape when on
/ land II is 10 the playing of rival mines
| at ports IN foreign countries that the in
| PRODUCTION of the game is chiefly due. A
| fierce rivalry exists and there is as much