Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-12
JOYS OF THE TROLLEY

The traction railways. with the approach
OF warmer weather, are beginning to furnish
up their big suburban cars and get ready
for the summer rush to the country. Wash
ington is advantageous situated with re-
spect to attractive suburbs. and there are
many delightful trolley rides in the vi
cinity.
The stay-at-home contingent who bear
the heat and burden Of the dog days and
labor through the long and cruel summer,
With their fortnight or months vacation as
the only relief, appreciate the blessings of
the open car and the suburban trolley ride.
we wonder now how we ever managed to
exist before such facilities were at hand.
Yet considerable portion Of Washington's
population seems somehow to have pulled
through for many years before the trolleys
came.
Given one of those deadly, sweltering
nights of midsummer, after day of fierce
heat. when the burning, broiling, sizzling
enects of the day have settled down into a
steady baking at night, when not a breath
OF air Is stirring, when the asphalt gives
on its sickening eff1uvia and the bricks in
wall and pavement seem to eXude heat;
when the thought of finally having to go
into the house and try to sleep is torture
on such night as this the trolley car is
the life saver.
Within eight or ten minutes the sufferer
limits, away from the lights. the smells
and the noises. and approaching the coun-
try, lying dark, cool and mysterious in the
distance Happy, indeed. If the individual
is lucky enough to get a front seat in the
car, with his back to the lights and his fell
low-passengers. where he cannot see the
pallid mothers and the fretful little mites
OF humanity they carry. There. on the
front seat of the rushing car, he can sit in
peace, hat in hand. with the wind blowing
over his head. and gaze ahead into the
blackness. How delightful the damp,
earthly smell of the country; a mingling of
pine and dead oak leaves as the car crosses
ravine. Once In a while a whifr of wild
honeysuckle greets him for an instant, and
then, as the car emerges into the open
country, the dry, sweet odor Of the meadow
or the delicate aroma of the young corn
in the field titillates the olfactory nerves.
At slight expense one can travel about
the suburbs for the greater part of an
evening and get thorough cooling off be-
time is popular is proved by the fact that
every rainless night in the summer the
trolley cars are packed between s and Il
o'clock, and one some Of the more popular
routes the early evening hours are too
short. or the supply of cars net large
enough, to get all the crowds to their des-
tination.
The big open cars, seating sixty people
go crashing through the country, disgorg-
ing their human freight at different sta
tons or at the terminus of the roads.
where are located the popular resorts. 1t
is not an uncommon sight to see the cars
so crowded that men and boys have to
hang on, outside the rear dashboard and
piled onto the rear platform like knot of
swarming bees on an apple bough.
The daylight rides the trolley lines
also are delightful. There is very pretty
scenery about Washington. The river ride,
of course, Is the more picturesque, but
northeast and northwest Of the city are
some very pretty pastoral scenes in the
rolling country and amid the well-cultivated
lands. The ride to Rockville presents some
charming glimpses of landscape.