The sun., 1917-07-01

human race Is under consideration In
the two hours an evening during which
1 registered my fellow citizens and
alien nelghbors the great panorama Of
life spread itself before me, life in the
large, life as It is lived by the great
majority Of men.
Though our registration centre was
located in a prosperous residential
section, we drew from beyond its bor-
! ders all the nations OF the earth.
Greek, barbarian and Scythian came
to us to be entered on jhe list Of the
State. Here is a sample evening.
The first to come to me is an Italian.
He has the soft brown eyes and mu-
sical voice that traditionally belong to
his race. He has been in this country
twenty-six years and speaks enough
English 80 that he can answer the
! questions when they are translated
from their academic language into
plain United States.
Early in the census ! learned not to
stick too closely to the text in putting
the questions. Have you ever been
| employed in shipbuilding?" becomes
Have you ever worked on making
boats?" and often further elucidation
| is required.
This son OF Italy has Ave children
under 16 and a wife, all of whom he
supports by days work digging with
mir nd be-
cement sidewalks, he says, but he
| doesn't know the boss's name or busi-
| ness address All he knows is that
there is such a person and that he is
sues pay for the work done with the
pick and shovel He has never been
to school, this gentle voiced Italian.
and cannot read or write. but the chill
dren are all going 70 school and he
| negatives the suggestion that the old
est one will soon be able to help him
support the others.
mo, no." he says, they must go to
school,"
When | have made sure that the
work with pick and shovel has not
resulted In his owning an automobile.
heavy truck, draught horse, or even
mule. | write his name and he makes
his mark, wavelingly, with hands un-
accustomed to WELDING anything less
heavy than pick and shovel, and !
send him away with his precious card
and my profound respect, no less
hearty for being unspoken.
Quiet Heroism.
| 1t makes one feel little humble to
rub up against quiet heroism like this.
/ He is not a citizen. he has not even
taken out first papers
Il cannot. have no time" he says
apologetically.
There is time for nothing but hard
work for father Of Ave children who
works with pick and shovel, but the
children are American citizens. they
are going TO school, and who can say
what viii result from this heritage of
steadfastness augmented by the power
that comes with learning
A little colored woman follows.
II got such a stiff nech," she ex-
plains, that | CANT turn my head"
/ But she rolls her eyes toward me
and takes a real interest in the census.
Never been To school but three
weeks in my life; CANT even write my
own name" she tells me when | in
quire about her education.
That is one of the questions that I
soon learned to simplify. Instead of
asking Have YOU ever attended eIe-
mentary SCHOOL," as per instructions I
! say Have you ever been TO school -
Elementary is not included in the
vocabularies OF most of the people who
come to our centre. mo. ma'am;" they
reply uncertainty, ''just~ ordinary
school,"
This little colored woman with the
stiff neck is tobacco stripper hv
trade. And it's good trade, she saws
last week she made 50. But it's hard
work. Yes, ma'am; IT'S hard work.
But she can do almost anything she
tries TO do, no matter how hard II js
She can read, even though she can't
write. She can even read writing
Shed like to know how to write. too
suggest night school, but she saws
she's too tired to go to school after
stripping tobacco all day. and l tell
her I can quite understand that.
When | ask if she can sew. sim
! pllhcation Of the question Can Won
make garments?" she SAYS she never
| tried, but she guesses she could. She
can do almost anything she tries To
do | concede that she could no doubt
learn very easily, but I shall have to
write no to that question, as the
state wants the names of women who
have already learned, so that IL we
should need garments made for the
hospitals or for any other purpose
1t could know whom to call upon.
Her face grows serious at this
"Oh, hope war isn't going to come "
she says. Il pray all the time that it
won't"
tell her that it is too late to hone
for that now. War has come. and all
she can do is to pray that it may end
soon. She shakes her head as far as
her stih neck will allow and declares
1t has come because people are wicked
I agree heartily. though | have a feel
ing that II we sifted our thoughts Ia
! the bottom we would probably differ
as to the distribution of responsibility
An UnspOken Tragedy.
The next who comes to nv tshIc 20
an Italian woman She has lived here
sixteen years and is an American citi-
zen by virtue of having husband
who has been naturalized, but she
speaks only Italian and has to bring a
younger woman to interpret She has
five children and her life is spent in
her home, but she does not know how
to sew.
"She has to put out her own sew