Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-16


go to school and church and the mother
| keeps house instead of working out. WASH
| ington is a home city.
Growth of Apartment Houses.
A feature OF Washington. but feature
common to all the big cities, Is the growth
Of apartment houses. Twenty years ago
the Portland was about the only fiat"
| house in the District and 1t is doubtful II
| 1t did not have more the character of an
| hotel than en- apartment house. The Port
| land was followed by the Cairo. There was
| pause for few years. and then the fiat
| madness or the fat saneness, according to
ones opinion OF the subject, came over the
! people 1t was a conta glon a suggestion,
| a curse or a blessing, contracted from New
| York and Chicago. Apartment houses
| sprung up everywhere, and are still spring.
| ing up. Dwellings have been converted and
| are being converted into fiat houses. The
| number of restaurants has appreciably in
| creased and the all-night eating place has
| become common, whereas twenty years ago
| there were only about two places In the
| District where man could get coffee and
| a sandwich after midnight. Cosmopolitan
| ism metropolitanism has come rapidly
| over the old town, until now even the
| gentleman with a red waistcoat and q
| boisterous cravat has less and less cause to
utter his complaint that Washington is IAN
overgrown village" The development OF
| the hotel industry in Washington has been
remarkable. Just like other cities, it had
hostelries of the solid. comfortable olden
| type, whose rich food. wholesome food,
| bountifuI food, well-cooked food and ade-
| quately served food was known from Sandy
| Hook to Point Lobas. There were hotels
! in old Washington that with the last
| generation ranked with the Barnum OF
| Baltimore. Girard OF Philadelphia, old
Planters of st. Louis, old Monongahela OF
| Pittsburg, old st. Charles of New Orleans,
| Brunswick and Windsor of New York, Par
| ker House in Boston and Gait House in
Louisville. The new era in hotels seems to
| have opened with the Palmer House. Chi
| cago; Palace, San Francisco, and New
| Southern, St. Louis. Then the east came
| to the front and the uptown New York
| houses were built Washington was little
| slow In falling into line, but the city has
! hotels now which in architecture, appoint
| ments and service vie with the best But the
| older houses, whose specialties are bread.
meat and comfort, and not onyx, silver, cut
glass and sumptuousness. are doing business
| at the old stand. II Washington ever was
provincial. as some of her critics have
|
| with truth
A City Of Books.
In books and in the reading OF them
| Washington is at the top of the list There
| is a shelfful Of books in Washington equal
| to every man. woman and child in any other
| city. First there Is the Library OF Con-
| gress, which receives two copies of every
book copyrighted, which is equivalent to every
book published in the United States. Over
| q million books are there, from Bibles and
| Korans and Zend-Avestas and Vedas writ
| ten by hand parchment a thousand years
| ago to a yellow-back bit of fiction hustled
| off the press but yesterday. 1t is opulent
| In the possession of books dealing with
| sacred and secular science. There Is not
anything in the line of published fact or
| Pigment, about men, things or nothing, that
| cannot be drawn down from the shelves.
| racks or stacks of this vast bookery.
| Then there is the library of the Army Medi-
cal Museum the largest medical library IN
/ the world. There are the rich scientific IL
| braries of the Smithsonian, Botanic Gar
dens the Naval Observatory, the law IL
| brary Of the Supreme Court. that useful IL
| brary known a the House document room
! and Senate document room, the City Hall
| library, the library of the State Depart
| ment the Interior Department the War De-
| partment, the Navy Department the Agri-
| cultural Department.; libraries in all the de-
| partments and a library in most of the bu-
reaus of each department. One must not
| overlook the private Libraries Of the host
| of statesmen active and retired, and Of the
| government scientists who dwell here Then
| there is a rare library at Georgetown Col
( lege, and other libraries are in the nebular
! state at the Catholic University of Amer
| ica the Episcopal University and the Meth
| odist University. Washington's municipal
| public circulating library has $1,000 books, q
| number which Is fast increasing, and Ia
soon to be housed in the new building do
mated by Andrew Carnegie. Washington II
| book arsenal.
A vast amount Of information is poured
into the ear of the Washingtonian or the
visitor who will listen. There are debates
| in Congress, arguments in the Supreme
| Court, free readings for the blind, open
| lectures by the National Geographic So
| ciety, the Anthropological Society, the Eth
biological Society, the Geological Society, the
| Biological Society, the Chemical Society. the
Botanical Society and dozen other associa-
| lions of scientific men, most of whom are
| in the service of the government
Washington has not gained general recog-
milton as an art center. but there is plenty
OF art in the ten-mile square. The Corcoran
Art Gallery is rich in art works, canvases.
marbles and bronzes. and the collection Is
rapidly increasing. Public statues erected
with patriotic intent are every side
There is a great number of parks, and
nearly every park has its statue. There are
even statues without parks, as, for instance
Lincoln before the city Hall, Peace monu-
ment, Garfield In Maryland avenue, while
Hancock Rawlins. Albert Pike, Scott and
Luther stand mere grass plots. Statues
b md oo5,o all
find a resting place In one square
Washington is a great city and Will be
the grandest capital on earth