davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18
- Che @atnb ls 81

of the family. The ornithologists call
this bird "piranga rubra," or the sum-
mer tanager. They have a more south
erly distribution than the scarlet tana.
country which the scarlet tanager pre-
fers, but the summer tanager is not SO
retiring in his habits as his cousin
with the brilliant red head and body
and jet black wings and tail.
BY the spring at which the Rambler
drank grew several large specimens
of the pink lady's slipper. the common
est orchid of the eastern states and
true cypripedium. A common name for
this flower is the "moccasin flower.
given to the plant by the Indians Or
course, the Indians called it the NAV
cashun flower" The lip Of the flower
reminded them of the "mawcashun'
whites gave 1t a more romantic name
and called 1t the pink lady's slipper.
This flower is fertilized by the humble
bee. There is assure on the front OF
the flower, and through this the bum
BILE bee forces his way. The door closes
behind him and he cannot retreat.
After treating himself to the nectar he
finds himself shut in, but near the base
Of the flower at the end Of long pas
sage he sees two dots of light, and to
get out he has to pass some fine hairs
and the sticky stigma of the flower.
which remove from his body the pollen
Of some other lady slipper he may have
invaded, and then before finally effect
ing his escape the flower deposits an
other charge of pollen on him which
he will carry to the next lady slipper
The Rambler has often met with the
Snowy lady's slipper" a fine orchid
which Is regarded by many persons as
the most beautiful of the genus, with
the small white lady's slipper and the
yellow lady's slipper, but the pink va
riety is the only one which he came
into during this walk. The yellow
lady's slipper Is rare in this neighbor.
hood, it being one of the northerly of
the orchis family. There are many
members of the orchis family growing
around Washington, and a man cannot
fail to see some of them If he walks
with his eyes open. Among these mem
bers of the family, in addition to those
already named, are the green wood
orchis. the green fringed orchis, the
yellow fringed orchis. Hooker's orchis,
the round-leaved orchis. the ragged
fringed orchis, the white-fringed orchis,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18

art-seem to become fewer and fewer
The demand far exceeds the supply.
should like to see the good artist will
ing to lend his art wherever IL serves a
useful purpose.
Take the stupendous amount of art
adapted to folders, programs adver
tisements in good magazines and pa
pers: such work will keep the artist in
comfortable circumstances, and IL he
feels he has the divine spark within he
can easily find time for his canvas. and
he can feel assured his connection with
q lesser branch of art will not initiate
against him in a rightly educated art
community
This holds true in the plastic arts.
How few sculptors reach the heights
they crave. Yet. take one who has
learned the guiding principles we'll;
what excellent use ne could make OF
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18

first report. which was published in 1894.
he describes the fossiliferous deposits at
Upper Marlboro and Fort Washington
and discusses the economic value of the
was issued the Washington folio of the
Geologic Atlas of the United States by
the national geologic survey, then unoer
the dictatorship Of Charles D. Walcott.
1t was the work of the biologists barton
and Keith. The area described includes
all of the District of Columbia and
large part of Prince Georges county and
was the most complete work on the ge-
time. Each of the geological formations.
differentiated, is described and it's rela-
ton to the other formations discussed,
A similar work. the "Patuxent folio"
by the biologists Shattuck. Miller and
Bibbins. was published in 1907 by the
United States geological survey, and this
contains more detailed information of the
Photography, geology and mineral re-
sources of the region than had previously
been brought together in one publication.
The area covered by the Patuxent folio
includes portion of the District of CO.
lumbia and all of Prince Georges county
except small areas in the northern and
southwestern portions.
The road over which the Rambler walk
ed passes over areas of those formations
called Monmouth" "Matawan" Ma
gothy' "Raritan," "Patapsco." Arundel
and "Patuxent," being green sand and
sands locally indurated, greenish- black
sandy clay containing green connections
and ignite. sands with dark carbonaceous
clays. variegated clays and interbedded
clays with iron ores. The Monmouth and
Matawan are good soils for truck crops
and small fruits. the Maothy is good for
tobacco. truck and general crops. the
Raritan is a fair soil for wheat. corn and
hay and the Patapsco, Arundel and Pa
tuxent formations constitute soil which
is generally poor or unproductive. The
old road, where it climbs out of the val
ley of the Eastern branch. comes upon
high land, where the formation called
aqua" is dominant. This formation be-
longs to the eocene age and the experts
say that these light yellow loans and
sandy loans are excellent soil for truck
crops, and also for wheat, corn and oats.
Large areas of the country traversed
by the ancient road are covered with
pine thickets and thinned hardwoods
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18

