The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-08
EGRNARKS or ONE CITY
ODD THINGS THAT IMPRESS OWE
IN WARRINGTON.

klluR buNb ulpf bAtou ne lNons /" VA4nahtb-
ton said the woman who had just bssn
on a visit to that town.
"The Capitol1'
mo-
THE MbraryP'
mo-
THE Monumsnt7" "
@Oh. you'll never guess. IL wan the
number Of houses with carrtagSways up 10
the door. III
Il never saw % many in any city In this
country. Some Of the houses hadn't moro
than ten feet OF lawn between O and
the sidewalk. That made no difference.
The drive took a shallow dip into tho yard.
grazed tho front steps and went out on the
other side.
81 developed q sort of mania for oun
ing these houses with drfveways. I found
them in the most unexpected places.
Some 20 foot front house in a solid block
would have almost the entire scrap Of front
yard bitten out by the curve Of the drive
way. Where the houses were on lots which
occupied narrow spaces between two streets
the driveway would run straight through
the house: 20 IN on one street and como out
on the other.
Somehow nothing ever gave me q more
vivid impression Of the Importance Of
Washington functions than these drive
WAYS did. What IL they did slash right
through the sidewalksp The carriages to
be accommodated would carry onicialdom,
and 1t has the right Of way there.
mo getting out at the curbstone and
walking to the door for IL, even If the way
. carpeted beneath and canopied above.
Official carriages want to drive smack up
to the house. And II they can drive into the
house. 30 much the better.
Next TO the d~riveways. 40 far as my
attention was concerned, came the roller
skaters. / suppose there are about fifty
thousand children of skating age In
Washington. l should estimate that at
least thirty thousand Of hem are whizzing
around the streets mounted upon two
skates, while the balance OF them, more or
less content with an equipment OF one
skate a child, are doing a complicated
hop whiZz, u~ndismayed by the frequent
complications which ensue.
THE asphalt streets are really a tempta-
ton not easily resisted, and after dark the
roller skaters seem 10 have grown IA
denly and mysteriOusly taller. IL was a
safe bet that big sister was renewing her
youth by a ~surreptitious spin on little
brothers rollers. .
"A few weeks ago Postmaster General
Meyer was fired with emulation OF the
Presidents order TO the army officers.
He determined to run his department on
strenuous lines. too, and a. a substitute
for a fifteen mile horseback ride the clerks
were invited TO betake themselves to and
from work mounted upOn rollers. or ~reelers.
as one hesitating dame OF ample urcum-
ference predicted they'd become.
-Of course the weight OF opinion and
avOirdupOis prevailed against the pro-
posed reform. Not everybody can be
| ROoseveltian offhand like that.
Next to the roller skaters came the
women who were running autos. Not 90
much the big motor cars, though some OF
them had a woman at the steering year.
But there seemed to he hundreds OF cleo
trio runabouts clipping noiselessly along
the smooth streets, and certainly most OF
them were run by women.
"WOmen? Why, half the time they were
mere girls, who looked about old enough
to be learning how to spell brake. Whether
they could spell il or not they could use IL
to perfection. / was told that although
Washington streets are, as l say, fairly
alive with these machines, wherein women
not only sit supreme but sit alone, there are
no accidents to their discredit.
And they look no pretty. too. At first
you feel positively exaggerated when you
see two apparently headless girls Of bou
iS bowling merrily along; very merrily,
in fact, for they seem to have no realizing
sense that there In anything on earth to do
but to laugh and chatter. while the machine
PUSHES on TO YOUR destruction and-you
dilOSt nave nOptN-VO lIS own.
And then with the ease and confidence
OF a bird they sail by on an absolutely safe
course for everybody concerned, and as
you snif the trailing perfume OF their
violets and watch their huge hats dwindIe
to normal proportions in the distance you
marvel-and apologize.
What else impressed me? Well. the
feet OF the young men. Sounds like the
Bible, or kipling. or something, doesn't IL? b.
You find plenty OF signs that Washington
is really a Southern city, but the young
men with small feet we're to my mind one
OF the most conclusive proofs.
A good many students in the WASH
ington universities and colleges are from
the South. and the departments have their
share too. 81 that l rarely got on a street
car that | didn't find my fascinated gage
drawn to some pair of trim little feet which
10 my Northern eyes seemed almost alb
surdly irrelevant TO the trousers above
them.
TT girls who thronged r street on
Wednesday and Saturday afternoons were
Enthusiastically Southern too. There was
an lndeflnable quality about them. The
nearest can come 10 explaining IL il to
say that they had an innate. instinctive
Coduetry.
. They were 30 conscious Of their fem
Lnimn'ty. it was apparent in what the French
call their allure and il gave them a certain
charm which was distinctive.
VI course you hear the southern voice.
the Southern accent. the Southern idions
on every side. More constantly before the
real season opens. but il il ALWAYS the
dominant speech. There are such hordee
OF negroes in Washington that you have
an Illusion OF the negro States.
lou VIII laugh at the one other feature
OF Warrington ways and people that
remember now. II was the way the coal
was put into private houses.
FIRST lt was dumped in the street close
70 the curbstone. Then after a while a hi0
narky came around with a wash boiler
he would fll this. hoist 10 onto his shOuIder
ana carry It into the basement. IL waa
me nrst Tune l ever saw a wash boiler nut
tnat use: but 1t seemed TO be common
enough in Washington
Chinanan's Success I'm Mexico.