Evening star., 1922-07-09
AROUND THE CITY
BY Mamie Lancaster

ONES ofiicial idea Of an angel Of
mercy Is q rhapsodic being en-
hreiy surrounded by clouds. Happily.
there are others-grouud.w walking an
gels, who have no use for clouds,
preferring sunshine in the way of
atmosphere, and SO unlike the celes-
'ttals of religious art that one of them.
at this identical instant. is sitting in
his shirt sleeves at a round table in
cub, who looks, on from afar, feel
ing like Marius. at the ruins Of
Carshage-allowing he knows how
Marius felt.
Naturally; no old master that ever
ont of a shirt-sieeved man with
black.rimmed specks; but, blessedly
for all Of US, God does not depend on
paint brush or chisel for the angela
He makes-with this for just one
proof:
Somewhere In this town there is a
room filled with cots. And the cots
are never empty. The sisters in
charge call 1t free ward for chill
dren, but also. they know 1t Is a
place of pain.
No matter what science and tender
nursing may do for child, it is sure
and the aches that go with. them.
So whenever q visitor passes the row
Of tiny beds to leave a toy or picture
or smile. the doctors call that
visitor an angel of mercy. And very
likely the Greatest of All Healers lets
the definition stand.
One time a visitor breezed in with
a regular Santa's pack that held a
pfaything for every child in the
ward-not cheap gimcracks that break
II you look at them. but real toys that
cost money OF the size known out Of
= At eac h -
Just why a man should buy happi-
ness for suffering youngsters instead
Of spending his money on that popu-
lar sport. seeing a good time" was.
Of course. his own affair; but
1t shows that angels OF mercy are
tern. Tho styles are what the re-
nowned Mr.. Venus would call wa
rious"
A shirt -sleeved man in black trimmed
specks who does things to copy may
have his demon times. like the rest of
US. but this is just one of the good
things he did.
And it is the good things that ever
lastingly count.
TWO women were reading under
tree in a park. and the woman
with the newspaper said to the one
with book:
stop that yarn and listen to this"
And she read out a verse in prose.
walt Mason is my idea Of per-
petual, motion. Year in and out.
without ever missing a day. he turns
out a classic in slang, funny to read
and wholesome to live by-so much
hard work, SO much patience. so
much more of that indescribable
something we call a gift without
knowing for sure who gives 1t or
why the discrimination. I would go
down on my knees and stay there for
talent like that. But I'm not en-
vying old Walt. I'm glad for him,
though 1 can't tell exactly why
there are SO many unanswerable
things like that
The woman with the book accepted
the euiogy with the tolerance of one
who knows poets like Walt Whitman.
but was too good-natured to start a
two got back to their reading.
Which was all there was to the
thing, except that the woman who
was square enough to honor another
for quality she lacked herself
would have been right smart aston
fshed had she known that a woman
on the grass back of her bench was
jotting her tribute on a pad-not ali
of 1t, but just what she managed to
hear, and that she weant to send it to
old Walt by the speed route known
10 wild west literature as ''pronto.''
Poet Mason is due for tons of flow-
ers and reams of editorial praise on
some future day, but he would doubt
less rather have what's coming to him
now.
All of US are like that.