Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-10
AROUND THE CITY


AROUND THE CITY
She was an old colored woman who
looked as if she had stepped out OF the
era of the old south, and she was staring
at group of handsome residences about
the corner of 18th and l. streets.
She was so typical of the past. with
her bandanna-b bound head. her girgham
portliness and her chld-like confidence
that every passer-by was a friend who
wanted to know her 'innernost thoughts
that she possessed all the value Of a
human document illustrative of times and
conditions forever gone. She was not a
native, for she carried an ancient carpet
bag with bulges in it, her brogans were
slushed with the mud of country roads
and in her eyes was the daZe of child
that is lost.
| Her calculations had attracted a strap
ping black ash man, who looked, Incl
dentally, like a sort of Colossus of Rhodes
| done in cinders. and sympathetic brown
woman who was holding, by a rebellious
hand, a struggling imp of golden yell
1 low.
| And as a white man passed the group
! this is what the human document was
| wailing:
Nah soul an body, chillen. What's
| done wild dat whole passler little ole
| frame houses dat useter stan roun' heah
| at dis corner-huh?
| "Heah / dun come fun clar down
yander in the country to visit my 'lations
| an l amt seem nair one of 'em. Whar S
| NAH folks done gone to-huh?"
The ash man didn't know. The brown
| woman didn't know. The iInpish yellow
| boy had an air of wishing he did know
so that he could have the job of not
| telling.
well, it's suttnIy monty cuius. All
dunno huccome desc monstrous big
| houses on de very Lawd'S groun' whar
| dem little passler frame houses oughter
| be! 1t suttinly is monty hard thing foh
a ole pusson like me to come trapesin
all de way to dis Washn'tn an not fine
| nair singly lation to NAH name-an totin'
dis heah kyahpet bag evy incher de
| way"
| No one. of course, could uphold the
! human document in her wall. still:
| Considering the bandanna and the car
pet bag whose bulges might possibly-just
possibly-have been due to possum, and
| considering, further, the ancient soul. who
was as hopelessly lost as any other babe
ever in wood. or out of it-why it would
| have been a beautiful thing If a Christ
| mas fairy had happened along and waved
| her wand and put things back as they
were-for a little while.
At least that's the way the white man
| felt about it,
| An ordinary woman with an extra ord-
nary appetite had ordered a dozen fried
ioySterS for her luncheon. The other wom-
an at the cafe table. who was getting
| along satisfactorily with cup of tea and
a ham sandwich raised her eyes and
CALCULATED in a way that caused the ordi-
nary woman to explain:
! Il had a half chicken, two chops and a
couple of eggs for breakfast. and I've
| already decided on double order of
roast beef and maybe some more oysters,
when l dine-I tell you, anybody who
has ever starved as | have"
/ ''Starved,' interrupted the tea-sa ndwich
woman. You starve? When? Howl"
| christmas day. That's when. And
here's how. you know. l don't set up to
be extra good but this year. for change,
l decided to experiment in philanthropy.
| as far as my weeks salary went, and to
invade my small bank account for strictly
personal needs. Well, | started in Monday
before Christmas and by Thursday after
| noon l went to my flat. tagged from
hunting up odds and ends for dear old
folks who had no salaries OF their own.
think i never in my life felt more self
satisfied than when l found myself re-
duced to a lone, lone dime.
| Maybe it was spiritual elation and may
be, again, it was just plain vanity because
/ could afford to PUNK down nearly $50
on the odds and endS-I never was good
hand at classifying emotions-but. any
how, it was an exceedingly comfortable
feeling and it lasted until the realization
came with a jar that the bank was
closed, and that I. free lance patron of
whichever cafe 1 happened to be nearest
TO, when hungry, must face Christmas
eve, next day and Saturday morning with
one dime and a fruit cake from little
Jenny Wren. l had the cake for dinner,
and for supper I had some more. Provi-
dence wiled that Mollie should invite me
ChIict Tina hraa l-fa hot
fies, country sausage and sliced tomatoes.
but for dinner there was fruit cake. and
for supper still more fruit cake. aided and
abetted by varied goodness from Edna s
kids And Saturday morning the menu
was continued. True, box had come
from Minnie. with its big@ turkey and
country meat, but for me the siege had
been raised; The bank was open-and
I've been eating ever since
What a foolish Ann. Still. as long as
you wouldn't go to your friends, you had
the comfort of knowing that those you
had helped were feaSting.
1T wasn't a comfort that lasted. BY
Saturday morning I was even begrudgine
the pennies l had spent on Red Cross
stickers, and implacably determined tina,
the odds and ends will have to depend or
some other philanthropst next year
You'll feel more charitable when Christ
mas comes again..
I'm going to be more than charitable
| I mean to be just. My dresser is heaped
with pretty things, sent to ME by friends
who remembered in their gladness that
am a woman entirely alone. Why, I'm
ashamed to look those gifts in the face
they make me feel ungrateful. You see
my helpful stunt really began way back
last month"; and except for trifiing remem-
brances to Sallie and Sis Jenny / spent
every cent / could save on the odds and
ends Next Christmas I'm going to buy
cartload of holly for myself and gifts
for all my friends-and enemies, too, Ii
I've got them
And by that time the ordinary woman
was tackping her oysters with deadly
earneStnesS that promised destruction
even TO the lemon and parsley with which
the dish was garnished.
She was a tall slip Of girl. with