New-York tribune., 1921-03-29

And heard her murmur while she
closed her bag,
'It's just my luck to have this train
wrecked now" NOEMIE.
THE ART OF FASCINATING
(Which of these two men," the
advertisement demands, "has learned
the secret of Is minutes a day."
The advertisement is p, F. Collier
& Son Company's.
Gaze ON the picture. A beautiful
young woman is seated, between two
men, at table. Coffee has been
served; and, though nobody is smok-
ing, indications are that a pleasant
time is being had. But, soft! Not
by all. Beaming upon the young
man to her right with a warm ap-
proval that another spark would
make into candcscent admiration
and worship, the young woman, her
lips slightly parted, sits; the young
man at her right obviously is talk
ing to her; the man at her left, with
what we take to be an envious look,
observes his rival. He appears to be
biting his nails, registering Jealousy.
He looks not unlike the old pictures
we used to see in the Patent Medi-
cine advertisement labeled, we be-
lieve, General Debility. So much
for the picture.
Here" continues the Collier ad-
vertisement, "are two men, equally
good looking, equally we'll dressed.
You see such men at every social
gathering. One of them can talk
of nothing beyond the mere days
news. The other brings to every
subject a wealth Of side-light and
illustration that makes him listened
to eagerly. He talks like man who
has Travelled widely, though his only
travels are business mans trips.
He knows something of history and
biography, Of the work Of great
scientists, and the writings of phi
losophers, poets and dramatists."
"The answer" the advertisement
goes on--but you know what it says.
You know that it says you may have
this mans Success for the asking;
that if you became bookworm that
burrowed fifteen whole minutes
day in your books-the Five Foot
Shelf, to be precise-;Beauty would
beam upon you, too; you too would
be a Masterful Man, Conquering
Hero.
Remote be it from us to throw
doubt upon the effect of an adver~
tisement. Why, some of our best
friends are advertisers, and we
wouldn't offend one of them for the
solar system with Betelgeuse thrown
in. But candor compels the admis-
sion that our answer to the cues
ton quoted in the first sentence Of
this piece was wrong. In a word.
we thought the discounted looking
man was the bookworm. To us he
looked as though he were thinking.
"How is it possible for that girl
to listen to that incessant, egotistic
piff1e? She appears interested. Is
she? I've seen 'em pretend to be
fascinated by what men were say
ing, when all the time their little
bralns--if any-were thinking of
something else. / wish I could get
away and get back to my Five-Foot
Shelf. This is sad evening. Won't
he ever stop?"
What the advertisement wants
you to think he is saying is, "a muY-
rain on his fatal gift of fascination
Him with his fine words and his book
learning! I wish I had not squan-
dered my time. How lightly, vet
how confidently, he mentions Cavour.
Columbus, Darwin, Epictetus, Emer-
son, Euripides And next week.
curse his acquisitiveness, he will
have read up to F, perhaps G."
And, also according to the adj
vertisement, the Cultured (self) /
young man is speaking of just such
things; and Beauty, enraptured,
marvels that one head, handsome
though 1t be, can hold all that
knowledge.
But our Interpretation of the pic
4..,. Ill "