Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-13
Around the City

AlOullQ IllE A1ly
Two men with trifiing faces and lazy
bones were loafing along a street where
laborers were pruning trees. One OF the
pair picked up a fallen branch and tore
away its twigs until il was only long
switch. plant with sap and bumpy at
the end with shiny brown buds.
AS he loafed along the man ficked idly
at everything he passed, tree boxes. lamp
posts. and once. by way OF pleasant va
riety. at a tad OF a boy who was counting
pawful OF marbles. The tad laughed
and made running grab for the switch
with his empty hand. In the effort to
leap his highest. the paw opened and
the marbles fell
Then the tad's childish laughter changed
to a grown-up curse. The man with the
switch must have considered the boys
imprecation fine example OF manliness.
for he called back an encouraging re-
mark in the same forcible style. And
that was all there was to that.
After another square or two Of loafin4
along, the men came to a corner where
they showed symptoms OF separating. I'm
fortunately, however. for any work they
may have had In view, there was an ire
sistible electric pole and an equally en-
know the power of temptation!
When the switch man was reclining
restfully against the pole and his friend
was taking life optimistically on the
butt, they happened to notice horse
hitched to a buggy standing near by at
the curb.
He was q FESTIVE young horse-so rest
i've that he tossed his head. shook his
locked taA and paved csaselessly at the
asphalt. Presently his owner Dame out
of a store. gathered up the reins and
was half way in tho buggy when Il sud-
denly occurred to the switch man that he
had failed to flick at the horse.
tip OF the switch touched his nose the
horse made q bolt
1t was q breathlessly exciting runaway
while 1t lasted, and the switch man and
his friend enjoyed the fun to such an
to see better Way up the street the
horse seemed to have been checked by
his driver. for the switch man seemed
10 lose interest. And that Yves all there
was to that.
There was nothing to any OF Il OF
course. except that extremes are always
worth considering.
And the switch man had for his oppo-
site another man who at that minute
was lying in a hospital cot, broken and
bandaged. and maybe dying, because he
had risked his life to stop q runaway
horse and save "a woman and her kid
After all. contrast-has its human value
The world would be mighty monotonous
II everybody in 1t was made in the same
mold like, say-candles.
II you are entirely wrapped UP In your
own affairs, you may go all over town
and transact all sorts Of business without
noticing thing that doesn't concern
you. But start out in a receptive mood
and you cannot board car walk a
square or step in to an office, store or cafe
without getting snapshot glimpses into
the lives OF people who make up the
everyday world around US.
Take your morning car, for an instance.
You Will, maybe, sit next to the young
woman In blue who Is frantically under
scoring Macbeth" with a hard-worked
fountain pen.
Or you may notice the man opposite
who is commenting on an airship rec
ord which his companion has just read:
Next thing We know, one OF those
aviators will be caught In the atmos
pheric current Of some other planet, and.
and getting line on 1t. will come sail
ing back with native or two for proof.
Gee. wouldn't that be a corker-"
That boy OF mine is building an air
ship. and. between you and me, he's
got an idea that's a wonder. / often
wish his poor mother could have lived
to see his inventions. l told you about
his wireless station. didn't I? Well. SIR.
that boy
Then there are the two women hang
ing to straps In front Of you:
Have you seen Miss Blank since she
got her job? Poor thing! I'm awful
glad for her. She's made some nice
clothes for that invalid mother Of hers.
and furnished UP cute little fiat. Any
bOdyd think to hear her go on that
she had come into a fortune. i don't
believe she'll ever get over the novelty
OF having enough to eat"
Then there's the man with eyes that
are smoldering Goals in the gray ashes
with the button. but you know from
riding with him many times before that
he will not press it until the woman with
him smiles permission. Just as you
know by the woman's tender watchful-
ness that some illness has touched his
brain and made the man a child.
Then you press the button yourself
and alight.
Her knowledge dubbed over like a ket-
tie on the boil. He accepted her infor-
nation blindly, as behooves a rural bride
groom on tour.
He was plainly puzzled at the brass
signs Of the Zodiac bedded in the floor
bride was unable to account for pisces
taurus. ct al. until she came to the two
human figures in the circle Of signs:
Now I've got it, hubsy. OF course It's
Here's Adam and Eve"
Hubsy looked at the brass inlaid figures
Of "Gemini the twins and was con-
WINGED.
Certainly. Why not? Isn't Adam and
Eve as good as the Gemini folks any day
Of the year? And where are you going to
find anything more attractive than map
Of the Garden Of Eden?
Executive avenue"
A woman said it as she stood on a
shining white terrace and watched the
sun go down. With the deserted Capitol
marble and silence all around. and over
head a dusk-blue sky with sun ball
flaming at the horizon, she could afford
to talk aloud to herself-for want of bet
ter company.
Some way-off day, when another lone
ly woman comes UP here to see the sun
sink, she will look down at government
buildings reaching from the Capitol
grounds to the Treasury. There will be
stretches Of green between and. maybe.
fountains and statues. The ugly stores
opposite will have given way to the pala-
tial homes of diplomats, officials and men
of vast wealth. 1t won't be In my time.
but that other lonely woman Is coming
up here to see the sun sink-some day.
And when she looks down on the Execu-
tive avenue of the future. I wonder-I
wonder where l shall be? And what I
shall be doing?"
Which shows what freaky notions beset
a lonely woman who stands on the Capt..
toll terrace to watch the sun go down.
Some Divorce Records.