Evening star., 1924-08-16
THIS AND THAT
BY c. T.. TRACEWELL.

1
| said Fra Elbertus
| This thought is brought to mind
| when one pauses to contemplate the
| number of men and women rushing
| around Washington these hot Summer
| days and nights without any partic-
ular idea about themselves.
| Is 1t a necessary thing the question
! arises. that a man should have some
/ idea of what he likes, what he dis
likes, what he stands for and what
| he wants to do?
1t seems to me it is a necessary
thing, unless one wants to admit in
stanter that he is nothing more nor
| less than an animal, endowed with d
! human brain and too lazy to use it,
| If one of these vivisection guys
| could transplant human brain into
| a dog, and by some miracle make it
| function, there is not a good dog in
the world that would not seize the op-
| portunity to think about himself.
| The dog fancier knows that to be
the truth, SO keen and eager are dogs,
with their own doggy brains, to know
all that is going on around them.
| Else why does the dog stand with
| eyes aglow and ears pricked up as he
rides in an automobile?
x X
are trying to fool themselves into the
belief that they like to attend sym
| phony concerts when many of them
| would rather be at a dog fight.
They bore themselves with reading
| weighty books declaring to them
selves and to their friends that they
enjoy them. when, as a matter OF hon
| est fact, they force themselves to
| their reading, which is in reality
| task.
They sweat over golf courses as If
their lives depended upon it, husky
! birds who secretly despise the game
| and have no more need for this par
ticular form Of physical exertion than
| bears.
They walk up and down F street,
| when they would be far happier at
| home; they eat elaborate dinners
when glass of bread and milk would
really be enjoyed more, IL once
they would stop to admit it to them
| selves. They ride around at night In
an effort to keep cool, all the time
! knowing perfectly well that they
would be cooler at home, and a great
deal more comfortable.
| r. X X !:
One of the. joys of being rich (but
one seldom sees it mentioned, il at
alb is that the possession of plenty
! of money frees man from this thing
of mentally keeping up with the
| Jones"
By mentally trying to keep up with
the Jones is meant simply the task.
self-imposed in hundreds Of cases, of
trying ones best to like something
that somebody else likes
The rich do not give hang
whether anybody thinks they are
judges of a symphony concert or not.
| and they are at no pains to praise
some bum composition that only bores
| them.
If their woman folks want to smoke
cigarettes they smoke them, because
/ they have freed themselves from the
fear of Mrs. Grundy. Maybe they
have their own Mrs. Grundy, do not
know. l am not rich.
| What a man has got to DO, if he
is going to amount to anything IN
his own eyes, is to think over ms
likes and dislikes, and honestly ad-
nit to himself where he IS four
flushing with himself
Government clerk or plumber, col
lege professor or bricklayer, each
must be willing to admit that Thales
| was correct, when he replied, upon
some one asking him what was very
difficult: ITO know one's-sef.
Truly, it is fine thing for one to
be himself, not just a reflection OF
somebody else or some institution
or some body of thought. Not that
one should go around with a chip on
his shoulder or degenerate into that
unspeakable cuss. the man who is
always defending his thoughts
against the world.
1t is necessary. however, IL one
does not like Shakespeare. to be
| willing to admit ii, and, what Is
more 10 the point, not to read Shake
speare. Far better had man spend
his time with the comic supplement-,
which he genuinely likes, than to
pore over Hamlet" II ne does not care
for Avon's bard.
This applies, it need hardly be
stated, to the supposedly mature.
Children. by all means, should give
themselves d chance at Shakespeare
and everything else. 1t Is true that
by persstently sticking to a thing
one comes to like it, when one Is
| Young and the tastes have yet to be
! formed.
But with "grown-ups'' it is differ
ent. They get set, as the saying is,
in their opinions. Some psycnoio-
gists say no one ever learns anything
after he is 80. The thing one
ought to learn, in any event, is what
he honestly cares for. SO that he Will
stop wasting his time on those things
he has to force himself to prefer.
When a man ceases to struggle
through the wordy, padded pages OF
Shakespeare. he has all the more
time to devote to his Bible or to his
sporting page or to his radio or to
his job or to his immortal soul. The
| high spots" of Shakespeare then
will be enough for him.
| Efficiency experts who want to do
something really worth while ought
to make a check-up of the tlme
wasted at symphony concerts and
other high class musical events here
by men and women who have no real
right to be there. They are simply
boring themselves to death. and either
do not realize it or will not admit It
There are enough true music lovers
to fill all the seats without these peo-
pie who have heard that to like music
is an evidence of good taste, and
therefore they must demonstrate their
maximum possession of such taste at
so much a throw.
Poor souls, They sit through a
violin concerto, which only one who
has spent hours and hours in actually
playing it can fully appreciate. or
which one without having heard it
many times cannot appreciate at all.
Yet at it's conclusion they applaud
more wildly than any one, thus vim
dicating their possession of taste
Now, the thing for them to realize Is
that one is simply bunking one's-self
to sit through a concert il honestly
he would prefer to be somewhere else
Here is a secret: Many concerts and
artists bore real musicians. Ask any
of them if this is not the truth.
And il must follow, rs the night the DAY,
| Thou canst not then be false TO any man.