Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-05-01
LETTERS TO THE STAR
Turns Back Clock

Turns Back Clock
I was pleased to see DR..
James Gannon's recent in
teresting letter on Washing
ton life in 1900. 1t recalled
wildly to me, and somewhat
by contrast, Washington in
1890. AS a boy. I spent here
the long cold winter of
'90-'91. The city, as DR..
Cannon says, was scarcely
larger than a comfortable
village" North of u Street
the land was mostly in
farms, and woodland Rugged
much of the District line.
The present Mall was partly
wooded, and thugs" were
supposed to inhabit it at
night. If automobiles were
STEW" in 1900 they were
non-existent, practically, in
1890. Instead, there were
fleets of safety" bicycles,
and girls beginning to ride
them. Public transport, of
course, was by horse car.
though 7th Street sported
cable cars. Rich people rode
in carriages, with high-hat-
ted coachmen and footmen,
pulled Smartly by spank
ing" docked-tailed horses.
Pennsylvania Avenue, on the
shopping afternoons before
Christmas, presented a pic
ture too gay for ones own
eyes to believe-the reality"
of some old classic print.
But some people in high
station kept to horse cars;
one well known Supreme
Court Justice was said to
ride, with humping quid,"
on the back platform.
l used to haunt the tow
cred Smithsonian. Behind it
was the National Zoo, all
there was of it at that time
"a few bear and bison and
other denizenS. Inside the
building was a ten-foot mod
ell of the Proposed Rock
Creek Park" I met in this
building a number of SCI
entif1c characters, including
Robert Ridgeway, C. Hart
Merriam, and James Bene-
dict. In the nearby (Old)
National Museum, at the
first public lecture of the
National Geographic So
ciety, Major John Wesley
Powell kept a large crowd
of us in rapture telling of his
epic journey through the
"wondrous marbles - blue,
red, and purple" of the
Grand Canyon of the Colo
RADIO.
There was the Cosmos
Club on Lafayette Square,
then just about my age -
twelve. 1t played host to a
group called THE Scientific
Societies. ~ With my elder
brother James I attended
several of their lectures. I
recall especially one by an
African explorer, fresh from
that dark continent, also
one by our friend Ed Has
brouck on "the ivory-billed
woodpecker." The venerable
Gardner G.. Hubbard, with
his huge flowing white beard,
was a familiar presiding
figure at these gatherings.
We occasionally went to
the theater myself and
brothers,. -. walking leisurely
to and from. Some people
went in cabs, but there were
no jams nor cacophonous vi
brationS. I recall seeing
Sarah Bernhardt in Cleo
patra, and Elsie Leslie, the
child actress, in The Prince
and the Pauper. We joined
the assembly line at the
White House to shake the
hand of President Harrison.
Jim" Blaine was Secretary
of State, and Hawaii merely
a new possession. We heard
the illustrious SpoOner of
Wisconsin shouting his lungs
out to a near empty Senate.
Speaker Reid, the Gear of
the House." spilled tea On a
lady'S expensive gown: she
avowed it was "all right"
but rumor had it that she
sent him a substantial bill.
DR.. Cannon says that tele-
phones were scarce in 1900;
though they were, of course,
extant in 1890 I recall no
evidence of them. Lighting
was by gas, indoors and out.
A family would gather
around the lamp TO read
aloud from Dickens; an
other time they'd invite folks
in to discuss Kant or to play
a game of whist. New
Years calls" made a gala
custom; the young ladies
stayed at home, awaiting the
young blades to appear in
groups. stepping forth from
their hired cabs.