Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-29
POWER OF SUGGESTION

why" moaned the understood. fragile
looking man In the rear seat of the t4tf
street car, "oh, why, won't they let mt
remain cool?''
''Who7" inquired the man on his left
taking OF his hot-iooking black derby AND
mopping his forehead with a blazing REQ
bandanna.
ooh, everybody" almost sobbed the small
fragile-looking man. Everybody In the
District Of Columbia is involved In q con-
spiracy to parboil me. My own wife and
family are in 1t. The whole Internal coun.
try IL involved IN q low-down scheme to
melt me. and know IT.
Easy, there, chum," said the man on his
left. warningly. cor the first thing you
know It'll be you for the ambulance with
one O. them rubber ics-caps on your lid
and a couple o. ton o Ice weighing on
your frame after they've packed you away
in the nut-ward. Take it easy and you
won't bother yourself up so much"
s Take ss,y Is saT s
a fellow going to take 1t easy when-weu.
let me just tell you what they've been do
ing to me ever since !, got up this morning.
and then I'm going to ask you, as between
man and man. whether you think I've got
any chance on earth to take 1t easy"
well, you might just as well get 1t out
Of your system" observed the man with the
hot-looking black derby. in kindly, In
dulgent tone.
I'm the first place." almost whimpered
the small man. II want to tell you that
am naturally cool man. Never was over
heated in my life unless other folks made
me SO by precept, example or suggestion' .
cool as cantaloupe in an ice-box My WIFE
had been shifting about from room to room
and complaining all night Of the heat. but
felt as comfortable as the snow OF the
Himalayas. and I begged her to forbear.
This evoked a reply on her part that I
was selfish and inconsiderate. Her unde-
served words Of reproach caused my tenn
perature to rise at least three degrees-no
appreciable rise for a man as cool as
was at the time but three degrees all
the same.
"Wen, after a light early breakfast, dur
ing the entire progress of which my WIFE
cleaved the air with her lamentations over
the heat and my little girl painted as II
ready to keel overland me as cool as q
pond lily at midnight sat down at the
front window. overlooking a little park, to
take a glance at the newspaper before set
ting out for the Office
well sir, before I'd been sitting down
for two minutes, what does my wife do but
go upstairs and don the reddest, nercest-
looking flaming kimono that ever came of
a loom, drape her head in heavy, hot
towel. and proceed to put the house
to rights as she called it. l implored her
to cease, but It was no use. She wanted
to get the house put to rights before the
real heat of the day began. she he. said AID,
fled. I wasn't what you could call warm
when I got on the car, but am sure was
some degrees removed from my norman
condition of comfortable coolness.
However, Immediately in front OF me
on the car was Tuning fat man. with
folded around his neck In
place Of collar. had to sit there and
watch that fat man and his handkerchief
The handkerchief had a malevolent fasci-
nation for me, and couldn't keep my eyes
off the thing. The fat man would tug at
the handkerchief first with one hand and
then with the other. and then he would
yank 1t off altogether. stroke It and re1o,o
it and readjust 1t around his. fat. red neck.
tucking it In with maddening deliberation.
and uttering q horrible whistling 'Whewf
about every ten seconds or so.
by the time half OF my car journey was
kerchief looked to me like hangman's
moose that had been frequently used. and
I was at least four degrees warmer than
1 had been before leaving home, Just from
reputable handkerchief. However, took
a good hold on myself when ! got on the
car and made a mental resolution to re-
main unaffected by all exterior temporal
ture- elevating manifestations whatsoever
Il hung my coat on its accustomed peg
when 1 reached the office. and l was rap
Idly regaining my accustomed GOODNESS
when set to work and began to open my
mail. Then my deskmate began TO snow
the cloyen heof. He gave me the first
Inkling of the deliberate conspiracy that
ma. been Matched against me. 1t was plain
to be seen that he resented my cool ap-
awful time he'd had Of 1t trying to get
some sleep the night before. He said that
HE stoke-hole of a man-o'-war under
forced draught wasn't marker to the
hat 40
bedclothes as hot as the marble slab in the
steam room of Turkish bath.
IT endeayored to get him to desist by
switching the subject, but there wasn't
heat or nothing. He tugged at his sus-
penders and whistled BY George through
his teeth every minute or SO. and every
Ave minutes he'd jump up from his desk
and totter over to the corner of the room
to xaze at the thermometer. When he was
bile to report rise of half degree In the
he'd fasten q. look OF deviilsh
upon me- and ASK me II l was
willing to acknowledge tnat tne inofhihs
was a soaker.
Il went out to luncheon at an unusually
early hour, sos to get away from this desk
mate of mine. At the restaurant where l
AXE my luncheon of graham waters and
milk every week day of the year l was
compelled to sit down opposite young
nan who weighed about 2S7 pounds on the
1oof. His countenance was an exaggerated
.erise in hue and there were Mississippis
and AmaZons streaming down from his
forehead to his chin and on to his red
striped, tiff-bosomed shirt. :.
Now I might have been able to stand
his looks, much as he suggested a senior
steamboat engineer In a state of excitement
over the blowing out Of cylinder head;
out the stuff that he was eating! 1t was a
huge dish of steaming beef la mode, and
into the mess the Falstafflan young man
at intervals of every minute or
10, copious squirts Of tabasco sauce. Wor-
,estershire catsup and chile sauce. This
ness of fuel he pushed into his countenance
With every evidence Of vast enjoyment, so
hat when my ice-cold milk came along 1t
tasted-such Is the power OF sug-
zestion-as II 1t had just come from red
lot caldron. got no good out of my lunch
,on hour except rise in temperature such
Is l had not experienced since the time
ny father caught me swimming in the deep
lole of the creek.
"In the afternoon I went to the liquid re-
'ectory across the street from my Office
md ordered tall settler lemonade. was
ust about to place the drink to my lips
when my attention was riveted by an awful
spectacle. A middle-aged man, well-dressed
md well-groomed. prosperous-looking. and
with everything on this earth to
i've for deliberately poured himself out
our and one-half fingers of corn whisky
md shot the ferocious blazing ball into
lim with nary shudder, and without SO
,,ob ovop SHINING tho chaser Of water