The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1906-04-13

do JuCy lifSAO ~ pA~J
eggs-games of infinite variation con-
tanning infinite amusement. Inc
grounds look more like a juvenile fair
than anything else-an egg fair and
the biddy hens around Washington
must needs have been very diligent
for many days before. If the day is
fair, too, the glorious Marine Band,
the finest band in the country, plays
sweet music, and the children dance
and gambol to its strains. Truly it is
children's day in Washington.
Wonderfully Colored Eggs.
By 0 o'clock in the morning the
grounds are actually taken possession
of by the youngsters, little kids with
wicker baskets and v~ari-colored eggs,
wonderful eggs Of green and blue and
red and purple and gold and then
eggs of lovely combination, and with
beautiful figures, such as would make
a wise hen cock her head on n side
and wonder greatly what happened
to her plain white eggs.
All sorts and conditions of children
find their way to the Presidents
grounds to enjoy Easter Monday. Some
of the children are beautifully dressed
in silks and laces and have French
nurses to watch over them and carry
their eggs for them, while other little
ones are dressed in very shabby gar
ments with elbows out and toes peep
ing from their little shoes: They per-
haps have only three or four plainly
colored eggs boiled in a piece OF purple
or red calico. No French nurses accomp-
any them, carrying eggs with gilt pic
! ures, but they car roll their eggs and
themselves on the green grass. and soil
their frocks and trousers to their
hearts content, and they will enjoy the
holiday perhaps more than their more
fortunate companions. Usually the
mothers of these little men and women
come with them, tired-faced women
often, looking as though it had been a
long day since they had enjoyed such a
time. Here and there are little groups
Of mothers and older sisters, talking to-
gether pleasantly, but keeping watch
full eyes to see that the little ones do
not get lost in the crowd or stray too
far away.
Not Afraid of the Policeman.
1t is a good natured crowd. The big
policemen standing around possess no
terror for the little ones on egg-roll1ng
day. They know that all that big po-
licemen are for on Easter, is to keep
grown up people from interfering with
the little ones who are rolling eggs.
And when the little people get lost now
and then, the big policemen are there
to take them in charge and tell them
not to cry until their mothers and Sis
tiers find them again. Then there are
great rivalries among the children.
Some of them are regular little gamb.
ers. One little fellow gets hold
of a very hard egg and he goes around
picking eggs with his acquaintance
or acquaintance he finds, and wins
their eggs from them until finally he
strikes some other little fellow who
has a harder egg than his, and then he
loses a lot of eggs.
And some of the little rascals gamble
on what is a "sure thing" with a
china egg, sized and painted to resem-
BILE a genuine egg, or with a hens egg
run full Of plaster of paris they Will
go around, and, of course win all the
eggs they contest for, until some sharp
little fellow finds out the game they
are playing. AS the day advances and
the children get hungry, the peanut
man and the popcorn nan and the can
dy man at the gates do a thriving bus
mess, while at noon, many are the
little groups under the trees, sitting
around on blankets and shawls and eat
ing lunches, for they are making 9
regular picnic Of it and staying al
day.
The Children of Presidents.
President Harrison's two grand chill
dren witnessed, with great enjoyment
the egg-rolling from the porch OF tn
| White House facing toward thu
Washington monument and lookins
/ past and across the Potomac to Airing
ton, the former home Of General Lee
/ but where now are spread the silen
tents of a vast host of the Union arm.
who have passed across to the grea
beyond.
g President Cleveland's two little girls
Ruth and Esther, were real little dem
J, ocrats. They took their own eggs an