Evening star., 1925-01-03

Be friendly.
This Is one of life's very hard
lessons, II one may judge from the
lack of friendliness to be encounter
ed on the streets, in Offices, In stores
and various establishm ents. in fact
almost anywhere that mankind con-
gregates.
A friend tells me that he has been
banking at a local institution for II
years, and that no one in the bank
greets him with smile yet.
At the end of 10 years he went to
open a special account, and ask ed
the vice president for advice. This
was given, but 50 frostily that the
man felt like Withdrawing all his
money from the institution.
Now / am not a striking man in
appearance, of course" the man said.
but you would think that after II
years some one would know me-"
Well, you would, now, wouldn't
you?
This instance shows very we'll what
I mean when declaring that being
friendly seems to be one OF life's
hardest lessons for a. great many
people.
Undoubtedly the National Capital is
like most great cities in this respect.
There is something about the num-
Der of persons In q big metropolis
that puts q damper on the spirit OF
friendliness to be encountered as a
matter OF course In smaller cities.
One should not expect to meet here
the same com radeship to be found
on Main street back home" And yet
courtesies OF everyday life which help
to make everyday living pleasant.
X X
this town who seem to have been
brought up In a stable back home.
You pass the time OF day with one
of these lunkheads, and nine times
out of ten passes he greets you with
stony stare, as II he were some
fair maiden fresh from the farm. who
was looking for bad, bold man to
insult her.
Only recently I vas standing on a
windy corner waiting for a street
car. Minute after minute went by.
The corner got colder and colder.
After while very ce-appeaTing
young fellow came along.
Now, I would speak to a hog, my
self. without feeling the need for any
introduction, II I felt like It, and
there seemed a mutual topic OF con-
versation.
So turned to this fellow, who was
waiting for a car, too, and made the
following remark, entirely harmless {:
Cold morning, isn't it?'
Do you imagine for a minute that
my fellow companion of the corner
smiled pleasantly and replied in kind.
something to the effect that Il GER
tainly was a cold morning. indeed?
Not on your Iife-he merely con-
tinued his contemplation of the op-
posite corner. not by so much as a
wink of an eyelid denotihk that he
had heard my Grass remark about
the weather.
May be he was deaf. you say?
Not on your life! He was just un-
friendly, that was all. Somewhere in
the inner complex of his soul was a
nasty something which had colored
his disposition a bilious yellow. so
that when a fellow mortal greeted
him civilly and withai courteously. he
was unable to reply in kind, having
nothing left wherewith to be civil
and courteous himself.
These are not extreme cases. Talk
the matter over with any friend, and
between you there will be brought to
light many similar cases.
Here is another one I Was told
about since Christmas: A man buy
Mig q house had to pay his monthly
installment q day or SO before De-
cember 25.
It was bright, cold weather. you
remember, the kind to put snap into
tho step and pep into ones heart.
The joyous Christmas season was at
hand, too, that wonderful time when
a man is happy. If ever.
He was feeling rather jolly as he