Evening star., 1937-06-20
Sightseers in Capital
Made of Stern Stuff
Rubberneck Experiences Produce Quiet Peo-
pie in Herds, Who Take It Out in Just Look
ing at Things That Made the City Famous

twice. For the second time within
the hour you pass the Treasury with
a weary shrug. Your next brand-rcw
thrill Is the White House-and The
peanut man on the corner. Now
you're swinging around Lafayette Park
and the Cosmos Club and the Dolly
Madison House.
IT'S Sixteenth street that tests your
mettle. Points OF interest grow so
thick along here that we all begin to
look like gallery at tennis match.
Left-right. Left-right. The Carl
ton Hotel (home Of Secretary Cordell
HulD, the Soviet Embassy, the Carne-
gle Institution. the Dewey Mansion,
the Scottish Rite Temple (Which has
only one door,, Henderson Castle,
President Buchanan's statue in Meri-
dian Park Che never got married), the
Chilean Embassy. the Spanish EN-
bassy, the Italian Embassy. the Uni
tartan Church. At Columbia road the
bus swerves to the left.
And now, ladies and gentlemen"
the guide gives it big build-up. "the
Geological Park, where you will see
Wahoo, the famous baboon!" Don't
let any ignorant browbeater tell you
that people come to Washington to
dote upon the Capitol or the White
House or the Lincoln Memorial. They
don't. They come to see Wahoo. He's
the high point Of Tour c. And the
new pachyderm palace at the Zoo gets
more looks per tourist than the Wash
ington Monument.
A short whirl around former Presl-
dent Hoovers Washington home, the
house where President Wilson lived,
and the new French Embassy brings
us out on Massachusetts avenue. Here
we get another load of embassies and
legations and the Walsh s5,o00,000
mansion. which holds the spotlight
for the Massachusetts avenue ride.
Nine throws out OF ten tourist
won't bother to stare at anything If
the bus has already passed it and
he has to crane his neck around to
the back to see It, There are just so
many things neck can stand.
Seventeenth street brings us past
the Pan-American Union-where they
grow a bunch Of bananas every year.
VOU get 10 minutes at the Lincoln
Memorial-and 10 minutes only
50 sizzle hoof! Ladies and gentle
men, please remember the number Of
your bus! The number OF your bus,
ladies and gentlemen, is 530!'
There's no way Of telling what that
fox terrier thinks of the Lincoln Me-
morial but he trots out and up the
steps along with everybody else. The
guide knocks off for a bit of gossip
with compatriot from another wagon.
The two ladies in the back seat tell
each other what they saw in Florida.
Finally everybody scrambles back in
and the bus starts of again, this time
in low gear, for Hams Point.
The guide gets down to business and
fans the air with polite pep talk
on Tours A, B, D, E, F, G. H and L.
While we meander along the Speed
way toward the bridge across the
Tidal Basin, he makes out reservations
for future trips and mollifies any Gus
toner who might not have been COM
pletely satisfied with this one.
With everybody happy, the guide
spends lyrical moment or two de-
scribing the cherry blossoms, the rose
gardens and the railway bridge-only
direct link between the East and the
South. Now, we're passing the trailer
camp. Slight neck exercise.
On We roll to Hains Point. around
the curve and back toward town. The
second high point Of the tour catches
us unawares. In spite Of the fact
that the guide is manfully pointing
out the Capitol dome in the distance,
no one seems to care snap. With
an abrupt swing to the right every
eye focuses in unrestrained admlra-
ton on an excursion boat docked in
the Washington Channel at Water
street pier. Across its side in large
letters is painted Robert E. Lee"
This brings US out by the bridge
at the head Of the channel, where the
bus wheezes down to momentary stop
to give the trade chance for a post
card view OF the Tidal Basin. They
all recognize it right away. It's just
like the pictures. High point No. 3.
And now we're ambling up Four.
teenth street past the Bureau Of En-.
craving and Printing, the new Agri.
cultural Department. the Monument
and the Labor Department.
"Iadies and oentlenen un roti.r,,
to Pennsylvania avenue and the place
from which you began your tour OF
the beautiful City Of Washington.
The bus for Mount Vernon, Alex
andria and Arlington leaves at 2
o'clock, which will give you half an
hour for lunch. You are now in the
midst Of downtown Washington, with
shops and theaters only one block
away. Let me say that have found
you all a most attentive audience
indeed more attentive than the aver
age. I hope you will avail yourselves
Of visit to Mount Vernon, Alex
andria and Arlington. The bus, re-
member, leaves at 2 o'clock"
And so at last we are back on dry
land. The guide assists us gently to
the sidewalk. Our mad gypsy rovings
are over unless we have the stamina
to catch that 2 o'clock bus In 80 min
utes. AS for me. I'm going straight
home and soak my neck in hot water.
Observatory