Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-16
Around the City,.

- HE belongs to the medieval era
OF chin ribbons. and when the
4 movie theater IL built on the
site Of the Visitation Convent
she is going to the opening perform
ance. For why?
Way back when the convent first
opened its portals she was among
those present when the nuns moved
from their old cloisters across from
st. Patrick's Church to their new in
stitution. Which accounts for the
chin ribbons and the hemi-semi- demi
Quavers in her Charles county voice.
"When a nun makes her final VOWS
she goes to window for a last
glance at the world. while the ques-
ton Is asked her If she Is willing to
give her life to the cloister-and after
that she sees outside things no more.
There are exceptions to every rule,
however. and when the nuns were
ready to change homes their spiritual
director gave them permission to look
at the convent their industry as teach
ers had built.
my cousin. Mother Augustin, who
was superior about that time, decided
that she would deny herself the pleas
ure of seeing the building. as an act
of sacrifice. but the woman in her
made her want to know what 1t looked
like-so when the thirty nuns were
inside and as happy as robins over
their new nest she asked for infor-
nation. But her curiosity had to go
tn, In Il H. hnn
own act of sacrifice and ever after
had to depend on photographs and
descriptions Of outside friends.
"You know those FURNISHED brass
ratings on the center steps? Well,
one day w. w. Corcoran called at the
convent before the nuns could afford
anything better than wooden Stats.
He didn't say a word about it. but the
next thing the nuns knew his work.
men were putting the brass rails in
place.
"And, of course. you have admired
the forest green foliage above the
high brick wall? 1t seems a pity for
those trees to go. because they have
kept green the memory of a good man
eOuo w HAo AC"0Aus W. ZIG
grounds were only so much raw dirt,
the nuns. anxious for q garden. but
with little money to spend on 1t, gave
the florist small order Ito begin
with" And when he was through
there was a paradise of blossoming
walks and trees-an even hundred.
fruit and shade. for which the florist
wouldn't take cent.
II remember that Judge Merrick.
William H. Ward. the lawyer, and
other advisers of the nuns protested
most earnestly against the purchase
Of the Connecticut avenue property,
which at the time gave no encouraging
evidence of Its present value, but each
Of them lived to admit the wisdom Of
the deal. certainly am going to at
tend the first performance at that thea
ter just for the extremeness it stands
for"
when lady patroness entered.
followed by man. And the other
lady patroness in charge knew ex-
actly what had happened. Women un-
derstand little things SO WELL
"Oh. Mrs. Blank. you remember
that derby donated. don't you?"
Mrs. Blank recalled it perfectly. 1t
was almost as good as new and she
had laid 1t aside for an old man who
had paid cents on account
"Well, that's my husbands best hat
and the mean thing says IL he doesn't
get 1t back I've got to go without a
new one all winter"
The mean thing smiled grim in
dorsement. and the clerk-lady looked
up the derby and produced It,
What the old man would have to
say when he brought the balance Of
the money and had to take hat that
wasn't almost as good as new would
doubtless make good literature Of the
human document sort. but
This isn't about the old man.
4 4 X Il
TWO women at q store counter.
. The one who talked wore nifty
brown, short enough to show whole
lot of tan kid and stilted heels. The
other one was mere being in black.
Nobody can accuse me of being
superstitious, because I'm nothing of
the kind. but meeting Connie has
made me as nervous as a water bug"
without going into the degree of
nervousness entailed by being a water
bug, or waiting for the mere being