Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-20
Around the City


A man was walking along the tree
lined tagging that begins at the Peace
monument and ends at the Capitol steps
AS he reached the steps he spoke to a
woman who was about to mount them:
Excuse me, ma am, but is this public
road?"
Ma'am assured him that it was.
Thank you, ma'a I'm a stranger
to the town and. Of course-under the
circumstances-as it were-pm bound te
see the Capitol, first thing"
There was such evident shyness in his
speech and yet such complacency OF
accent that the woman, who was rather
"a wise old OWL of q person, put the
two symptoms together. Cuvier fashion
and built up congressman-elect.
This is a powerful big building" he
went on, as the two reached the first
terrace together will you excuse me
ma'am If / walk a piece with you, till
come to door,?
Now there is one compromising thing
about crows feet. They permit bearer
to fraternize with a strange man-person
without fear of chipping her reputation
or his. So the two walked their piece
and the man talked:
Yes. ma'am, it's a powerful size of a
building-and they did right to make it
white. ma'am-as an example, as 1t were
er-of cleanliness, and-er-of purity, as it
were, to the rulers who assemble here in
erin national council. A representative
wants to be a spotless man, ma'am."
The owl woman felt that she might
mention congressman here and there
whose laundering didn't seem to race In
that direction. but she refrained.
THE Observation-Disclosures. as it were.
will bring many new lawgivers to Con-
gress. ma'am. I trust they will be clean
men-er-ft. ma'am. to enter this snowy
er-temple of-er-as 1t were, ma AMI
He was stuck. So the woman took a
little turn. Maybe she wanted to help
him to more language, or maybe, again.
she just naturally desired to air her gifts
as q mind reader. Women always are that
way-and mCn.
'Of course you are one of our new rep
resentatives ?''-offhand. just like that.
The mans shyness gave way entirely
to complacence.
repre- sentative-but I'm here TO meet a
few in the interests Of this Capitol build
ing, ma'anf-to our mutual interest. as it
were. am the inventor of fluid cleaner
for marble, ma'am. and .
Oh, well, maybe old Cuvier wasn't all
he's cracked up to be, either!
~.
If you go along certain street in GER
tain neighborhood you are likely to come
across a neat, oldish colored man who will
be whiting stick If you are scuttling
along with no thought for anything but
your own affairs the man will keep on
whiting and let you pass. II you have
Eyes to take him in. he will halt you with
some surprising remark. And you will
know by the first word he speaks that
Mother Nature has touched his brain and
said to him: Remain forever a child"
In he IN n q a u
man lives he owns large and most
beautiful plantation. His heart turns to
growing things-an agricultural instinct
inherited from generations OF slaves-and
it is only of growing things he talks The
other afternoon. for instance. his admira-
ton went out to a bottle of milk which
a small boy was carrying. He stopped
his whiting and chuckled with delight:
That's a fine punlSin you got, little
boy"
The little boy said it wasn't punkin.
1t was a bottle of milk.
You know it's punkin. You elm up
this tree OF mine and picked it-see 'em?''
The boy laughed derisively and skipped
on. The colored man looked UP into
Hvee branches almost barred of their
leaves.
II sholy got a fine crop of punkins up
there. Say, cap'n, don't You see these
punkins CROWN up here in my tree?
"Cap'n' was a middle-aged man, who
looked as If the we're OF some conse-
quence in the world. He paused and
looked up into the wind-blown branches.
That boy didn't see 'em, because he
don't know no betterbut you see 'em
don't you. capn? See them big punkins
hangin' over the limbs? See all then,
curly vines an them little yeller bios
SONS an all them fine green leaves-see
'em?"
The man looked from the tree to the
colored mans face. Then he said
Certainly, ! see them: Mighty fine
crop you've got, too
II knowed by the first look at you that
you could see them punkins. You got the
right kind of eyes, cap'n, you shoy has
| And he surely had. For they were the
| eyes OF Abou Ben Adhem, the man who
| loyed his fellow-man..