Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-23
AROUND THE CITY

A big blue policeman was saunterng
along the avenue side of the Treasury the
other afternoon. AS he neared Fifteenth
street he saw something ahead that caused
him to change his gait to a rapid walk. a
swarm of newsboys on hand to sell papers
to the clerks broke out into a rash of ex-
element and followed at his heels He be-
gan to run and the boys tagged after. Two
men who had passed turned and joined the
procession. The sensation extended to the
people waiting at the junction, and a coll
ored girl who was wheeling a baby steered
its go-cart unseeingly into the popcorn
wagon while she called on the general pub
lie to tell her if anybody was killed.
By that time the policeman, having reach
ed the corner gave a forward bound and
swinging, upward leap
He had been running to catch his car
A lady who had recently moved to pref
ty uptown street went out one morning
to do bit of early shopping. AS she
passed a certain corner a dog bounded
toward her and caught her skirt between
his teeth. 1t was not the spoiled impu-
dence of a parlor pet for there was de-
cision in his grip and cold business in his
eye. Naturally she was nervous, but as no
one happened to be around she did the SEN
sible thing and let the animal have its way.
His way was to drag her around the cor
HeT ana INTO d grocery SnOp clear up TO the
counter, when he let go and darted out of
the door. Grateful for her harbor of ref
uge, the lady gave a substantial order to
the grocer and was leaving the store, when
back came the dog, dragging another terri
fed woman by the gathers. The first VIC
tim had no need to fear a second assault
for the dog passed her by with supreme in
difference and stationed himself at the cor
ner to watch a girl across the street who
seemed to be coming his way.
And, as the leady realized that the dog
was simply a professional trade drummer
for the grocery shop, she wondered what
ever induced John Burroughs to say that
animals have no intelligence.
Across from the White House, in Lafay-
cite square, is dwarf chestnut known as
the wishing tree" Its ancient trunk Is
gnarled and squatty, but its branches are
far-reaching and give magnificent shade. It
is tradition that the first wish whispered by
any one while hugging the big tree never
fails TO come true.
An oldest inhabitant" resident of the
neighborhood, who likes TO read his paper
these days on a bench near the tree told
yesterday of an old coloTed woman who has
an invincible faith in the legend. She was
in the habit of cutting through the park
on her way from her service place to her
home in East Washington, and having
heard of theVlrtue of the tree, she put her
arms around it one night and voiced her
heart s desire:
please, Mr.. Ches' nut, Is so daid tard I
kin scursly drag nah feet along after me
an I'll be very much obleeged to you if
you " III gimme dem dere hycycI IS so s
l kin ride home nights"
She had barely left the grounds when she
picked up a fine bicycle lamp which she
sod for enough to keep her in carfare for
a month. And from that day to this she is
firmly convinced that she could just as
easily have found wheel-if only she had
wished a little harder.
If you happen to be walking up F street
way in the early dusk you will prob
ably come across one of two persons 1t
will be either a colored boy, as fleet as the
NEUROLOGICAL youngsjer who wears wings
on his heels, it will be a middIe-aged
white man with a gray moustache and
kindly eyes that smile at you when he
speaks. You will know them because each
carries small ladder on his back, and
every time he reaches a lamp-post he will
set his ladder against it, dart up, open the
glass door of the lamp. strike a match
light the gas, shut the door. grab the lad
der, and dart on-in something less than
that mathematical quantity known as
three shakes of a dogs tail.
The is the lamplghter of that beat
and Mercury is his assistant.
Busy as he was, the man stopped a half
minute yesterday to tell an inquirer that
there are 129 lamps on the beat; that they
have to be lighted every evening in one
hour, and put out in less time every morn
ing between and D.
And the inquirer, who likes to know
things. was impressed with the sudden
ly acquired Importance of a gas lamp as a
human interest story that she wished the
man had taken time to explain how often
| the lamps were cleaned and when.