The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-18
THE AVERAGE MAN.
One Who Comes Within That Classifi-
cation May Consid er Himself Lucky.

One Who Comes Within That Classifi-
cation May Consider Himself Lucky.
Its a pleasure to fit YOU" said the
clothing salesman to his customer.
"Why?" queried his patron as he
glanced complacently over his shoulder
at his figure rejecting IN long mirror.
Because you are an average man. l
mean that your height, width OF should
ers, chest measure, length of back, width
across the hips, length of arms and legs,
dimensions struck off by the manufac-
turer of ready-made clothing"
al thought you could fit any sized
man."
$50 we can, but to do it sometimes we
must break up three different sets of cloth
ing-take the coat from one, the vest from
another and the trousers from another.
Now, with you it is different. l simply
took the chest measure and found the coat
IN a few minutes made for that measure.
The vest and trousers were ali right, Of
course. for you are man of average build
And you are lucky man, too, according to
my way of thinking. l know that when it
is said On, he is an average man. the
term is used In the deprecatory sense. As
a matter OF fact, to say that man is an
average man is 10 say that he will go
through life easily, with less friction, with
more pleasure and less annoyance than the
man who is above or below the average.
Everything made in quantity is made to
fit the average man. A door knob is
placed where it is most handy to the man
of average height. A letter-box is put
up so thar the average man can mail his
letters with the least difficulty. Car
straps hang down far enough for the
average man to clutch them with the
least effort and they are placed so that
the average man can get in and out of a
streetcar easily.
Hats shoes, shirts, collars, cuffs, stock
ings, clothing OF every sort, are made of
average sizes. If man of a certain height
is too fat or too slim for the average build
of that height, he is in throuble as soon as
he enters clothing store. If his legs are
too long or too short, the salesman must
overhaul his stock and try on number of
trousers before he finds pair that will fit,
and frequently he must have them altered
after all.
Now, it's the same way with other
things. The man of average intelligence,
average brain power, average scho ling,
average morality and average religious
ideas will get along in the world better
than men who stand high above him.
Men above the average have added re-
sponslbilities thrust upon them. More is
expected OF them. They are supposed to
keep up a fast gait and if they do not the
world finds fault with them. The avera ge
citizen, average husband, average father,
average man is happy because be is incon-
spicuous. He goes along unnoticed, as he
is neither a fool nor genius He ATTRACTS
no attention and finds ten times more
solid pleasure in life than those who are
highly gifted in one way or another. You
see, the average man is a we'll balanced
man, and balance means stability, and
stability means rest. 1 have figured this
thing out, and have come to the conclusion
that the world is better because of the
great majority of average men, who go
steadily and quietly along, not because of
the few genluses who flash up and blaze
like bontires for time and then die down
TO have their ashes blown into everv bod y's
eyes to annoy and poster them. "-Chicago
Record.