The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-04-30

While census enumerator sees and
hears a good many things that are very
funny, indeed. he also runs into a good
many that have their serious SIDE" re-
marked one OF the young men who had
just completed his enumeration and
handed in all his reports. "I had a dis
trict. you know. where there are a NUM-
her Of very POOR people. and 81 was a
revelation 10 me 10 see how some Of them
lived.
zone day / was on the outskirts q
town and thought that 7 would quit FOR
the day when 7 noticed that there was a
small shanty over 90 the left The near
est way 20 reach It seemed to be % go
through a clump Of trees. and make use
Of o footpath that appeared 70 lead UP 10
IT,
Just as started that way. met a
couple OF men coming down the path.
One OF them stopped me and asked me
what I wanted. I told him that 7 was
collecting data for the census, and want
ed the names and information concern
.ng the people that lived there
"Ho then asked me TO let him have
the papers. and said that he would mail
them 10 meas his wife had just died
and he aid not want any one 10 go to tho
house where she was. OF course. I felt
sorry for him and gave him the blanks
that he needed and told him how 10 Ill
them out and all about It. Then I went
on another way.
The next day. after following a path
for some time. I found that IL brought
me out I'm the rear Of the very house that
7 had been on the point of visiting the
day before. Thinking that I would stop
and collect the blanks, I walked 90 the
back porch. where there were some peO-
PIE sitting. and told them what wanted
They were very poor-poorsr than any
that I had ever seon-and had difficulty
I'm making them understand what I meant
by the census and the blanks.
Finally they told me that the blanks
had been sent OF that morning, But be
fore I got this information 7 had had
time to learn n little of the family his
tory. II seems that the old people were
blind and were the grandparents Of the
three little children playing around I'm
D l.
died the day before was their daughter
"She had succumbed 20 consumption
and the worst OF It was that she had
been the fifth victim Of the white plague
that had died there I'm a year. 1t did not
need a physicians eye 70 tell me that the
little ones were pretty far gone with the
same disease. I tell you it made me
pretty sick to see the condition Of these
people and to think that there was little,
IL any, hope for them"
= = =
BY the middle OF April the pawnshOps
around town are pretty well cleaned out
OF fishing rods and tackle. Almost every
other sort Of pawnable articles are To
be found IN there during the entire year.
but II would take a rather thorough
search to find complete fishing outfit
in any Of the three-ball shops during
the period from April 10 October.
Every fall the man who needs an extra
dollar or so to put into his winter clothes
will hook his fishing tackle, but when
spring comes round again the clothes
and the tackle change places, much after
the fashion OF the young man who was
asked why he did not wear his watch
with his evening clothes and who replied.
Because never have the two AT the
same time"
= = =
One Of the downtown stationers who
makes more or less Of a speciality OF
handling lurid. dime novel style OF liter
ature was discussing these novels the
other day. Did you ever notice" said
he, "how the publishers have had to
change these stories nowadays?
why there used 10 be a time when
the readers were satisfied with having
the hero carry of the heroine on the
back OF his champing steed- Now he has
to do it with sixty-horsepower Mer-
cedes. at least.
Pretty soon II viii be an aeroplane
that he will have to use. Then At the
end OF the old ones the hero used to
carelessly toss the william off a. cliff: now
he uses a skyscraper instead The vel
low backs have to keep UP with the
procession the same as everything else in
this town
q q q a
Another rather sad case that I ran
across in that same district was that Of
an old man, seated on a stone wall. 1
inquired as to where he lived and he
showed me a little shanty lust of the