Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-23
Capital Sidelights
ny WILL r. KENNEDY.


the close Of the Seventieth Congress,
after having been in public life for
81 years, 20 Of which were in the
House touring six Of which he was
Speaker) and six years in the Senate
add who IL nearing his Goth birthday,
has Just returned from . delightful"
vacation in Hawaii, greatly in antith-
esis of his first trip across the ocean
so years ago.
New thrills were experienced by the
veteran legislator, one Of the most un-
expected of which was the complete
absence Of seasickness, which has In
variably heretofore accompanied his
ocean voyaging. In the scantiest bath
ing suit he ever owned since the days
when he sneaked of to the old SWIM
ming hole of the Westfield River bank,
some threescore years and ten ago, he
went in surf bathing daily. The most
thrilling sport he enjoyed for q long
time'-probably since the days when he
rode in the family carry-an from West
field to Springfield, Mass, to play his
FIRST match game of base ball, or when
he and his cousin had their nrst sail
boat. or when he rode in the f1rst auto
mobile In his native town-was en-
loved by Mr.. Gillett when he rode the
breakers In q canoe and took with de-
light the unexpected bath when q
"waye would irnpertinently break at the
wrong time and engulf the canoe"
While "for any one who wants q lam
s1lorous, luxurious loaf, with every
craving Of the flesh abundantly stated"
Mr.. Gillett strongly recommends Ha-
waii. He found his chief delight and
most lasting memories in the fruits and
- % - -
ton Of flowers" he wrote to an init
mate friend here in the Capital, but
even I cannot fail to marvel at the
ROYAL poinciara and the bougainvillea
and, above all, at the ubiquitous hibis-
Gus. with its huge blossoms and brilliant
coIors: but the climax was reached the
other evening when was taken out to
drive along street whose wall for Q
mile was covered with the night
blooming cereus In full bloom, present.
ing masses Of blossoms feet high and
as thick and profuse as one Of our n.y.
dranQea bushes. We visited q ranch
where they had over 100 varieties OF
the hibiscus, an infinite display Of
varied color.
"Tne mountains, though only 1900
feet high, cause q great variety Of eli-
mate. At one golf course miles from
the hotel (the Royal Hawaiian) and
running along the shore. with not q
hill 90 feet high, it rarely rains IN
Summer, while at the other, 4 miles
in the other direction. in the mountains
and very hilly, you are almost certain
to be drenched by shower or two
every afternoon. But they pay no at
tention to IL; call 1t liquid sunshine,
and IL never lasts but few minutes. and
YOUR clothes soon dry out. The steady,
strong wind is more Objectionable to q
golfer than the showers.
1.-THE fruits are as abundant as the
flowers. The one which particularly
enjoyed was the pineapple. It's soft,
tough, string fbre we get at home
and set q new record for astronomical
Nearing his eightieth birthday, Mr. GIL
lett SAYS: when begin to grow old
and only want to sit In an agreeable
and delicious air and be amused by
seeing others active and be sedentary
myself. can't imagine q more con-
genial place"
How must 1t feel TO pass statue Of
q hero, daily ard realize that the legs
on that statue are yours--or at least
copies Of yours.
That is an experience that Capt
Jeffry Montague Is living with at Fred
ericksburg, Va. Whila he was stationed
in Richmond the sculptor was busy
Monument. One day Capt. Montague
found his friend, the sculptor. with his
head In his hands and despairing because
he wanted to work and his model was
"of7 celebrating in convivial company"
Montague clapped him on the shoulder
and told him TO cheer up, because there
were plenty OF men around with legs
plenty good enough u adorn the statue.
After few investigating glances at
asked him II he would be willing to
pose from the waist down to be modelled
for the inspiration Of posterity--and
Capt. Montague obligingiy acquiesced.
So, when he was later ordered to
Fredericksburg TO become right-hand
man and military history research spe-
cialiSt assistant to Maj Arthur e. VIII
bourn, executive officer Of the Freder-
icksburg and Spotsylvania County Bat
Montague remarked that he might as
well be there as anywhere, because he
was half there already"
= y
While browsing around Secretary
Hyde's baliwick in the new white
marble structure on the Mall, we had
our curiosity aroused by the expression
Earring the curculio," and for an ex-
PLANTATION we were sent to Oliver I.
Snapp and ]. r. Thompson Of the
Bureau Of Entomology. We found out
that these two scientists have developed
an improved Earring sheet, three yards
by i've yards In area, for use under
peach trees to collect plum curculio
beetles. They use sections of old auto
mobile tires to pad the poles they use
in Earring the branches to shake these
insect pests on the trees.
We came away thinking how many
little things there are in this COM
pIicated life Of ours that I'VE wot
not Of
And this is only sample Of scores
Of interesting studies going on day
after day throughout the entire Federal
service, dedicated to helping to improve