Evening star., 1902-02-15

have occurred when the callers have dis
PLAYED anger by reason of the supposed
stupidity OF the clerks, merely because the
latter have replied by saving: Is ne EN-
pioyed here" Who is Mr.. Blank!
Just few evenings ago young couple
alighted from an avenue car, evidently hay
ing directed the conductor TO let them on
q the Raleigh. The pair naturally proceed
ed TO The Star building instead or 70 IN.
hotel. At the entrance they hesitatcd. AZ
length the young man advanced gingerly,
but the girl hung back. Their clothes were
brand new The clerk on duty, who
chanced to be whstling softly, ''TheyWeie
on Their Honeymoon" sized them up as
bride and groom. and possessing a SYM
pathetic nature. he relieved further en-
barrassment by remarking: Ihls IS
newspaper office; the hotel Is one square
further up" Mumbling THANK YOU the
newly married couple hastened outside ami
timidly moved off in the direction OF l.'h
street.
Every seat in the street car was filled.
The bell rang a sudden stop was MADE ana
a lady entered A man with an air of
chivalry quickly rose, touched MS nat re-
spectfuly and stepped aside. The lady
did not see the man. but she saw the seat
and rested easily in It.
car veered around a curve he applied the
training he had secured in the gymnasium.
and by heroic effort succeeded in not
landing in the lap Of any one in his end
of the car Then the lady who had just
entered pushed an electric button and left
the car. That act left for brief moment
space sufficient to hold that or any
other man who is ever seen outside OF
museum. That moment was fieeting, ana
10 tfs Nrac.
sion on the tablet of time the ladies whose
skirts impnged that open space had
moved toward each other and, arranging
the drapery Of their attire, caused the
space to disappear The man held on to
the strap.
THE suggestion recently made of pos
Sible additional restriction upon the rights
of property owners. SO as TO prevent the
erection of tall buildings, set me to think
ing" observed wealthy citizen, whom
some of his acquaintance, perhaps in
cs usorous spirit, look upon as being entire
ly too much given to thinking. Il believe
i'll such limitations upon the exercise Of
the rights OF individual property owners
as are necessary to protect and advance
the interests of the community. At the
same time il occurred to me that no doubt
in the minds of some realty holders the no.
tion was growing that after all their rights
of control over their property are not as
absolute as is generally supposed. The
fact tha; members of community must
have due regard for the comfort and hap
pneSS of others Is duly impressed upon all
who have the management of property.
1T is also true that our individual lib
erty is being encroached upon on all sides
50 that it is practically Impossible for an
ordinary man to spend the money he earns
as he peases. He must devote larger
proportion of his income to the purchase of
clothes for himself and the members of his
family than he thinks it wise. In order
that he and his may conform to the pre-
vailing fashion. SO in hundreds Of other
directions where convention rules. men and
women continually doing things that
they do not approve Of, and, In fact. do not
want to do, simply in compliance with an
ineXorable public opinion. which lays down
the unwritten laws by which the daily
lives of most of us are directed
II was an interested listener to lecture
recently delivered in this city by army
officer on the Philippines" remarked a we'll
known lady to a Star reporter. ".The lee
turer was a very observant man, and he
had the happy faculty of describing things
as he saw them in way that was par
ticularly pleasing to all of those who heard
him. The greater part OF the lecture was
devoted to description of the people, their
ways of living their habits. and particu-
larly their superstitons, the latter being. as
may be imagined. numerous and novel.
Following the lecture there was an informal
discussion, in which several took part, that
convinced me that though the F.lipnos may
be superstitioUs, our people indulge in al
most many queer fancies According to
the army officer. rOOsters figure in many OF
the superstitions of those islanders, and
from them the Filipnos get many points.
or at least suppose they do, as regards to
| health. happiness, business and other mat
terS. The army officer was and is just the
opposite Of SuperstitiOus and 1t appears
that he had considerable amusement in get
ting together, by the aid OF interpreters.
the list OF superstitons that he gave in his
lecture. While the lecture was interesting,
the discussion which followed 1t was. to
me, even more so. Some fun was indulged
in by the lecturer at the expense of the
Filpinos for believing firmly that warts
could be removed from the hands II they
were rubbed by the bone of any animal and
the bone then thrown over the left shoul-
der. This brought TO the floor gentleman
who Is the proprietor of a book and sta
tionery store in this city. who boldly de-
clared that the method described for re-
moving warts was by no means supersti-
ton. but fact, and that he had had evil
dence OF its efficacy hundreds OF times, and
so had hundreds Of others. Following this,
a lady made the statement that the barking
Of "a dog at midnight in or Immediately in
front of a house preSaged the death or an
occupant of the house to certainty
whether the house was in the Philippine
Islands. in Washington, or elsewhere, and
expressed surprise that the lecturer did not
knew that ii was true. One by one others
Of the Philippine superstitions were dis
posed OF, and the lecturer of the evening
closed by thanking those who had con-
tributed to his information on the subject.
saying. Il thought the superstitions of those
islands would interest you, but did not
have the slightest idea that. developed
by this contribution, superstit'Ons existed
In Washington to such an extent. 1t seems