Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-12-02
BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR

- OLDIERS' HOME may not mean
much to the average person, but
to host of Washingtonians now
- perhaps slightly beyond the
meridian of life, it means much
indeed. To those who are growing
old gracefully, no doubt the mere men
ton of the home and its grounds brings
to mind a flood of recollections OF
childhood days. Indeed, it carries us
back-for /, too, am in this honorable
clasS-when We gathered shellbarks,
walnuts, chestnutS and persimmonS IN
the outlying parts of the grounds suf-
f1ciently remote from guards, of whom
there were evidently very few and I
have often questioned If, after all, they
really cared so long as we intruders
did not damage the trees and Shrubbery.
OF course we boys never played
Rookie from School--at least we never
admitted it to our children-but upon
many occasions We had considerable
explaining to do to our parents as to
how our hands became so diScolored
with walnut stains. Sometimes we got
by and sometimes we got something
else, but we "joggled along in our
youthful days" and some of us have
survived long enough to belong to the
Oldest Inhabitants Association, and
are regarded as fairly good citizens, a
demonstration of the fact that stains
on the hands are not near so lasting
as stains on ones character.
This is an excellent time of the year
for persimmons-I should say they ere
now at their best. Sometimes we boys
would gather this delicious fruit
little earlier than this-entirely too
early-but I am sure there is no one
who ever bit into an unripe persimmon
who ever forgot the sensation it pro-
duced; at least he was not able to
whistle for some time afterward.
When a mere lad, the writer even
trespaSSed so far as to go cunning in
the Home grounds with a young man
of his neighborhood, who had an old
type single-loading shotgun. There
was snow on the ground and 1t was
not long before we came across the
range of the rabbit the man banged
away, which, however, only tended 20
slow UP the poor creature. He then
rammed home another load and we
soon came upon the rabbit again, only
to have it give us the ha ha after
being fired upon for the second time
1t required a third charge to subdue
Mr.. Cottontail, and then my recol-
lection is that we had to run him down
and club him in the head to capture
him. 1t was my first and last eX-
perience of the kind.
The grounds were then inclosed with
a high board fence, at least 7 feet.
It was a sort of paling fence, the boards
being about inches wide, slightly set
apart and pointed at the top. Since
the boards had begun to rot, it was not
a difficult job even for child to re-
move one or more in order to gain an
entrance to the grounds at some Sc
cluded point and once inside, the
denseness of the wood made the young
sters-and the grown-ups. too, for that
matter-comparative safe from detec-
ton.
Occasionally Officer Morgan, or Tall
Sergt" Slattery or one of the other
mounted policemen from Lieut.. John
sons old second precinct would ride by
along TIE outside, but rarely enter the
grounds, nor was there any particular
reason why they should have done so.
for I do not recall ever having heard
of any one doing anything within the
grounds of a destructive or serious ma
ture.
THE lakes, which you may still see
today within the western part of
the grounds, just off Park road, then
known as Whitney avenue, were IA
Vorite place for skating in the Winter
time when ice was sufficiently thick for
this purpose. The skaters would build
q fire close to the edge of the lakes TO
keep themselves warm when not cut
ting figure Fights and performing other
GAhcut featS on the ice, Nand 1tGa boy