Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-04

that he is a CULVER of old, able to crush
them with single step.
On meeting muscular and rather pep
perry gentleman in the street the average
man has no strong inclination to throw
things at him. He is convinced. the aver
age man is. that if he starts to shy
bricks at the .short-tempered individual
that person will Immediately punch his
head. Therefore he desists.
But on beholding that same person from
vantage point 800 feet in the air. the
average man longs to drop something
upon him '.iust to watch him jump" 1t
is different then. The peppery gentleman
cannot hit back Indeed it is highly i'm
probable whether he would take sufficient
interest in proceedings to try and hit
back after an object had been dropped
500 feet on his head, and this removes
all possibility Of a personal encounter.
When the Stiffness Grows.
'They seem to get light-headed," re-
marked the elevator man sententiously,
land I'm blamed if sometimes don't al
most think they've gone batty. 1t must
be in the air or something. There is no
reason, SO far as l can see. how a man
should be any sillier five hundred feet in
the air than on the level And yet they
always are. Seems like altitude makes
light heads.
Now. there was case 1 noticed sew
eral weeks ago 1t was three young men.
studious in appearance ard all wearing a
solemn sad expression that would make
YOU suppose they were theological stu
dents. They visited they said. the Monu-
rpent for the first time. They were tell
ing me going up in the elevator what a
nice place it was and how quiet and pleas
ant everything seemed to be and how
they'd just love to live there.
We'll, they were such quiet, studious
fellows that I didn't suspect for mo-
ty,41 70 h. It'll
ious. In answer to their questions I as
sumed nice. civil attitude and told them
that the place not as quiet as it
looked. That was when they were going
up in the elevator
about ten minutes passed by. and then
another ten. 1 had gotten to the bottom
with the elevator when l heard sound
that made me think the whole building
was topplin' over.
"Bump-bumpty bump! Br-r-r-r Bang!
Crash!
II heard this thunderin' noise like forty
boiler plants workin' together. 1t was
awful. The crashin' and bangin' seemed
to be comm nearer. too. Down stairs,
and still down stairs 1 could hear this
rattlin, thumpin, bangn' sound that
seemed to shake the place. The people in
the elevator commenced to get frightened
and one nice-lookin' old man asked me
whether thought he ought to star. and
pray or not.
"Bein' rather excited, told him to go
lowell, 1 was rather rude, and the old
man seemed to take my remark an
omen. and started 10 weep.
Then, just as everybody was getting
Mysteries and / was wild with excitement
wondering what was going to happen
next. those three nice, thought ful-iookin'
young men hove into view. Their coats
We're off and their collars. too. Their hair
was all rumpled and they were racing
down those iron steps as hard as they
could go. Racing, mind you. Not hop
ping or jumping, but running as if they
were commuters whose last train leaves
in five seconds
"One of them wore eyeglasses. They
were hanging over his ear by gold chain,
and as he rushed past you could see them
flying in the breeze like a flag. 1t was
funny if But nobody had any time to
laugh. 1t was too much to just express
thanks for knowing what the noise was