Evening star., 1907-08-11
AROUND THE CITY

A huge automobile numbered along Penn
sylvania avenue crowded with orphan chill
dren who were blowing horns. waving flags
and laughing. as only children can.
And another chile. who was walking on
the tagging mi lace-ruffled frock and ex-
pensive hat stopped to look wistfully at her
less fortunate little brothers and sisters.
Miriam, for goodness sake come along;
and do hold your head up!'
Yes. mamma. l was just looking at the
good time those children are having"
Then Miriam Strengthened her thin, droopy
shoulders and dut!fully followed her taffeta
mamma and an oldish. dyspeptc looking
man who was probably her pa.
She was pudgy woman who looked as if
her ifes aim was to fight flesh, and she
was telling her experiences to a lath-like
person who listened with the superiority
that generally goes with bones. And while
the pudgy woman talked and the lath-like
one listened they ate pink ice cream in a
cafe, with the whizzing of an electric fan
that buzzed like a gone-mad bee as a
pleasure-giving accompaniment.
"Yes, they say roller skating is fine for
reducing the hips the minute l got to
Atlantic City l hunted up rink and paid
for the use Of skates. The first thing did
was to engage a teacher at a dollar
hour for the exclusive privilege OF knocking
him down and tumbling on top of him.
When he had dragged me to my feet-dont
ask me howl Immediately upset a young
woman who was gliding along as easily as
if she wore creased wings. Then | wrecked
group that was doing fancy steps to
music and, by the time l had got my full
dollars worth of tumb!es and bruises. and
and lost my temper, l got weighed and
found l had lost a half pound, which was
one consolation, anyhow"
Yes, it must have been. They say Ice
fA0 9 fa ,11
weight would you suppose there is in
saucer, huh?'
1t was a mean thing to Co. but when the
pudgy woman pushed aside her half-fn-
ished brick the lath-like person immedi-
ately drew the saucer to herself and
ate it to the very last scraping.
group Of young people were having all
sorts of a good time the other evening on
a porch out 10th street way. The moon
was Shining, an automobile was at the
curb, and in the shadow of q doorway a
mamma satin smiling rotundity dispensing
lemonade.
Poor Nell"' said the girl in pink null.
Just think of her being at Cape May,
where there is only one eligible man TO
fourteen girls! Awful isn't it?'
"Awful!' assented the girl in white lace,
who had been automobiling all afternoon
with poor .Nells tiance. II hope, however,
she won't get homesick and run back before
her visits over"
She said it as If .she meant it-which she
probably did.
II had a post card from Kate this morn
ing" joined In a third girl who had been
singing snatches of melody fresh as a
bird a bough. She says it's horribly
poky up in the mountains, with every girl
at the hotel running after one lone lorn
telegraph operator
"Madge is getting along all right"
chimed in mamma. but she writes me that
the salt air has ruined her dresses until
she hasn't rag to wear"
And the curious thing about It," an
nounced the cynical young man who owned
the car, rs that those girls have the au-
dacity to pity US because We must stay at
home-funny, isn't it?'
And the crowd laughed, as If it were very
funny, indeed
A man who was on the front bench of an
open car moved up to give the end seat
to woman. When the car stopped for
another woman, who wanted to get the
front, the woman who had been given the
end seat made her pass over. Then the
man who had moved up said to the man
next to him:
This thing happens every time I give
up my end seat to my gentle sisters.
never knew 1t to fail. And they call us
men end-seat hogs. Makes me hot.''
Why shouldn't t2
man who showed his fondness for the
earth earthly things Of this life. 30 far as