Evening star., 1924-08-18
THIS AND THAT
NJ G. e. TRACEwELL.

hero goes for q guess two blocks'' con.
test.
A we'll known minister was the frs.
to name the street corner, described but
not located In the article, calling b,
telephone in the midst Of the storm
which broke UP the hot spell.
Either the writer gave a good de-
scription Of 18th and T. streets. or there
are many more observant people ir
| Washington and nearby places than he
! imagined, for every one placed the
| corner correctly:
Several residents Of Alexandra, Va.
wrote In. one declaring after naming
the corner: 1T is the thoroughfare ol
Alexandrians vending their way to the
r street shopping district"
| Somewhere in downtown Washington
| there is a stretch Of two blocks thai
shall serve as the subject for today's
contest, the prize to be that pieasurablt
feeling experienced when one guessei
| correctly.
] Standing here on the northwest cor.
ner Of an intersection, the first object te
strike the attention is a Visiting Nurse
in her blue uniform. running to catch a
street car. Her black handbag swing,
like a pendulum, a pendulum of mercy
and healing.
A small, dark child with plenty o.
curls walks along with her mother: az
old man. with quantities Of white hal,
showing beneath his hat, knocks out hi,
pipe on the curb; girl in bright blue
dress and gay yellow hat, walks by, re.
minding one Of these salt cellars in the
shape Of a vividly hued duck.
So much for the initial atmosphere OF
our two blocks" But wait-that
strange trio out there by the car tracks
waiting for the string OF automobiles
to pass, must be included.
| First 1t was a solo-one rnotherly
looking middle-aged woman, gray.
haired, sedate. Then it became a trio
when a duet Of ggypsy women soft
shoed beside her, without the moth.
erly woman knowing it.
| What a bright 'splotch of color the
gypsy women make, contrasting SO with
the other. Red, green, blue, pink, vel.
low, any color one can think OF can bt
discovered in their costume.
Both have long. brown hair, falling ir
braids over their shoulders. All gypsie,
seem to have the same color Of hair
and exactly the same dark skins.
| BY the way. who ever saw bobbed.
hair gypsy girl?
4 +
| Catty-cornered across the street is 9
three STORY building housing a restau-
rant. Above the three honest floors is as
glaring an instance Of a false front
as ever was witnessed in Far Western
| settlement.
Full sized windows, etc, are in this
| false floor, which, looked at head on
gives a perfect illusion, but, from this
semi-side view, appears merely what II
| is-a fake.
Down a side street looms low
| squat dome.
Looking along our chosen thorough
| fare one sees next to the restaurant
/ theater building. Next comes {
real four-story building-or so 4
seems-of newly painted brick. 1t is
pale yellow.
Here another street cuts acros.
and in the intersection is a small tri
angle. and in the triangle stands {
| statue Of a great American. his righ
| hand lifted as II laying down thu
! law" to some one.
"Presented to the National Capita
by Stiison Hutchins," says an inscrip
tfon.
Two large trees, two small trees
stand across the thoroughfare. Her
| comes a Chinese woman in Americas
| clothes.
| An assistant secretary Of a grea
! Government department alights from
! the largest limousine in Washington
| He can never tell me again that he
gets down to the Office with his clerks
know better!
Passes now a flow of men with
moustaches and women with Ions
hair. Moustaches and long hair, some
folk believe, are relics OF semi-bar
| barism, and some day will be on'
with the dodo.
Maybe all men and women will b
bald as eggs in some future age wher
the great spiritual decades. so Ions
prophesied by SO many recent writ.
| ers. come true.
| 1t has taken centuries since Samson
| and his locks, but mankind and WON.
| ankind are getting to look more ant
more like Chihuahua dogs every day.
| x Z
| On the point" facing the triangle
and across a street stands five-stor!
bank building. 1t is the opening
wedge to shoe Store Row" If there
is any block in Washington that ha:
more shoe stores per square inch,
wish some one would tell me about 1t
| One shoe store, another shoe store
here's third bootery-gosh! here:
| another one. How many shoe store:
are there in this block. anyway? Here
| is a 5-and-10-cent store.
Another shoe store, another shoe
shop; now a mercantile establishment
where they sell footgear for men ant
women. How many is that-seven ol
| eight?
One loses count drifting along this
second block. Across the street art
three-story business establishments
nothing particular about them on'
way or the other-just the kind thai
has grown up with the city.
| One ought to. have no difficulty III
the world in finding a shoe to fit him
on this block. Here is still another
shoe shop. Misery loves company
says the proverb. So must shoe shops
Shoes of leather flock together, evi-
IDENTIFY. X X
Now we have come to the end OF
| the second Of our 1.-TWO blocks"
Just how many shoe stores We
passed worries US. They say thai
Napoleon when engaged in his favor
| lite occupation of counting white
| houses as he passed through con.
| quered towns would ride back and
| begin all over again If he thought he
had missed one.
Like Napoleon, we march back
| again, this time keeping careful count
of the shoe shops as we go along
| oh all In q than ofr on the fingers,