Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-12
AROUND THE CITY

from kindness and good cheer. As he cut
across the asphalt from the treasury to the
park he caught the attention of one of two
men who were swinging along the sidewalk.
There goes the next President of tho
United States" said one.
The other man accepted the announce
ment with a nod Of Endorsement, but his
answer, IL he made any, was beyond the
hearing of two women walking behind.
He can't be Bryan" said one of the
women, as they stopped to watch the great
gray figure plunge into the shadows of the
opposite side of the street. because Bryan
always dresses In black except when he's
on his farm, and then he goes In his shirt
Maybe it's Fairbanks; he's tall like
that
But he isn't wide. He's SO tall that he
bends over at the top. There's nothing to
Fairbanks but bones"
"Oh. tell you who it must be-, It's Taft.
He's big
Indeed. it Isn't Taft, then! Taft isn't
tall. hes just fat. He's ten times fatter
than that man. 1 know, because 1 see Els
picture every time look in paper"
Which shows what cartoons can do in
describing candidates for the presidency.
A woman in a jumper suit was stepping
out Of building when she was accosted by
woman in black: ..,s, ~.
Good morning. Why, what makes you
LOOK SO upset? Anything wrong?"
Just getting through with an expert
ence," explained the jumper woman as she
Joined the other on her way down town.
You don't know IT, old girl, but you are
walking with woman who has been in the
shadow of the penitentiary all morning."
The wh-what!' -ti
"Penitentiary. I,telI you what, my dear,
you can't ever know the blessings of free
dom until. you have been in the grip OF
the law"
What on earth have you been doing?"
Nothing. That's what made it so hard.
But, fortunately, being the first offense,
they let me off with fine. You won't re-
peat 1t If / tell you, will your
The woman in black would doubtless have
promised eternal silence If the jumper wo-
man had waited to heaG. But she didn't
wait. .r g-..,,.--g, -.{.
This morning I got a notice from the
ed package that had writing inside. and
to call at the office at once. Oh. honey,
hope you'll never be made to realize the
awful possibilities of q yellow envelope.
But If you were innocent, and there was
no writing inside
"Of course 1 was innocent, but you DOM
for one minute suppose they would have
sent me a notice. like that unless there was
writing inside, do your
"Oh. There was writing inside?"
"Uh, huh; just little, and not at all
private. But, to make a long story short,
as soon as 1 read that notice jumped up
from the table-broiled ham, too-and got
into my street clothes. somehow-thats
one good thing about these Jumpers. you
don't have any trouble with your belts. only
! know my tie ends are Stopping and can
feel that my hats on crooked, but that's
nothing new; my hats always wobble, be-
cause I've got peak where the hatpin
ought to go through; ! envy women who
have no knowledge bumps; their hats are
always such q comfort tos them; and you
know how mean the post office is with its
old envelopes, charging two hundred dol
lars, or a year In the penitentiary, or some
thing like that, II you use thenl-and dear
knows they are not sworthSsoser a cent
apiece-so, In case had to pay the fine !
grabbed up my bank bool--and all the way
down here I tried to collect my thoughts
and decide whether to- pay or go to the
for a year. OF course, the PEN
itentiary is awful, but two hundred dollars
Is lot of money, especially when you
haven't. got 1t. I've exactly ffty-two doll
lars on my book. eighty cents in my dime
bank on the mantel and thirtyseyen cents
in a tin cocoa box In which nice man
where board cut slit through which ]
could drop pennies. I'd have 1t half fun
by this time II he had only soldered the
top down; but all of it together wouldn't
make up two hundred dollars
But any Of your friends would have
come to me?"
THANKS, dear; but I don't like to borrow
money. hate so to pay 1t back, and, be-
sides, you know that lot I'm buying? Well,
they'd take that and call it square. Well.
anyhow. by the time I got to the office
had decided that if they would let me of
with the fine I'd return good for evl by
bank to glass Of soda-whether Ice cream
or plain to depend on how he treated
"say. honey, I'm worried Go on and tell
me what yousvep been doing.
$50 l walked into the branch Office as
unconcerneds assn I wasr used to being
fined every day in the year except Sundays,
and a young man withza pleasant voice and
age had come. uniore. That's why 1 reg
Then i h Went q I sass back in t the
office, BROUGHT me, lly package, and showed
the name4en the baeks-sI explained, of
course, that,1 was sending the picture for
one friend to another, and that as the like
ness was of their dear mother, who was
dead. WAS particularly. anxious to have
it go straight and that when the clerk
who weighed IL asked If hege. was writing
inside 1 had answered that the name was
on the back. So then the young man said
a1 must aI Pa3x two cents for an extra stamp.
But where does the penitentiary or fine
come in?" -
We'll, IL You worry about thing isn't it
just the same as If It had happened-huh"
If you should go along any street in a
certain quiet -neishhorheodt of the first
ward you are likely to come across a
neatly dresseds- middle-aged colored man,
whiting piece of wood. II you are a
selfish sort of person, intent on your own
affairs the man will keep on whiting and
pass you by. If you are kindly faced he
will halt you with some surprising sort of
information. And If you are wise you will
know by the first words he speaks that ma
ture has touched his brain and said to him.
Remain forever a child"
In the fantastic world In which this man
lives he Is an army officer, and the thing
he whites is always a sword q gun or a
drum. But he does not talk of war. His
heart turns to growing things-an agricul-
tural instinct inherited from generations of
slaves-and it is this subject which he in
PRODUCES to passers by who strike his
fancy. The other afternoon, for instance,
his admiration went out to head of cab
bage which a small boy was carrying. He
stopped whiting and smiled with delight
That's a, mighty fine .punkin' you got.
little boy
The little boy said It wasn't "punkin,"
1t was cabbage. The mans smile broad
ened into grin. g.-r
You know that's a punkin. You got