Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-10
| At the End Of the Rainbow.
BEAUTIES OF CONCENTRATION.
by Walt Mason.
BY walt Mason.

"Chesterton undoubtedly is great
genius remarked the professor, as he
laid aside British review, but, to use
colloquialism, he is trying to cover too
much territory. He has been striving for
laurels as poet, essayist and novelist,
and now I see he has been illustrating
a book. 1t would be better for him and
his fame II he devoted his talents to one
line of work There is nothing like con-
centration, in literature as in commerce
You're right there. professor" agreed
the low-browed man. eff a man wants
to cut grass he can't spend his time chas-
ing butterflies. You couldn't have bet
ter illustration of your remarks than old
Doolittle. On Christmas his son-in-law
gave him one of the finest meerschaum
pipes 1 ever saw. 1t was bonehead
play on the part of the son-in-law. al
though I suppose his intentions were
good, for Doolittle can't appreciate a
meerschaum pipe.
Hes one Of your vulgar smokers.
He's always been satisfied with a corn
cob pipe, and he bought his tobacco at
the shoe store. Such men as Doolittle
create a prejudice against smoking. Rer
fined and cultured people meet him on
the street WneH H6 ~ cAci ClSiIl6 iiiS Coi n
cob pipe: they inhale the poisonous smoke
he is distributing, and have headaches
and seasickness and then they write let
tiers to the newspapers saying that there
ought to be a law.
sWen, the old man was tickled to
death when he found that meerschaum
pipe in his stocking and he has been
smoking Ii ever since, and he's greatly
worried because it doesn't color right. I
told him when he first showed it to me
- 70 &>A ~ ~ ~ colo riU
he'd have to devote all his talents and
energy to the work. A man can't fool
around when he has such a job on hand.
It's a work that calls for concentration
of the highest order. Doolittle seemed
to think that other things were more
important, and the result Is that his pipe
| looks like q case of the jaundice. and
it never will get the right color, for 1T s
been badly burned.
II think every man should find out
what he can do best and then stick to
it, but most people want to tackle every
thing that looks good to them, like that
guy you were speaking of. I used to be
inclined that way myself, but / have out
with the proprietor OF the Palace drug
store. I hung around good deal while
he was mixing prescriptions. and got the
run Of the goods on the shelves. and l
felt that I knew az MUCH about the
business as the boss did. had a sort OF
sneaking idea that If 1 ever had $40
saved up I'd start q drug store of my
own.
Zone day hamburger. the druggist. was
summoned to the next town, where his
venerable father had fallen off kitchen
roof and broken several legs hamburger
didn't know what to do. He hated to
shut up his store. and yet he felt that
he ought to 60 to his stricken parent. So
I volunteered to run the shebang while
he was away. / assured him that / was
a skilled pharmacist and would build up
fine family trade for him.
Finally, as there was nothing else to
do. he left me in charge. He hadn't been
gone half an hour before the new livery
high. I know. because / measured him
afterward. He had sick horse and he
brought along prescription from the
veterinarian. / could make out most OF
the things the prescription called for and
guessed at the others and threw in
few drugs it didn't call for. just to be
generous.
1.-THE liveryman went away with the
medicine in a great hurry, and fifteen
minutes later he came sizzling into the
drug store like a volcano in eruption.
He said he'd teach me not to poison val
liable horses. and he did. / haven't
poisoned any valuable horses since. He
also taught me how to knock holes
gave me fe~, easy lessons in spinning
around on my shoulder blades.
'sYou ought to have seen that drug
store when he got through with his ed
ucational labors, professor. It looked as
though herd of elephants had been hav-
| ing q cake walk there. I just hed
strength enough TO telegraph to Bam-