| Show interesting bits of news picked up here and there at the national capital QUENTIN HAS FUN WITH SNAKES IN WHITE HOUSE roosevelt i washington caused chills to chase up and down the spinal columns of attorney general bonaparte representative and ex representative lac ey of iowa the other day when he ap feared in the lent s office with two live snakes coiled about him quentin Is somewhat impetuous es pec lally when on roller skates and he skated into the office of his father who was having a conference with at torney general bonaparte As quen tin approached the snakes hissed and the attorney general side stepped with great agility president roosevelt suggested to quentin that he digap pear quentin hastened into the cab inet room where representative hep burn and mr lacey were waiting to see the they thought the snakes were harmless wooden affairs and began to admire them then the larger snake began to wriggle and wrap itself around the arm of quen tin and the distinguished lowans in their terror made frantic efforts to walk up the walls regaining their composure it oc burred to them hat quentin might be in danger and that they should rush to the rescue especially when they street car in this country EVERY may be made a traveling fice before long such a plan Is now under consideration by second assist ant postmaster general mccleary with the object of still further improve ing the mall service mr mccleary s idea is that when a person writes a letter the sooner it Is on its way the better it suits him it mall facilities are still further am proved the man will write two let where he now writes one and the government will receive just that much more revenue on street cars he believes will place the writing public in close touch with the postal department and the convent ence will add materially to the gov eminent s income the system has been tried on the line and st paul and has proved successful every car on that line Is equipped with a ARMY OF caterpillars IS DEVOURING FOLIAGE on washington s trees s FOLIAGE being devoured wholesale by an army of tussock caterpillars the larvae of the tussock moth and ap patently ly nothing can be done to check the ravages of those now doing the damage though precautions can be taken against a repetition of the pest next year aiding and abetting the tussock caterpillars are tle cohorts of the fall web worms which are by no means so numerous but which never are doing an immense amount ot damage for many years the tussock cater pillar has been the most serious of the shade tree pests in philadelphia new york brooklyn and boston but it was not until 1895 that it appeared in washington in sufficient numbers to be regarded as a menace to the foil age in that year also the tall web worm was more abundant in this city than it had been since 1888 in 1901 the pests of both kinds again appeared in great numbers and now there Is another invasion giving a period of six years between each great attack hitherto the chief cheal upon the insects has been the parasites that come in great numbers in the same years that the caterpillars abound and destroy most of the multitude of eggs laid by the pests destruction by MORE green consuls are to be NO sent abroad to represent america it the plans of the state department which have just been put in practice realize expectations ever since the establishment 0 the consular service it has been customary to permit a newly appointed consul 30 days with pay before leaving america for his post sammy and his small brother had been tucked up for the night and had peacefully wended their ways to dreamland and nurse was taking a farewell survey of her charges be fore turning out the lights and seek ing her own bed she discovered that a mosquito was humming a high insistent tune in one of sammy e ears and she was ing to annihilate the little pest with out disturbing sammy when suddenly without any warning that small per son bestirred himself and tell upon peping b other and saw atie larger snake three feet long gliding up the sleeve of the dent s son in the most gingerly man ner they took hold of the collar of the boys coat and gently removed the garment care to keep out of range of the snake disdaining rescue quentin seized bis coat and while he toyed with the squirming reptiles skated outside where a party 0 women visitors were thrown into hys gerics at sight of the snakes quentin brought three snakes from oyster bay with him lie found that he ild not take care of them prop ariy and turned them over to an ani mal fancier but quentin got lone some without his snakes and the tan cier loaned him a king snake and a smaller reptile quentin went to the executive offices to show his new treasures to his taher who observed that the king snake was about to make a meal of the little one and warned his son to be careful to pre vent such a calamity quentin finally left the white house to the great joy of everybody there his father remarked to a caller that quentin s taste was inherited tor he not only liked snakes but had scotch ed a few in his time MAY USE STREET CARS TO IMPROVE POSTAL SERVICE mail box and the people patronize them liberally the cars stop to re belve a letter the same as a ger it the scheme works well where it has been tested mr mccgeary can t see why it will not work well on all street car lines at first the system may be installed only on the main street car lines of the various cities but will be extended gradually to take in all the lines the cost of the service Is to be investigated officials at the depart ment are of the opinion the expense will not be great as the street car companies will no doubt furnish the necessary letter boxes and permit conductors to handle the mall in many cities street cars are now used to transfer mail from one postal station to another and the postal au les believe the system for the collection of mail can be successfully developed man has helped but has accounted tor but a small percentage ol 01 the agga egga put out of business trees of which the foliage has been injured or even totally destroyed by these marauders may be seen on al most any street of washington the caterpillars attacking by preference poplars soft maples elms alders birches nd willows but other trees bv no means escape their delpreda alons though the gingko and tulip are almost imm me besides destroying the foliage the caterpillars are offen intrusive invading the homes of the residents and otherwise becom ing a nuisance AS usually seen the tussock cater pillar has two big hairy protuberances like horns sticking out of where his forehead would be it he bad one and another one really two close er projecting like the rudder of an airship he Is excessively hairy and ugly and his hairs are stuck in loose ly and are apt to tall out on any per son upon whom he drops causing in flam mation and swelling these hairs are finally tangled up in the silk as the caterpillar weaves his cocoon and become part of the egg receptacle leaving the caterpillar a smooth worm not a woolly one and look ing far unlike his original hirsute self STATE department JO TEACH GREEN CONSULS A room in the department has been equipped as a complete working amer lean consulate suitable to transact the b illness of any part of the world cial llred or uncivilized appointees are no longer permitted to spend that 30 days period in their own way but are required to report every day at the state department for duty and to spend a certain number of hours in this model consular office 1 pummeled him nurse oh nurse sammy sobbed vehemently after she had soothed him for a moment he keeps telling me right into my ear that its a little little little bit of a thing and he won t stop and then nurse thought of the mos quito s song and the up heavel was explained the visitor how old are you toma the boy aw ma says I 1 m too young to eat the things I 1 like an I 1 m too old to cry ven I 1 don t get em |
