Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-02-17
Heard and Seen


me lessons in the art Of being mean,"
he said.
mo, 1 am not a pessimist, nor yet a
misanthrope. But 1t undoubtedly is
true that the person who has a bit
of meanness in his demeanor gets
along better in this world than the
more pleasant individual.
You see it everywhere you go.
Who gets the best treatment in stores
the sweet individual or the sour
one? You know as well as ] do that
on first.
TT Is this same somewhat mean
individual who gets the best in
everything. wherever he goes. He is
somewhat feared. and so respected.
Respect follows on fear, IL the
thing is not overdone. Fear God. and
keep His COMMUNICATIVE not
that the injunction of old?
"It is too bad that human nature
Is thus, but SO it is, and so II seems 1t
lookout for a teacher in the gentle
art of being mean. need a few
lessons"
Human nature, after all. is the
queerest thing in the world" he con-
tinued.
You know there is a theory that
what one thinks is written upon his
face. We have that in Hawthorne's
story of THE Great Stone Face" In
which the helper of mankind changed
his face by his thoughts.
Undoubtedly there is great deal
OF truth in it all. Surely a man is
as he thinks. to a great degree, But.
like most things. there is no haSd
and fast rule, although some try TO
pin it down like that.
Socrates said that it was true his
face showed the marks of all GRIM
inality. but that he had brain with
which he overcame all the things that
were written in his face.
Truly IL is not wise to look at
man, compare his nose with his chin.
balance up-to your satisfaction-his
character, and then proceed to an
nounce your findings to an expectant
world.
1T tried to do this the other day,
and-but let mo tell you about 1t. 1
was sitting on a sort of dais. watch
ing q big public luncheon at one OF
our great hotels. There must have
been 500 persons present
THE diners were In business suits,
while the walters wore the customary
full dress that custom has wished
off upon the poor fellows. Quietly
efficiently, the walters slid in and
out, like highly trained ants.
IT watched them, and said to my
self, Yep, look at that fellow, any
body could tell he was waiter by
looking at him. Look at that hang
dog expression written all over his
face
/ "I looked at the man he was walt
ing on. Gosh! If the two men had
suddenly changed places, and clotnes'
no one could have told them apart.
In this case there was no man on
earth who could have told which was
the waiter and which the business
man. -onns
erst sitting nm the waiter, and then
conparing him to the men at the
table. In about so per cent o. t the
gases, there the r Was Vas rs enc it was
toss up which was the better man.
zone man had succeeded. and the
other, we'll, I wouldn't say ne haah T.
but certainly from the standaId OF
not won out in a big way, to put 1t
"Yet their faces do not tell the
story. Sometimes they do, ana some
times they do not. That Is as 1ar
as can CO..
Pioneer days were recalled in one
local household last week.
Grandma has been visiting the
family. She comes from the middle
west. where, II the open spaces are
not quite as open as farther west,
still they are open enough. And men
are men, too. and women are women.
Grandma made herself generally
handy. A little thing like shaking
the furnace or doing a days wash
did not bother her in the least.
She could do O real days work, in
Guiding washing and ironing. and be
all ready to listen to radio In. the
evening, or. even go to a show. u.s.,
One day she spted a lot of lard that
had gone rancid
"Ti1 Just make you some SOAP" she
announced.
She took tho rancid lard, melted
II down, poured in some I've and put
spell on the bubbling pot
Sure enough. 1t was not long until
there was q fine batch OF laundry
SOAP ready to be cut into bars.
CHARLES f. TRACEWEtL.