The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1921-06-18
CAPITAL HOSETTES
!. PEACE.T|ME THREAT
ESPECIAL CoRREspospENcEl

ent way. Different, that is, from the
way you see them at the departments,
the stores, the manufacturing plants,
and other orthodox hives of industry
The principal reason is that secre-
taries and clerks to Senators and Rep
resentatiyes are not held to strict
hours as general thing. There Is an
unwritten law that nine o'clock Is the
time to carry on, but probably there
Is nobody to scold you if you get in
at nine-fifteen or nine-thirty. On the
other hand, If you get to your desk
at eight-thirty there is plenty to
do-oh, yes. indeed.
If you station yourself at one of
the main entrances at eight-forty and
remain there thirty minutes you will
have seen the greater part of the
show. They come in punches. They
come in street cars TO some extent
but you will be surprised to note that
most of them walk to work. They
can't very well afford TO pay the
eight-cent street-car fares: and be-
sides, rents are cheaper "on the HILL"
Then, too, the Government hotels are
near by. This Is the Washington
name for the temporary wartime
domiciles for female employees of the
| government who have to live some
where In order to work to get more
money to get more food to give them
more strength to do more work-in-
definitely continued
! Then, again, it's a nice place to
live-on the Hill. It's handy when 1t
rains. The streets are beautifully
shaded with noble old trees, and there
are just as many mosquitoes and June
bugs and such-lile accoutrements as
are to be found around the more aris-
tocratic sections of the Capital. The
Congressional Library offers many ad-
vantages; and of evenings we walk
around the Capitol grounds where
the sweet magnolia blooms"-lots of
us. And It seems strangely peaceful
when the whirr of law-making and
grating machinery is stilled-until
the next morning. when they come to
work
| They come in punches, end they
come in skirts. Perhaps there are no
more skirts than pants" but the
fatt tt,fv
somehow; more pervasiye; you know.
Come to think of it, you might say
| this year that the feminine they"
comes in about half skirts and half
silk-half -silk-sox. The con-
gressional secretary or clerk girl
hasn't come to work as yet in bare
| knees, like the scions of the idle and
predatory rich wear on the great
Northwest side (of town.; but you
never can tell.
On rainy days they come with um-
brellas. There is more umbrella car
rying in Washington than there was
| gun toting on the Comstock in its
palmy days; and it's Just about as
dangerous. A fellow from the balmy
West doesn't half appreciate what a
dangerous weapon an umbrella is until
he has encountered covey of Capital
chickens brisking down the sidewalk,
umbrellas up, and dripping. and held
before the eyes-much as blind
folded knight might have charged
down the lists with his lance in posi-
tion before him. in his heart a de-
termination to do or die.
An umbrella is bad medicine. 1t is
liable to pick out your eye, or stab
hole in your brand-new Palm Beach
suit, or squirt stream of dirty water
down inside your modern metropoli-
tan oxfords and all over your nice
cream -colored footwear. And then
you get balled out for running into it.
They come joyfully. most of them,
because most of them are young. The
younger generation-these boys and
girls "who are to be the Senators and
Congressman of tomorrow Tin pigs
eye!)-take their work seriously.
They believe that the foxy, non
committal letters they are writing to
the constituents back home" are the |
real stuff. Some think them really |
wise and smart, others believe they |
are fooling people. Some others, it
must be said. are writing really good
honest letters.
But there Is no sadder human being
than the old clerk. who has become
mere human machine. with saggng
jowls and an utterly hopeless and
cynical expression. He has seen the
solons come and go with changing
times and administrations, with be-
liefs In high and low tariffs. with
ideals of reforms and with schemes