The Washington herald., 1912-02-22
BY DOROTHY DIX.

mo" said the woman in sage green,
II am not going to celebrate Washing
toms Birthday this year. I did so last
year, and made every one Of my best
friends mad. and I've been eating hum
BILE pie-Booker Washington pie, so 10
speak-ever since.
1T was like this. You know l belong
to the Colonial Danes and the Daughters
OF the American Revolution. and I'm
strong for hero worship. and long on
patriotism, and so 1 decided that I
would have a nice little private celebra-
tion Of my own of the birthday Of the
Father Of Our Country. And it was to
be a celebration not only in outward form
but one that would preserve the spirit Of
the Iamented C. w. and help us 10 emu
late his virtues
"WhereUpon I invited about a dozen
Of my sister D. A. RS to luncheon, and
it was one nifty luncheon, II I do say it
myself with more marischino cherries
than G. w. ever saw. and cooked hats
for favors, and the ices in the shape of
Continental soldiers, and so on. But the
main feature of the occasion was my
speech and its after effects.
4 fixed up one that thought would
drive Chauncey Depew green with envy,
and after I had plucked a few tall
feathers from the eagle, and metaphor
ically waved the Stars and Stripes until
my arm ached, impressed it upon my
guests that the value of such an occa-
sion as the present was the lesson II left
upon our minds and the noble ideals ii
raised up before US.
'' 1t is true, my sisters I said, that
We cannot go out and fight for our coun-
try as did Washington, being as how We
are prevented by our sex, and the pres
ent fashions. and there not being any
war ANYHOW or anybody 10 fight, but We
can all follow the great example in
truth telling set us by the Father of Our
Country. and propose that on this day,
Washington's Birthday, We let no IN
truth pass our lips
This struck us all as a perfectly grand
idea, and there was chorus of 'splen-
did fine lovely such a subtle trib-
ute well do just as Washington would
If he were here There was only one
dissenting vOice-that of Lucia Morris
Lucia is one of those women with per-
fectly terrifying common sense. and she
said that she didn't believe it would
work. and for her part that she didn't
care for the truth, anyway, but much
preferred agreeable fiction. But we all
howled her down and agreed that we
would speak out just exactly what We
thought
How 1t Worked.
"Well-you know you never can tel
afterward how such things happen-but
the first person to open up the CONVEX
satiOn on the strict veracity platform
was Mary Thompson, who turned to
Sally Harrison, who happened to be sit
ting next to her. and said:
d" How do you like my new dress?
T.
little shop on Fifth avenue. where they
have the most exclusive things
4 could see Sally Harrison take a
long breath as IL she were about to
plunge into icy waters, then she asked:
Is 1t UD to me 10 do the George Wash
ington act?' And we said yes and then
she blurted out just what we all thought.
Since I must tell the TRUTH she
said, think you are telling a fib that
YOU can't put across. Every mothers
daughter of US knows that dress was
never nearer to Fifth avenue, to say
nothing OF Paris, than a Brooklyn de-
psrtmrnt store. Also, it is ten years
too Young for you. and II turns
searchlight on all of your fat, and. al
together. looks as il your worst enemy
had selected il for YOU
Mary turned perfectly white, and there
was a silence in which, il anybody had
dropped pin, ii would have made a
noise like a dynamite explosion, and to
save the situation, Lulu Brown suddenly
asked Maude Montgomery II she'd read
her new story in one of this months
ma gaines.
Yes said Maude. and then she made
a wry face and went on, and since am
pledged TO tell the truth, l must say that
I never read more utter pifie. and what
on earth makes you think that you can
write, beats me-
Another silence more deadly than the
first, and then Hattie wilkins remarked
in a soothing tone of voice:
Marion spent the evening with US last