been under cultivation.
Benjamin I. Miller. in his study on
the "Deve!oPment OF knowledEe . Con.
Georges County, with Bibliography,
written as an Introductory to the
Maryland geological surveys report on
the physical features Of Prince Georges
county. says:
Since 1908. when Capt John Smith assembled
the Potomac river to the falls above George
town. this region has attracted the attention OF
explorers. travellers and biologists. many of
proximity of the National Capital has brought
many biologists to the region during the past
century. and consequently the literature is more
extensive than that of any other county in the
coastal plain of Maryland. In the period OF
1612-1S09 all the early work in Prince Georges
county was of an exploratory character. and the
published descriptions contain such general state
ments that in most instances It Is impossible 10
tell exactly what regions were visited The
most important publications of this period are
those Of Capt. John Smith, which appeared in
1872 and 1924.
OF the period 1sos-1sao Mr.. Miller
says:
Although previous writers had casually re-
ferred to the gravels, sands and rocks OF the
geological Investigations published. Between
1909 and 1880 Mcclure, who IS sometimes called
1.-The father of North American geology, pub
lshed several general articles on the geology
of North America. which served to stimulate in
vestfRatfon, while other biologists noted the
occurrence of minerals and fossils at various
localities.
Mcclure was the first American geolo-
gfst to attempt to separate the different
kinds of rocks on the basis of htholog1c
differences. These divisions were termed
'format atoms" He noted the wide differ
ence in the characters of the rocks COM
posing the Piedmont plateau and the
coastal plain and the basis of these
differences established two formations.
He called the crystalline rocks of the
Piedmont plateau the primitive forma-
ton" and the unconsolidated deposits of
the coastal plain the "alluvial forma-
ton
The work of Mcclure served as a great
incentive to geologic research in this
country. outlining. as it did. the methods
of work which have been followed since
his time and which have yielded such
important results. Ducatel. state geolo-
gist of Maryland from 1884 to 1910. was
the first man to publish any definite in
formation of value concerning the ge-
ology of Prince Georges county. In his
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18

and the Rambler saw more birds and
tanner birds than a man usually en-
counters during one stroll. Near Dodge
Park the Rambler sat down by the
was proceeding to eat his midday sand
witch. Both sides of the road were
wooded. He heard a lively scratching
in the leaves a few feet behind him and
there were half a dozen of those large
and interesting birds conspicuously
marked with black. white and brown.
and which some persons call "towhees."
from their well known call, or che
wink from their alarm note, or
ground robin" from the fact that in
tive of the robin and because they are
ground birds, living in the swamps.
brushy pastures and open woodlands
and are often seen vigorously and in
dustriously scratching among the
leaves.
A little way off fitted here and there
a pair of scarlet tanagers, the male,
scarlet with black wings and tail and
the female greenish yellow and black
ish. Chester Reed says that These
beautiful birds are found in open
woods. but they often come out in
fields, parks and orchards and some
times in yards when feeding. One OF
the prettiest sights that Lever saw was
about a dozen of these birds tripping
along the burrows of plowed field
where they were feeding on insects
Besides berries and seeds they live
upon quantities of insects, frequently
catching them on the wing in true
f1ycatcher style"
The scarlet tanager breeds in the
northern parts of the United States
from the Atlantic to the great plains
winters in the tropics and appears In
the neighborhood of Washington usual
ly early in May. He has a relative
which the boys who are now men knew
as the red bird" Because of the
slaughter of birds of bright plumage
that bird nearly disappeared and be-
came very rare near Washington, bu,
he is back and the red birds of ones
boyhood are becoming quite numerous
On the walk along the British route
of march from Bladensburg to Bright
seat the Rambler saw several members
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18
THE BRITISH MARCHED HERE.

