Evening star., 1924-12-01
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

in room over q book store. look
ing out over a large park. lies a
former soldier Of the United States.
He has been i'll abed for q year.
il ons has to he sick. surely there
is no better place to be than over a
book shop! Hospitals fade into In
81 significance. Sanitariums are no.
where.
This Wsshingtonian must feel like
a bee In a gigantic clover blossom,
for he is a book lover. one who Is
in a position both figuratively and
literally, to browse at will over the
flowers OF literature.
He has sailed the China Seas and
so appreciates more than most of US
can the beauty OF the novels of Jo-
seph Conrad. Robert Louis Steven
sons immortal Treasure Island"
means something more than just a
roIlicking good story to this man.
He has been between sheets. wig
Cling his toes at cats, for over q
year, he says, and In that time has
read more than 100 books. countless
magazines and numerous papers.
Books have been to this soldier
more than bread and meat. They
have transported him from his bed
chaniber to far climes in the twin
Killing OF an eye. When clouds low
cred over the National Capital he
rode sunlit seas with staggering
pirates or took his way over palm
lined beaches.
While you and ! were plowing our
prosafc way down town, over asphalt
streets. he was back in ancient coun-
tries, walking the country side with
Ruth and Naomi and marveling, like
any proper visitor should. at the pre-
al
ture.
'Entreat me not to leave thee. or
to return from following after thee:
Tor whittier thou gOest, ] will go; and
where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy
people shall be my people, and thy
God my God"
x : :; !:
Those of us who moan around about
petty ills and aches should be
ashamed of ourselves, when we think
of this man in his bed. very III. but
happy with his books despite il all.
l cannot share with you his entire
latter. but here are a few excerpts
from 1t:
But what a year it has been. First.
could read the many books that l
had put aside. Second, l could push
my toes to the fartherest corners Of
the bed and doze in happy anticipa-
tion Of the day when | could he I'D
again. -
Yesterday started Boswelrs
Johnson. The copy has many beau
tiful wood cuts. What a rare man he
was. Too. / have read all of Con-
RAIDS works. U was a sailor in the
China seas, and | believe there must
be bond of sympathy
Then came that delightful pirate
story of X. l.. s., Treasure Island
That night ] found pieces Of eight
and sang Fifteen Men on a Dead
Mans Chest to the CONSERVATION of
! those about me.
thought / might enjoy 'Virgini-
bus Puertsque'. I made no mistake
Then l made a journey with Pages
Life and Letters. Could a man be
more humane? And SO on. The
Bible, too. was read from beginning
to end. Can anything be more beau
tiful than Ruth: l had read pas
sages before from a religious stand
point, but never did ! suppose that
as literature II was supreme. A man
needs only the Bible for q command
OF English.
And detective stories. A Gray
Phantom story is all / need to for
get the most intense pain. Pirate
stories by E. r. Hawes, Sabatini,
etc, / have read within day"
\ X x y
Thsre arc four points. in relation
to books, that this interesting letter
brings out.
!. That books can made almost
any one happy.
2. That illness allows opportunity
for reading books one has put
aside