Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-25

criminately. but the large mans manner
was SO respectful and genial that no one
not even sour-faced maiden lady-took
offense at him. but instead smiled and
went on.
The car had almost reached the summit
of the 18th street hill and only q few pas
sengers were left. but still the large gen.
tleman remained aboard, holding onto his
strap and beaming good-naturedly upon
those about him. At last the conductor.
thinking perhaps the gentleman, in his
picked condition, had passed his street, ap-
preached him and asked:
Say. old man, what street do you want,
anyway"
The large gentleman smiled kindly on
the conductor moment and then replied:
Why. I don't know. my frien'. What
shtree's have you?"
The remaining passengers Uttered and the
conductor retired to the rear of the car
determined to let the large gentleman get
Off at the terminus,
X X
They are practicing a new way of rails
ing celery out in Fargo, N. D., according
to Mr.. Sailor, the beet sugar expert Of the
Department Of Agriculture. He mentioned
the case Of a man who is running a truck
farm on the outskirts of Fargo. OF course,
every one knows that celery, as a rule. is
banked up to bleach it.. and the banking
process continues as the celery grows till 1t
Is tall enough for market But this Gal
leo of the northwest had theories of his
own about the possibility of celery, and he
undertook to grow 1t without banking. He
took an experimental plot. II by 20 feet. and
planted the rows of celery close together.
At the top Of the patch he had an irrigating
ditch with a sluice head with twelve plugs,
one for each row of plants. He irrigated
freely and the celery came up rank and
thick.
When the leaves began to show up well
he simply ran a board twelve inches high
all around the plot and did not bank the
a q a q
wanted, and when the leaves began to show
over the top of the board he put on an
other and let the close packed celery grow
up to the top Of that. All the time he was
irrigating freely and the celery when it
was ready to pull was bleached as well as
though 1t had been banked and without the
labor that the process would have involved.
Mr.. Sailor averred that the lot was sold
to the commission men in the town at the
same prices they would have had to pay
for imported celery and that 1t netted its
owner at the rate of $1,000 an acre.
ut Is wonderful how many superstitious
people you meet on your travels" said a
War Department clerk who had just re-
turned from his vacation. 81 saw a glar-
ing case on a steamship going out from.
New York The purser was assigning Ia
BILE seats to the passengers. He got along
all right until he came to deal with
lady She was fairly young and looked
like the proverbial school marin. She
handed back the number he gave her and
said emphatically that she wouldn't have
1t. When asked why she said it was be-
cause 1t was number Ii.
1.-THE ship had large list Of passengers
and the purser was at his wits end to ac-
commodate them all. He told the lady she
could take her ticket or go without, unless
some other passenger would exchange with
her. She was resolute and told him to
give the ticket to some one else. He Of
fered 1t in succession to at least five other
passengers. but they had heard the discus
sion and would not take the hoodoo num-
ber Finally 1t was passed on deaf man
who put it in his pocket without looking
at 1t. The lady got the ticket that other
wise would have gone to him. She did not
disclose its number. but one cynical by
stander was willing to bet that 1t was %.
"Superstitious myself? Well, not alto
gether, but 1t did give me quite a twinge
/ found my landing ticket was number 10.
That was a pretty strong hoodoo, you
must admit, but Notwithstanding I man.
aged to get back to Washington all right
without accident-also without money"
X X
A midsummer dullness prevails at the
District building. The buzz of the electric
fan as 1t circulates the circumambent air
is the only sound that disturbs the atmos-
phere of quietude. The reporter in search
OF news wakens the official from his
dreams long enough to ask ANY news"
then wanders away to his desk to write
fish story. leaving the aforesaid official
and the employees lazily figuring how to
make ends meet in these prosperous times
when their salaries have to 60 twice as
far as they did ten years ago. An occa-
sional letter Of protest against paying
waterfront bill. or complaining of a
growth of weeds is received from tax
payer who Is spending his time at the
seashore or in the mountains. and is an
swered with the reply 'Nothin' doin' p"
and all Is again quiet. Spiders have spun
webs over the chairs of the District tri-
umvirate and the board room table Is COW
cred with dust. The feathers have mott
ed on the wings of the Mercuries who do
messenger work in the halls and the still
ness Of the deserted corridors is only
broken by the gentle shores Of laborers
who are at rest from their labor. The
only sign Of life occurs at Ais. when the
employees awake from their sleep automat-
ically and reaching for their coats and hats
prepare to depart to their homes