Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-05-31
West Cornwall, Conn.
December Is, 1858

Dear Betty:
It's all right with me II the
newspapers see a story in all this,
but / certainly didn't have that
in mind. I've Just written my
brothers Robert and William to
see what they remember or what
photos or other records they may
have.
Many Of the memories Of Falls
Church are as vivid as last years.
Our house was, / am now con-
WINGED, the middle one, the So
called Nicholas house. I remember
distinctly my father turning a
corner, on his way home from
work in the evening, and walking
down the street swinging a Ma
lacca cane-every man in WASH
ington had one that year.
It was in the Falls Church
house that we had the colored
maid who served dinner in her
bare feet and burned her finger
In the steam Of the kettle so that
she could try out the salve she
had bought at a travelling medi-
cine show, complete with banjos
and ballyhoo. that visited the
town. Our garbage was collected
by an ancient white-haired Negro,
not more than feet tall. whose
two-wheeled oXcart was pulled by
a brace Of oxen. His appearance
never failed to enchant us boys,
for he was not only out Of the
South, but out of the past, even
out Of fiction, as remarkable as
old Uncle Tom himself.
It's odd. too, that you would
mention the Benets, (Mrs. Acosta
had mentioned Stephen Vincent
Benet in her letter. for they, Bill,
Steve and Laura, lived only block
from us in Washington in 1901.
Our winter house was at 203l
street. I wrote a little about the
Washington years in the piece
about my mother called Lavender
With a Difference" in 1.-THE Thur
Der Album" If you haven't got a
copy of the book I'll send you one.
I remember very well that two
new expressions fascinated my
even then word-loving mind, so
long" and ''hot dog" This was
the era, too. Of ''In the Good Old
Summertime" I remember my
father took me to hear Senator
Beveridge speak in the Senate
and introduced me to Peary one
day in an elevator. He also took
me to a baseball game and after
ward we visited the players in
their dressing room. The one
whose name fascinated me was
Unglaub, the first baseman. (My
secretary just now tells me Un-
glaub means disbelief" in Ger
man, The Senators were pretty
unbelievable then (why doesn't
God send them another Walter
Johnson?) and I remember a
story told at table by George
Marvin, then covering Washing
ton for Cleveland newspaper. It
seems the shortstop picked up a
grounder and threw out the run
ner, after having made q dismal
series Of errors in previous games.
Extra. Start" cried q youngster
On the bleacherS.
In 1918, when I was a code
clerk in the State Department,
Steve Benet was also one, until
he went into Ordnance. He sat
across the table from me, both
Of US fresh out Of college, Yale
and Ohio State respectively, he
sporting his VOLTS Head pin, and
my vest bespangled with the pins
Of Phi Psi, Sigma Delta Chi, and
Sphinx, Senior Honorary at Ohio
State Il was taken into that the
same time as Elliott Nugent and
Chic Harley. I lost track of those
pins darn near forty years ago.
One Of the last times I was
in Washington. the war was on,
and I was one Of the speakers
at a war bond rally, presided
over by that great and good man,
Senator O'Mahoney. The last
time we were there we visited our
great friends John Duncan Miller
and his wife Madeline. He was
the TIMES Of London man in
Washington then. but is now with