their whole or predominating color. ex-
cept the black and white warbler. tho
swaineon. the black-thoated blue
warbler. the cerulean warbler and the
bay-breasted warbler
Coming to the railroad crossing at
Landover. the Rambler sat down on the
station platform to rest and to watch
the trains go by, when an American
goldfinch and his wife hoped down on
a grass plot a few feet away to feed
on grass seed. Very many people in
the country call these beautiful little
yellow birds with black poll, black
wings with white wing-bars and black
tail feathers. wild canaries." because
they are yellow and have a canary
like song. Often. too. you will hear
them called thistle birds" because
they like to perch on thistles and they
make their nests partly of thistledown.
AS the Rambler passed along the
sandy road through low land near the
side of branch not far from Bladens-
burg he game upon a dead king snake.
sometimes called a chain snake. not an
hour dead. The snake had been work
ing all his life in the interest of men
who farm, and he had been slain by
some man bred to hold all snakes in
adherence and who had not intelli-
gence enough to differentiate between
venomous and non-venomous snakes.
1t has been written by a man who
knows his subject that III distinct
species of snakes occur in 1.-THE United
States, and of these only seventeen are
dangerous to man. OF these seventeen
thirteen are rattlesnakes with their
unmistakable mark of identification. a
tail ending in q rattle, and the four re-
naming species comprise the copper
head, the water moccasin and two bril-
in
In the District of Columbia and those
parts of Maryland and Virginia ad-
jacent to the District thirty EIGHT diff
ferent kinds of snakes have been found.
and of these only the copperhead 10 a
public enemy. Every water snake in
popular fancy is a water moccasin,"
and yet that snake has never really
been found in this locality. II being a
southern species and extending no
farther north than does the diamond
back RATHER. There is no authentic
record of the killing of rattlesnake
in the vicinity of Washington within
many years. though a man does not
have to travel far to the west of Wash
ingtofl, either on the Maryland or the
Virginia side of the Potomac. to find
this snake, and in Hays List of Ba-
trachians and Reptiles of the District
of Columbia and Vicinity il is writ
ten: The evidence of the occurrence of
the rattlesnake within our limits is not
altogether satisfactory, yet ii is of
such a character as to make il seem
extremely probable that the species is
still to be found about the rock slides
along the river above the city
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18
Some Curious Pavements.

IT oMBSToNES are not infrequently
u employed in different parts Of
England for paving purposes. Some
four or five years ago the inhabitants
of Belvoir bitterly protested against
the use of such material in the con-
struction of a road leading to the par
ish church. despite the assurances of
the local authorities that with the lib
eral supply of old and broken grave
stones at their disposal the plan had
been adopted with a view to saving
the taxpayers quite sum.
In Lyons. France. the celebrated Rue
de la Republique is paved with glass
blocks eight inches square. which have
been so precisely fitted together as to
make them absolutely water tight
Compressed grass. it is claimed. has
been used in the construction of pave
ments in German towns and with ad-
pressed paper has been utilized for a
similar purpose.
Many interesting instances of indi-
vidual eccentricity or extrayagance in
the selection of material for paving
may be cited. 1t is related that when
Macmillan Emanuel succeeded to the
throne of Bavaria he celebrated the
event by causing one of the roads lead
ing to his palace to be paved with
plates of FURNISHED copper. This.
cleaning in the sunshine. gave all the
effect of gold.
Louis XIV, it is said, paved one of
the courts at Versailles with squares
of silver, each of which had recorded
upon ii some triumph of tho French
arms. In the center of the stood
a large tablet of gold in re- ton
of the luxurious monar,l lite
emblem, the sun. Memoi me
of Louis make mention - fge
erected in honor of Loui: ie a. A.
liere. The approach was ID tn
whereon was paint He
CORY setting forth the undy ,vo-
ton of Louis.
An eccentric nobleman of Milan con-
ceived the idea of paving the courtyard
of his palace with slabs of marble.
granite and other stone. each from a
different land. 1t lis said that Europe.
America. Asia. Africa and Australia
all contributed to make up this quaint
mosaic. composed of more than 1.e0o
pieces. every one of which was suitably
with the name of the country
or state whence it came.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18

