Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-15
CURIOSITY OF THE PUBLIC
POPULAR INTEREST IN ACHIEVE
MENTS OF MANUAL SKILL.
How the Passerby Is Attracted by the
Deft Accomplishment of Those
Trained in Their Work.

at is just the same now as when I was
a boy" said an elderly gentleman the
other day as he paused in front of The
Star building and watched with evident in
terest tine man on a scaffold affixing the
bronze letters of the name of the paper
over the main entrance on the white mar
BILE
There is a fascination of an indescribable
sort in watching a man painting a sign or
lettering a name on plate glass front, es-
pecialy in gold leaf Youth see a small
changing crowd on the sidewalk viewing
with keen interest the painter as he, indif-
ferent To the many pairs of curious eyes
following the strokes of his brush. outlines
with such skill the letters he is inscribing
on the glass. and from where he.sits, max
ing the strokes backward
Now Just watch the interested express
sions on the faces of those. from small boy
to old man, who have stopped to see if that
chap perChed up there is going to fit those
metal letters accurately into the little drill
ed holes in the stone. You see. there Is
one that doesn't just fit with the exact
ness that he wishes and he is critically ex-
amrxns the small projections on the under
side Of the letter TO note how much he will
file off to make a perfect fit. and all OF
US, from that freCkled-faced messenger boy
TO myself know the man Is momentarlly
stumped and We show IL in our facial eX-
pressiouS just as surely as We evince
silent satisfaction, when, with a few deft
strokes of the file, the man slips the let
ter into place and leans back to view the
effect.
1t is the same with the store window
demonstration who hacks with a razor a
piece of pine board one minute, gives the
razor few swift swats on the wonder
full strop he is demonstrating, and then
cuts a hair with the razors edge-we all
rubber our necks to see If he really does
81 hair md inHi ha he
go on about our business down the street
and forget it.
''On the next block curiosity and the
law of gravitation draw instnctively
toward a little group around a druggist
window in which see seated two very
bored young ladies with very long hair
hanging down their backs. ConSpicuously
surrounded by bottles containing the re-
marka5le tonic which is supposed to have
produced this enviable double hirsute
adornment..
Then we look toward the double bar
riCadrs in the center of Pennsylvania
avenue and we note an especially deep
and wide hole across the center of which
Is slender board with a man standing
one foot peering down into the aperture
with the most intense interest. That set
ties it; any man who will stand one
foot and look like that sees something that
we must see, too So we uncomplainlngly
bark our shins in climbing over the inter-
yening barriCade spoil the polish on our
shoes in the mud. and reach the hole only
to find that the man was saying some
things that weren't fit to print to other
men down in the bottom of the hole be-
cause they didn't join the elbow of small
sewer pip securely. and that he was stand
ing on two feet-it was the enticing angle
OF Illusion from the sidewalk. an angle
that-has been the undong of many of us.
that made it look if he were doing the
stork act on rail fence
And thus it goes, from Easter time
when we watch 'em dye eggs in the win
dows to Christmas when the bright gilded
gold and silver balls and glittering tinsel
in the windows of the candy shops draw
us like magnets to push our way through
the crowd of holiday shoppers to see the
sights which remind us of younger and,
in many instances. happier days.