Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-23

along the bare sidewalks of F
street to the Patent Office, ther
.:::rnS down Ninth street toWarc
pennsylvania avenue, and after
several more meanderS meets the
great facade of the Union Station
Some cars wait for passengers
and the conductors, not to be OUT
done by hackmen, are wont &c
greet customers, too.
"Owl?"
Pause here and weigh the merits
of owl car service. No change in
price-iuSt a token. And one is
privileged to join the company OF
~oWI'-eyed men and women.
Slanting rain beat hard against
the paneS; it almost bored tiny
holes in the glass, it was so hard.
The night riders felt relief to know
they were out of the wet and
under the dome of SumptuouSly
appointed street car. -
The woman who rubS the fog of the
glass and presses her face close to the
window. She watches the polished
mirror of Pennsylvania avenue. We
know her She lives on a bypath and
NOlkS LII d IlldIU1c anu NdhAcOOOCN UNIV
building. Night after night she rides
the owls. Night after night she scrubs
floors and dustS furniture and makes
rooms sweet smelling for men who drive
business during the day.
The years have drawn a cartoon on
her face No wonder, for thousands OF
nights she has stopped and bent and
knelt to the tasks of a charwoman.
Just a faint smile plays around her
face: lips pale and tightly purSed. Even
hard toll has not erased benignity. She
Is a mother
Her children are more fortunate than
she. They are schooled in the ways OF
the world by day. BY night they sleep
comfortably while the good mother
emptieS waste baskets and shakes the
duSter
She arrives home in time for a wink
of sleep in the morning, but is up in
time to cook breakfast and see her chill
dren off to classes. Then she returns
to sleep until in the afternoon. Sup
per is prepared. BY o'clock you may
see her STOPPING, kneeling and bending
over her labor. She is one of those who
greet sunlight only on the Sabbath.
A covenant of love exists over there
In the corner seat. A youthful pair,
still breathing heavily from running in
the driving rain, are obliviouS to drop
lets of jeweled water dripping from
their raiment. Out on a late party,
perhaps. Like cooling doves, they cud-
die close to each other, and all the owls
take sly notice Of their buoyant lnno-
cence.
But the lovers have forgotten the
owls and their great, sleepy, blinking
ewes. Else would they not have hidden
behind an umbrella or a handkerchief
before tasting each others exalted
aavor? Night owls enjoy sights such
as these. And an owl doesn't give a
boot if lovers do f1out the law. For
owls are human and rarely have time
for Gilberts and CARLOS. 1t is better
thus. they think. Isn't all the world
stage? Well, this is rolling stage,
with headlights instead of footllghtS,,
But drama, nevertheless. There Is a
glamour in the scene and realism In
he act.
WHO signs for Bagdad?
w Then he will fare forth on a
night and taste the streets of the city.
He will walk the thoroughfares that
are mapped straight, but twist about
when paced on foot. Or he will board
a carriage hack, drawn by a blind horse
and driven by swarthy, silk-hatteo
footnan. He will rumble over the COB
bles of Four-and-a-Half street ana
make the round of three Executive
avenues. He will wonder at the gray
silence about the Royal Residence, then
roll toward the Potomac banks ana
watch the river slip by the city.
Washington, where George the Great
grounded a nation, is the columnar
city. So many columns. On the Treas
ury, the Capital, the State, War and
Navy Building the ornaments chlseleo
out of limestone and marble and gran
ite are so stalWart that they seem Wen
nigh capable of supporting the huge
celestial dome. Between the, columns
are gray and purple shadows tnaI noio
nothing save silence.
But a picture of the Capital through
the rare hours of the night is not COM
plete without mention of Center Mar
ket, All night long the cabbages ana
turnips and tomatoes and WatermeI-
ons. apples and celery, come plllng lnOo
the granary of foodstuffs.
what a NAV has the city! Every
morning 100000 mouths cape. open 10
swallow the mineral substances tnat
grow out of the earth. Trucks and
wagons come from afar, laden with
greens that color the market place. The
roads leading into the city are choKed
with this transfer from farm to con-
sumner. In the dull dawn OF morning,
while the spell of sleep still cloaks the
homes the barges of commerce are I'M
loaded and spread in displays Tor tnrlICy
housewives, who will soon come 10 see
what has been brought into the CITY
out Of the night.
THE cabbv has guided his blind horse
IN the summit of Americas Acropolis,
the marble Capitol On wet night,
when only the Government gendarmes
hide in booths out of sight. the jeweled
dome stands on it's head in the asphalt
pavement. There on the asphalt the
white marble shimmered and gloWed
like a respondent jewel set IN the street.
THE Uuuuunited estates Capitol,
points the cabby as If he had made
sudden discovery.
MEET Mr.. Ding Dong. OF course,
AVA like you and me, he has a less
euphonious name. But here ne must
be Mr. Ding Dong, for his name VIII
describe his mission He is major domo,
factotum and lord of the whole moving
caravan. He rarely talks. He is all
business. He meets the night owls,
night in and out. He knows them by
breath, look and clothing. He feels
them, sometimes smells them and often
'ITellos" them.
Mr.. Ding Dong boasts a mate. A
man who plays another note, something
like dang dang" Between Mr.. DING
Dong and Mr. Dang Dang, the owls
come to know many nocturnal tune
that folks who live and work by day
never hear. If you should go toward
the prov and essay conversation with
Mr.. Dang Dang, he will reply with
silence. If you insist. he will point
aloft, somewhere in the rigging, to q
neatly pnraSed notice:
SAFETY FIRST
"Motorman's Duties Require All His
Attention"
Would YOU iout law? No. Their