Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-31


OF course. the folks In your immediate
vieinage. when you topple and begin to
Wipe up the floor with your spring suit.
bound 10 crosse their features into snlrks
wheu they see you thus laid low. But, then,
ali Of these little matters are balanced In
the long run You get your chance to
sinfrk when YOU see the others fall And so
II all eyens un sooner or later. Ii you catch
some fellow laughing real enjoyably over
your discontinue when you fall down. all
you've got TO do is to follow him around for
a. certain length OF time before you'll have
the keen get-baek 10y of peeking lecrfnxly
into his face when Ire. too, Is a mere indls-
crimnate tangie of arms and legs
however most OF US good skstsrs-that
is to say the folks who really know how TO
roller skate well. are rarely responytble
themselves for the falls that come their way.
They find themselves pocketed In behind
wobbly beginners. or reckless ones who
were predestined and preordained AZ the
birth OF the world to be falling down In
folks' way at roller skating Kinks II takes
Keen and snrewd eye to size up these
natural-born fallers Just at the psychic
Juncture when they're due to fail Some
skates possess this clairyoyance but most
OF EN- don't. When you find yourself in be-
Of % whom pa Is 1I ss,ssli ing seunT women
ciutching her pal as IL she were In the act
OF drawing, wobbes along a. IL abe we're
on nine-foot stnts-then is the At ana APP
Propriate moment for you TO tap your fore
head sagely and murmur unto ye,,rsei4 .I
am gying uh-wy from heah," and take a
long slant to port or to starboerd as the
cas- may be. for. IL you don't you may
iiia yourself the top factor In a mortfying
auodie within very short space OF time
Recognizing Danger Signals.
It's the wise rolerer who has the bunch
where danger turks. We know a man who
spent four afternoons trying Intellectually
to keep out OF the way of one OF the secre
earies OF the Chinese embassy In Washing
ton- The secretary of the Chinese embassy
was Just learning. and he had danger
slsnai out as big as a dirigible balloon. and
this man we are speaking of saw the sig
nal and tried to avoid II. But It seemed to
% MS fate to find himself In behind that
Gninese ambassadorfal secretary every 1T
tie whiie, hard as he tried to duck away.
Some sort Of invisible magnet seemed TO
draw him In behind that man from the
kingdom of howera
The result was Inevitable. II occurred
when the bell changed for all hands 10 re-
verse and go the other way of the track
they don't have reversing In China. maybe
that reversing thing little bit. and, for
the purpose of registering his most en-
phatfc protest against II, ne went down with
q bump that must assuredly have made him
require the services OF a dentist the next
Gay. The man who had been trying inef-
fectually to dodge the Chinaman for days
was right behind him. OF course and then
there was a minglfng of the occident ami
the orient that caused even strong. self
contained men to joggle their heads back
ana howl. The remarks made by the Chi
nese secretary when this happened may
have been quotations from Confucius, and
the observations emitted by the man who
toppled over him may have been excerpts
from the psalms. But We don't think 50.
as to either case. We do not. We know
differently. In fact, we represented the
occident on that occasion.
All told. though. it's great thing to OBJ
serve the general good nature of the crowds
r rtn Et-oy thn
grouchy ones seem to expand into state
almost human there. For instance IL you
were walking In q dense crowd on Pennsyi-
yania avenue. say. on q day of paGeantry
you'd hardly take a chance on prodding the
fellows IN front of you in the ribs to move
EN- out of your path. You'd think a couple
OF times before doing that You'd have n
sort OF instructive feeling that your prod
ding might cause one of the chaps In front
OF you to wheel around and swing on you.
just for luck. But prodding goes at the
roller rink. all right If somebody In front
Of you is In your way. and you're pocketed.
just prod that somebody and give him a
little push in any direction you choose. and
1t will be all right. He don't mind He
prods 'em all himself. and he's willing to
take his prods when they're coming to him.
The Prodding Game.
The girls are the greatest prodders
though. It's a. wise thing to pick out a
girl to skate with who has got this prod
ding thing down pat. She'll just use her
free hand to poke everybody you overtake
IN the small of the back and when the
prodded ones turn around to see who has
done II you can look as innocent as you
feel, for the prodded one just knows that
it's the girl who has done the proddIng.
and who's going to get sore at girl,
no matter what she does? Take even the
ones who have been prodded until they
begin to become q bit peeylsh over 10,
and when they look back with sort OF
glare to see who has put a finger in the
middle Of their spine. and see the smiling
face Of merry-eyed giri immediately be-
| hind them-why, the glare is going to be
| erased right away. all right. and the prod
ded one Is going to murmur word or
two meant to convey the Idea that he
begs to be excused for living.
Mighty fine. Fascinating sort OF sport
this roller skating business, once you get
the bug and are able to swirl around with
the interminable caravan with confidence
well based The old timers are going back
to that delight OF their younger days in
shoals. and the truth is that most Of these
of decades ago when roilering was a great
craze In this country, find that they haven't
| forgotten the old thing and that they know
how after the first or second supported
move around the floor.
To man even of such youthfulness in
years as thirty -1ve-we hope that's consld-
cred youthful|t seems odd thing to
mingle with the youngsters and girls on
when he the thirty -hye-year -old, was con-
stunned with the roller-skating bug away
back yonder in the early eighties: the great
majority of these young people weren't
even born II anything Is calculated to
make even man of thirtyfive feel old, 1t
is this. Queer thing about 1t is that most
Of these young folks skating today
imagine that this roller rink business is
dead new thing In the world, whereas
shucks, we know pretty, rosy-cheeked
matrons with almost grown daughters who
away back yonder In the eighties. could just
skate around on the front wheels OF their
roller skates, and, In humble opinion,
those selfsame matrons, when they were
at the age when roller skating was a bug
in this country before, were a whole lot
prettier than any OF their growing daugh-
tiers that we've seen-lots prettierl
AT the old E street rink we knew two
laughing girls. both of whom are rearing
large families right here In little old Wash
ington now. who-but zing- zingi there goes
the reversing belll All hands turn aroundl
c. L. c.
Hanna's Hash and Roosevelt's Omelet.