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

Whatever may be ones opinion on
the question of spiritualism, there
was little doubt that Sir Oliver Lodge
made a favorable impression as a
lecturer in his two appearances here
last week.
The noted British scientist spoke
sincerely of his beliefs in a 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
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
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 housekeeper made several futile
visits to him. but did not succeed in
her efforts to attract his attention
With intent eye he studied the color
alton of his flower doubtless revolv-
ing in his mind some of the theories
which later delighted science. .
But the worthy housekeeper was
angry.
There he is. a-looking at his old
flowers" she fumed IT'S a pity he
hasn't something to occupy his mind"
y x
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
first experiments made in England to
demonstrate that new American in
vention. the telephone.
!. The experiment was conducted on a
stage, one telephone being on the
platform and the other back in an
other part of the building A large
and distinguished audience witnessed
an eminent English scientist give the
demonstration. Sir Oliver told it this
way:
HIS great ScientlHC man. standing
before an audience with a telephone
in his hand. and an assistant in a dis
tant room. said:
Hey. diddle diddle. the cat and the
fiddle-now go on with that'
Then he listened. and exclaimed in
delight. heard him, I heard him
say, The COW jumped over the
moon."'N
That may seem trivial" continued
Sir Oliver, but the triviafity of the
message does not count in the least
In other words, nothing is common
or unclean if 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 the boss"
or head official is stamped on the
whole atmosphere of his office. wheth-
er he is in it or out of it.
If the head of big federal bureau,
Tor instance. is genial. opsn-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 officials, down to the mes
SengerS.
VII tle OtIeT manu-, IL tue DOSS Is a
crouch. when you go into his office
you will meet a whole office full of
limitations of the boss Even the
messenger will be curt to men many
times his superior. The clerks take
delight in being officious, the pretty
stenographers sniff audibly at visit
ors. and the chief clerk is no way
near as decent as he might be.
In fact, for good or ill. the charac-
ter of the boss" is stamped as plain
ly on that whole office as if 1t were
written in big letters on the wall
The keen observer does not need
written characters. He can smell IT.
Travelling men will tell you the
same thing. The Al travelling sales
man does not have to meet the boss
to tell you what the boss is like. One
minute in his plant, and. though the
head of the firm may be hundreds of
miles away, that salesman has
pretty good mental picture of the
"boss of the works"
1t therefore gives me pleasure to
you don't have to meet the big boss
to meet a two-ffsted. outstanding
American. When you go in that Of
flee you are met with courtesy. The
men, and the women. too, smile. 1t
is a pleasure to go there. and if 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
ly told a group of citizens that his
street railway has improved very
much in it's service during the past
few months. The citizens present
were inclined to believe him.
But Mr.. Ham never could have con-
vinced a man who got on a car at
Union station. and got hung up" be-
low Dupont circle. The car was stalled
for several minutes only, but il was
time enough and plenty to allow the
traveller to express his opinion.
Il have been travelling all over the
United States during the past year."
he announced, to nobody in particular
and everybody in general.
II have travelled on trains. inter-
urbans and street cars the man con-
tinued. IT caught trains in the small
hours of the night and changed cars
at stations where there seemed nobody
around but myself.
But in all that time I never missed
an appointment. / had to come back
here to my home town to get tied up."I
gloomily concluded the. wearya trav-