Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-09

monkey. which, at the end Of long chain.
played about the snakes box at will, the
day. however. big snake woke up and
feeling hungry proceeded to swallow the
monkey.
''Soon after that the captain of the vessel
started ashore and as he left the side OF
the ship he saw a big snake hanging to his
anchor. chain. With the help of his mate.
who was also his brother. he shipped
moose about the snake and 1t was pulled
aboard and taken to the box where the
other snakes had been confined. only to
find that they had all escaped except the
one that had swallowed the monkey. the
chain that held the monkey keeping the
snake from going with the others. About
this time the monkey was missed, and one
of the sailors pulling at the chain drew the
creature from the interior department or
the snake
"The monkey was alive and recovered.
but the snake died. whether from having
his throat rasped by the chain or from be-
Ing deprived of his dinner after 1t had been
swallowed. l can't say.
Simms Is a messenger in the office OF the
superintendent of sewers, on the third floor
OF the District building. A few days ago a
firm of contractors competing for current
District construction work. submitted
sample box of sand. The box. which was
neatly wrapped, was turned over to one of
the clerks and, being rather late in the day,
he decided not to open 1t until the next
morning When the Office closed for the
afternoon and all the clerical force had left
the building, Simms made final round be-
fore taking his departure and naturally he
came upon the box of sand sitting upon the
clerks desk.
The messenger thought to himself that
one Of the clerks had gone home and left
package of sausages.
For a moment. after deciding that the
box contained sausages. or something else
perishable. Simms stood undecided. II the
ssusages were left in the office they would
be spoiled before next morning. and further
the clerk probably would come in for a
scolding from his wife If he appeared at
home without the wherewfhal for dinner.
Slmms glanced at the office clock and
thought he could get to the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad station before the clerk left
for his suburban home. All out of breath
he reached the railroad station, only to see
the end Of the train vanishing around the
curve across North Capitol street. In a
dilemma Simms then wendell his way slow
ly back to the District building, all his
thoughts concentrated on finding a way to
keep the contents of the box from spelling
before the next morning. A consultation
with one of the District building janitor's
assistants followed and the result was that
Simms took the box to a nearby restaur-
ant. much frequented by District building
employees, and persuaded the proprietor to
give the box a place in his refrigerator.
Even the office cat smiled next morning
when the box was brought in and 1t was
learned how great precautions had been
taken to prevent about half peck Of build
ing sand from spelling.
mo more having work about the house
done by the day for me-" said a Washing
ton man to a Star reporter. 81 have been
up against the game both ways, and when 1
have anything done around my house after
this will let a contract for 1t beforehand.
I don't run a very extensive establishment,
but some time ago I moved into a new
house that needed several small things done
about it. l had a carpenter look over the
job and he decided that there was about a
days work in 1t and announced that he
would do 1t for 81 day.
Well to make the shortest story possible
of It. he spun the job out for a week almost,
and then my wife had to get after him and
chase him out of the house to get the job
done by the end of the week. He needed
nails and screws and things to work with
after he once got started, and l think he
made separate trips to the hardware store
for each individual nail, taking about half
a day for each trip. The worst of 1t was
that when he did finally get through my
wife told me she thought she ought to have
about IS a day for overseeing the job and
getting II done at all
II had another job little while ago and
l got two men to work It, They are
union men, all right but they decided that
they would do the work on their own re-
sponsibility after regular hours. did not
have anything to do with that and don t
know or care whether it is against the rules
of the union l made a contract for the job
and let them take their own time about 1t.
They pitched in, and the way they made
chips fly was a caution. | have seen some
,, swift workmen in my time, but those fell
lows had the speed record beaten to death.
They were about two afternoons doing what
/ wanted and there was about five times as
much work in it as there had been In the
first job l had done by the day. You can be
mighty certain that after this if have any
more work done 1t Is going to be on a con-
tract. -you-please. This thing of work.
ing by the day is little too good-for the
workman"