Evening star., 1919-02-23
MERE is a great deal OF coun-
try around Washington. That
statement 10 made not so much

because II is a fact as because
u 10 an easy way to begin this mar
rative, and tho Rambler as he often
picks out the hardest ways to walk
ought to be forgiven for sometimes
seeking tho easiest way TO write.
There are mon who habitually seek
the easiest way in all things, but such
men seldom attain eminence as ram
piers or writer's, rarely amount to
thucks as farmers, and generally wind
up as bankrupts II they try their hand
ht business. About the only thing in
Which man who steadily seeks the
easiest way ever attains to fame and
fortune ia politics. Then he is called
pier means no harm In mentioning
farming. business and politics in the
Fame paragraph. Farming is a highly
honorable art and business is a science
that is sometimes pursued by men Of
Intelligence and ability.
I. Writing story often presents grave
difficulties. 1t must be begun, and 1t is
Pometimes perplexing to do this with
10 get the attention OF the reader, and
10 do this one must pretend to have
eome interesting facts which he is
about to relate. AS matter OF truth
Ae may have no interesting facts at
band, and IL may be, indeed II often
Il, that he has no facts of any kind.
And II he has few facts and lays
them down on the table at the begin
ping OF the story how in the name of
tnercy---which is not profape--is he to
lead the reader on for two long col
bmns. And 1t Is necessary that the
feader shall be led on, for If the reader
palks the story Is accounted failure
and the writer may then have to lay
down his pen and take up a pick or a
shovel and hoe.
Il ~
There Is no doubt that some writer's
you'd be more skillful with any one of
the last three implements than with the
trst. but not many Of these writer's are
working on daily newspapers. Most of
them are writing books and plays some
are writing for the magazines, and some
have become publicity agents. Then, a
story must be ended. This Is often O.
hard thing to do. Often writer finds
It as hard to let go of his story as
banquet speaker. or even a four-minute
speaker. does to quit speaking. Many
readers OF these humble lines have heard
speakers VINO after promising to make
ana when to quit And SO this narrative
has been begun.
Yes. there is a good deal of country
around Washington. "Around WASH
ington" il an indefinite term. It NAV
mean mile or SO out from the CITY or
II may mean ten or twenty miles out.
10 some persons the territory within a
clreie around Washington, and the
,,s,Sau radaus OF which may be twenty-five
ington." Around Washington is in
scribed within no metes and bounds. A
man who looks at a map Of the environs
OF washington may feel that the region
- 70 De covered with a stride, as the
map can be covered at q glance. A
square mile OF rough earth is reduced to
! g square inch Of smooth paper. The
{otomac river, with Its islands, rapids.
}Sns. rocks and swirling eddIes, looks
s.ke s..s. q creek; and the rushing creeks.
tangled brush, are mere lines. Hills to
climb, which a man must work hard
ana breathe hard, are represented bv
soine Wavy or zig-zag lines called con-
A man may sit In a rocking chair
wth map before him and overlook
aIl the country around Washington. He
may drive his auto over a few of the
man roads and then congratulate him
angton. 0N''o ""sh-
When you begin to walk over the
whoie length of all the main roads
fii the humble roads that lead to
6uu from those main roads, up and
EoWn the less Travelled roads <nd
Ine least Travelled roads, the dim
races that once were roads. the paths
tnat lead hither and thither across
every square mile and quarter of a
pile and to follow the main creeks
throughout their windings and the
CIooked courses of the smaller
streams that rush to join the greater.
you Will perceive that there is indeed
good deal of country around WASH
hngton. And there is scarcely a road
Pl all this country that has NOT its
history, It's memories and It's legends.
Eli OF which is material for the
Rambler to gather up and present in
2 fashion which perhaps interests
Rome persons. and from which MANY
Cthers turn aside to read of the far
Pm Andes, Alps or Himalayas, Tibet's
plains, Arabfa's burning sands or
Pahara's desert--as dry as Washing
ton soon may be. But the Rambler
mas no quarrel with any man whose
taste and fancy run to Mesopota mia.
arcadia or elsewhere than Montgom-
Ply county, Md. One man prefers one
pt OF the globe and the next man
pins his preference TO another.
f1orace, in his ode to Plancus," hit
Snat idea off when he wrote:
Rhodes, Ephesus, or Mytllepe
Or Thessaiy's fair valley
0r Corlnth placed two gulfs atwcen;