Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-25

Pedestrians on Pennsylvania avenue near
10th street had their attention attracted one
afternoon recently by brisk blaze, PLAINLY
to be seen through window on the thiro
floor of building on the south side OF the
noted thoroughfare. A crowd OF large pro-
portions soon assembled, and half dozen
alert citizens FASTENED to the northwest
corner of 10th and d streets and turned IN
an alarm from the box located there.
In the meantime 1t occurred to some one
that the occupants of the building should
be notified that the premises were abiaze
The doorbell was pulled and the startling
news communicated. While all this was
being DONE however the flames were sub
siding.
In response to the alarm a large proper
ton of the fire department, almost IN
stanty. it seemed, was fastening to the
scene. From the direction of 9th street
came an engine company with SahoPlhS
horses: through d street and down loth
street came other companies. Inc com
pany located on ID street near l2th street
dashed into view, and to cap the climax
truck company and the water tower ap-
peared rushing east along Pennsylvania
avenue. 1t seemed that there was sufh-
cient fire-ighting apparatus responding 10
the alarm to extinguish the flames from an
entire block of burning structures. There
fore the crowd of spectators laughed spon-
taneOuSly, because of the ridiculous con-
trast when they observed a man. armed
only with pitcher that did not hold more
than quart of water, step into view be-
hind the window and calmly and complete
ly put out what remained of the fire, in
considerably less than a minute.
+
Admiration for the American business
man. and especially for the railway man
ayers of the country, for the manner in
which they "get there is enthusiastically
expressed by Mr.. Neville Priestly, under
secretary to the government of India, who
recently made tour of this country study
ing our transportation systems, and spent
some time in this city.
1t is strange to listen to Mr.. PrieStly
talking of methods in the United States as
Unusual and hard TO comprehend. The in
tricate system of train dispatching and sig
mailing. about which so many interesting
articles and so much fiction have been writ
ten, make the Englshman of India open
his eyes and wonder where he is at
I'VE run only seven trains a day be-
tween Bombay and Poona, in India re-
marked Mr.. Priestly to a railroad man over
here. and you run seventeen from Boston
to Portland, the distance between which is
shorter. Bombay and Poona are much
larger cities than Boston and Portland
too
This Englishman. who took the trouble
to look into the things which have made
this country 50 prominent in the world
went home with such an exalted idea of
our ways of doing things that he may be
depended upon to ''crack us up" across the
ocean in case we should ever need 1t.
x x X
According to general advces there is
much red tape connected with the various
departments of the government That it
often causes hardship and sometimes
laugh is freely admitted.
The well-known penchant of servants for
carrying home LEFTOVER vittles" from
their places of employment is the basis of
a little story that comes from Annapolis
over at the navy yard there has been so
much annoyance from this cause that an
order was posted by which all servants who
were leaving the navy yard after dark.
carrying packages, should show permit in
writing giving them the right of possession
a night or two ago a sentry on duty
noticed a negro servant coming up the walk
with package under his arm. The guard
commanded the man to halt and show a
permit to carry the bundle outside the
gates This the negro could not do. In
the package were two large pies which the
darkey looked upon with loving ewes. He
said his employer had given then to him,
and that as 1t was late he hated to go back
and disturb the household to obtain the
necessary bit of paper. The guard was OBJ
not go out unless he left the pies behind or
presented the necessary permit. For a mo-
ment the daIkey was puzzled Then he sat
quietly down and tackled those pies. 1t
was some minutes before he was heard
from again. Finally he arose slowly from
the ground and approached the guard. Il
guess l amt got no package now, and
jes' reckon I'll be goin' along home he
said.
The guard was nonplussed for awhile but
as the man was not carrying a package,
and was thus not violating any rule. he had
to permit him to go peacefully on his way.
X
There is a nine-year-old lad living on 4th
street, named Noble, who gives promise,
his friends say, of becoming a famous news
paper cartoonist some day. His recent eff
forts in this line are said to bear the stamp
of originality and genius, if they are not
highly artistic from an artists viewpoint.
One of his latest pencil cartoons depicts
the Russian bear rolling over on the snow
covered earth in apparent agony, with
Japan. represented as a little weasel, fas-
tened by it's teeth 10 the neck of the big
animal Beneath the picture is written the
title of an old-time song, Pop Goes the
Weasel"
Another of Mobiles original conceptions in
the cartoon line was a large star high in
the heavens. at which great multitude of
smiling benignly down on the crowd. while
a streamer from the face contains these
words: II shine for you all-The Evening
STAR
\ X X X
while the liquor trade in this city is bet
ter regulated now than it has been for
many years. remarked a temperance ad-
vocate to a Star reporter, there should be
a more stringent regulation adopted to pre-
vent the sale of LIQUOR to minors Under
the existing law itsis difficult to convict
the proprietor of place even if 1t can be
shown that liquor is served. 1t is a fact