Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1898-01-26
HUMMINe IN PUBLIC PLACES.
Men. More often Than Women, Are
Guilty CT the NIisdemeanor.

Men. More Often Than Women, Are
Guilty OF the Misdemeanor.
Which is it, men or women, who
are most given to singingf' queried
the woman.
"Of course / do not mean to ask
whether there are more men or wo-
me1 musicians. No one cares any
thing about that. AS long as the
piece of humanity which claims to
be musician is one the lover of
music does not care whether it wears
trousers or skirts.
but the singer mean is that in
dividual you sit beside in the cars or
pass in the street who is humming
a tune. Physicians, believe, have
proved that such little idiosyncrasies
show a weakness of the brain in GER
tain directions, but if it is go it is of
such a delicately superficial nature
that other mortals, who have other
like minute weaknesses in other di-
rections, would never know the diff
ference, yet the street singer is fun
ny, unless you happen to be tired or
cross. Then he is maddening.
II sat beside one of these singers.
in the surface car the other day. i
noticed him casually as I sat down,
thinking, without putting the
thought into words, that he was a
fine looking man. / had a view of
his profile later, and that confirmed
my first good impression.
"He was rather past middle age,
just reaching the iron gray age of a
well preserved man. He was portly,
well dressed and evidently a gentle
man. He had a dignified air, and
his face was almost stern. This ex-
preston was emphasized by the
mouth, which had thin lips pressed
closely together and dropping a lit
tie at the corners.
II should never have thought of
him again if l had not heard, as ]
sat looking through my shopping
list, strange sound, which seemed
to come from beside me. It was a
peculiar sound, coming at regular
intervals, something between the
sound of saw and the purring of a |
bass voiced cat. turned involun-
tarily to look at the man. The sound
certainly proceeded from his throat,
but there was not the culver of
single feature, and the stern mouth
was as immovable as before.
II was fascinated. looked away,
and, with studied carelessness, look
ed back again, again looked away
and again looked back The same
buzzsaw sound was coming from
the same direction, and there was
still that stern, smileless face. /
should almost have thought my ears
had deceiv,@. me if those deep bass
notes, which, it seems, must have
been a prelude, had not suddenly
changed to tum, tidy dunn, did-y
dunn, dunn, dunn, rising and falling
in the most lively fashion, thought
there was no tune which could rec
ognize. Evidently my neighbor was
not musician in the accepted sense.
of the word, but there was no mis-
taking the fact that the singing,
such as it was, proceeded from his
vocal organs, though there was new
OF once while / sat there, so far as !
could see, the movement of muscle
of that imperturbable face.
You will find a woman hummingl
occasionally, though not so often.
She huns in steady monotone and
is more likely to show outward and
visible signs of it, and / don t think
ever passed woman in the street
who was humming. Why is it9 /
don't know, am sure, unless it is
another evidence of sex in gray mat
ter. New York Times.