Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-13
AROUND THE CITY

A man was .hurrying up Pennsylvania
avenue. woman was scudding around
9th street. At the corner they bumped
together.
Beg pardon exclaimed the man
he rushed on.
Certainly" answered the woman as she
stopped to glare after him.
The small incident caught the attention
of two middle-aged men on the curb.
considering the woman was as much to
blame as the man, why should he make
an apology and she accept it?' asked the
one who was handing the other a match.
Simply because he's a man, YOU know.
answered the other one who was lighting
cigar.
Good enough. But having accepted his
excuse, why does she stand there with
face like that, as if she had received
mortal insult?'
"Oh, well-that's because she's We
man.
One day last week when Washington
was wearing peek~a-boo weather. ami
able faced gentleman paused in passing
the White House to watch a couple OF
SparrowS.
, They were. busy birds, and they paid
no attention whatever to the amable gen
tlemen further than to hop around him
when necessary to peck up bits of twis
or string.
These poor, little chaps think the time
to another amiable-faced gentleman who
had stopped. man like, to see what was
going on.
WELL sir, they'll be sadly mistaken. And
look, sir, the buds on that magnolia tree
are swelled out as if it We're mid-April
L inclined to think. sir, that something
has gone seriously wrong with this earth
That's precisely my own opinion. Other
worlds have been destroyed why not
ours? The signs are certainly porten-
tOuS.'
Then the amiable-faced gentlemen went
their ways, each under the impression
that nature was about to lose her job be-
cause she didn't know enough to take
care of two sparrows on the sidewalk and
one magnolia tree in the White House
grounds.
A couple of women were talking in
front of a notion counter. Anybody could
tell that one of them was an old maid
by the frost-bitten girishness of her face
and figure. The other looked like a nat
rimonial bureau And they were talking
about a
Indeed, you are greatly mistaken. He
thinks the world of you" the bureau wo-
man saying, with a nagging vivacity
that made every word sound like jab.
But he does think it pity you neve,
married, dear. He says he can always
tell a single woman. She has such a
passed-by look
The old-mad person stood the shock like
a human Gibralter. Then she keyed up
jabs per syllable.
Wei. I'd rather be passed by than to be
picked up and dropped
And the oldmaid person must have
scored for the other woman changed the
conversation to skirt braid.
A horse and buggy stood in front of a
club house. AS a man came out of the
house and got in the buggy, the horse gave
sudden plunge and started to run away.
AT about the fifth bound a colored man
I,f 81,
NAL to halt. The driver got out. patted
the horse, thanked the colored man and
handed him a green-back
Looks like he's had scare of some
Sort been hit, or somethin', suggested |
the colored man.
Hardly that. He's a slow going, cool J
headed old chap and there's nothing
around to brighten him. Got to doing
and had bad dream, ell, Billy?'
Then the driver gave final love slap
to Billy's brown flank; jumped inside and
clattered away.
And woman who happened to be pass
ing the club house considered it her
bounden duty to stop at a tree box and
say things to small boy who was fitting
a pebble to a bean shooter
They were staring in at Il shop window.
Both had weather-beaten faces and hands
that showed for hard work, and the woman
who talking lad the loud voice one
used to calling across the open.
Amt it a sight. though, the way we
cup and saucer for ten cents. and l went
and paid quarter for just like it at
the church picnic last August. / tell you
what, Sude, things heap cheaper in
Washington city than they are down our
way. Now, amt they?'
Sudie's voice of the same far-reach-
ing caliber.
Sometimes they are, and then again
they amt. / get me all the gingham
l want down yonder at the post Office for
five cents a yard
Yes, but you can shoot Straws through |
it and the colors always run in the wash |
l bet you can take the same money here |
and get good stout stuff with fast coors, |
that won't crock nor fade out. i reckon |
old man Blank gets 1t here for two cents a |
yard and mebby less"
He deals in Baltimore; goes up by boat |
and brings his stock home with him twice |
a year. Ny Johnnie used to clerk for |,
him, don't you recollect?
comes to me paying thrible for a cup !
and saucer all over; pink roses, lit up |
with gilt, and had to pay more'n double |
down home. When I go to the church |
picnic next summer I'm going to pay my |
fifty cents for my dinner, because the |
shote and goslin Is worth it, and the |
church has got to be helped But when 1t |
comes to me paying thribble for a cup |
and saucer, I'm going to say right out that 1
they needn't think because I live in the |
backwoods / don't know what's what"
To third woman, whose curiosity had |
been attracted. 1t seemed that the middle |
man who went to the trouble and expense