Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-26
Of THE LONDON SORT
Fog EnveIops Washington in
Moist Embrace.
SWIFT DODGING OF AUTOS
Lights of Small Service as Warning
to Pedestrians-Voices
From tho River.

Washington received a touch Of Eng
lish Christmas atmosphere of an unusual
sort late last night. when a London fog
"a London regular bowling
rapidly up from the river and spread a
mugsy blanket over the streets. AS the
audiences f1ocked from the theaters the
lamps of waiting automobiles were SHIN
ing with a bleary-eyed. tired look. The
fog was thick. Even the observer at the
weather bureau marked 1t down for a
thick ono. and watched 1t until the wee
hours of the morning, when 1t turned into
an officially thin blanket Of mist
The street lights Of which Washington
is now so proud could not combat sue
cessfully against the cloud that settled
down comfortably all around them. The
acetylene and electric glowers did their
best. but finally succumbed to a COM
promise which In visual effect was but
dull halo against a pitch black back
ground.
Evening Clothes Off Color.
Men and women were out in force last
night, dressed in their newest Christmas
clothes, but the fine hats of the women
and the new evening cloaks made only
somber figures. for the fog had leveled
all fincry to the plain of black clothes.
Men in tall hats and big coats walked
right out Of the fog, came to view long
enough to see they were real men and
not specters, and then passed on, dis
appearing as disSolving views in the mist.
Automobiles were ghosts last night.
Their headlights were almost of no use
at all to pedestrians. The horns were
footing somewhere half block away, but
whether the machine was going or COM
in fn1
very watchful and on the lookout to do
bit of quick lodging. The machines were
more silent than ever as they slid into the
dark bank Of fog and became a part Of 1t.
But Cheap Imitation.
Restaurants and cafes were safe Ravens
from the old London regular Of the
streets. The fog of tobacco smoke In
some Of the grill rooms was but cheap
imitation of the grizzly stuff outside. It
was dark outside, and the sudden glare
of the lights Of restaurant, together
with the lively music of the orchestra,
was binding and deafening in compari-
son. The voices in the tobacco fog were
cheerful. But the voices of the fog that
lay over the city were of a different sort.
From away down the river came the oc-
showing that a river pilot was having his
troubles beating up tide with shore sig
mails and lights lost for the night
In fogs queer things happen to
sound waves. as any river man will
testify. A voice will rise from the
black water, seemingly right at the
side of the vessel, but in reality it
will be the sound of a man on a boat
a quarter of mile away. Sound jumps
over fog banks and plays leap frog
with space, rivaled' anything a ven
triloquist could do.
Voices Of the Night.
The voices of tugs and river craft
leaped over the southern front Of the
city and landed with a deep mysterious
boom on Pennsylvania avenue. The
river might have been running straight
through the Mall, as far as the whistles
are concerned. No one knows how
many boats are shopping around at
night on the river until fog sets in
to wipe out lights. And then the pilots
squint their eyes and peer out OF the
pilot house window and keep their
hands on the whistle rope, and q good
strong set of words behind their teeth
to disgOrge at any fool pilot" that
scrapes too close to another pilots
port lights.
And yet for all the booming and
footing down the river. the voices of
the tugs just leaped over the city and
landed plumb in the middle Of Penn
sylvania avenue.