Evening star., 1905-11-11
0Dzngs X!Sss$ 4 s. 81
~oSSes "

On one of the street car lines of Washing
ton is employed conductor who has grown
gray in the service and who considers him
self something of privileged character.
He is an efficient employe and Is noted
among the regulars who ride on his car
or his witty and caustic tongue. His excel
ent record has saved him from discharge
m more than one occasion when he has
alked himself into trouble.
II was only last week that a pompous,
niddle-aged man boarded his car and had
icarcely taken his seat when poorly
,iressed and rather tipsy individual iurched
lown the aisle and stepped on the pompous
lerson's toe. The tipsy man apologized. Dut
L didn't seem to do any good. for the POM
pous person turned 10 the conductor and de-
manded in a voice audible about fifty feet
away: Conductor. do you permit drunken
men to ride on this carr
mo. sir" replied the conductor, touching
his hat deferentially. but if you'll sit down
and keep quiet nobody will notice your con-
dition."
There's little boy up on Capitol Hill who
has very pronounced irn -edinent in his
speech but who doesn't let that interfere
with his plans for the future. In fact. this
particular chap is as ambitious as possible,
and the only trouble is that he never knows
mis- own mind two days in succession. He
has informed his father on different -occa-
sions that when he grew up he intended to
become circus rider, engineer, juggler,
lOctor. painter. steePejack and a dozen
other things. The other day the father, in
IN endeavor To find some vocation that the
goung hopeful hadn't selected at one time
3r another, asked how he would like to be a
preacher. The little fellow took long
Ireath and replied:
Il w-w-w-w-Ould l-l-l-l-ike the p-p-p-ound-
.ng and the h-h-h-holering, b-b-b-but the
s-s-s-s-s-s-s-speaking w-w-w-w-would BIB
h-b-bother me s-s-s-s-s-s-some.
= = = 4
People In Washington are pretty honest.
In fact. l guess they average up pretty
well all over the United States" said a
local "mixologist." when he passed out the
checks for round Of refreshing bever-
ages. I'VE lose very little on people order
ing drinks and not paying for them. I no.
5iced In the mail only this morning an in
stance illustrating the honesty of our pa
irons. You know we have that machine
that prints the amount of your bill on a
little slip of cardboard. Well. in the mail
this morning there was one of those checks
ana a postal order for so cents clear from
Forudhd, ore. The man had walked out
win the check in his pocket forgetting all
'loout H. ana a week after when he came
d the continent he sent back the amount
II Is not the only case of the sort | have
@eeh Dy any means though don't know Of
my other case just now where We have
5otlen money from quite so far But
nave had checks and postal notes usuariv
lor sums nom quarter to a dollar come
pack from Chicago, Baltimore and ST
i.ouIs. i. II Is nothing unusual for Wash
'H6lol man 10 pass in two checks some
evening, simply saying he had forgotter to
pay the previous day. And we would have
oeen none the wiser If he had not paid at
That's what makes me saw euass noo-
pie In this country are pretty honest9app to
small amounts, anyhow"
= s X x
Inc number Of persons who visit the
commissioners in a day are legion and thew
come from all walks of Iife-fron, tho can
Hallst TO the day laborer. and from the
scrub woman to the lady of fashion The
engineer Commissioner gets his share of
these callers and his secretary, Daniel r.
Garses relates the following concerning
morning callers at Col. Biddle's office.
The first calier.w we had the other morn
ing was an old gray headed son of Africa
who poked his head in the door leaving his
rect ana the rest of his body outside and
Salo III cleery voice. Morning bossi Has
you anything In the watching or messen-
gerlng line for the old man this morning. ?
ISe wuiked under Johnny Fitz in the wa
ter department for fourteen years. and Pse
%ettln too old to do study hard Wuk 7
ought mebbe you could find something
easy for the old man.
He was told that the lists We're full and
mat until somebody died or resigned there
was not much chance for him.
Fob de Lawd. boss he said 'CrIsmus
Is comm on an 1 wants some money
II drap in again in a week.
Ihe next caller was a prospective Greek
fruit merchant. who was accompanied hv
an oily-looking interpreter. L wanta getta
permit for da fruita stand on da streeta
for dis man. said the interpreter
We don't grant permits for fruit stands
on public space l told him
"A man who keens a store on n business
street may use three feet of the street
outside for the display of goods connected
with the business carried on in the store
but he cannot carry on business exclusively
on public space.
But Pietro have paid SIS dolla' a mont
20 man who owna the store to keepa da
stand outside said the Interpreter
That makes no difference he had no
right to rent public space Muttering in
Greek the two walked out.
The next in line was bootblack who
wanted similar privilege. He was told
that the police regulations prohibited the
occupation of public space by bootblack
stands.
Next came a lady whose appearance in
dicated that she seldom visited the Com
misStoners' Office on business She desired
the limb of a tree amputated and was in
formed that an examination would be made
and her request granted If practicable
Other callers were a citizen who came
In mad because he had to wait fifteen min
utes for a car on the suburban line which