Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-26

Travelled for probably two years, though the
time did not seem so long He went by way OF
the Bunker Hill road until it intersects with
the Queens Chapel, which once took us by the
old Rams Horn Inn, noted for its fluent" hos
pitality during the pre- Volsteadian days.
Marvellous! The writer could hardly believe
his own eyes. At one point he saw streets and
houses where farm products were growing the
last time he notored that way. And up the
road few blocks Just outside the District
line, vAs Q large brick building right down in
the middle Of . big held with nothing else
around 1t. When he drew near he saw over the
front the name. Mount Rainier High School"
Indeed. moro than ever before, he realized
that washington was growing by leaps and
bounds, for he has known the city when there
were few houses beyond the city hmits-when
Florida avenue Boundary street-when
Anacostia was Uniontown and when what is
now Potomac Park was but an unhealthy,
marshy area, and the cause Of more chills and
fever than all the rest of Washington's low
land combined.
1t Is truly astounding how the District has
developed. washington in embryo" as early
Washington has been called, after all, TO many,
does not seem long ago. Indeed, many a
man Just past the meridian Of life can look
back into the past and see the Capital City as
almost q mere town. compared to its half mil
lion Of people who live here today. He can
even see the countrys Capital as it has de-
veloped from broad commons, waste land and
open streams to a city Of mammoth office build
ings, huge apartment houses and miles Of
broad, finely paved boulevards in place of I'M
improved streets full of ruts and mudholes.
OF course, there is no one living whose per-
sonal recollections will go back to the begin
ming of the city, but ample evidence is extant
to tell us of the conditions existing here from
the earliest days Of the District, and many ma
tives of the reminiscent age who are living win
gladly talk to you by the hour Of the time,
within memory, when goats hogs geese and
cattle roamed over the unoccupied fields
h Naturally, when wo Of an older genera
Y ton refer to the peculiar conditions Of the
past, the younger folk cannot fully appreciate
the situation We do, for, after all, the saying
that seeing is believing Is Just as true now as
it ever was. However, the past is an open book,
and those who doubt that goats really did, sub
stantially. own the city once, might read the
follovtng item taken from The Star Of Novem-
ber S, 1859, and be convinced Of ito truthful
ness:
..The Goat Nuisance-So much mischief has
been done lately by goatish intruders into the
kitchen, parlors and even bed rooms Of nunaer-
Gus citizens that 1t seems strange to as that the
sufferers have 50 long tolerated the nuisance
by refraining nom summary execution Of these
offensive quadrupeds. It Is true that the city
laws provide an e6ectual remedy, by making R
the duty Of the police constables, in AN cases
where no owner can be found for q goat run
ming at large In the streets Of this city, 10 de-
stroy the naischievous animal; and this law
was duly executed on Wednesday last, when q
lady complained at the NTH district police Of
flee that q goat had taken possession Of her
kitchen smashed o china dish and made other
unmistakable demonstrations against her crock
cry, looking glasses, etc. But the ofhcer had no
easy task in attempting to kill his goatship. Is
the animal stoutly resisted and butted the con-
stable, who had to fire his pistol several times
before the goat was used up. It may not be
improper or unreasonable to add that there are
stin q number Of goats running at large, some
Of which, in the fourth ward and in the vicinity
of English Hill, have committed various depre-
dations and outrageS in the dwellings and
premises of sundry citizens; and to those Of
tenders the attention Of the police constableS
in whose district it Is, is especially directed"
Naturally Washington has taken q great
step forward even during our time. Sanitary
conditions especially have improved at least 100
per cent during the past so years, when the
larger part Of the city relied upon public coll
tractors to keep the premises OF the citizens IN
healthful condition, at q time when few
dwellings could boast Of q bath tub and much
Of the city stin depended upon the old wooden
pump. the rain barrel and the hogshead In
cidentally, we might thank our present health
officer. DR.. Fowler, for his part In the improve
ment Of conditions.
I HOWEVER, 1t is pleasant to look back upon
I D the past and 70 recall customs and eondi-
lions as they then existed here. Some time ago,
for the entertainment Of the members or the
Association Of Oldest Inhabitants, the writer
put his recollections q early events into verse
form. He called his csnETibution "Old Timer"
and If the reader win get as much pleasure out
Of IL as did his associates Of that distinguished
organization Of OLD Washingtonians It's author
win feel more than justified for repeating It
here It follows:
Say, do you remember, Old Timer, the day
When you were quite young and your hair
was not gray;
How the cows and the hogs ran Wild through
the street,