Evening star., 1951-09-09

PAL tACuldIiy VI Tile Olu NCIlbcT MAR
ket:
"The markets of the National Cap
ital, supplied from the fertile coun-
try surrounding it. and from the
waters of the Potomac River and
Chesapeake Bay. present ever-vary-
ing scenes Of animation and plenty.
The principal ones. such as the
Northern Liberty, Center, Eastern
and Western, have commodiouS ac-
commodations in structures reared
expressly for them. The open-air
markets. however. are more pic
tureSque. The artist has depicted
an early morning scene on Jne por-
ton of the Potomac flats. adjoining
the Smithsonian Institution, and al
most under the shadow of the mighty
Washington Monument. Here the
farmers and Negroes come before day.
break with their quaint covered
wagons filled with produce and vege-
tables of all kinds. The wagons are
ranged in their places, the horses
looked after, and then the markets
men prepare their breakfast in the
open air. instead of patronizing the
restaurants, as they do in New York"
Naturally, the market has produced
its odd and peculiar characters, but
one of the most unusual because of
his modesty we find spoken of by
Mrs. JEANNE Tree Rives in her odd
Time Places and People of Washing
ton" This is her story:
ION the east side Of Ninth and D
streets, where Lincoln Hall now
stands, Hudson Taylor, bookseller,
lived. His house stood back from
the street, had quite large garden
with some fine old trees growing in
it. One, beautiful ash. when the
place was sold, was bought by Sam
uel Kirby, the well-known cabinet
maker, and made into furniture. He
was one of the characters Of Wash
ington. An exceedingly charitable
man, he hated to have his good deeds
known, and was deeply offended II
thanked for his liberality.
"It is related of him that he had
given very literally to the church he
attended Some one not understand
ing his popularity got up in church
and publicly thanked him. He never
could be induced to enter the church
again, nor did he again contribute to
its support.
Christmas Turkeys
"He began sending turkey every
Christmas to the Washington Orphan
Asylum, on H street between Ninth
and Tenth, next to the Van Ness
mausoleum. AS the number Of chill
dren increased so did the number OF
turkeys, until barrel full was needed
to supply the demand Year after
year the barrel was sent Christmas
eve. One year no barrel came. At
the very last minute the matron and
manager had to hustle around to get
UP a Christmas dinner for the chill
dren. When asked why he had not
sent the turkeys as usual he said
that women never could keep
secret: some of the women with their
long tongues had told all about the
gift of the turkeys, and he didn't
mean to send any more
I'm this case he was little unjust
to the women, the secret having
leaked out through the market man.
A barrel Of turkeys is good deal for
a private individual to buy and would
be apt to cause comment, but never
heard that he sent any more turkeys
at Christmas"
The Center Market had its begin
nings in the Presidents Square. and.
if remember correctly. it was locat-
ed about where the State, War and
Navy Building stands. Although
there seems to be no certainty as to
when the market was erected so
close to the White House, yet it was
there in the summer of 1901, when,
as Mr.. Bryan tells us, "the citizens
started a movement to erect market
house on Market Square, on the
south side of Pennsylvania avenue
between Seventh and Ninth streets.
The Commissioners at first agreed to
help on the good work by subscrib-
ing $500 toward the building fund.
But evidently the popular suhscrip-
ton did not warrant such an ambi-
tious scheme, although DR.. Thornton
acted as chairman of the meeting Of
citizens, and William Brent was the
treasurer, and James Hoban and
Clotworthy Stephenson were consti-
tuted building committee. Finally
the Commissioners proposed that if
the expenses of removal were paid
by the subscribers they would give
the old market house on the Presi-
dents Square as temporary aid to
the market"