Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-06

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the suggestion made to him There is a
whip in the stable and plenty of strong
men about here to apply it. Come this
way and You can get accommodated
I'm not coming he said but that's
what ought to be done to me. When I got
paid off / started to go to see my mother.
but got here instead, and now I have no
overcoat and very little money
Declaring he intended to get aboard the
water wagon. the young man staggered
from the station and started toward his
home.
He was only one of many intoxicated
men who made similar declarations" the
policeman said, and the records of the
following Saturday night indicated that
many Of them had kept their resolutions.
for only a few arrests were made. and The
sight of an intoxicated man on the street
was the exception instead of the rule The
morning after Christmas there We're ninety
five prisoners taken to the Police Court,
ard only thirty were taken the day after
the New Year holiday
x * X X
How strange 1t is in this grand city OF
magnificent distances a cosmopolitan place
teeming with government clerks and office
holders, leaders in art, learning and in
statecraft, the range of vision of its people
is confined to a painfully restricted area
observed a wealthy resident to a Star re-
porter while philosophizing about things in
general in one OF the hotel corridors just
after trip abroad.
I'VE go down to our places of business
every day and back to our homes in the
evening without much variation. This is
the beaten path followed year after year
by nine-tenths of Washington's population.
The result is that comparative few peo-
pie know anything about the wonders of
their own city. On my last trip across the
little pond | ran up against few of the
big people. according to their wealth and
social distinction. who stray away from the
native hearthstone annually to invade Eu-
ropean capitals. and l learned from them
In few words that their ignorance of the
sights and wonders of our own country APP
proaches the monumental.
Absurd and ridiculous IS the thought
that people. especially those living in the
city. resemble animals in this regard. They
walk around in limited circles. Within the
shadow of the United States Capitol there
are hundreds and hundreds of people now
living here who have never been within the
confines of that historic pile of marble and
granite. There are people who have no
knowledge of the great building operations
being carried on IN the suburbs which viii
eventually expand Washington into the
greater city.
Nothing compares to that broadening
influence which results so fruitfully from
extensive travel. The results are practically
the same either in small or large surround
ings. If we turn the searchight query upon
ourselves we find perhaps that we are living
in contracted sphere. 1t is almost rs i'm
MOI tgNt 70 lyyenyI oil ty,1
self
!; ): * * X
''The recent victory of Jack OBrien over
Bob Fitzsimmons in the prize ring recalled
to my mind the days when a club of which
l was a member, conducted series of
what we termed 'sparring contests Satur-
day evenings" remarked a Washingtonian
whose name a few years ago was familiar
to everybody hereabouts as one of the lead
ing amateur athletes of the national capi-
tai.
"On one occasion we secured a referee
who was well known as an expert in the
gentle art of bruising and who was cor
respondingly tough Before the latter fact
dawned upon us, however, we had requested
the referee to make an announcement to
the effect that the club desired only up-to-
Date young men, well yersed in the noble
art Of self-defense. to make application to
be taken on for the fistic exhibitions at
the club. After the preliminaries. this Is
Inc way the referee worded the announce
ment:
"Wot dey wants here is not has-beens
ana goin s-ter-be's. but Uses, seer"
4 = :: * x
'One of the best reforms that was ever
put into effect around this Capitol" SAID
an old member of the House, was the
adjustment of the sale of LIQUOR in tho
building. 1 am free to confess that I pro-
tested at first. / was accustomed to taking
my little toddy once or twice a day. and 7
felt that my personal rights had been in
vaded by the new rule
But experience has proven the wisdom
Of the change. You don't see men around
the Capitol now bearing the traces of over
Indulgence IN liquor. l haven't seen a man
on the floor of the House OF Senate .ruII
this session. 1t might not have been nos
sible 10 say that If the restaurant was run
ming wide open. Those of US who really
need a little stimulant to cheer our flag
slhe spirits along in the shank of the
afternoon can usually find a bottle tucked
away in some committee room. Anyhow.
1t did not look dgnifed to see members
lined up at a public bar in the Capitol. as
l have seen In the old days. and am gia1
the bar was abolished"
x X * y
The Signal Corps station near the mouth
of the Cessna river. Alaska Is one of the
most desolate human habitations on the
earth. 1t is about forty-five miles distant
from Fort Gibbon and hardly any one
passes that way from one years end TO the
other. The station is located in a frontier
cabin rudely constructed of bark with a
dirt roof. 1t is 10 by 20 feet in size and
furnished with the barest necessities of
life. The telegraph Office occupies one cor
ner In this humble n boda fhraa bard1. Clio
nal Corps men eat, sleep. work and have
their being. They have only their own so
ciety and the magnificent arctic scenery for
solace and entertainment. The telegraph
line. which now passes through Cessna and
gives occasion for the station at that place
is to go in another direction, however and
the picturesque cabin in the arctic solItudes
VIII soon pass into oblivion