Evening star., 1924-08-26
THIS AND THAT
BY C. e. TRACEwELL.

i q
| cartoonist who has to make a draw
ing of John w. Davis.
There is SO much here, and yet so
little to seize upon, SO many good
| points with so few of the bad, that
| nothing stands out to make a. ready
| mark.
If the Democratic candidate for
President. fine man that he is, only
! had very outstanding ears. or wore
| cowboy hat. he would be pie for
| the gentlemen who draw the car
toons of the nation.
If Ninth street was anything but
| what it is. 1t would be easy to de-
| scribe. Its picture in words would
! glow with color. and it would take
its place easily in the gallery of our
| streets.
| AS it is, one has to be content to
draw Ninth street as he finds IL, with
out trying to do the far-famed stunt
OF attempting to gliding the lily.
| + +
! It is curious how 80 many of our
streets seem to limit themselves.
| When Ninth street is named, for
| instance, nine persons out of ten will
think of that portion lying between,
Pennsylvania avenue and the Public
Library.
That much Of this thoroughfare is
| Ninth street. to them and shall be
| to US for outside these limits in
some blocks it is just the same sort
of street, or half-and-haf business
and residence, without any particu-
| lar leaning toward one or the other
| type. .~,:
| Within it's self-appointed limits,
Ninth street is a typical Washington
business way with the usual run of
stores. more than the usual number
| of small movie theaters, ~and per-
| haps a heavier pedestrian traffic than
to be met on the average street.
| Even here one has TO hedge a biri
for Seventh street would dispute this.
pointing to its thronged sidewalks,
| its well fed walkers of all ages and
| types. Yet, all things considered,
perhaps more persons walk along its
sister street
! Ninth street is a 24-hour street.
where nighttime brings on increased
| activity, Turing forth beneath the
! lights certain types that seem to pre-
fer the nocturnal. Nithttime is diff
| ferent from daytime-on Ninth street
Night sees sedate Seventh street
| aglow but lonesome. The women
| that thronged it but a few hours ago
| are gone. He who stops. to look into
| . chSp "IAoo~ AoS SSIiPoAiS'
! X
| Not so Ninth street When the
| dusk comes down, and the lights
| flare up with increased brilliancy, up
! and down this way Ninth street puts
| on its glad rags for another session
Of frolic and business.
| 1t is during the daylight. how
| ever, that the street stretches away
| as the thoroughfare that most people
know. Then it is the parade ground
| OF the sub-1apper. ..-.
| The sub-f1apper, it may be explain
| ed, is the adolescent girl who will
| be called a. fapper tomorrow. She
| wears short skirts by right. and has
| as fashionable a "shingle bob" or
| perhaps straight bob" as any older
| girl in town.
| The philosophically minded often
| wonder just why these sub-fappers
| throng Ninth street. 1t is impossi-
| BILE to stroll along this street with
out wondering where they come from.
| what they are doing here, where they
| are going. Perhaps that Greek priest
over there, with his heavy gold crucifix
| on heavy gold chain, might answer.
He shakes his head. But l am not
sure he is right. There is no harm,
per Sc, in bobbed heads, or short
| skirts, or a bit of rouge or powder.
| L ne IEOuDl0 CoIIleS "hoh NhS
| tory night hawks fly by.
| + X x
Ninth street is the home of the
| famous two-eyed white cat.
| Most cats have two eyes, of course.
| but few have two eyes like this
| fellow.
One eye is bright green. the other
is bright blue. Sitting in store
doorway, the big creature surveys
| passersby with equal gaze.
! Passers often wonder what it is tina
attracts them. without noting the
| two-colored eyes. Often it is not
until some one points 1t out that they
| realize it This blue-green combina-
ton is not a rare phenomena exactly,
| but sufficiently scarce to merit notice.
| + X
Curbstone loafing is a character
istic Of the entire street, Groups or
men and boys always are to be found
| along Ninth street, standing by the
curbs, engaged in hot argument or
! Just idling the time away. The Ninth
street side of a bank building has
sheltered, in winter thousands of i'll
| clad and ill-fed men, while in sum-
mer it does duty still as prop 10
| tired spines.
| Here the oId-time movie show holds
forth. OF recent years the picture
palace theaters, with. their granu
| auditoriums. pipe organs, nifty ush-
ers, programs, multi-reels and the
| rest of it ran the little theaters on
many a street. But ii flourishes stlll
on Ninth street, with it's small LOBBY
glarinS posters, Wild-West stun
cowboys, thrills, chases, all the ap-
peal that the old-time movie ever
had, preserved in these little places
lest we forget the old times amid the
1littAr of bir ptctures named out of
| a dictionary of suggestive words.
That Hthograph there, is it not
| downright honest, with its brawny
lumberjack choking the life out OF a
| fellow? Undoubtedly, in the film, he
| lets the under dog up before the vital
spark goes out. And ooh' See the
last stand of Alkali Bill. as flames
two yards long squirt. out of his
smoking Colts.
Automobiles pass in constant pro-
! cession. A fuel oil wagon. hearsc-
| a florist wagon, an automobile with
two nuns inside.
| There rides Old Jowls, with Young
Jowls driving him. The old man,
topped with a straw. sits proudly IN
| the back seat, while Young JoWis
puffs a cigar beneath his cap.
Twenty years from now Young
| Jowls will be Old Jowls, aud new
| Young Jowls will sit in front at
| another wheel in front.
| To the north stretches the thin line
| of small green trees. Small but worth
| while, if they never grow another lncn,
| with their roots vainly trying to suck
sustenance from asphalt.
| 1t must be hard job to be tree
on Ninth street.
| Nighttime, and with the lights the