Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-28
HOTELS.
At the End Of the Rainbow.
Grand Old Institutions.
BY WALT MASON.

1--WE been reading in the paper" OBJ
served the emaciated boarder, about
the war cloud in the Balkans"
There always is "A war cloud in the
Balkans" declared the star boarder
THAT war cloud, like the poor, We have
always with us, and we should treasure
it up in our hearts and practice it i'm our
lives, for in a world given to change and
decay it is one of the few imperishable
things. There are materialists who in
sist that the Balkans should do some
thing useful and quit furnishing war
clouds, but L have no patience with their
utilitarian theories. AS well argue that
there should be no annual failure of the
peach crop.
ut is a great blessing TO have a few
institutions which seem eternal, d few
landmarks which out.ast the generations
of men. Take the matter of boarding
house hash, my dear Mrs. Jiggers. That
is one of the sweet boons which are not
appreciated. The riba.d poets and humor-
lists of our ScurrilouS press never weary
of ridiculing it. Whenever boarding house
hash is mentioned people go into spasms
of bosterous mirth. L blush to say that
have spoken disrespectfully OF this
wholesome and invigorating compound.
but my remarks Were in the nature or
persifiage. Down in my heart of hearts.
Mrs Jiggers, If L have such an organ.
have a profound respect for hash. and
/ venture TO say that if it We're abolished
by process of law we'd miss it much
as we'd miss the war cloud in the Bal
kans if that admirable institution were
suppressed.
Upon one occasion, having convinced
myself that life in a boarding house
was a hollow mockery, a delusion ano
q snare, L began BOARDING with priVat"
family. | was their only patient, anu
they did their best to make things peas
ant for me. The bill of fare was excel
lent and the atmosphere was one of re-
finement, to which atmosphere L am adj
mirably adapted by character and at
tainments. / should have been as merry
as a marriage bell i'm such an environ
ment. but L soon realized that there was
something lacking. Ny heart yearned for
something and L couldn't decide what that
something was.
Even when ate delicious potato salad
and veal loaf and such delicacies | knew
Then one day L happened to drop into
boarding house TO see friend ana
found him at the table. He was eating
hash, Mrs. Jiggers-good old American
hash, with onions in it, L realized then
that nothing could take the place or
hash, and / sat me down and ate until
my surcingle broke. From that day 10
this 1 have lived at boarding houses, be"
cause good hash can be obtained only
in moral family boarding houses. presid-
ed over by conscientious landladies who
have seen better days.
Another thing that deserves to rank
with the Balkan war cloud Is the crisis
that is always confronting our beloved
country What would become of US il
We no longer had an excuse for trem-
bling for the future Of the republic?
Whenever L have an hour to spare
ALWAYS put it in tremb ing, and It's
astonishing how refreshed L feel after
this exercise. l cannot recall time
when we weren't upon the brink of
precipice. and the feeling that We are
ant to 20 over at any moment and be
reduced to hamburger steak at the bot
tom lends Zest TO life.
When ] was young the graybeards
were always predicting that the coun-
try was going on the rocks We had
abandoned the teachings OF our fathers
and there was no salvation for us. But
the country kept on growing and thriv-
ing like a heifer in an alfalfa field, and
the graybeards of that generation went
TO sleep with their fathers without hav-
ing seen the much-advertised crisis ma
But the crisis remains with us, Mrs.
Jippers lust now ii is trifie more
active and ominous than ever. I hear
the same grim prophecies that disturbed
my youth. Trembling for the future OF
the republic continues to be the national
game We hear the same old arguments.
We have abandoned the teachings of our
fathers and are following perilous paths.
The first thing We know the extinguisher
will come down on us.
What would this life be without our
Justly celebrated crisis? 1 shudder when
contemplate it. There would be nothing
eft TO talk about but the weather and
he crops; there would be no fun in poll
tics: there would be no undertaking
So in order that 1 may tremble with be-
coming zeal and energy, I'll trouble you
.or the gooseberry jam, Mrs. Jfggers.'
The building of the proposed Hagers-
own Greencastle and MercerSburg cleo