Industrial pursuits, and do this while
he still works on the statue which has
been his dream and his inspiration!
THE art school which brings forward
these ideas when the students are
young and teaches them to revere every
kind of work associated with art, will
create an epoch in the industrial edu-
cation of America. 1t appears to me a
work which only a great and beneficent
government like ours can do.
1.-The time has already come when we
must stand alone in the art field as we
do in every other line of endeavor. We
must make provisions to train our stu
dents in the best ways. to cultivate
market where they may sell their
wares.
THE school art leagues are doing
fine work toward cultivating the artis-
tic faculty from the ground upward and
not as the highest schools do from the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18
FAMILIAR BIT OF LANDSCAPE.

new Charles county which was erected
in 1858 This was the condition of af-
fairs up to the time of the erection of
Prince Georges county In 1885,. and the
act creating the county of Prince
Georges county should be interesting
to Washingtonians. because in a sense
that is the parent county of the Dis
trict of Columbia and the home county
of the ancestors of thousands of the
Westinghouse OF today. The act fol-
lows:
That the Land from the upper side of Malta
woman and Swanson's Greeks Branches Ex-
West and Patuxent River the East shall be
and is hereby Constituted founded Incor-
be Denominated called and known by the name
of Prince Georges County and shall from and
Ensueing being st. Georges Day as aforesaid
have and enjoy all other Rights benefits and
this Province such as sending Burgesses to As
semblys having County Courts Sherife Justices
and other Ofhcers and Ministers requisite 4
necessary and SIS used in other Countys of this
Province.
The historians of Maryland find that
at the time of the creation of Prince
Georges county there were settlements
along the Patuxent river about as far
as Laurel, but that there were few, il
any. settlements on the Potomac side
further up than Piscataway creek, fif-
teen miles below Washington, the prin-
cipal reason given being that friendly
Indians had reserved this territory for
a permanent abode. 1t should be borne
in mind. though, that formal grants to
land within the limits of the District
of Columbia were made before the
erection of Prince Georges county, and
that the lands covered by these grants
were under cultivation.
Even those writer's who point out
that settlement extended up the Pa
tuxent faster than up the Maryland
side of the Potomac, say that at the
time of the creation of Prince Georges
county there were. however, settle
ments or small outposts at the mouth
of Rock creek within the present limits
of Georgetown and along the Anacos-
tia river in the vicinity of Hyattsville
and Bladensburg. and as far up North
west branch as the present Montgom-
cry county line. Within the next two
decades these settlements had extended
Georges county, although they were
these same years the whites began to
settle on the territory formerly claimed
by the Indians"
AS everybody knows. agriculture is
the principal occupation and from the
beginning has been the principal occu-
patton of the people of Prince Georges,
and at one time or another practically
every acre of ground. except on the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18

