Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-06-11
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Washington Picture Postcards:

Memorial that warns your spirit
and finds home among your men,
cries Modern Federal buildings
displaying their best architectural
manners, overlooking slum areas
bruised by poverty Cherry
trees wearing dainty blossoms
Firing squads of reporters shooting
sassy queries at public officials dur
ing press conferences Home
less rumors racing from place to
place about town The sun
wrapping its beauties around the
long stone finger of the Washington
Monument Lobbyists greeting
those who can do them favors as
though they meant it.
The majestic atmosphere of the
Supreme Court edifce where people
converse in soft whispers for fear of
scratching the vanished silence .
Nervous fingers of typewriter keys
drumming out details of the Gov
ernment's business Pretty gals
who came to the capital for glamour
and excitement, hemmed in by hard
work during the day and surrounded
by loneliness at night
Legislators who crossed swords
during public debate, ping-ponging
friendly words in cloakrooms
The Capitol Dome WhiteWashed with
moonlight, the star among the city's
sights Swanky old mansions
reeking of history, now serving as
ordinary boarding houses for gov
eminent workers.
Nerve centers of war agencies
sprinkled with lights all night, be-
cause war is 24-hour job
Human pell-melling through hotel
lobbies The well-manicured
tussels among social leaders to
get important guests The Lii
brary of Congress drenched with
culture, while people in buildings
around it are sweating to protect
everything it stands for.
The best-dressed men in town.
Hoover's Omen. They are also the
hardest punchers and the straightest
shooters . . Uppity embassy par
ties which provide a showcase for
good manners and stale gossip
A soldier and girl holding hands
on park bench, while few blocks
away decisions are made that will
affect their whole future Tots
calmly strolling into schools to learn
history, as it is being made all
around them.
Alleged secrets being hushed about
from place to place. Most of them
are slices of bunk that start from
nowhere and end in the same place
The exclamation point excite
ment around war agencies, where
decisions are made that affect
Americans everywhere today, and
history tomorrow . Horn-blowing
motorists in traffic jams giving your
nerves a toothache.
Tails of parked cars growing at
every public building Movie
theaters, jukebox joints, saloons,
dancehalls, giving the entertainment
sector Whit of Broadway's atno-
sphere. But all gayety SINNERS
down to a whisper at midnight
Uppity salons where intellectuals
gather to twiddle their opinions and
juggle yawns The many thriv-
ing palmists, astrologers and other
members of the crystal-ball brig
ade.
Crowds waiting for tables in eat
cries, waiting in the clogged traffic,
waiting for interviews, waiting for
rooms. While natives of the Capital
City wait for the war to end so that
they can fit themselves into normal
lives again Polticos, treated
like pleasant thoughts when they had
power, being ignored like a cigarette
butt as soon as they lose their Jobs.
The sign: washington, The City
Bureauful' Twilight's velvety
glow coating the city with its nat
ural cosmetics, which most people
are too busy to notice The out
of-tune symphony of sounds that
starts in the morning, snowballs into
an avalanche by midday, begins to
evaporate as evening piles shadows
in corners and buries itself 1.-the
silence of midnight The I'M
buttoned atmosphere of weck-ends,
when humans get a chance to catch
their breath.
Trains coughing out mobs arriving
in town, and gobbling those about to
leave Small patches on the seat
of government eager to grab public
ity spotlight crazy and impress
constituents back home Empty
chairs in the House and Senate. be-
cause legislators do most of their
work in committee rooms-whon
they're not doing things they
shouldn't be doing.
Falla with his wind blown couture
romping along the White House lawn
the most famous dog since Rim
Tin-Tin . Biggies at private par
ties, still nibbling on public debates