Evening star., 1935-05-22
0LD-T|ME SCENES
|NC|TY RELATED
Days of "The Island" and
Hunting Marsh Told
by MattingIy.

Old landmarks, scenes and expert
aces of his boyhood on the lsland,
better known today as South WASH
tneton. were recalled last night py
Judge Robert E. Mattingly OF Munlcl-
nal Court in an address before the
Columbia Historical Society In tne
Mayfiower Hotel.
The Island was that section OF the
>itv bounded by old Tiber Greek, 20
tomac River and Eastern Branch, the
creek then flowing part way along
the approximate route now occupied
bv Constitution avenue, scheduled TO
become the famous show and paraoe
thoroughSare of the city.
my first impressions of the Island
date back to the streets of mud ana
COWS roaming through them Judge
Mattlngly began.
The 63-year-old jurist then related
hunting trips in a marshland now
known as Potomac Park.
Judge played Hockey"
One of the old landmarks OF the
island" Judge Mattingly recalled, was
the jefferson School, Sixth and Vlr-
einia avenue southwest. There I OBJ
tanned nv schooling, but I did not get
nv diploma at the end of my eighth
year-my last year at school at the
age Of 13-for I played hockey the
last two weeks"
At commencement exercises, he said,
his mother missed him from the grad
uating class and asked the principal,
"Where is Robbie?" Whereupon the
principal replied: Mrs Mattingly,
haven't seen the boy for three weeks. "
Judge Mattingly related his un-
fortunate experience, when only 13
years old, of his hand being blown
off when an old muZZle-loading shot
gun with which he was hunting ex-
ploded. He recalled having to walk
half mile with companions in search
for a doctor whom they failed to
find, and then waiting a half hour
to catch a train for a ride into the
city, a distance of several miles from
the old Georgetown Channel, where
he had been hunting.
Milk Carried TO Homes.
The COWS which roamed the streets
in Judge Mattingly's youth furnished
q convenient milk supply, he related
I'VE were not blessed with the fine
dairies as we are today. but each
morning milk was brought to our
kitchen doors by the owners of the
cows" The milk was carried in large
cans suspended from a pole supported
by two men.
How many of u.s." asked the Judge
"recall the large saloon of George
Bauer on Seventh street. just opposite
the wharf of the Norfolk Steamboat
Co, and the picture of g. foot
foaming stein painted on the front,
with the words Wanted, 10000 men
to unload schooners-5c each?'
The island has undergone some
change since my youth. but a great
improvement is found in the removal
of grade-crossings and along the
wharves and the river front. OF
course all of us remember the days
when fats, marshes and cat-tails
fiourished in the river opposite the
wharves, and how gunmen focked in
the marshes and reeds for birds and
other game.
Now behold a complete metamor-
phosis. Aladdin swings his magic lamp,
and a generous Government provides
for the beautiful park and speedway
between Washington and Georgetown
Channels of the river, where thou
sands of people daily revel. Golf
links. tennis courts, swimming pools
and automobiles afford pleasure to a
generation who never knew of the
marshes and weeds"
Judge Mattingly was introduced by
Allan c. Clark, president of the
society.