the large and the small purple fringed
orchis, the calapogonor grass pink, the
arethusa or Indian pink. the pogonia or
snakemouth, nodding pogonia, whorled
pogonia, rattlesnake plantain and
ladies' tresses. so named because of
the braided arrangement of its white
flowers.
On the south of the road opposite
the handsome home of George B. Ham,
lett the Rambler was accosted by red
start. His black. orange and white plum
age told, of course. that he was a male.
and he had the trait of the American
redstart in desiring to show all the
plumage he wore. The Rambler whis
tied, and this seemed to amuse him
greatly. He hoped from one branch to
another, but always coming a little
closer the better to examine a creature
that had such a strange and I'M bird
like whistle. The little fellow was so
friendly and fearless that he would
probably have come home with the
Rambler had he been invited.
A Bewick wren appeared on nearby
fence to make an investigation of the
unusual happenings in that vicinity and
began to f1utter about and scold. after
the manner of the tribe, and the best
the wren was childing the redstart for
being too familiar with strangers and
that she was threatening the Rambler
with terrible and dire consequences If
he did not hence.
A party of catbirds. attracted by the
excitement. came to enjoy the situation
and began to facetiously mock and
mimic both the redstart and the wren
and other birds whose song notes came
from the woods.
The catbird is very inquisitive bird
and insists on knowing what is going
on. and he is also a merry songster.
Perhaps he was called a catbird because
he is SO inquisitive, though it is most
likely that he was so called because of
his newlike alarm note. A compe-
tent ornitholigist has said of these
birds: They are very persistent song
sters and have large repertoire of
notes, well as being able to initiate
those of many other birds, and they de-
light in spending an hour or more at a
time perched in bush or tree-top,
singing, and apparently making up
their song they go along, for it is
an indescribable medley. interspersed
with various news and catcalls.'
There were many warblers along the
line of march, and everybody who cares
much about the birds knows what a
large and variously marked family this
is, nearly all of them having yellow as
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-06-18
tineale Levy Devotee of Art Education for Masses

heights down to the ground. But only
the government can undertake the Ia
Dor on a scale of sufficient magnitude
to make the reformation in industrial
art education worth while"
Miss Levy'S own story proves con-
clusively that she is not afraid of her
theory. She is a native New Yorker
and the daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Jo-
seph A. Levy. AS child she showed
artistic inclinations, and. her parents
having abundant means. she was given
every opportunity to cultivate her tai
ents. She took a complete course at the
New York School of Design, and, be-
lieving she had been given the divine
spark of genius, she went to Paris and
remained for four years under the best
masters to be found at the Louvre. Her
ambition was to be a sculptor.
After working, studying, thinking all
these years she attempted something
original in plastic art something which
was to make her immortal After a
fair trial, she was compelled most re-
luctantly to admit she did not possess
the creative talent. She could admire
and she could dream. but she could not
produce.
So she looked the matter squarely
in the face and made her choice-to use
and to enlarge the appreciative talent
which she possessed and not to join the
ranks of failures by clinging to some
thing which eluded her.
She began the work in the public
schools as a part of her development
in the art of appreciation. 1t is one
of her theories that American art Is
virile and steadily forcing itself for
ward to the first ranks of modern art,
but the American as rule has not the
appreciative sense and permits his
opinions to be formed by others. All
this school work is to create an appre-
ciative audience right in their own coun-
try for the American artists and Sculp-
tors who reach the sublime heights.
This education of the child is prepar-
ing the way for the artist of the future.
But even in the man and woman of
today Miss Levy does not despair of
awaking the true spirit of apprecia-
tion: and to read the progress art edu-
cation has made in the past twenty
five years is to share her optimism.
X x
Contrary to the opinion held by peo-
pie generally that a New Yorker finds
nothing to admire beyond the Allegheny
mountains. Miss Levy is enthusiastic over
the work which is being accomplished in
the larger cities of the middle west.
Chicago. she says. pointed out the way
in many practical aspects. One way was
to employ the best available artists in
decorating the high and normal schools
st. Louis has recently erected a normal
school where the mural decorations are so
fine that they must be examined by all
who wish to know the last word on the
subject Of school decorations
In Cincinnati. some of the most ornate
buildings are to be seen, AMI with the
most artistic interiors. 1t is al the re-