Evening star., 1924-09-09
THIS AND THAT
By C. e. TRACEWELL.

anu pdFSS the WOflQ 10 darkness ana TO mt
If Gray were writing those lines
to quit Estey alley, he would be
forced to amend them slightly We
have curfew, but no lowing herds
just crying children. No longer
do ploughmen plod their weary way
they go home in automobiles.
Capable gas lamps make entirely
impossible leaving the world to
darkness. AS for "me-" few people
nowadays feel that the world is LEFT
entirely to them. There are too
many other persons around.
Evening in Estey alley has merits
of it's own, Joined to the age-oid
charms of eventide, ancient when
Eve took her first look at a sunset.
Evening in Estey alley is the natural
complement to morn in the same
vicinity, rounding out perfect day,
or near perfect day, or less per-
feet day, as the case may be, ac-
cording to innumerable factors. such
as breakfast, whether the children
are sulky, how business ran during
the day and So on and SO forth.
A day" to most Of us. is the
period between the time we get up
and the time we go to bed We
| think naturally Of sunset as the end
| of the day, and so 1t is, in many
ways. For men are creatures of sun
shine. like flowers, although millions
| of them refuse to admit it Mans
true life is in the light. Whatever
he manages to steal from darkness
he must pay for, and does, in that
unacceptable thing known as 'the
end" Benjamin Franklin said it,"
once and for all, when he wrote:
Early to bed and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise
+ r + X
T. in Ecfe
alley in the evening. The mind leaps
from idea to idea, much as nimble
flea, without any particular connec-
tion between point and point.
Is not this a happy thing?
Legal documents have to be pain
| fully precise, so much so that the
majority of them are ridiculous,
judged simply from the standpoint of
good English. Free verse" the So
! called verse libre. runs to the other
| extreme of incoherence.
Here in Estey alley, in the even
! ing. when the sun begins to set be
| hind those tall hills. crowned with
| trees that as yet have escaped the
| hands Of the street wideners, neigh
Dor may talk to neighbor In the
| middle ground
Evening chatter over the low
| fences. twined with morning glory
| vines, but tressed with zinnias. cos
| mos and asters, the latter now IN
full bloom, takes in many topics,
| from why the grass in one yard has
not done as we'll as that in another.
! to discussions of the --latest" in
| sensational trial.
Flowers, grass and automobiles
| are the major topics. however,
spliced with few side remarks-in
| low tones-as to Sam Jones habit of
| staring as he takes his car out OF
1 ho whv MTS Jolly would
| look better in a longer dress.
Much real work is done in Estey
alley between suppertime and the
dark. Flowers must be dug around,
the earth loosened up. perhaps
| bit of bonemeal sprinkled in This
| mulching if faithfully practiced, con-
I serves the moisture 1t is naro
| job, though, requiring much stopping.
If there is any ordinary household
pursuit more firing than STOPPING.
whether in garden or house, it is diff
| cult to think of of-hand. Many who
| neglect their gardens do SO, 1t seems
| mostly because they are unwilling 10
stoop. One simply has to "stoop to
conquer" a garden. These non-stoopers
are unaware of their dislike, probably,
| and would say it was not fact. How
| ever. when a man or woman has sew
eral inches of superfuous fat over the
abdomen it does make bending rather
difficult.
Something like trying to fold pill
low
| Stooping also is tiresorne on the legs,
especially when an attempt is made to
get around bending by sinking down on
the heels This is what is known in
gymnastic parlance as static e1er-
else" After few minutes of such
auiescence it will be discovered that the
thighs are getting mighty tired.
Trimming around the walk, after the
lawn mower has been used, and clipping
in places where the mower is difficult. IL
not impossible, to insert, has a weary
ing effect, likewise Real hard work is
easier.
To me at least was never evening yet
But seemed far beautifuler than its day.
This is thought few have not had
at some time or other, and yet wonder
if it is true? A beautiful evening is
glorious, but not 'beautifuller," to use
Browning's phrase, than its day.
One must never be too critical OF
poets however. The sense Of what they
mean is enough. The poet, in the above
lines, is not at all hard to under
stand" He simply says that any old
sort of evening, to him, is lovelier
than any daytime, whatsoever, using
the common meaning VI odS, Suh-
rise to sunset
Here in Estey alley sunsets are beau
tifuI as they can be. which is saying
great deal, for the District Of Colum-
bia enjoys wonderful settings Of the
sun. I have seen Union Station at eve
outlined against as gorgeous a sky as
Italy ever boasted. In a city one be-
comes so used to life. If one may ex-
press it like that, he ceases to look at
anything with eyes Of seeing.
Do you get me?
One may look at a thing, actually see
it, and yet not see 1t at all. If man
looks at a rainbow, says, Eyes, it's
pretty" and Immediately turns back to
his work OH the carburetor he has not
seen the rainbow at all, but his car
buretor, which he may see any time by
opening the hood of his car.
One by one the flowers close.
Lily and dewy
Shutting their tender petals from the moon.
People that have no sentiment in
their natures make me tired. j have
no use for a man whom you do not
dare to speak to before he has had his
breakfast-unless he is ill-or the guy
who has no thought for the beauty of
the National Capital in which he passes
his life
To live here and not enjoy the beauty
Of this city is to miss much. Beauty
Is like air, one Of the few things still
free. The glory Of the four-inch morn
ing slories on q neighbor's fence is as
much yours as his.
| There is nothing unmanly in tender
ness, or particularly feminine in beauty
Those who think so are suffering from
a complex, and ought to submit them
selves to a real psycho-analyst.