The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1932-01-14

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| was in an old store at Pennsylva-
mia Avenue and Second street North
west, a store in which a great display
of souvenirs of Washington were to
be seen. had known that much of
the lower part of the Avenue is to be
destroyed by the government and ]
was wondering if this curio shop was
to go too, so asked the Ancient. He
informed me that the firm was,estab-
lished 81 years ago and that for a
long period it had done excellent
business. people who used to come
to Washington in those times" he
went on, would start at the Capitol
and walk the length of Pennsylvania
Avenue to the Treasury. They would
see our displays and they would come
in and buy. Business was brisk and
the place was prosperous. And then
came the day of the automobile and
! the taxicab and now we see tourists
whisked far up town to the new shop
| ping centers and we do not get their
! trade"
He told me that the patronage had
been going down and down since the
motor age started. "Mr. Jarvis" he
said, "died last January, and it was
just as well that he did. Now the
the house of Jarvis must come to an
end. We will dispose of our stock
gradually without having any special
sale. When all is gone we will close
the doors, and that will be the end.
Then the government will come upon
our building and one day we will re-
turn to the spot and see no vestige of
the place which is hallowed with the
recollections of more than half
century of pleasant business associa-
tons with people who have represent
ed every state in the Union and great
numbers of foreign countries"
Thus does Uncle Sam seem ruthless
and unsentimental in his activities.
Sometimes, however, the joke is on
him. Just yesterday he issued orders
that everyone in the store buildings
on the south side of the Avenue be-
tween Third and Seventh streets, va
cate the premises within thirty days
so he can rae the structures occupied
and it happens that he himself is one
of the tenants. He has sub-post Of
flee between Four and Half and Sixth
streets and he must get out of that.
Two famous old hotels will go in
this new drive for land by the federal
government, the St. James and the
Howard. The st. James has not been
in operation for some time but the
Howard House, as l write, is still do
ing business where it has entertained
transients since times when a four
story building was sky-scraper. Its
end is now in sight. There was an
other old hotel at Third street, the
Mades, but it was Quilted by fire early
in the summer and today there is
barren ground where its floors once
rested on timbers placed in the earth
with no basement space beneath.
Great men patronized the Mades. The
famous men of long long ago walked
out of history's pages. The Mades
now is scarcely even memory. Re-
membrance today is as needless as
the swiftly passing petrol carriages.
The Avenue, as it was, is practical
ly obliterated now, and we who knew
it more than a score of years ago,
feel its loss as leaden weight upon
our hearts. Upon that Avenue l have
seen Chauncey Depew, Champ Clark,
John Sharpe Williams, William How
ard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, and
other men who shone for a time in
the country's political armament. To-
day only we Of the insignificant stra-
tum linger along its ways and dream
Of the colorful days of the past.
What tragedies have stricken old
places in Washington, but what ira
gedies have befallen members of
some of the celebrated families of the
city. There was for instance the fam
lily of Francis Scott Key. One son
was killed in duel in 1886. Key was
a midshipman in the navy and he had
friend, Sherburne, with whom he
sailed before the mast. Landing at
Norfolk after cruise, they got into
dispute and angry words led to a
challenge to a duel and the two
agreed that it should be fought at
Washington. So on June %, 1886,
they met over in Anacostia, in the
southeastern part of this city.
A report Of the fatal meeting is to
| the effect that Sherburne said to his
antagonist, 4Mr. Key, / have no de-
sire to kill you," and that Key an
swered, mo matter, / have come here
to kill YOU" "Then," said Sherburne,
] II viii kill you." The SON of the
author of '@The Star Spangled Ban