Evening star., 1914-07-05

and surged down Pennsylvania avenue
and UP 18th street. Down came the ram
and on marched the bedraggled thou
sands. About n fourth of them had
been wise enough to carry umbrellas be
fore they started for the fireworks show.
Those who did not have umbrellas be-
came very wet persons.
There is a saying that rainwater Is
good for the complexion. but that theory
grew up before the so-called modern
stvle of complexion was heard OF. Ihere
is nothing so bad for the drugstore COM
pIexion as hard rain. After ten min
utes the beautifully colored cheek gets
a streaked look. and as for the hair-on.
horrors, Many a girl who went out last
night with her very best young man.
diked up 10 the queens taste, with ner
mode. came down the Avenue looking
much Ike a drowned rat.
Avenue Is Deserted.
At 9:30 O'Clock Pennsylvania avenue
was deserted save for an occasional pc
destrian At 9:35 o'clock it seemed to be
fun of people and the rain was pouring
The cars stopped. as hundreds tried to
get into the nearest one. and motor cars
slid and slipped around corners, honk-
ing, blowing. steam!ng. creaking and get
ting in the way of everybody. The cars
that weren't equipped with tops shipped
enough water to sink canal barge. Be
tween them were whole families. from
father down to kids: mother leaping from
puddle to puddle with misplaced agility,
baby yelling. Little Johnnie being dragged
by the hair, Little Nellie shrieking and
screaming, while Uncle James guided her
firrnly by the pigtail.
Clarisse, who had gone down to the
Monument lot with her beau. was sore
at him because he was paying more at
tention to his new S19s straw hat than
he was to her. and besides. her summery
attire was of tissue paper thickness and
didn't look nice all wet and sopping.
Just Sample.
That family group is but a small sized
sample Of the whole Avenue. The most
marvellous feats of self-protection oc-
CURED. one large woman sat down ker-
thump IN wet spot and splashed po-
liceman; another woman sprawled under
a cab wheel and was nearly frightened
to death. while the caboy leaned around
and asked her where she thought she was
going: two girls. thoroughly disgusted
with the rain. ducked into a doorway and
began looking into little mirrors
Another girl shot straight through the
swinging doors of a saloon, and stayed
there. regardless of the company. Nov
one moment, found themselves crowded
to the doors.
Those White Shoes.
White shoes turned black and smeary.
Every now and then a dignified look
ing matron. with a wet newspaper
draped upon her head, would march
selemnly along in the crowd. gripping
her dripping skirts with her wet hands
and pretending that nothing had hap
pened. And this also was noted: A
man in silk hat had gone to the fire
works and didn't have a ghost of an
umbrella. Think of that hat after half
an hour of rain had made a target
of it,
And after all. isn't it true that 1T all
ways rains on the Fourth of July? The
boys used to believe that in the old
fashioned frecracker days They said
the noise of the explosions made it
rain. But that's not the reason The
crowd that went out last night minus
umbrellas will tell you that it rained
because they were unprotected: those
who carried them will tell you how
fhav alwavS go provided.