Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27
PUSH BUTTON
PHILOSOPHY

Did you ever watch your fellow passen.
gers In street car. especially the women
passengers. and notice their little idiosyn-
crasies? 1t is worth while. To the observer
with nothing much his mind but the
latest exhibition OF British bumptiousness
In an island colony the rumors OF next
springs base ball deals this is a most
diverting occupation. Try II some day
when you are taking one of Washing
tons longest rides for one ticket and take
notice. Don't stare. but Just keep your
eye open. 1t is well not To stare because
most of the interesting subjects OF analy-
sis are feminine. and some OF them have
escorts. Besides. there is no reason why
an observer may not at the same time be
gentleman. by trying harder than usual
Fer example watch the way most women
stop the car. Nowadays we have nice
little push buttons the side to signal
the motorman when We get our moneys
worth. AS we pass a corner one woman
In the front of the rings the bell IL
sounds loud enough for a deaf person IN
hear. 1t is safe bet that the car will
stop, but that fact does not prevent an
other woman, sitting directly behind the
first pusher. from punching her finger on
the button. She has no faith In any ones
ring but her own. And then from across
the aisle comes third ring. and sometimes
fourth and a fifth. Do you wonder tho
motorman now and then perversely runs by
the corner just TO demonstrate that ono
ring Is enough, and many are nuisance?
What induces this habit? Absent minded
ness? 1 don't believe IT, 1 think IL is inst
bit OF plain personal insistence on being
1t. Most of US want to be 1t. or course
We can not all be at the head especially I'm
the big things of life, and so I'm the little
things the small fry are apt to take the lead
and demonstrate themselves. | have no
ticed that the more important a man is in
the matters that really count the less con-
spicuous he is I'm the trifng affairs that
simply form part of the days work
Look at another instance Of bell-punching
as an Illustration. to be noted at any eleya-
tor entrance in a busy building. You walk
up to one Of these places and another
man standing there. 1t is one of the reason
able certainties of life that he is not there
simply as means OF diversion, or as "a
penance. 1t calls for no tremendous stretch
OF the imagination, no mystic powers or
intuition to decide that he wants to take "A
ride in the elevator and 1t is only fair to
suppose that he is gifted with enough
common sense to push the button. You
really have no moral right to walk in front
of him and push the button yourself. 1t Is
reflection upon him. You much as say
to him: Il assume that you jay who
does not know how to call lift I'll take
no chances on you. but I'll look out for
myself. This''-punching the knob with a
nonchalant air of masterful Familiarity
this Is the way you work the trick. And
when the car comes you are apt TO step In
ahead of him just to demonstrate that YOU
regard yourself the only genuine. blown
in-the-b bottle Aladdin on the premises. Capa-
BILE of summonlng the up-and-down genie.
X =
always resent this little exhibition OF
superiority, and I'll wager nne-dollar
bill to q last summers straw hat that there
is not one man In a hundred vino doesn't
feel the same way, And yet sometimes Il
fellow flies off the handle on this account
He has perhaps been given this sort OF a
snub so often that when he runs up against
the other kind of individual, who is actu-
ated by a sense of true politeness and who
asks. Have you rung?" he fires up like a
Fourth of July ''sizzer'' and snaps back:
Have l rung? What do you think l am
doing here in this draughty hall. anyway
Picking daisies? Drawing che, on the
tiles? Playing golf? Have ! rung? Yes.
you dod -ra bbited exhibit of inouisitiyeness
ring for what he wants. If you have any
doubt on this subject, ring yourself"
+ y
OF course, this is not the best way. 1t
is a crude sort of behavior, and even In
these days OF public prejudice against con-
cealed weapons it has it's disadvantages
and its dangers. Even IL the other fellow
does nothing an outburst of indignation in
such circumstances always leaves an irri-
tating memory. II you will only remember
that the fellow who asks. Have you
rung?" Is compromising between trusting
you implicitly and ignoring you altogether.
you will do both yourself and him even
handed Justice. Every man for himself
Is a good rule-sometimes. But there are
other times when II is well to take 1t for
granted that the chap alongside of you Is
neither an escaped lunatic nor a harmless
zany. There would be much less trouble
in the world IL fewer people had the notion
that they have a monopoly Of all the COM
mon sense in the immediate vicinity.
UNCLE JASPER.