Evening star., 1955-11-28
The
Rambler
Fond, Daily Look
At q Capitol Town
By JACK JONAS

Washington is a city Of 9 NIL
lion facets.
1t is a city of remembered and
forgotten places. Of massive stone
buildings and shanties. Of ghosts
and hard realities, Of open parks
and crowded city blocks, OF hope
and disiIlusionment.
It is city Of monuments and
trees, of books and art and music,
a city of the prosaic and the lIa-
believable. But mostly it Is a
city of people.
It is, in a sense. the biggest
city in the world, filled at once
with the excitement and glamor
of the seat of earth's major
power and with the smaller
worlds Of thousands OF ndi-
viduals engaged in the ageiess
struggle for a balance between
life and work.
Official Washington is a place
of pressures and debates and
protocol and ideas. Tons OF
paper are carted from building
to building and desk to desk IN
a staccato effort to keep pace
with the times, or ahead OF them.
But this is more than a city
of ofiicialdom. Of1cial Wash
ington breaks apart at the END
OF each work day and scatters
like fragments from big expio-
sion. The city vanishes into It's
rooming houses, its apartments,
its hotel rooms. its town houses
and suburban homes.
From these bases 1t begins toI
breathe with q different rhythm,
and becomes even more a city OF
people. The stiff -collared worker
by day dons his comfortable
clothes to talk over the back
fence, FIX a leaky faucet. help the
children with the homework. read
the evening paper. or watch ms
fayorite television show.
The Government official pom
ders, at the Office. the fate OF a
farm program, and at home, the
fate Of q new young man calling
on his daughter. The truck
driver battles traffic all day. then
hurries home to drive his wifel
downtown to shop.
THE AURA Of controversy on
Capitol Hill spills over into the
neighborhoods. The people rally
for a new sewer or against 81
commercial development. and
weigh again and again the prob
lem of what to do about stray
dogs and whether the United Ma
tions is the answer for world
peace.
Countless tourists and ofticiall
visitors come to Washington each
year, and the city puts on is
party dress to welcome them
showing of the trees. parks.
buildings, statues and monu-
ments.
When friends and relatives
visit from Arkansas and Qhio,l
the people Of washington MAKE
discoveries about their city. and
md historic spots like Mounts
Vernon. or Ford's Theater. or
Blair House. and learn that theI
dream of high school students
from Akron or Oshkosh Is toI
view these things,
THIS COLUMN win be . daily
effort to take q fond look ct the
city and its s,irroundings--at itsI
monuments, buildings, parks.
slums, ideas Of the future, ghosts
of the past; at its people; ct what
goes on here, mostly apart from
the official news. and touching
major and minor.
ours is not . new title Tor 2
column in The Star. One called
.sThe Rambler. ran successfully
for is years beginning IN 1871
But only the name Is the same
here. The original RAMBLER
concerned himself principally
with vignettes Of Washington
history. This one viii engage ~
more of al attempt to capture
the living favor Of the city.
As its name implies. the coi-I
unnn win be little subject to the
pressures Of high-speed journal
ism. our giant beat must pei
covered mainly on foot. This
should be q place where there isI
leisure 10 poke into thingsto|
ind out about people and places
which the busy passer-by may
have wondered about but never
had tin16 to investigate. The
Rambler win have time.
Obviously. there can be no
thought here Of explaining our
town to outsiders. The words ~
tIis snafse VIII Be addressed soie-I
" to people who live IN and
around Washington people VINO
already know and love the city.
II this helps them TO know and
love it more. the effort VIII De
worthwhile.
II there Is something you
would like to read about, don't
hesitate 70 let US know.