Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-09
AROUND THE CITY

A gang of laborers is cutting a street
through a hilly field out Columbia road
way. Yesterday one of these men-a big.
tar black fellow with dazzling teeth-was
perched on a bluff of the raw earth, eating
his lunch and singing rag-time tunes be-
tween bites. His joyous. unstudied voice
must have appealed to another man who
was passing through the cut, for he called
up:
You are having a gay time all to your
self up there"
Oats fac, capn, 1 amt grudgin
nary body, an 1 hope you amt grudgin'
me, neither'-and his guffaw at his own
humor was so infectious that the other man
laughed with him. The laugh evidently had
money value for the latter. for he tossed
up silver piece to the singer as he van
ished behind the bluff.
"HoP on, cap'n," the laborer called after
him. "ef you wants witness when you
stands before de white frone you des call
on me. You heah me?"
1t was a very small happening. but 1t
meant a sunbeam for the big black fellow
on the bluff, and perhaps ray of some
thing warmer and brighter for the capital
list who owns the property and who can
write his income in six figures.
"Oh Jennie see the hay wagon! Isn't 1t
dear? I love to watch hay wagons-re-
minds me so of the country"
why, do you feel that way about hay
wagons, too? / almost cry every time see
one. Just smell the clover! Sweeter than
any perfume you can buy"
The two women cast friendly eyes that
were almost wistful at the old country
wagon numbering down Pennsylvania ave-
nue., and even after they had passed 1t one
of them-the one who had smelled clover
lnnly A1 hln IL md 6rnu In har hrao n
catch a last delicious Whit.
! This little interchange of sentiment at
tracted the attention of two men who walk
ed behind the women.
IT'S my opinion" said one of them to the
other, that the agricultural instinct is an
Adam-inherited quality, common to us all.
Even so small a matter as the passing of
common hay wagon in the street serves to
give US a throb of uplifting gladness that
no city pleasure can equal. Now. the very
smell of that clover-fragrant hay brings to
me-what in the mischief are you laughing
at?"
why. man, that isn't hay. That's
straw
A sweet-faced elderly woman, dressed in
deep mourning, was walking through Jack
son Square last Sunday morning on her
way to st. Johns.
AS she entered the grounds swarm of
sparrows came flying from every direction
shoulder though the majority of the tiny
brown fellows hoped expectantly the
path in front of her feet And. hopping
and flying about her, they accompanied her
to the street.
1t was the lady who goes every morning.
winter and summer, to feed the birds in
that particular park, and her proteges had
recognized ner.
But whether her enthusiastic reception
was inspired by gratitude or by an Oliver
Twistsh greed for more" only John
Burroughs can tell.
One man showed another crisp new dol
lar bill as they walked along together.
1.-THE lady who paid me this he said
never touches a cent that other people
have handled. On the first of every month
she sends to the treasury and gets new
notes and silver, and when she pays her
bills makes out the exact amount SO that
there will be no change. I'm told she hasn't
touched a cent of secondhand money in
over twenty years. Kind of funny. isn't
TT"
Which tiny incident helps to verify the