Evening star., 1923-06-24

T y the matter Of years he was
runner-up to Father Time. and he
was standing before a clump of
full-blooming yucca stalks in the
Capitol grounds. II was a place OF
shade and breezes and of country
silence-until a tired woman came along
you know what 1t is to walk UP the
hill these days.
The real daddy of on-going cycles
would have disregarded her. Of course,
further than TO hand out an extra
crowfoot for good measure, but the
runner-up halted her to ask the name
of the plant. The woman told him. He
shook his head.
THAT is what all say, but when !
was a young man the country folks in
southern Maryland called tt
Thread and needle" the woman
clipped in. And the profoundness of her
knowledge so pleased the ancient man
that pretty soon he was stroking his
that went about like this:
''Once, when a very young man.
was travelling through lower Maryland
as an agent for slave trading con-
Germ. ! prided myself on my sharp
bargains, and having been an orphan.
with no religious or home training, !
had grown into manhood with a lack
Of faith and a contempt for what |
considered the pretenses OF men VINO
used the church for personal advan-
tage.
"It was an early Sunday morning,
and I was following the main road in
my buggy on the lookout for a farm
house where I could get breakfast,
when / came TO a big opening in the
pines. Vehicles and horses were tied
under the trees near little white
washed church. and coming across a
stretch of green was line OF small
boys dressed in white. each carrying,
as IL II were a tail candle, a thread and
needle stalk in full bloom. At the rear
were two negro boys, also in white and
carrying flower stalks, and as they filed
in church / had the curiosity to follow.
Reaching the altar the flowers were
the altar rail and the boys knelt to re-
ceive their first communion
TT made pretty, innocent sight but
I thought no more about 1t until came
sale OF a young farmland to send to
Georgia-and. madam, as plainly as L
now see you. ! saw those black boys
carrying the flower stalks and had TO
pass up the deal. 1t went that way
right along until gave up slave trad
ing for something better for my peace
Of mind.
Every time. summer after summer.
the sight Of thread and needle stalk
seemed to whiten me, somehow, and
when, at last, was in with a, party to
grab up a proposition that would put
me on Easy street for the balance Of
my life q train boy laid q magazine on
my seat. In looking over its pages I
came TO florists advertisement Illus
trated with thread and needle stalk
and il seemed to me, madam, that II
meant more than mere picture. IL
meant that line of innocent children,
| threw down the game, and have tried
to live like a man should from that day
to this.
IT don't go to any special church.
but I try to keep my soul white and
outstanding. And to 1inger here be-
fore these blooms is as good SER
mon as any pulpit could preach.
which seems to show that mission
aries are not strictly limited to hu-
mans
VITHEN we stop making mistakes
w we will be wearing wings
which was one woman's way Of eX-
cusinE herself when she had to go
to a bank and own up that she had
lost her savings account record. A
duplicate was made out, so far as
the cash was concerned, but as list
of mortgage notes had been entered
on the lost book, she was directed
to another department-which meant
another young man in another iron
grill cage-to have the numbers
posted.
He was an official with beautifully
manicured hands and a general air
of owning the bank and all 1T con-
tanned. He listened with the gravity
of a kindly sphinx while the woman
explained her loss and what she
wanted done; and after going through
a card index, pulling out a drawer,
unpinning four white slips from four
blue notes. copying into the book four
rows of figures as straight as soldiers
on parade, passed the book to the
customer. pinned back the papers.
filed them into the drawer, and that
would have been all there was to it
except that
The woman having made her get
away with the sort of exhilaration
that marks a farewell to the dental
chair-a sort of lightness like unto
treading egg shells without breaking
them-hunted around in the broiling
sun until she found a fruit stand.
Then she returned to the bank and
handed the imposing official brown
paper bag:
you had a right to be cross. but
you were so kind that-here's an
orange for you"
There was a boy-sparkle in his
eyes as he accepted the tribute at it's
genuine worth-you notice that hon
esty is seldom belittled-and that
would be positively all that anybody
could get out OF so small an incident.
unless you would like to add the bit
Of problem:
If 1t be carelessness to lose a bank
book, what would you call the quality
that would let a person who found
it fail to notify the ~owner or the
INK? Care1essness again. most likely
which. in turn is excusable for the
woman's sound reasoning:
When we stop making mistakes
we will be wearing wings
xx x
THE melody of old time street calls
- Is no longer heard in the open.
but that there is at least one sur
vival of the fittest was demonstrated
the other morning in the alleyway of
row Of pleasant. homes:
Here comes yo' Mistuh Ragman-
Mis-tuh R-a-g-man-n's er-comin' err
long, Here comes yo-'
The husky richness of voice was
streaked with the minor cadence that
slavery has handed down to the most
rollicking laughter of the black
man
"Mis-tuh Ragman-He's err comm
er -long-"
And just to show what travel will
do: A successful professional woman
said to her companion-a once famous
opera singer-as they sat on a pleas
ant porch of a pleasant garden of one
Of the houses in the pleasant row:
Ever contrast the cheerfulness of
our alley cries with the comberness Of