Gilpin observer., 1914-10-29
ART BUG At PHONE |BEF0RE old MAN
Pad and Pencil Microbe Turks In
Every Booth.
Few Persons Are Immune; Works
While One TaIks-What Do You
Draw While Waiting for Your
Number2 Asks Writer.

Number7 Asks Writer.
What kind of things do you drawf
Or, are you one of the numeral or
word artists?
Do you make wiggles? Do you make
faces mot your own. that is)7 Do you
produce architectural or geometric
designs, or merely arabesques?
Whether you answer or not, re-
marks the New York World, 1t is
dead certainty that you do one of these
things. Probably you're unconscious
Of the fact. but you're one OF the mil
lion and more telephone booth artists
who are the involuntary slaves of a
masterbug which lives in every tele-
phone booth In the city.
Just think a moment and call to
mind the last time you were In booth
with pencil and bit of paper handy.
Don't you recall that you had to wait
while central" was getting the num-
bert What did you do in the inter
vali
You needn't answer; you, took up
the pencil and began to draw or to
AAesAo NuiiiSdCo VI h6 III co. PSA~o ~
write name. You do 1t every time
you get into a booth. In nin0 cases
out of ten you continue the art work
during your conversation, too.
Whoever Is ekepdcal need only go.
for example. to the Hotel Knicker-
booker and watch the people tn the
booths there. There are eight tele-
phone compartments and. each 10 pro-
vided with a pad and pencil placed In
the booths to facilitate notemaking.
but It may be that a farsighted man
agement was aware. Of the bug" and
promptly supplied. the means for Its
culture.
The matter of this telephone bug
was referred to, no less an authority
upon quirks of the mind than DR.. Car
los F. Macdonald. the. alienist- He
recognized 1t at once. He even said
that he himself was victim.
Il firmly believe that nearly every
one who uses a telephone" he said,
"is given to scribbling or writing or
drawing or figuring on hit Of paper
II It be handy. always do 1t myself
| II the conversation be at all prolonged.
It's a curious mental process. Really
t's a dual operation Of the mind.
When man is waiting, for instance,
for a telephone number his conscious
mind is directed attentively to waiting
for the answer at the other end His
subconscioue hand disengages itself
and II the pencil and pad be there II
turns to them. There is no diminua
tion in the intentness OF the conscious
mind while the hand is busy tracing
the figures or what not upon the pa
per. It Is just that the mind is capable
Of doing two things at once and give:
demonstration of It's ability.
The things persons produce on pa
per at such time may be most care
fully executed, but the execution doe!
not In any way hamper a thorough!
rational attention to the conversation
or communication taking place. Th'
drawings really make practically NJ
impression on the mind, and I'd ven
ture to say that not one man In hun
dred could tell you after leaving tn,
booth what he had drawn or writer
on the pad. II does not register on th'
mind. you see. The mind-that is, tn
subconscious mind, is focused on tn
conversation and h far too intent Il
be distracted by the other operation.
Some persons draw, others merel,
scribble. ] generally set down figure
i, 2, 8. 4, and then write them In re
verse order. Often go to the yer;
edge Of the paper with the string o
digits. It's a mental process which
rarely has anything to do with the con
versation-that is, the figures O.
scrawls or drawings bear no pictoria
relation to the subject of the talk.
II believe. however. that these sub
conscious deductions bear some rela
tion to the character of the Individual
just as does handwriting. II, say, so,
examples could be collected and placed
in the hands Of ar expert In handwrit
ing | think he could resolve the pro
ducers into distinct classes, as It were
think that the traits OF the individua
might be found to show In the draw
ings. They are produced with ever
less thought than one must give to tn,
formation of characters in writing, be
cause the conscious mind is busy will
the talking. but 1t seems to me tha
they might show the characteristics o
the makers"
The care with which some are exc
cuted is indicative OF the care with
which the accompanying telephone
conversation was carried on. becaus,
1t has been found that the more i'm
portant the talk the more carefully tn,
subconscious mind worked.
Now, the next time you go into {
telephone booth just see II you dom
| Srah the nencil and get To unrL