Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-05

| Have you ever seen sparrows play ball?
Maybe not. for-as an ancient brown
nanny remarked to a white woman, as
they stood in Fridays wet to watch the
game:
| You amt libel to see a. sight like that
| onct in a thousing yeahs.
| The ball had blown from a sycamore
tree and, was rolling along the asphalt
in the gusty rain
| A couple of sparrows must have
watched the performance from some shell
tered viewpoint for as soon as the spring
like shower stopped and the wind tapered
down to zephyr rippIes the two birds flew
down and made a dash at the sycamore.
In their fight for possession they sent
the ball up and down the street until its
regularity of motion apparently changed
their desire for croquet into spirit of
fun. Each bird hoped to base. with a
Yards space between. And they trundled
that ball from one to the other as ex-
pertly as if they had been boys. And
as if they had done it before.
| After a bit, one sparrow jumped on the
ball and was thrown, il turned.
| The other sparrow hoped on and was
| thrown. Then they tried ii over and
over. until one of the birds stayed on by
shuffling its feet. as jusglers do on the
stage.
| The other sparrow must have felt with
in himself that he could do that same.
| for he flew on the ball, upset his rival
and shuff1ed along VIGOROUSLY until the
other sparrow got back at him and the
game turned into row.
| In their Scuffie the ball was Spurted
along by a sudden Whit until it rolled
into a gutter-nest of soggy tobacco-brown
leaves.
But it was great game while it
| lasted.
And have you met Jasper? Why, that
dog-but, of course. you know all about
Jasper.
The self-will of that potato Schopen-
| hauer talks about has nothing on the
| tricky humor of the white letters that you
| see on glass windows-and that have a
| habit of dropping off, as If with impish
| intent. to put laugh on the ad. For
| one instance.
Down in the business section there is
| a prosperous cafe with its window filled
| with good things, in season and out, as
| ii to tempt the passing crowd into the ex-
| travagance of starting the new year with
| feast fit for those gods we read about
| but never, never see. Wednesdays ex-
| hibit included a baked turkey with one
| slice cut to suggest the fascination OF
white meat; boiled ham, polka dotted
| with black pepper; oysters on the shell;
salads sprinkled with green rosettes of
parsley and wreathed with radish roses;
jellies, fruits and-everything.
The clean. sparkling window had origi-
nally started out with the white-lettered
| announcement that steam table" was
| within. But the letters refused to stay
| put. They preferred to drop out, until
the sign resolved itself into:
| stable
1t was a good joke on the cafe. but it
couldn't have hurt trade. for before the
| afternoon was half over the good things
in the window had given way to a roast
ed pig with red apple in it's mouth.
And bowl of apple sauce to go with it.
A man and a woman were seated in
an automobile in front of govern
ment building while the chauffeur did
things to the gear
Two women were passing when one
directed the others attention to the
couple:
isn't it funny how interested you get
in people WITHOUT knowing anything
about them? I've been seeing that man
and his wife. off and on, for dozens OF
years. They caught my fancy first be-
cause they were SO handsome and de-
voted. She used to be over at the
corner there every afternoon to meet
him after office. and the two would go
off loving as sweethearts and as
chummy as boys. / used to run across
them everywhere: at the park concerts
in summer. at the theater in winter
and on the street all the year round.
|
J grow middle-aged and then old. in
their different ways: he. red and stout
and gray, and she thin and white and
so fragile that you'd think she'd blow
away-but always sWeetheartS and
chums I've lost sight of them for a
year or so, but the last time l saw
| them he fairly had his arms around her
| she was SO feeble. / reckon they nave
to ride now"
| The other woman must have had
sharper eyes than her companion,
| Judging by the decisiveness of her In
| IT reckon you're mistaken in your
pair. Why, the woman looks young
enough to be his grandchild, and my
| she's disseminated looking. It's the
81 told Won | hadn't seen them for some
time. That's him, all right. but II ism I
his wife, and someway, l never thougnt
they had children. They were too de-
pendent on each other. Maybe hes mar