Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-30

Some day q magnificent entrance to
the National Geological Park will be
built at the west approach on Connect
cut avenue.
For the present Washington will have
to worry along with the old-fashioned
shedlike affair which stands in the
none too impressive clearing there.
The local Zoo" is such fine one, so
filled with a great array OF creatures,
that nothing less than impressive ap-
proaches ought to greet visitors.
A city owes something particular to
sightseers. They come from afar to see
, and they want to be impressed with
what they see.
No surer way to make an impression
is known than q good front" No one
would expect a palace, or anything OF
the sort, but something more might be
done than has been done.
AS much Is owing to the animals, too.
Recall what Walt Whitman wrote of his
brute brothers of forest and field:
II think I could turn and live with
animals, they are so placid and self
contained;
II stand and look at them long and
long;
"They do not sweat and whine about
their condition;
"They do not lie awake in the dark
and weep Tor their sins;
"They do not make me sick discuss
ing their duty to God;
Not one Is disSatisfied-not one Is
demented with the mania Of owning
things;
mot one kneels to another, nor to
his kind that lived thousands Of years
ago:
mot one is respectable or industrious
over the whole earth.
so they show their relations to me,
and I accept them;
They bring me tokens Of myself
they evince them plainly in their pos
session.
II wonder where they get those
tokens;
did pass that way huge. times ago
and negligently drop them?"
That the average man or woman
feels that animals do somehow bring
human beings tokens Of themselves Is
shown by the constant crowds which
frequent the National Geological Park.
No day is too hot, nor none too cold,
to see hundreds of visitors, ranging
from babes in arms to mothers and
fathers, grandfathers and grandmoth-
ers, all keenly interested in looking az
the bears, the lions. the elephants, the
e>~S
birds, the snakes-yes, even the snakes
the leopards, the hyenas, the tigers,
the sluggish alligators and all the rest
of the furry, feathered. scaled, horned.
ring tailed creatures gathered from the
four corners of the earth.
This superb collection has an ex-
ceptional setting on rolling hills. amid
great towering trees, the whole combin-
ing to make an animal garden" befit-
ting the Capital of the United States.
The collection of cats Is second to none
in the world, and other departments are
well represented. The comparatively
new bird house, and the contemplated
reptile house, with other developments
proposed, give the city q constantly
bigger and better Zoo. Personally we
hope that the Connecticut avenue en-
trance will be spruced up bit, too.
Once inside the grounds. how
ever, the entrance is forgotten. OF the
several main approaches, notably the
one mentioned, the one from Adams
Mill road and the Harvard street en-
trance. we prefer the second. The trip
down the winding steps is always inter-
esting, with its glimpses Of side roads
and of Rock Greek winding along In its
bed. Boys and others know other en-
frances, some by footpaths. One OF
the most interesting Of these Is down
the steps by the west side Of the Calvert
Street Bridge, and along the west side