Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-29
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action and the purloiners held to legal
accountability for their conduct.
1T seems strange" he added. that , SO
this worlds goods. can't resist helping
themselves while in the stores during the
Christmas holidays. I've seen women take
things when knew they had more at their
homes than they needed. Some Of them
took trifiing articles that were no good to
anybody other than poor children, but
others were after things that were valuable.
"One woman who came to the store the
day before Christmas" he continued, was
from another store. She had her holiday
shopping hour, and she was improving
every minute of her time. She took a skirt
from one Of the counters and went to the
toilet room with It, There she was seen
wrapping 1t in paper. She was escorted to
the office and told of what she might ex-
pect. Arrest. trial and publicity CONFRONTED
ner. Her arrest would have meant the CIV
ing up of money for counsel fees, ana she
would probably have been ruined for life,
but still we thought she should receive
some punishment.
.tThe skirt was worth something like S."
he concluded, land she had $11 In her
pocket We could see no reason why the
government should get that money, 80 we
ment was wrapped and the woman took It
from the store"
u * y X
Washington's queer characters are fast
going by the board. During the past year
at least six figures that were familiar on
the streets have disappeared. The other
day veteran clerk in the Post Office De-
partment missed from his usual haunts in
front of the building a man who had long
greeted the ingoing employees In the MORN
ing and the outgoing ones In the evening.
This character was only known to his pat
rons as "Shoestring Johnny" He always
ia6 h11n M a
but was never known to say word as an
inducement for any one to purchase his
wares. He simply swayed his shoestrings
toward the passing through a mute ap-
peal to the people to buy. At first some
of the government clerks believed the man
was dumb, but one Of them engaged him in
conversation one day and found he could
talk gliby enough.
why don't you shout out your wares
like other peddlers?" he was asked.
whats the use?' was the logical reply.
1.-THE people can see that I have shoe
strings-that is, If they know what shoe
strings are-and they must know that am
not Juggling them around for fun
1t is thought that "Shoestring Johnny is
dead as he has not been seen on his famil-
lar route for more than week, and Christ
mas time was usually his harvest season.
* X
A young man was standing in the very
center Of the crowd at the 9th street depot
day or two ago. Everybody seemed to
be expecting some friend or relative as
guest for the holidays and everybody was
CORRESPONDENCE anxious to get as near the
exit gate possible. The result was that
incoming passengers were compelled to
walk in single file down veritable human
aisle. The young mans mission was to
single out a distant relative of his wife
whom he had never seen. Her name hap
pened to be 'Tooker' and the only way
out of the dilemma seemed to be to call
every likely looking person 'Tooker'' until
the right one should answer.
One or two fair damsels passed, each
apparently alone and to each the young
man tentatively suggested-"Miss Tooker?"
But his query brought no answering light
of recognition.
Miss Tooker?" he again ventured as
third girl walked down the aisle. She
turned and caught his eye and quick as a
flash came her reply: You have"
Obviously he should have taken the lemon
and have been utterly squelched. but per-
severance, they say, Is the rule of success
and, of course, the right girl came along
eventually.
IT have just had a demonstration of how
a man may run into danger by seeking to
avoid it, said resident of this city re-
Gently. "a short time ago I determined
to do away with the common parlor match
in my home. as 1t is more likely than others
or by being used by the children. l gath
cred up all the old matches and supplied
holders for the safeties and put them about
where the match safes had been. I felt
that 1 had reduced the danger Of fire at
least 50 per cent from that particular
source
Unfortunately this procedure was OBJ
served by a three-year-old. The safety
matches may have appeared to him a
new form Of toy as they were put in just
about the time Santa Claus made his visit
down the chimney. At any rate, on the day
after Christmas he scampered down from
the third floor in a great state Of excite
ment. No clear idea Of the cause Of his
alarm could be had until later 1t was dis
covered that the curtain and window shade
of the bath room on the third floor had been
completely burned and the woodwork
scorched, but fortunately after that damage
was done the fire went out of it's own ac-
cord.
The practical lesson 1 drew from the
incident was that the sparing of the rod
spells the child, and the three year-old was
given another demonstration of the danger
of burning matches by having the seat of
his little trousers burned with the sole of
his mothers slipper in an old-fashioned
way
If conscience makes towards of US ALL