Evening star., 1911-05-28
Around the City

"A nuSky young Hldu was etIiOiuS ooWh
the corridor of a government building.
Another mana thin gray one. with
a pewter badge on his blue coat-saw the
husky young man coming in time TO turn
the knob and open wide an once door.
The husky young man entered with no
more recognition Of the other man than
IL he had been human electric button
that had pushed himself-and that was
all there was to that.
A woman who had seen tho perform
ance remarked to the pewter badge:
do you have to wait on that man
like thatf"
1T Is one OF my duties. madam"
The watchman's answer WAS made with
a finality that must have impressed the
woman with the fact that she would get
nothing more out Of him, for she con-
tented herself with soliloQuiNng at his
back-a slightly bent back-but In voice
that attracted everybody around:
What's the matter with him that no
can't turn knob? If he was a. small boy
that couldn't reach up or paralytic that
couldn't use his hand or an idiot that
didn't know a door knob when he saw
it. thered be some excuse But a big
wolloppy feler like that to stand by
like sissy and let man old enough to
be his father open the door for him. same
as II he was a white slave--well. I'm
thankful he's no son OF nina that's
ALL
1t seemed quite enough. and yet-
Tho woman received such unanimous IN
dorsement from her impromptu audience
that: there's anything In signs-one
husky official behind glass door must
have felt his ear burning yesterday
morning.
The left ore.
There Is an extra big tree In the Cap
itol grounds. 1t is so near tho coping
that its wide stretching leafiness reaches
out to the sidewalk, and beneath the
mighty branches the grass Is long enough
to ripple in the breezes like pond.
Early yesterday moTning-So early that
the first hurry1ng government clerk had
yet to break in on its green silence-a
woman passed by the extra big tree. On
the grass beneath 1t lay crumpled
newspaper, a grocer's bag Of the size
that holds a nickers worth OF some
thing. and an empty beer bottle
Some law-hreaking Omar had como
along with his modern substitutes for the
original verse. loaf and jug. and had
treated himself to q bachelor picnic
Without the original Thou"
II YOU stand on tho steps OF the New
National Museum you will notice many
pigeons on a cobbled street. The street
divides the museum from the market,
crates and rickety wagons hitched to
droopy horses mostly white. And IL you
are lucky enough to meet on the steps a
little old man who looks like a dried ap-
pie that had a soul to 1t maybe he will
tell you something like this:
Those pigeons know the market days
as well as the hucksters do. They come
from all over the city for the bits of grain
around. and every pigeon strikes it on
time. like gIlls follow a ship or train at
meal hours. / hear some people misdoubt
angels on account OF their feather wings
but the way I look at 1t is that the Ono
who AIt all that instinct into bird can
be relied on to run this world and the
next one without any advice from mo.
'D'ye hear them roosters crowing2 It's
curious the way a rooster can put his
state Of mind in a crOw-now, you listen |
That one amt the cockadoodle of a free
rooster on his own dunghill-he's calling
out In tho only way God give him for
somebody to come free him from that
wire crate. Maybe he don't know what .
going to happen to him between this and
somebody's Sunday dinner. but he don't
need anybody to tell him he's in trouble.
Did you ever figure out about white
horses? Now, you take that lot along
side the curb over yonder-the biggest
half Of those horses are white. That's be-
cause white horses don't take with rich
people. You never see a white team to q
fine carriage, but they must be good
heavy country wagons and dump carts.
III you notice. a white horse always looks
ready to drop. I used to think 1t was be-
cause owners, having no regard for white
horses. worked them to death. but that
isn't it. A white horse hangs hts head
and seems detected because dark horses
look down on him and it hurts his pride
l know white horse that"
Nothing to talk about, Of course Just
some pigeons on a cobbled street a
lot OF chicken crates piled on a far-off
corner. and a line Of carts hitched to
droopy horses across tho street, but 1t
will seem different. II you look at It
through the eyes Of a little red man who
looks like a dried apple that had q soul
to II.
Everything IN this worfd-snd maybe
the next-depends on the point OF view.
II you have never heard OF q too dem
tist, here's your chance:
She was a handsome young woman In
white linen princess and panama hat,
and her narrow, high-heeled ties revealed
fitful glimpses OF black silk-you know,
the gauZe kind.
The woman with her was a plain soul
In a plain frock, really not worth men,
t1oning except as a peg to hang the Incl
dent on. and the two had come to a GER
tain building, the princess umping all the
way.
Here's my toe dentist VIII you como
up with me. Miss Annf 1t wont take
Miss Ann went up. When they entered
the office at the head OF the steps Miss
Ann sat down and waited A colored
maid placed the princess in a dental sort
Of chair. took or narrow, high-heeled
tie and a gauzy black silk-you know
and pretty soon white linen man came
in; did things that resulted in a tiny
plaster. and then passed out Of the room
to see another patient The second pa
tient also had narrow. high-heeled ties
and gau2y ct CeteraA
While the coiored maid was preparing
the princess for the street . third pa
tient nmped In. She was q heavyweight
blonde, in narrow. high-heeIed ties. And
she was limping.
And while 1t was all going on, Miss
Ann looked down leniently at her broad
toed, low-heeled common sense" plug
uglies-and all was forgiven
SO now you know about toe dentists,
and how they At In with narrow, high
heeled ties-but for goodnesS sake. don't
say I told you.