Evening star., 1921-12-18
Heard and Seen

The seven wise men of Greece,
whose names and sayings have come
down to us from antiquity, have been
distinctly secondary in renown re-
Gently to the several score wise men
of the nations gathered here in the
conference on the Limitation Of arma-
ment.
But the ancient wise men are not
forgotten. Here and there are men
who treasure the sayings which those
worthless handed down to us. They
are Keen on the proper pronunciation
| or their names. and know to a degree
In which Grecian state they lived.
| One OF these scholars came in last
week to settle dispute. Several Of
his friends. in whom the fine flower OF
learning had not withered any more
than it had in him. were disputing
about those seven wise men of Greece.
| "They could only think of six" de-
clared the gentleman. nodding his
| white head. Il said he was Lycurgus.
Am l right?"
| The seven wise men of Greece, not
having figured in the news for a few
years, 1t was no easy task to locate
| them. But fat volume finally gave
them up-and Lycurgus was not in
the list.
J Bias. ChiIo. CIeobulos, Pittacos,
Solon. Thales and Periander were the
seven wise men. Everybody remem-
bers Solon as the man who got off
that really tremendous saying Know
| myself" Cleobulos is credited with a
good one too. Avoid extremes" This
latter is the famous golden mean" of
Epicurus.
And to think ! would have put
ILycurgus in that list" exclaimed the
old gentleman.
Order poet to write a poem. the
thing that is a poem in name only.
Wartime songs that sprang from the
musings Of the writer live to this day:
| when the song writer's attempted to
write the hit" of the war they pro-
| duced no "Dixies"
Much the same sort of thing pre-
walls in all walks of life. Pitch in and
work. dream, attempt, and something
fine is likely to come from it. Sit
around and say. Now. let us do some
| thing great" the only result will be
| another conference"
II you try to put something original
into the mouth Of a character you
probably will achieve banality But
! when an old colored woman gives you
her philosophy of life the words are
eminent1y quotable. She may have
| picked them up some place. but the
! result lS kOOQ:
| I've lived a long time. and had nv
bitters with my sweets. SO now there's
| nothing left for me to do but live the
life and die the death"
~
Here's an echo from the Armistice
day ceremonies:
A popular national guardsman. who
served in France. was heard relating
an experience of his in the days be-
fore the word "armistice" had come
into worldwide use.
Yes. the boys call you all sorts of
names" he said. "One night one Of
the camp when he overheard a group
of men talking.
LOOK at LIE Roy up there stepping
! it on, said one OF the soldiers. The
officer stopped and reprimanded them.
! Don't you know better than to call
the colonel by his first nameT stated
the officer.
"'Yes, sir, we know that replied a
soldier. But we would rather call him
LIE Roy than some of the names
"And guess that is right"
All have heard of the woman who
wants to be younger than she is. but
perhaps few know there is a Wash
ington woman who thought she was
| older than the record shows.
This lady went around insisting that
she was sixty years old. AS matter
the old family Bible. that she is four
years younger. And the woman is
actually disappointed.
l CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.