The Washington times., 1935-04-02

Suddenly, violently, the for
sythia bushes, with their golden
touch, turn the whole town
shabby. Their graceful, glow
ing beauty calls attention to
ratty grass plots, to grubby
houses, weather-beaten gar
ments, dingy curtains, and-to
stale ideas.
However, in spite of such
vaguely bitter thoughts, I'm go
ing to take you on a short
spring tour of Washington.
,(Forsythia, magnolia trees, Dis
tinguished Domiciles, ETC., etc.
At the entrance to Woodley,
the million-dollar estate of the
former Secretary Of State and
Mrs. Stimson on Woodley Road,
clumps of forsythia on each side
of the drive say cheerful how
de-do and the ivy on the walls
of the hundred-year-old house is
sending out bright green shoots.
At Twin Oaks, also on Wood
ley Road, where Mrs. Charles
j. Bell lives, forsythia is rioting
on hill sides and in holloWs, and
willows are dropping over datto-
die onI orop11cnc
The Causeway, a djoining
Twin Oaks and belonging to
Mrs. James F. Parmalee, is
frankly golden and hesitatingly
green. Here, soon, hundreds of
rhododendron bushes will be in
bloom.
RoSedale, the picturesque old
farm on Newark Street-where
George Washington used to
stop on various neighboring ex-
peditions-now owned by Mrs.
Avery Coonley, is bright with
daffodils shining beside dark
dogwood and scattered in friend
ly colonies over its acres of
grass.
Down on Pennsylvania Ave-
nue. where Mr.. and Mrs. RooSe-
welt live-sometimes-the mag
nolias are in bloom. Out on
Sixteenth Street near U the
Japanese cherry trees are peek
ing over the gray walls of the
house where Mr.. and Mrs. Her.
bert Hoover once dwelt.
Magnolias tighten the ram
parts of Meridian Park. But the
Towering bushes of old Hender-
son Castle are weighed down
with "For Sale and For Rent"
signs.
One of the big stone lions Of
the Taft Bridge is peeping out
between a dutzia in full bloom.
And a lonely magnolia bios
SONS close to the grim State
War-Navy Building.
If / am not mistaken-the
vernal equinox has arrived.
Carl Loman, who, with his
wife, the former Laura Vol
stead, is now at the Hotel Har.
rington, has just delivered on
very special order the 5000
reindeer he sold to the Cana
dian government.
It took six years and a trek
Of hundreds of miles from
Nome, Alaska, to the Macken-
zie River Delta to settle the
herd as permanent supply of
food and clothing for the
natives of Arctic Canada.
Mr.. Loman and his brother,
the Reindeer Kings of Alaska,
arranged and organized the ex-
petition. Their home is in
Nome. They raise reindeer,
much as people farther south
raise cattle. Their herds are
bred in wide ranges, scattered
over great areas. and are
tended by EskimoS.
This particular reindeer ex.
petition travelled, as the crow
flies, 1900 miles. Owing to
the difficulties of travel, how.
ever, the herd and it's leaders
twisted back and forth, and
more than doubled the actual
distance.
They started 200 miles north
OF Nome and went in a north.
easterly direction. Progress was
Slow. The herds moved only in
winter-between November and
the last of March when the
rivers and lakes in Alaska are
frozen. During the spring and
summer thaws, when melting ice
made it impossible for the anil
mails to cross water, camp was
made.
In the fawning season, too,
the expedition stopped to find a
comfortable place for baby rein
deer to be born.
The delivery of the reindeer to
the government of the Dominion
Of Canada is regarded as the
greatest movement of live stock
in history. Hour after hour, day
after day, and month after
month, the reindeer and men
plodded north on the frozen
Continent. Supplies were sent
for the trek by airplane and
whaling vessels, but sometimes
the men were perilously near
starvation.
Andrew Bahr. who piloted the
expedition, is the foremost rein
deer man on this continent. The
city of Seattle, Wash, so appre-