Evening star., 1925-10-14

What has become of the old street
characters that used to greet Wash
| 1ngtonians every day?
Once upon time the air was made
| glad with the cries of "Ole rags! Any
| ole rags today" That rising inflec,
| ton, that pleasant sing song, had
more music in 1t than many a So
called melody of today.
Back in the days when the horse
less carriage" first ran over the streets
| of the National Capital at the binding
| speed of Il miles an hour, there were
dozen or more of these familiar char
| acters
| The passing of many OF them, and
| theSsad submergence of the others in
| the universal trend of time. speaks
volumes for progress, sanitation, what
! you will. Yet. since they were pic
| turesque, some loss must be registered
/ at the same time we admit advance
| ment.
Our "ole rags" man is still heard in
| the alley, now and then, but probably
not more than once a month at the
most, whereas in the old days his call
was heard almost every morning.
Water melon! Ripe water melon
they sang sweetly, decade or two
ago. In Summer still his voice may
be heard, but it sounds chastened, sub
dued, in the roar of traffic. as If
abashed at the more sanitary methods
of selling foodstuffs that prevail today.
Yes, we still hear them, but family,
as from afar, lacking the old appeal.
the ancient vigor, the high-pitched
tremors that made those cries Il joy
at the time, and a memory forever.
After ALL the picturesque in life is
one Of the factors that make for our
keenest enjoyment in this world.
Scenes, individuals. crowds. that form
pictures, do more than they commonly
are given credit for doing
Often we fail TO realize at the time
just what it was about Il given man,
or woman, house or place, that struck
our fancy, yet afterward we come TO
the right conclusion in the matter,
that it was simply the faculty of being
different.
The picturesque. of course, falls
into no such easy classification. as u
whole. Often it is II huddle of the
commonplace, wherefore the value Of
the ordinary. This is often overlooked.
Yet, in the main. the picturesque
person is the man or woman who has
dared to be different. One does not
have to go to Italy to find him. A
man may be picturesque in Washing
ton as well as in Naples.
The strangeness Of costume-to us
aids the picture, but even the usual. II
carried with a certain distinctiveness
or swagger, gets across TO our more
or less satiated eyes.
So 1t was that many of the old-time
Washington characters were pictur-
esque in the best meaning of that
word. They came into our lives casu-
ally, but left a lasting impress.
Maybe we do not stop to think OF
them often, but when we do we re
member them vividly.
There was the monkey grinder
man." as we called the swarthy son
of Italy who carried a small organ
strapped to his back, and held Il tiny
monkey on a string.
Thousands Of WashingtonianS. now
men and women, can recall the time
when, as children, they stood in sec
ond. story windows to watch the faSci-
mating antics of the monkey, while
the organ grinder stocked his instru-
ment with one hand. and with the
other piIoted the faithful animal as it
sought to climb the lodges.
What a cute little fellow 1t was. TO
be sure, in tight fitting red cap. and