Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-21
Around the CITY

A woman and man were watching the
! rain from The Star office entrance. Al
least the woman was watching the rain
but the young fellow, with excited ear
nestness and many free-hand gestures
was continuing a recital which evidently
had had its beginning while the two were
on the street.
"And there that chap leaned carelessly
| against the bar and sketched the mer
around. without half looking at what he
was doing-and every face a living i'm.
| age! OF course. couldn't keep quiet at a
| wonder like that, SO / ripped out:
I'D give a million, if L had it, to be
able to draw as you are doing
The fellow looked up, jotted me dowr
! In about three strokes on the edge of a
newspaper and held it up with an offhand
laugh.
oh. it's Just little trick There's
nothing to it.
What are you talking about! Why
man, don't you know that you've got
fam .e and fortune in a gift like that?'
No. l don't know it. but any way
wouldn't want to bother over it. Being a
government clerk is good enough for me
salary every other week and a month
leave with pay-what more do i want?' ~
In the telling of his incident the young
fellows voice was SO vibrant with re-
sentiment that the woman stopped watch
ing the rain and put her hand on his
arm:
And you are calling nature down be-
cause she has wasted genius on the man
at the bar. and passed you by? When
you are as old as l am, laddie. dear you
VIII know that nature is never unfair
1t is just that We cannot read her rid
dies. In this case she has thrown away a
splendid thing on man who doesn't
given n hn
citation OF that splendid thing. You get
enjoyment out Of it. He gets nothing"
But. hang it, Miss Nance. I've been
studying for years under the best teach
ing day Of my life I'll have to depend on
clothes to help to identify my sitters
sure. I'm abusing nature for casting a
good gift like that at clerk who doesn't
even take IT seriously. while l.
Which shows what a foolish boy YOU
can be. when you try right hard. Bump
your forehead three times on the floor in
gratitude to nature, dear lad. that she so
wisely throws great gifts away. For if
she were to bestow genius only on those
who would profit by 1t the world would
be so overrun with Shakespeares. Bee
thovens and Michaelangelos that ordinary
writer's. musicians and artists would
starve. AS it is. we have pay envelopes.
and once in a great while we write
| checks. Nature has long thoughts and
farseeing eyes. and knows what is best
for when she deals out our mental ra-
TONS
wish I'd been around when she was
passing along the pate de fois gras of
art chuckled the young fellow.
Naturally. So would 1 rather have
been a Blue Point of poesy or Little
Neck of prose. but / probably do more
honest work as good red herring"
Then the woman. laughing at her own
verbosity. took the elevator and the young
man with the pate de. etc. aspirations
revolved himself out of the door and
sprinted for Georgetown car.
A pair of horses hitched to pie wagon
stood at business street curb. They
were conspicuous horses and perfectly
matched, each being marked with
splashes of white and golden tan. Nearly
every passer-by contributed an admirng
glance or comment, and one woman went
so far as to make dab at the head of
the nearest horse and whimpered to il.
as if the big spirited fellow were a canary
bird:
''Duzzy pity sing wantee Jumper
soocrr.
'Oh. come on jcrked out the woman