Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1921-11-12
LITTLE STORIES OF
THE STREET
By
The Man About TowR

"The Romans considered thirteen
an unlucky number" muttered the
Young fellow who had been toying
with the galloping dominoes, but
two skies is a darned sight unluckler
than the bakers dozen when you get
tangled up in a game OF chance,
1--WE have forgotten how to eat,
volunteered the NJ. D. I'VE no longer
spend sufficient time at the taole.
Talk is one of the best digesterss
known to science. No tonic can beat
it if it is the kind to promote hllarlty
and good feeling generally. Our fore
fathers who gathered around Gads-
bv's we'll filled board managed things
differently. My grandfather used to
tell of those dinners. And he never
had chronic indigestion in his, life: we
travel too fast, eat too fast, read 100
fast
"And die too fast" added the Man
About Town.
"That is no idle jest, either. Grand
father lived to be ninety-three, father
passed three score years and ten, and
/ NAV live to be sixty-if Pm lucky"
Here's hoping" chucklcd the Man
About Town as he hurried home to
lunch.
Friday night, about half an hour
before midnight, d very respectable
gentleman, living on st. Asaph street,
fumbled with his latchkey as he stood
on his porch. Some one inside the
house pulled the door open with
jerk and feminine voice sharply IN
quired: Isn't this a fine state OF al
tairs-you not home since morning.!
Softly, darling, SOFTLY" he replied:
'I've just got back from Plmllco. |
won five hundred and
Come right in the house, dear,
before you catch your death of cold,
she purred in liquid tones. The door
slammed shut and the observer pass
cd on. But don't it make difference?
Oh, Boy, suppose he'd LOST.
While sojourning in southern
Maryland, the past summer, the Man
About Town visited some colonla!
homcsteads of ancient lineage. Many
paintings, ctchings and letters OF I'M
doubted historic value are still re-
tanned in these old families. Here and
there in our notes ,jotted down hur-
riedly, we fird items which are Of To-
cal interest. A copy of letter from
this city dated 1868, says in part:
The streets are busy day and night
with the comings and goings of the
many coaches all the loungers Of the
+lNn,. IN
ness these lively scenes. The driver
takes great pride in his Importance,
and cracking his whip brings up his
four-in-hand at full speed, in most
magnificent manner before the door,
where the smiling host, stands hat IL
hand to receive the weary traveller"
Little more than one hundred years
has passed since that letter was writ
ten. Today we counted three sea-
planes driven through the air with
startling speed, circling over the city.
Hundreds of motor cars tear along
the highways Express trains come
and go. Electric cars hum on their
way to the Capital City, the city
which was little more than swamp
when that letter was penned. In the
words of the corntieh darkey DE
world do move
why is it." asked prominent
resident, that Alexandria is SO far
behind other Virginia cities in educa-
tional matters? You know l have sent
three boys to the University of Nir
ginia. Every one Of them graduated
from our High School. Graduates
from other high schools in the state
are admitted INTO the University on
their graduation certificates. Every
one of my boys had 10 stand an eXami-
nation. Alexandria is not on the eli
gible list, simply because her schools
do not come up TO the requirements
established by the State University.
Is it fair to me as d taxpayer to let
such condition continue to exist? Ii
additional taxes are needed to put our
schools on a sound educational basis
let US call an election and vote the
necessary increase. 1t is time for US
to stop talking and do something"
Canada alone expended 100000
upon musical instruments and ma
terials during the year OF 1919, &C
cording to Government statistical
report published in the Winnipeg Tri-
bune. Our own expenditures along the
same line are probably four times as
great. Music has become part OF
our national life. To extend the de-
mand for the best music should be the
ain, now. One of the best ways, and