Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-06
/ . @xATHlNGS HEARD.
- SEN 81

| flashed up the finest outfit of bubbles
| devil wagons and motor cars that this
! town as ever seen. suppose railway
man takes naturally TO a steam wagon. and
| the next thought is TO get one that is just
| a little better than the other fellows.
| Just look them over any forenoon up
| around 14th and Pennsylvania avenue and
| 18th and F streets, and you will some
/ beauties. Great. big. brass-tound fellows.
! putting and painting like locomotive. with
! powerful headlights and siren whistles
| There are combination of locomotive and
| Pullman car and l guess that most of
| them carry buffet"
Gee, remarked bystander. TAX
| about luxury on wheels. you just ought to
| see the private cars of these railway bosses
in the yards out here. There is sum9tuous-
| ness for you; brass he&s:eads, porcelain
| bath tubs, fine furnishings and a complete
| outfit for serving course dinners. They
| keep their cooks and crews aboard all the
! time. and there is nothing to do but step
| aboard and touch button to get the finest
! service in the land
| X X
| Few people realize how much the sign
| painter has to do with the naming of cor
| porations. firms and designations of BUSH
ness establishments. But the sign painter
| is the dominant factor in many of these
| cases"
| This statement by prominent sign
painter called for a further explanation.
The fact is" he continued when ques-
| toned, lots of men come to see me before
! naming their companies firms in order
| to get my opinion as to how the name will
| work out on their signs. In some cases
| have known them to change names of COM
| panies in order to shorten them so that they
could be easily worked on sign boards
| Take. for instance. the word 'Chesa-
| peake.' 1t is too long to be used on sign
| board, as rule. for when it is combined
with some other explanatory words the
| group becomes cumbersome. 1 have had a
| dozen men come to me who want to use the
| word Chesapeake over their oyster houses
| but nearly all of them have abandoned the
| idea as soon as they discovered how impos-
sible it is to combine other words with it.
| To abbreviate the word gives poor effect
to the sign. and would never do it.
The inexperienced often adopt names that
| would make it impossible to ever present
! them over any establishment. and some
| times practically impossible to make them
! look well on letter head. l have known
| many cases in which the names of firms
| and corporations have been dictated be-
| cause of these considerations. In the case
| of an avenue merchant two members of the
| firm had long names that did not fit the
| tongue well when pronounced and would
| have been impossible on sign What did
| they do? They simply coined two names
| being an abbreviation of one name in one
| instance and a Christian name in another
| and in that way they got firm name
| filled with euphony that any one can re-
member
The fact is continued the veteran sign
| painter. when men are about to form a
| firm or start a corporation the first thing
| they should do Is to call In the sign painter
and get his opinion as to the desirable quail
| tiles that can be picked out of their choice
of names from his standpoint"
X
One of the officers of the Washington navy
yard has figured out that the life of mod
ern steel battleship is less than half of that
| of her wooden prototype-the man-of-war
| of a previous generation. He said the old
wooden frigate was good for forty years of
cruising while the steel vessel of Uncle
| Sans superb twentieth century navy
| reaches the junk pile in less than twenty
years after she is launched.
ITO build a modern batteship." said the
naval officer. requires five years. counting
| from the time of the signing of the contract
until the vessel Is finally accepted after
| trial"
X X
| A queer little woman visits the country
! line" in the rear of the Center market every
! market day, according to a dealer, and pur-
| loins enough vegetables to keep body and
| soul together" she expresses it. The
| little woman is said to be about sixty years
/ of age and wears a faded dress of black al
] paca. Whence she comes or whittier she
| goes is unknown to the market men.
| I'VE have asked her about herself" said
I the dealer, but she declines to say any
| thing a. to her antecedents or place of resi-
| dence. She will pick up potato at one
| stand turnip at another. and an onion at
| still another. No one, of course, refuses
| such small thing potato a turnip;
| still, in the aggregate she manages In a
| short while to fill the black bag she always
| carries with her.
| After she has gathered her supply of
! vegetables from the country stands, l IN
| derstand she goes inside the market and
| begS a stale loaf of bread and a soup bone,
| and then disappears In the throngs on Penn
| sylvania avenue. An old man who came on
! the line one day to buy some things told
| me she lived way down in South Washing
| ton and that she supported two orphaned
| grandchildren by her market-day gather
| ings. She certainly is a queer old lady. and
| 1 would give something pretty to know
| some thing about her"
| =, 4 X x
while visiting OF Belgiums famous
| seaside resorts during the summer" says
| United States Consul McNally at Liege,
! II was agreeaoly surprised to note that the
| baZaars and shops sold the American flag
| while the children in mimic battle placed 1t
| on the top OF their tiny forts / thought
| OF course. that the children having the flag
! were Americans, but discovered that such
! was not the case. Not one of the children
| spoke with could give me any reason for
| having the flag other than that his papa
| had bought it for him. This little incident
| harmonized with the general sentiment of
! respect manifested toward all American
{ citizens, who cannot fail to wonder at the
| cause of such a pleasant change from some
| years ago"
|