Evening star., 1924-07-18
THIS AND THAT
BY c. T.. TRACEWELL.

| "A beggar through the world am 1,
! From place to place I wander by"
| Who wouldn't be a jolly beggar on
F street and drag down big wages?
+ street on summers morning is
an entirely different street from
that of the afternoon. In the after
noon, welI-more OF that later.
| The morning F street shows warm
| thoroughfare, busy, businesslike,
! moving along about its regular rou-
tine like a machine just warming up
for long run.
In the crowds which begin to pour
along the shady south side the OLD
| pencil beggar has his fitting place.
| X r x
| Gray-bearded, wearing an ancient
| straw hat of the exact shade of his
whiskers, his ample stomach sitting
pretty behind a bright blue shirt, the
old pencil vender suddenly appears
at Twelfth street.
! He leans some what heavily on his
! stick which he holds in his left hand.
| while in his right he extends to the
! passing world several bright red pen
| ellis.
| Certainly he would reject the term
| "beggar," and yet there be no
such demand along F street this
I morning for pencils as he drums UP.
| Everybody is buying pencils.
| As he passes you he thrusts his
| right hand out a bit. waving red
| writing instruments under your nose
!: X &
| In 10 minutes the old man sold 10
red pencils.
In the majority of cases the coin
passed over seemed to be a dime
| Thus he picked up probably as
much as a dollar in 10 minutes.
If he could keep up this rate. in an
| hour he would amass Sc. and in
! modest working day of eight hours
would take home with him the sum
! of s4s.
| Not SO bad" as the ancient Greek
| SAID when he threw a rock at d dog
and hit his mother-in-1aw.
:; y =
Nobody on F street, of course. sup
poses that the pencil man 50. far
! eclipses the plasterer in the matter
of hauling down big daily wages.
Undoubtedly many Of his returns
are nickels, or even pennies" (Some
one wrote me once that there is no
/
! body knows there isl
He only gets one refusal. at which
he balks at lifting his ancient straw.
| Ihat seems TO be the thank you"
sign; Buy pencil, and you get a tip
| of the hat.
But the path of business is not all
roses, as every business man knows,
| Just when life seems running the
smoothest along comes the storm
| x
! A large officer of the law came
walking along.
By this time the pencil man was
just at Eleventh street
Then he disappeared
He evaporated. No other term
could express his going. He simply
dried up. went out Of existence; he
was gone. that's all" to use George
Otonnor s classic expression.
No magician. with his cabinets and
draperIes-and wires. etc.-could have
got that man off F street as quick as
he made away with himself
Like Longfellow's famous arrow
| shot into the air. he disappeared Il
/ know not where" More silently than
the Arabs folded their tents. he stole
away.
! One knew not if the coming of the
cop had anything to do with it. Tn
! doubtedly he is an honest man. ply
| ing an honest beggar-business sell
! ing presumab bly, good pencils to those
who want pencils and those who have
| no use whatever for pencils Some
customers even refuse TO take them
! But when the officer showed up. the
| pencil fellow dropped out of exist
| ence. certainly.
| AS far as F street was concerned
he was cut off in his prime. If he
had stepped through sewer trap
| and drawn the cover behind him he
could not have flew the coop" any
quicker.
Up F street, down + street. I'D
Eleventh street. down Eleventh
street, one looked in vain for that
jovial. old figure, whose round, blue
clad paunch testified to good business.
Maybe he made quick change.
substituted a derby for the straw,
Strengthened up. concealed his pen
ellis and went into movie show. iu ST
about to open.
street had lost him. for the time
being. but there was plenty more to
see. What cool pictures are in the
movie ads this morning, snow.
scenes. sleds, dogs. white-iined trees
| illimltable stretches of Gods great
| outdoors" cold stuff for hot morn
ing.
The picture show is about to open
| Loi iie Ods. AT the heaC of the line
stands a little widow, all in black.
Next comes soldier. then a flapper,
| a Sedate business man. a small bow
Headless bathing suit figures in a
shop window attract the eye But
| why headless' Even plaster girls
are much more interesting when they
have heads. A head is really a neces-
| sary part of a human being, Won
| know. 1t is hard to get along with
| out one, even on + street
A girl with a fur piece around her
neck saunters by. That airedale seat
ed in the big limousine wears his fur
! more gracefully.
Now it is high tide along F. street.
which has three tides, betterins the
sea by one. The tide of humanity
beats in during the morning, reaches
high about IL o'clock, recedes TO rise
again about l, goes out again. and
blows up to full beginning at 4:3o
O'Clock, when the government d.
| partments break loose.
Lavender. brown and green girls
| walk by; blue, rose and white girls
stroll along. yellow, red and mauve
girls amble adown this most inter
estlng street, this gorgeous street,
street
Writer Defends Protest
Against Reclassifving