The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-01-10
ART BUG At PHONE.
Pad and Pencil Microbe Turks in
Every Booth.
Few Persons Arc Immune; Works
While One Talks-What Do You
Draw While Waiting for Your
Number2 Asks Writer.

Or, are you one of the mineral or
word artists?
Do you make wiggles? DO you make
faces mot your own, that Isl Do you
produce architectural OF geometric
designs, or merely arabesques?
Whether you answer or not, re-
marks the New York World, it Is a
dead ce .ainty 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 a booth
with a pencil and a bit of paper handy.
Don't you recall that you had to walt
while central" was getting the num-
Der? What did you do in the inter-
val2
You needn't answer; you took up
the pencil and began to draw or to
make curlicues or figures, perhaps to
write a name. You do it every time
you get into a booth. In nine cases
out of ten you continue the art work
during your conversation, too.
Whoever is ekeptical need only go,
for example, to the Hotel knicker-
booker and watch the people in the
booths there. There are eight tele-
phone compartments and each is pro-
vided with a pad and pencil placed in
the booths to facilitate notemaking,
but 1t may be that a f~arsighted man.
agement was aware of the bug" n
promptly supplied the e 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 it at once. He even said
that he himself was a victim.
81 firmly believe that nearly every
one who uses a telephone" he said,
lis given to scribbling or writing or
drawing or figuring on a bit of paper
If it be handy. l always do it myself
if the conversation be at all prolonged.
It's a curious mental process. Really
It's a dual operation of the mind.
When a 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
subconscious hand ~disengages itself,
and if the pencil and pad be there it
turns to them. There Is no diminua-
ton in the intentness of the conscious
mind while the hand Is busy tracing
the figures or what not Upon the pa
per. 1t is just that the mind is capable
of doing two things at once and gives
a demonstration of it's ability.
"The things persons produce on pa
per at such a time may be most care
fully executed, but the execution doe'
not in any way hampera thorough!
rational attention to the conversation
or communication taking place. The
drawings really make practically nc
impression on the mind, and I'd ven
ture to say that not n man in a hun
dred could tell you after leaving the
booth what he had drawn or writer
on the pad. 1t does not register on the
mind, you see. The m%d-that is, the
subconscious mind, is focused on the
conversation and is far too intent t
be distracted by the other operation.
Some persons draw, others merel!
scribble. l generally set down figures
Il, 2, 3, 4, and then write them in re
verse order. often l 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 pretoria
relation to the subject of the talk.
81 believe, however, that these sub
conscious deductions bear some rela
ton to the character of the individual
Just as does handwriting. If, say, so
examples could be collected and place,
in the hands of an expert in handwrit
ing | think he could resolve the prc
ducers into distinct classes, as it were
l think that the traits of the individus
might be found to show in the draw
ings. They are produced with eve
less thought than n must give to tn
formation of characters in writing, bt
cause the conscious mind is busy wit
the talking. but it seems to me tina
they might show the characteristics G
the makers"
The care with which some are exc
cuted is indicative of the care wit
which the accompanying telephon
conversation was carried on, becaus
it has been found that the more in
portant the talk the more carefully tn
subconscious mind worked.
Now, the next time you go into
telephone booth just see If you don
grab the pencil and get to work.