Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-01
AROUND THE CITY

The ancient poplar by the White House
gate has gone the way of man. Its wide
spreading but withered branches have
been Topped and carted off. and while the
official chopper hacked away at Its roots
yesterday the Inevitable crowd on the out
side of the fence said things to each other
like this:
Bad enough to ruin the White House;
might spare the trees
"Old cottonwood wasn't safe. Might
have toppled over and killed somebody
I've been seeing that old tree for so
many years 1 feel like 1 was losing an old
friend
Wouldn't mind if had it corded up in
my woodshed"-
1T takes many years to grow a tree
like that, and such few hours to destroy
it,
Makes a fellow think of his own end
Must be over a hundred
"All flesh is grass
"A tree aint neither-got you there
Catch on to that sassy robin over there
on the grass. with his head cooked one
side. bossin' the job
Il wonder If it feels the cut of the
knife"x
Downright butchery, That cottonwood
poplar was good for fifty years.
According to the foreman who was SUPER
intending the Telling of the tree 1t was
planted about sixty-five years ago, and has
been dying for some time from a parasite
fungus that generally attacks old poplars.
put on dump heap for poor people who
want 1t to take away. The wood is too
green to burn now. but the sap will be
dried out before winter
There are so many trees in the White
House grounds" said the foreman that
they smother each other-here's another
about to come down" He pointed to a
gaunt. black.boled ash. already roped for
&c 6x,, tl,aS t..
vincible of maladies-old age. Across the
driveway is a gnarled. hollow-trunked
maple that ought to have been felled ten
years ago. the foreman said but was al
lowed to stand until its understudy, fresh.
young thing, with graceful branches and
shiny green leaves, is old enough to give
more generous foliage. Then the ak for
its father. 1T may seem like a pity" adj
mitted the foreman ito cut down a decay
ing tree as long as it looks green and Wig
orcus. but If we allowed 1t to stand in the
way OF younger tree we would be failing
in our duty to the people who are to come
after U.S."
The people who are to come after US!
What sermon there is in a tree.
Three young men, still buoyant enough to
enjoy boyish larks. decided the other even
Ing to sell newspapers for an hour on
wager and to meet afterward at certain
corner to compare results. Each bought
batch of papers and selected his beat Per-
haps the public resented this heightened
Invasion of field that belongs, by right of
custom. to small boys and cripples. Per-
haps. again. the novices were not up to the
tricks of the trade. for when the trio met
at their corner only one copy had been sold
between them. The two who had absolutely
failed demanded explanations, whereupon
the winner. with none of that foolish pride
that too frequently attends success, ex-
planned:
Il tried for nearly an hour to catch
customer and failed. When the time was
about up / got desperate and told man
I would give him ten cents If he would buy
paper, and he accepted my Offer
There is more to this story. but 1t
wouldn't be advisable to tell what hap
pened next.
rier, was zig-zagging his way along the
street, according to the whim of the dog.
woman, who thinks boy about the
finest thing in creation, laughed out to him
in passing:
Looks like you had a master laddie"
The boy laughed, too, and with an ad-
miring eye for the bit OF reddish-coated
obstinacy Juggling in front at the string.
explained:
He don't know any better. lady. He's
a foreigner and everything IL 20 queer to
him that he feels kinder dazed. He won't
go with anybody but me-"
The pride that radiated the youngsters
face at this mark OF favor was SO exhil-
arating to see that the woman asked him
how he came to possess so unusual a COM
panion.
"Oh, he don't belong to me. just take
him out walking to get him acquainted. A
naval officer brought him from China In a
warship, and he only landed In this coun-
try about week ago. He don't under.
mind: but you can see he likes me-iook at
my clothes
He pointed to the dusty little paw marks
on his knee pants. and went on with an
added Importance:
His Chinese name is Wang, but we are
going to call him Rags He's part wolf,
and when he gets bigger he will turn more
of a reddish color and be the greatest watch
dog you ever saw. In China they eat dogs
like they was pigs. but they won't get you,
will they. Rags"
If Rags was conscious of his deliverance
he failed to make a sign other than to look
up into the boys face with the dumb fntelH
gence of a little child that has not yet
learned to talk.
Then the two trotted along quiet tree
shaded old F street toward 18th. while the
woman stood on her doorstep and wondered
If 1t was given to the dazed little terrier to
realize. even to the vaguest extent, the
conditions that had changed him from
Wang of China to Rags Of the u. g. A.
Four staiwart young army officers. who
figured as groomsmen at q recent wedding.
were grouped in the reception room of an
up-ta-date apartment house waiting for the
bride to come down.
Their laughing faces were rudy with ex-
element; their gloriously vigorous bodies
glittered with bullion and brass. After pos
Ing a bit for the benefit of flock OF pretty
girls at the windows of the room, who d.
yided their attention impartially between
the yet-to-be SCARED veterans and the we'd
ding hacks at the curb, the eldest son of
Mars straightened himself to ramrod rigid
ity and took out his watch.
'.Bride's ten minutes late"
Twelve" corrected slip of a lieutenant
with strfDpS down his army blue.
Thirteen minutes and five seconds" pro-
claimed a white-striped hero, whose time
piece evidently carried conviction, for the
others put up their watches and one OF