Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-21
AROUND THE CITY

A cat was taking comfort on the sunny
pavement outside store door. Many
people passed. but only one person stop
ped to exchange the compliments of the
day He was well-talored man of the
earth. earthly sort but no lonely old maid
in all Washington could have stroked a
cats back more tenderly or talked nom
sense to it in such whimsically coaxing
tones. And when he had Strengthened up
and gone on two young women who were
walking slowly behind handled the Incl
dent in this refreshing way:
"Warn't that silly? / wouldn't live in the
house with a man who was mushy over
cats"
Me. either, julie Fine lookin' feller, too.
amt he?'
And that is what one man got for asso-
siatng on the streets with a yellow cat.
This is what he was saying to another
Dan in the car:
Yes, sir. If science can ever do that
Ior humanity there will eventually be an
Dnd to poverty and its attendant Ills. And
] don't see what is to prevent. Animals
and birds hibernate during cold weather
and If our poorer classes could be put to
sleep in winter by some chemical process
and thawed out in the SPRING
Then the car stopped before The Star
had to get out
woman had Just missed one of those
suburban cars which are scheduled to run
with half-hour waits between. Nobody likes
to be stranded fourteen squares from base
especially when the day is like March with
January trimmings, the woman asked
the young man in the office at the corner
IL there was any place where people could
wait. His negative was just trihe more
disgusting than the weather was. so she
went out leaned against telegraph pole
and tried to take an interest in the bill
board full of pink and yellow ladies on
the fence across the way The attempt
was failure. so she walked to the end
of the street. realizing every step of the
way what fine thing II Is to be a man
In bad weather. for there was a saloon, a
barber shop and cozy little cubby hole
OF place where they sold tobacco, and,
oh, blessed Cadmus. over the way, where
the cars turn. was a frame shop, and on
Its front was sign that read: Waiting
room for ladies'"
1t was cheerful little wrens nest of a
shop. and the cheerfulest short of a lit
tie woman stood behind it's counter. To
the woman who had come in to wait 1t
looked as IL the little shop woman were
playing at store keeping, so obvious was
the homemade air of the place. and as
the visitor bought one of the gay-backed
magazines and sat on the bench she Won
dered II anybody ever came in to buy.
She soon found out, for a whole batch of
boys rushed In Tor snoWballs. the store
woman opened a little refrigerator. shaved
so many balls from block of ice, sprnkled
them with red syrup from a black bottle,
dabbed them on squares of white paper
and then dropped so many pennies IN her
till. Then pale faced child with spec
tacles bought, at a penny each. five ice
cream sandwiches, fat cucumber pickle
and slab of sheet-cake A colored woman
got a loaf of bread. and a man bought a
bottle of ginger ale that looked so cold and
satisfying that the woman who had come
in to wait ordered one just like it. Before
she was through drinking II she had es-
timated that the keeper of the store and
the young daughter who assisted her, had
taken in fifty-two cents in less than fifteen
minutes, and that the business really paid.
you are kept busy. are you not?" asked
the visitor woman she passed her glass
across the counter.
well. you see, this is recess time, was
the response. but the school children come
every day. Then l get a right good run of
trade from people who come in, like you
to wait for the cars. / hadn't much money
to start on calling laughing attention to
the packing box. the dining room refrige-
rator and a sewing machine draped to look
like a side counter, but we manage to
keep our heads above water and things
get better every day There's living In
K for people with humble wants. and it's
q heap better than breaking your heart
hunting for jobs you never get, or living
On relatives who don't want you. After