The Washington herald., 1917-01-31
Last Of the Characters. |"


! Tile old Washington is no more. II
may have seemed an insignificant thing
when Shoemakers disappeared from
Pennsylvania avenue and Hancock 8
closed Its doors. but those things were
symbols, like Grape on the door. Wash
ington has changed Its character. which
Is to say that the old Washington is dead
and a new one begun "Th' new kind. ("
as Mr.. Dooley said of a world without
alcohol. may be betther; but it'll be
dinrent, an tn wurruId will be sadder
an safer wurruld to live in.''
The last Of the characters" Of Wash
ington died few days ago, and with the
passing Of that famous tribe the meta
morphosis becomes complete. There is
no room for them in the Washington of
since the Presidency OF Jefferson. and
were a feature of its life duplicated no.
where-the men who were pointed out 10
you on the street under that title tust as
we're the Monument and the Capitol For
100 years. IL character died there were
always plenty more, for II was a self
renewing Institution; but they have been
dying of with no SUCCESSORS for the last
few years, and when Charley Edwards,
''of Texas. the name was never pro-
nounced without the sufix-died last
Washington was closed.
When Bill Sterrett went TO Washing
ton." said Col R. NJ. Johnston once. "he
made a great stir as the typical wild and
woony westerner, and made what SEEM
ed granite reputation. But when
Charley Edwards arrived. he hadn't more
than got OF the train and hung up his
hat before everybody was calling Bill
efreminate." He had helped Brann make
The Iconoclast: he had imbibed his phil
osophy of life under the tutelage of Eu-
gene Field. He wore an immense black
sombrero and a sweeping black mus
tache. and once. in the Senate gallery,
when he whispered. as he thought. to a
neighbor. a Capitol attendant came down
and touched him on the shoulder, say
ing, Shouting is not permitted in the
gallery, SIR
1t was a sight for the gods to see him
and that other famous character" Dr.
Bedloe, when Greek met Greek; Edwards
and Bedloe, storm and sunshine. a cy-
clone and a summer day, with a rap
turous crowd instantly congregating for
the collision of fun and Wit. Coarse
humor. sir. coarse humor." was always
Bedloe's final and conclusive retort as
he walked sunnily away. Tom OchiItree
belonged to the era OF both, was a friend
OF Bedloe's; he died in eclipse, long re.
moved from Washington. but he outlived
old John Chamberlin.
Congress contributed its quota to the
same era OF Characters" Private John
Allen. Belford, the Redheaded Rooster
of the Rockies. and many others But
these Congressional characters were moi
quite the same as the unofficial charac.
ters. There was old Judge Riley pacing
down the avenue. all stateliness and
touch-me-notlshness. he who won fame
by peppering the Queen OF Madagascar
with birdshot when he was Consul al
Mozambique and wished to emphasize his
disapproval of her taste in bathing cos
tunes. Col. John A. Joyce, with his mil
itary soft hat and his name of white hail
rolling down on his shoulders, he who
used to beguile his leisure by driving Ella
Wheeler Wilcox into spasms Of indigna.
ton at stated times by asserting with
solemnity that he had written her poem
Laugh and the World Laughs with
You" The outraged poet has never seer
any fun in the situation 10 this day, and
perhaps Joyce himself did not
Some OF the lost tribe of "chara cters'