The Washington herald., 1920-12-05

THE cities are full of pride,
Challenging each to each
This from her mountainside,
And from her burthened beach"
-R. Kipling.
Fancy a novel about Chicago or
Buffalo, let us say, or Nashville,
Tenn. There are just three big
cities in the United States that are
story cities--New York, of course;
New Orleans, and. best Of the LOT,
San Francisco. Norris.
FAST is East and West is San
Francisco, according to Cali
fornians. Californians are a
race of peoples they are not merely
Inhabitants of State. They are the
Southerners of the West. Now, Chi
cagoans are no less loyal to their
city; but when you ask them why,
they stammer and speak of lake fish
and the new Odd Fellows Building.
But Californians go into detail.
or course they have, in the
climate, an argument that Is good
for half an hour white you are
thinking of your coal bills and
Dul dS SOOh As
they come to mistake your silence
for conviction. madness comes upon
them, and they picture the city of
the Golden Gate as the Bagdad of
the New World. So far. as a matter
of opinion, no refutation is neces-
sary. But, dear cousins all (from
Adam and Eve descended) 1t is a
rash one who will lay his finger on
the map and say: "In this town
there can be no romance-what
could happen here?' Yes, IL Is a
bold and a rash deed to challenge
in one sentence history, romance,
and Rand and McNally.
Nashville.-A city, port of deliv-
cry, and the capital of the State of
Tennessee, is onA the Cumberland
River and on the N. c. & st. l.. and
the L. & N. railroads. This city is
regarded as the most important ed
ucational center in the South.
I stepped of the train at D. m.
Having searched the thesaurus in
vain for adjectives. I must, as a
substitution, HE me to comparison
in the form of a recipe.
Take of London fog 80 parts; ma
laria 10 parts; gas leaks 20 parts; /;
dewdrops gathered in a brickyard
at sunrise, rs parts; odor of honey
suckle Is parts. Mix
The mixture will give you an ap-
proxfmate conception OF a Nashville
drizzle. 1t is not SO fragrant as a
moth-ball, nor as thick as pea-soup;
but tbs enough-'twill serve.
L went to a hotel in a tumbril. 1t
required strong self-suppression for
me TO keep from climbing to the top
OF 1t and giving an imitation of Sid
ney carton. The vehicle was drawn
by beasts of bygone era and
driven by something dark and eman-
cipated.
l was sleepy and tired, so when I
got to the hotel / hurrfedly paid II
the 80 cents it demanded with an
proximate lagniappe. 1 assure you'll.
knew its habits; and 1 did not
want to hear it prate about its old
marster or anything 4Uhat hap
pened "befo' de wah."
The hotel was one of the kind de-
scrlbed as renovated" That means
$4,000 worth of new marble pillars.
thing. electric lights and brass Gus
pidors in the lobby, and a new L. &
N. time table and a lithograph of
Lookout Mountain in each one of
the great rooms above. The man.
agement was without reproach, the
attention full of exquisite Southern
courtesy, the service as slow as the
progress of a snail and as good -hu-
mored as Rip Van Wrinkle. The
food was worth travelling a thou
sand miles for. There is no other
hotel in the world where you can
get such chicken livers en- crochette,
AT dinner I asked a negro waiter
If there was anything doing in
town. He pondered gravely for a.
minute, and then replied: We'll.
boss, 1 don't really reckon there's
anything at all doin' after sun
down"
Sundown had been accomplished; :;
1t had been drowned in the drizzle
long before. So that spectacle was
denied me. But / went forth upon
the streets in the drizzle to see what
might be there.
1t Is built on undulating grounds; !;
and the streets are lighted by cleo
tricity at cost of $32,47O per an
mum.
As I left the hotel there was a
race riot. Down upon me charged
company of freedmen. or Arabs.
or Zulus, armed with-no, saw
with relief that they were not rifles,
but whips. And I saw dimly a car
avan of black. clumsy vehicles; ana
at the reassuring shouts, "Kyar you
anywhere in the town, boss, fuh
nifty cents" I reasoned that 1 was
merely a fare" instead of a victim.
l walked through long streets, all
Leading uphill. 1 wondered how
those streets ever came down again.
Perhaps they didn't until they were
graded" On a few of the main
streets" I saw lights in stores here
and there; saw street cars go by
conveying worthy burghers hither
and yon; saw people pass engaged
in the art of conversation, and
heard burst of semi-lively laugh
ter issuing from a soda-water and
ice-cream parlor. The streets other
than main" seemed to have en-
ticed upon their borders houses con-
secrated to peace and domesticity.
In many of them lights shone be-
hind discreetly drawn window
shades; in a few pianos tinkled or
derly and irreproachable music.
There was. indeed, little doing"
wished 1 had come before sun
down. So I returned to my hotel.
In November, 1864, the Confed-
crate Gen. Hood advanced against
Nashville, where he shut up a Ma
tional force under Gen. Thomas.
The latter then sailed forth and
defeated the Confederates in a ter
rible conflict,