Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-21

| I VI
many ways In this respect Washington
leads many of the larger cities These par
Tors offer opportunities for ladies to get
shine. which the street bootblacks never
did. for no woman was brave enough to get
a polish out on the streets, much as she
may have desired 1t. With the parlors,
however, it is a different story, and the re-
suit Is that those people who do not happen
to have house servants at their command
nave much better-looking shoes. The polish
also is great improvement over the old
fashioned shoe backing. 1t lasts much
longer and is much better for the leather.
washington, however. Is not in 1t with
some western cities Take Indianapolis, for
| instance, where l visited recently. In one
or the Leading barber shops of that city
| last week got shave for ten cents, and
| good one, too. While l was being shaved
| my shoes were polished and my hat was
put on wheel and thoroughly cleaned and
| then pressed with a hat iron. During the
summer straw hats are cleaned. Remem-
| Der, all this Is thrown in free for the ten
| cents In Chicago a shoe polish is thrown
| In with a shave, but the hat cleaning Is
| extra"
He was only four years old but he had
already begun to solve in his own fashion
| some of the mysteries of life and of living
| So one day when the talk turned on boards
such as are used in building houses he came
| out with the rather unusual information
that boards are made of sawdust
Why do you say that?' asked his mother
VINO, like all mothers, was interested in the
| development of her children.
Cause. said the youthful observer,
when you cut board the sawdust comes
| out of it,
~ x X
| 1T Invariably makes me shiver' re-
| marked the confirmed old bachelor to The
| Star man. Ito see children at play They
! seem so reckless and take so many chances
| that / am always fearful Of their hurting
| themselves. l never had a worse expert
| ence in that respect, however, than last
| Sunday, when l spent the afternoon look
| Ing over the work at the union station, on
| Massachusetts avenue. There on the open
| trestles, high over the street were lots of
little children at play, and it was a fire.
quent sight to see them on their hands and
| knees crawling along a narrow plank fifty
| feet or more above the ground.
Had they become dizzy or made the
| least miscalculation there was nothing to
| prevent their falling to the hard earth far
| below. These little tots. many of them
| girls, crossed over places that grown men
| invariably avoided by a detour. The sur
| prise to me is that none of the children was
| killed or seriously injured. 1t is a popular
| impression that children are under the spe-
| cfal protection of providence, and my al
! most daily observation of the frolics of the
| Juvenile population serves to strengthen
| that impression"
| X X X
Life on the canal zone is not so serious
| as 1t II frequently painted" observed a
Washingtonian to Star reporter one day
this week. "of course" he added, Its
| like going to entirely new country to
most of those who go there from the states
| to work on the canal 1t Is not at all like
entering country that has been progress
| sive and prosperous, and some of those who
| go there are disappointed at not being able
| to get wealthy in a short time, Some get
| sick, but they get sick at home, although at
| home they are not so likely to get the yell
! low fever. Reports from some sources indi-
cate that those who are willing to work
along the canal are not subjected to the
priyations indicated in some stories printed
in the papers.
IF man shows an inclination to work
and has the health to back his inclinations
he Is likely to get along, and do even better
than II he remained at home. A few days
ago a letter was received here from man
who had been member of the local police
| force and who had gone to Culebra to work.
Last April he started in as carpenter of
| the second class at 500 q month, and in
| June he received an increase of $25 in his
salary month later came similar sum
| ing a promotion that will bring him 5000 a
month.
| And the best Of ALL the writer of the
| letter has not experienced a minutes sick
ness all the time he has been there The
| government furnishes sleeping accommoda-
| tons and he gets splendid board for So a
month. He says there has been some fever
| IN sections of Panama, but not enough to
| cause much of scare or panic"
| y K x
The recent action of the police in arrest
| ing two so-called spiritualists recalled to
an old reporter the case of an aged wo-
| man who kept boarding house for mys-
tic mediums in this city several years ago.
! ANY man or woman who represented them
| selves as mediums were taken in by the old
| lady and given cut rates for their board
| and lodgings, and then, as a rule the
| boarding house keeper was taken in" by
the alleged mediums. The old lady's hobby
! was private seances, which were fakes
| of the worst possible description. These
were participated in by the boarders, who
! represented that they had some sort of
! secret communication with the spirit
| world and received many mysterious ca
| Diagrams through space from the weird
| regions beyond.
AT these seances a job lot of ghosts were
| kept N stock for the old lady's edification,
| and they were generally trotted out and
| made to do mystic stunts in the semi
| darkness of her apartments. One of the
| SPLITS was Known as BHiy, the CONT
mental drummer boy" and was supposed
to be the disembodfed spirit of a boy mu-
/ sician in Gen. Washngton's army, while
| another was known as "Firefy," and was
| described as the ghost of an Indian girl
| who lived many years ago.
| In performing her parts Firefy, who, by
| the way, was none other than a buxom
young women very much in the flesh, who
| clerked In a 18th street store, was always
surrounded by an unearthly glow. pro-
| duced by the use of a liberal quantity of
| phosphorus, which was procured from a
! nearby drug store. One night. while pre-
| pairing to do her stunt at the seance, Fire
| fly accidentally spilled some of the phos-
| phorescent fluid on the floor Of her dress
| ing room. She did not discover the mishap
| until she had entered the seance room. The
fiery fluid was tracked over the carpet,
| leaving q glowing trail In the wake OF the
| bogus ghost Of Firefiy.
MY goodness" exclaimed the venerable
| boarding house keeper. what is that?'
why, that is Firefly. mother respond
| ed a medium softly.
"Fire1y, is 1t? Then the poor creature
\ No Iaaly fire. rain ha nj ~