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

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 disillusionment.
It is a city Of monuments and
trees, Of books and art and music,
a city Of the prosaic and the un-
believable. But mostly it is q
city Of people.
It is, in q sense, the biggest
city in the world. filled ct once
with the excitement and glamor
of the seat of earth's major
power and with the smaller
worlds Of thousands Of indi-
viduals engaged in the ageless
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 city
Of offlcialdom. Ofncial Wash
ington breaks apart at the end
of each work day and scatters
like fragments from q big explo-
sion. The city vanishes into its
rooming houses, its apartments.
its hotel rooms. its town houses
and suburban homes.
From these bases it begins to
breathe with q different rhythm.
and becomes even more a city Of
people. The stitf -collafed 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 his
favorite television show.
The Government ofdcial pom
ders, at the office, the fate OF q
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 wife
downtown to shop.
THE AURA Of controversy on
Capitol Hill spills over into the
neighborhoods. The people rally
for new sewer or against a
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 official
visitors come to washington each
year, and the city puts on its
party dress to welcome them
showing of the trees. parks,
buildings. statues and monu-
ments.
When friends and relatives
visit from ArKafiSas and ONO,
the people OF Washington make
discoveries about their city, and
find historic spots like Mount
Vernon, or Ford's Theater. or
Blair House, and learn that the
dream Of high school students
from Akron or Oshkosh is TO
view these things.
THIS COLUMN viii be I daily
effort to take q fond look at the
city and Its surroundings-at It's
monuments, buildings. parks.
slums, ideas Of the future. ghosts
of the past; at its people: at what
goes on here. mostly apart from
the official news. and touching
major and minor.
Ours is not q new title for q
column in The Star. One called
"The Rambler ran successfully
for is years beginning IN 1912
But only the name Is the same
here. The original Rambler
concerned himself isrincipaily
with vignettes Of Washington
history. This one win engage IN
more Of an attempt 10 capture
the living flavor Of the city.
AS its name implies. the coll
unn will be little subject TO the
pressures Of high-speed journal
ism. Our giant beat must be
covered mainly on foot. This
should be q place where there IA
leisure to poke into things--tc
ind out about people and places
which the busy passer-by may
have wondered about but never
had time to investigate. sThe
Rambler" will have time.
Obviously. there can be nc
thought here Of explaining our
town to outsiders. The words In
this space win be addressed Sole
ly to- people who live II and
around Washington people who
already know and love the city
II this helps them to know and
love it more the effort win be
worthwhile.
II there is something you
would like 10 read about. don't
hesitate to Let Us know.
- q