The Washington herald., 1906-11-18
WOMAN ABOUT TOWN
Stories of Washington Life.

rent in a lump
did have a scheme once for organic
ing all the renters of this town into a
union. so that IL a house in N street
wasn't repaired when il ought to be.
Georgetown and Capitol Hill and the
apartment houses all over town would
strike in sympathy and refuse TO pay any
more rent It'll II street had its rights.
I'm not sure yet that the idea isn't a
good one. The thing that discouraged
me was the conviction that the landlords
would get the rent out OF rs IN the end,
anyway. and that they'd go on making
repairs just as they saw fit. Our only
recourse would have been TO move out, all
OF US at once, and we wouldn't have had
any place to move 10. Still, the idea Is
good one, and il comforts me TO think
OF 1t at night when the dripping Of the
faucet I've been complaining about for
six months keeps me awake.
a clergyman recently returned from
London tells me Of seeing a British sub
ject walking with some difficulty along a
London street at . o'clock in the morn
ing. Evidently he had been seeking sur
cease Of sorrow in many cups, and Wills
his load Of that sort OF thing was slight,
his load Of another sort was heavy.
beg pardon" he said TO q passer-by.
pointing 10 the more or less befogged
heavens. and speaking in voice which
matched them. "watch's stopped. VIII
you tell me. kind SIR. whether that is tho
sun or the moon?'
The passer-by shook his head, none too
steadily.
Cant s-say." he murmured. I'm
a s-stranger in London"
you needn't believe Il when people
tell you Paris is a polite place" one OF
my friends writes me from there ''Peo-
pie say so because they come here and
drive about in carriages. and listen 20
the French people talk. If they went on
foot they'd find out. Pedestrians haven't
any rights. OF course. you know that
every time cabby runs over you. you
have TO pay a forfeit fo- obstructing traf-
fic. and ne gets IT, It was always that
way, but It's only lately that the cabmen
/ have organized. Now, instead Of the cab
man who has marked you for hts VIC
/ tim getting at you. he gets driver who
/ isn't anywhere near you to do IT, so that
you'll be too bewildeTed to run. The only
/ polite man I've seen since we arrived
was at the Care du Nord. He grinned
/ and Winked az ne for ten minutes, and
1 wished my brother were there 70 step
on him, but he did seem friendly. TIL I
noticed how ne held one hand crooked.
/ When I saw that. gave him a fee and
we got our trunks without botheTing
| about any octrOi business. If anybody IN
Paris is polite, you may know he ex-
poets TO be paid for it Every time 7
/ have TO cross q street I feel sure that II
1 could only meet an American policeman
I'd shed tears of joy on his uniform.
Paris is the most unpleasant town on
earth, unless you can afford a carriage"
It takes a great deal to worry Mrs.
Blank. Somebody said to her. regretfulIy.
the other day, that Henry James has told
his friends he means never to come to
America again, though, Of course. he
didn't say it in so few words as that
'Humph." shifted Mrs Blank T
shouldn't think any Of that family
would care TO come back. He was lucky
not TO get what they gave Jesse"
I always feel thankful when look at
the motto on n silver dollar" says a
young matron, because there's nobody
left on earth we can trust In. and / do
like TO trust sometimes. AS soon as we
bought our house and moved in. trades
men began 10 solicit our custom 1 Sc
lected the nearest grocer. because my
cook said he was reliable. and had
faith in my cook. She said the things we
got from the grocer on the other corner
weren't fit TO eat By and by that neg
lected grocer sent a man over TO talk
to me. He seemed a very open-minded
man.
I used to work for the firm you are
patronizing.T he said. They sell good
goods Also, they are grafters. You'll
ind they are bribing your cook, and
they'll make you pay for what they give
her
Il didn't believe It. but. OF course I
looked into the matter ! went down into
the kitchen when 1 wasn't expected and
what do you think my cook was having
for dinner? SQUAD and mushrooms She
confessed that the market man had made
her a present Of them. Maybe that's
the way the best eggs and best butter
we've been having have tasted third rate.
I've changed my dealer; and I'll trust
the one 1 have now till find out what
his particular form or graft Is.
A very eminent college professor has
complained lately that many Of his stu
! dents are not sufficiently familiar with
/ the Bible to understand references which
were plain 10 everybody generation ago.
1t seems an odd state Of affairs. and it's
odder still to find In an able article. writ
ten by a journalist of international repu-
tatiOn, a sentence which appeared in one
+ Of the magazines not so very long ago.
! The article concerned the British labor
ing man as political factor, and accord
ing 10 the author Of II the British trades
unionist regarded a certain mans con-
duet as very nearly as base as the be
tTayal Of Judas IscariOt for forty pieces
Of silver OF course, one knows that the
price of everything has gone up lately.
and it may be that St. Matthew has been
revised to fit the new scale, but we were
certainly brought up to believe that thir-
~ pieces were all Judas received Forty
pieces is what the magazine says. Doubt
less it's a printers error, or possibly
, what one may call a lapsus type-writsris
: I 1t can't possibly be that the journalist
forgot St. Matthews statement.
: I've always wondered what a pard is
and how it came to be bearded, and now
know Lucy explained It, Lucy has
chum named Frances. and Frances
: father declined to permit Frances TO 20
to the matinee.
Il made him give in. though" says
$ Lucy. I'm not afraid of him. I march
r ed right IN and bearded the pard in his
/ den. the lion in his hall"