Evening star., 1924-03-09
AROUND THE CITY
BY Mamie Lancaster

was that slushy day when the
rain sniveled down and the wind
sneezed at you round corners
as il Ma Nature had the flu. !.
A man boarded crowded car, but
managed to wedge himself in side
seat next the motorman. :
You could tell he was nice man.
because his clothes were trigly
adapted to the weather-and by the
thoughtful care with which he held
his vet umbrella SO that it would
drip on the corrugated floor, instead
OF the passenger alongside.
After bit, the passenger next got
out and his seat was pumped into by
woman of the type who will con-
slider herself as belonging to the
younger set" until she marries OF
dies Of old age.
Once settled, she crossed her limbs
--legs-so that one muddy French
heel lay against the nice mans coat
There was no possible way of NOV
ing out of touch--you know what a
side seat is with four people, one
extra fat-so the nice man waited to
see of the woman next would retire
her heel. She did not.
Thereupon, in n genteel and most
absent minded way he shifted his wet
umbrella so as to make it leak on
the silk stocking above the muddy
heel. And while he was doing it, his
gaze fixed itself on the opposite win
dow.
The woman looked the daggers that
so accommodatingl lend themselves
to comparisons. and then huffed her
self around to smear her heel against
Passenger on the other side. And
that was all there was to it-except
for this miniature moral.
1t isn't advisable to take a nice
man too much for granted. Not al
ways,
THE Districts oldest inhabitants
are the trees. Some of them were
big and green and breezy when our
present most venerable citizen was try
ing to crawl and say dada" They
have grown bigger and greener, and
breezier in the years that changed a
veterans with canes: and birds will he
nesting In their branches when the
babies of this century are sans every
thing in the next, unless
Unless progress comes along with
an AK.
All of which is by way of introduction
to a recent man from prairies. who
opines that Washington wastes too
much ground on our foliage. Ground
was made for crops. He admits that
our trees ara fine to look at, but when
You come right. down to, facts. what
are they good for except for fuel or
building? Also. he protests the plant
ing Of memorial trees along state roads
Every yard OF shade Injuries growing
grain.
he might have recalled many trees with
a value not TO be measured by cord
wood or Understanding trees that
grow in the fields of history. tradition
and roinance-eSpeciaily the two trees
that guard the gates Of the ends of the
wor1d-the scripturai Apple OF Eden
that shades the entrance we come IN
by and the Tree of Life that stands
at the outer portal ta-where? A tree
took the form of Calyary's cross, and
Ruddha learned mystic enlightenment
under the branches of the sacred Bo."
/ On spring mornings when you make
short outs through, say, the Library
and Capitol grounds On your way to
huSineSS, the trees are only so many
green things that give beauty and
shade. But they take on individuality
when you stroll among them in the
twilight. Some of them are living
pages out of book that can never
die. The. Christ thorn" with its
!, long. keen needles, makes real for you
an agony which the most pious imagi-
! nation could never pictufe-and un-
dor the Judas tree, nearby, the shad-
pws take on a sinister shape. There
IL b sycamore that Zaeeaeus might
nave climbed A.e better to see Jesus
Of Naaarath, who was passing by" A
splendid ash THAT no snake dare
climb" makes you wish 1t had steod
guard at EdeR's gate when the ser-
pent made his ealE-and. also, the
dear ash visions for you those hight
ing Greeks. especially Achilles. out
of whose 'ashenN spear" Homer got
such a whoopingN story.
He Was q nice prairia man With Z