Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-17
AN EXTENSIVE SIGN

Hc Adtc JOHU cameron, one Oh the vet
eran clerks of the War Department, and.
for term, adjutant general of the Grand
Army of the Republic, was for many years
one of the most earnest. enthusiastic and
persistent collectors of junk of all sorts in
the District of Columbia" said one of the
old-timer's friends the other day. John
had passion for collecting any old thing
or thfngs-books. coins, badges. guns, pis-
tolls. cutlasses, kinky, not to say suspicious
looking furniture-no kind of flotsam or jet
sam was too weather-beat or dog-eared or
moth-chewed for the kindly old boy to go
AFTER to add to his bunch of collections. His
home on Q street looked like old curl
oslfy shop, and you could hardly move
around some of the rooms of his house. so
cluttered were they with truck that John
had picked up in his prowlings after gear
to add to his collections He didn't keep
any article very long-always got tired of
to the auction room taking prices for them
that, as rule, were about one eighth of
what he had paid for them.
When Mr.. Cameron was adjutant gen.
eral of the Grand Army the encampment
was held in San Francisco. and john be-
sides having the time of his life, made many
good, strong, joyous-souled friends among
the veterans out on the coast. Seven
eight months after the encampment a San
francisco veteran. wealthy merchant,
came along to Washington on a visit, and
he stopped at Mr.. Cameron's home. The
two men were walking along 18th street
one day when the San Francisco man, who
was secretly amused over Johns collect
ing eccentricities. pointed out a queer sign
tackled to shanty that stood at the end of
an alley. The sign was board about three
feet long and foot and half wide, and
in big, clumsy. homemade letters this leg
end was painted on it:
"'WITE WASHIN IN ALL COLRS. BY
MIR. JOHNSON IN THE RERE.'
The sign made large and spontaneous
hit with John He expressed an acute de-
sire to become possessed of 1t, and was for
making decker with Mr.. Johnson in the
rere' for 1t, but the San Francisco man sug-
gested that that would be an outrageous
waste of money.
1t hangs pretty loose. said the San
Francisco man. mischieviously. Why
don't you trail along some dark night and
just lift it,
John passed that scheme up as some
thing a bit too venturesome for his con-
sentative blood, and the two men passed on
and the subject of the sign was dropped.
"A few days later the San Francisco man.
having completed his visit. went back to
the coast. About the same time. John no
ticed that the embarrassing sign executed
mysterious disappearance. Being an I'M
suspicious man. he didn't think of connect
ing the disappearance of the sign with the
departure of his San Francisco guest.
About three weeks after the departure of
his San Francisco guest and the disappear
looking express package was brought to
Johns home on q street. John had IN
structed Mrs. Cameron to always pay ex-
press charges on the many packages that
were constantly reaching him from various
points in connection with his Grand Army
office. and Mrs. Cameron unhesitatingly
gave up the 81 express charge on the pack
age. the labels on which conveyed the IN
forma ton that it had been forwarded from
San Francisco.
when Mr.. Cameron got home from the
office that evening he found that the desire
he had expressed to his friend to become
the owner of that sign had been gratified.
The friend in San Francisco had annexed
the sign unto himself before leaving Wash
ington and shipped it to John all the way
from the west coast. and so the gratif1ca-
ton of Johns laundering for that common
old piece of wood set him back just two
bones.
John told his friends about it in a mourn
full tone the next morning. and we suggest
ed that the proper thing for him to do in
the circumstances was to return the sign
to the San Francisco man and make hiIIi
pay the charges. John adopted the SuggeS-
ton. He himself bound and burlapped the
sign into one huge, not to say monumental,
bundle--it looked like young tree when
John got through with the wrapping of 1t
and he deliberately painted the informa-
ton. Value. s30-handIe with care-fragile.'
on the unwieldly bundle. and duly fired 1t
back to San Francisco. charges collect.
Just three weeks later John found, upon
his return home one evening, the same old
bundle that he had shipped to the coast.
The wrappings that John had plastered
around the sign hadn't even been removed.
His San Francisco friend had foXily sus-
pected what was in the massive bundle,
and had declined to receive it, instructing
the express company to return it to the @
street home in Washington. where all of
the charges would be paid. The San Fran
cisco man told the express people out there
that the article had been sent to him on
approval and. as he didn't approve of it.
the merchandise 'ud have to go back to the
sender. Johns wife had paid the IS eX-
press charges on the contraption l am
bound to say that John sat down and made
the air both blue and sulphurous for
while. Then the absurdity of the transac-
ton dawned upon him. and he hung the old
whitewashing sign along side the rest of
his Junk and marked on the corner of it
Cost. 80
"On the following Christmas day another
express package from San Francisco was
| received by John al his Q street home This
time. though. the express charges were pre-
paid. The package contained a beautifully
wrought stick pin with the head of a darby
and across the bust Of the figure very
realistic whitewash brush. The eyes of the
darby were glowing blue-whte diamonds"