The Washington herald., 1907-06-16

almost toucDlnB tle Celilng, and seat
and pillow and all were on a level with
the chandelier.
rs It cold out?' she asked me- "T'm
as warm as a toast. There hasn't been
any fire in the house since the 1st Of May
and I froze by inches till it occurred 10
me 90 shorten the chains Of this seat
and come up. With the gas lighted, It's
70 degrees warmer up here by the ceiling
than it is down on the floor. and all I
need is the stepladder TO climb up on
I'm the only person IN the building who
hasn't wrecked her bank account with
running gas log. Two gas jets keep
me warmer up here than a pile Of gas
logs would If came of my perch Come
on up and thaw out"
There's a queer little sign in the win
dow Of one Of the lesser milliners. and II
you hadn't a thing but it to 90 by you'd
get very clear idea Of what sort Of a
spring we're having-I simply won't call
It summer yet-and what it's been doing
to hats
Feathers curled while you wait" the
sign reads.
II Is the proprietor Of the sign. and.
incidentally. Of the shop. who tells a story
about the daughter Of Congregational
minister here IN town. The child-she's
eleven or thereabout-came in not long
ago TO choose hat The mifliner showed
her smart little confecti0n with a wing
on the side Of it. The child regarded il
with disappr0val
1 want a hat with flowers on It." she
said. i never wear birds or wings. Ny
mother belongs to the Audible society"
It's queer how uppish Eastern people
are about the West" says Minnesota
woman. They act sometimes as il they
just allowed US TO have the sun because
they hadn't any further use for it them
selves. They wouldn't confess to adopt
ing Western idea. no matter if it was
the only idea they'd ever been discovered
with No, stree; they wouldn't. and
Wasningt0nians are just precisely as lad
as the Bostonese about il. too. This is
the first time I've been here in ten years.
and one Of the most striking things I've
noticed is the spread OF the window-box
habit / saw scarcely any window boxes
when / was here before. and in the
Northwest you'll hardly find a house that
hasn't its display Of geraniums, and
daisies. and lobelia. We've had window
boxes for twenty years al least and We
never did care much for rubber plants
This year there are SO many window
boxes that I feel almost as if were on
Summit avenue, out home. whenever
20 for a walk. Yesterday ] spoke 10 q
dyed-in-the-wool Washington woman
about II.
Washington has really taken up the
wlndOw-box fad at last said. I
thought that idea would work East in
time
She I7ci,ed at me as II I'd said the
Monument was a clothes pole stolen out
OF my back yard
That idea" she said Why, that's an
English idea. Everybody has a balcony
gsrden'-she wouldn't even call the thing
by a Western name-'everybodv has a
balcony garden in London Didn't you
know we got the fashion from London
years ago?
But Washington didn't, Just the same
Washington never dreamed Of it till
Western people came here and started
the fashion.
A little Chicago girl has been seeing the
sights with me during the past fortnight.
and though her education in some impor-
tsnt matters is woefully incomplete, she
has shown a most intelligent interest in
everything the Capital has TO offer The
first time we passed the White House il
happened that the President was out Of
town, and when I told my young Chicago
friend this she seemed both surprised and
disappointed.
"Why, I thought he had TO stay in there
all the time. she said, pointing to the
White House
DID you think he was locked in7' 1
asked, jocularly.
"Oh. no." she answered; "I knew hf
wasn't locked up. I thought ne was
She hesitated for words in which u eN
press herself. and her eyes fell on a litth
ring which she always wears. Something
about the ring helped her out L though
he was sort Of wished on"
IF there ever was born Malaprop,(
I'm it," SAYS a woman I know. There 5
a kink in my brain somewhere and if
there's any possible chance of my saying
the wrong word my tongue always takes
it. Here last week I decided I'd refur-
nish my spare room. because my hus-
bands cousin from Colorado is coming 10
visit us I wanted 70 have everything
white-white bed. white bureau. white
chiffonier. and ALL I went 20 get the
chiffonier the first thing What do you
think the salesman told me when I asked
| for il? I was so mortified l walked right
out without buying anything.
d" There's a garage in the next street
he said
And then, OF course. I realized that Id
asked for pretty, white chauffeur
.'I can't see artificial grapes on a hat
without simply breaking out in a cold
perspiration," said the girl with the roses
on her hat I've always been fond Of
wearing foodstufs on my head, but a
bunch of grapes cured me. They were
on a hat I had last winter-a black hat
that l bought when / went into mourning
for six weeks for my great-aunt- I've
worn cherries lots Of times, and had them
mildev and split and show the cotton
stuffng. but they never acted the way
that bunch of black grapes did. The first
time I wore the hat was 10 n funeral
the funeral of a very distant kinsman OF
mine, a man who'd been an invalid for
years l tell you this so you'll under
SlduQ lldl L tbuluu ht 50 duSOIUtu II
grief as not to notice what was going on.
The services We're held at the house, and
had q scat up near the minister. be
cause I'd promised 20 sing a solo. Il was
very cold outdoors and very hot in the
rooms I'd been sitting for about five
minutes and everything was hushed for
the services to begin, when something
suddenly went pop" Il sounded like a
L
tried hard the instant afterward not to
notice H. There was a hymn and Just
at the end Of it there was another little
explosion This time I had my head
bowed and something fell into my lap I
knew then what the pops were They
were my grapes going of. don't know
what they were made Of, but whatever
the material was it wasn't intended to be
chilled and then brought into a hot room