Evening star., 1920-02-15
HEARD AND SEEN

HEARD AND SEEN
Whatever may be ones opinion on
tho question Of spiritualism. there
was little doubt that Sir Oliver Lodge
made . favorable impression a. .
lecturer in his two Appearances here
last week.
The noted Brftish scientist spoke
sincerely Of his beliefs In q direct,
simple fashion which demanded re-
spect He made many In his audi
ences. especially young people, feel
that in hearing him they got some
taste Of what past generations must
have gotten from the great lecturer
Emerson.
Sir Oliver brought with him two
delightful anecdotes The first had to
do with Charles Darwin. According
to Sir Oliver. Darwin spent many
hours studying flowers, and one day
remained hxed in his greenhouse be-
fore . certain flower.
Darwin stood and stood, and stared
and stared at the flower which was
the subject Of his meditations that
day. The hour for tea came, and yet
Darwin moved not
The housskeeper made several futile
her efforts to attract his attention.
alton OF his flower, doubtless revolv-
ing in his mind some Of the theories
which later delighted science.
But the worthy housekeeper was
angry -.
flowers!'' she fumed. ITS . pity he
hasn't something to occupy his mind"
In the course Of his second lecture
Sir Oliver illustrated the point that
the instrument Of communication is
always Of less importance than the
communication itself by telling Of the
drst experiments made in England to
demonstrate that new American in
vention. the telephone.
Tho experiment was conducted on .
stage. one telephone being on the
platform and the other back in an
other part Of the building a large
an eminent English scientist give the
demonstration. Sir Oliver told it this
way:
''This great scientinc man. standing
before an audience with q telephone
IN his hand. and an assistant in dis
tant room. said:
"Hey. diddle diddle. the cat ana the
fddle-now 90 on with that!
Then he listened. and exclaimed in
delight. i heard him! I heard him
mScn say; ,. The COW jumped over the
'aThat may seem trivial continued
Sir Oliver, but the triviality OF the
message does not count in the least
In other words. nothing 10 common
or unclean II one uses it for the right
purpose"
Spiritualism has nothing at all to do
with the following strange fact. no.
ticeable throughout the government
departments: The spirit of tho boss"
or head ofncial is stamped on the
whole atmosphere Of his office. wheth-
or he is in 1t or out Of it.
II tho head Of q big federal bureau,
Tor instance. is a genial, open-hearted
United States sort of man, with COM
mon sense and courtesy uppermost in
his character. you'll find that the
same characteristics are marked in
his under ofncials. down to the mes
senGers.
On the other hand, II the BOSS IL a
crouch. when you go into his ONCE
you will meet q whole office full of
limitations of the BOSS" Even the
messenger win be curt to men many
delight In being onicious. the pretty
stenographers snin audibly at visit
ors. and the chief clerk is no way
near Al decent as he might be.
In fact. for good or i'll. the charae-
ter Of the boss" Is stamped as plain
written in big letters on the vail.
The keen observer does not need
written chafactera He can smell it.
Travelling men win tell you the
same thing. The Al travelling sales
man does not have to meet the boss
minute in his plant. apd, though the
head Of the arm may be hundreds OF
miles away. that salesman has q
pretty good mental picture Of the
boss Of the works"
It therefore gives me pleasure 70
you don't have to meet the>"big boss"
to meet two-hsted. upstandtng
American. when you 60 in that Of
hce you are met with courtesy: The
men, ana the women, toos smile. II
is q pleasure TO 60 there. Ind II you
did not get to meet the BOSS" In per-
son. you got to know him very well
from the actions and words Of those
around him.
PRESIDENT Ham Of the Washington
Railway and Electric Company recent
~ told . group Of citissns that his
street railway has improved very
much In its service during the past
few months. The citisens present
were inclined to believe him.
But Mr.. Ham saevar could have con-
vinced . man who got on . car At
Union station. and got hung up" be-
low Dupont circle. The car was stalled
for several minutes only. but II was
time enough and plenty to allow the
traveller to express his opinion.
II have been travelling all over the
United States during the past year"
he announced. to nobody In particular
and everybody In general
Il have Travelled on trains. inter-
urbans and street cars" the man con-
tinusd- II caught trains In the small
hours of the night and changed cars
at stations whore there seemed nobody
around hut myself.
But in all that time never missed
an appointment. had 20 come back