Evening star., 1925-01-15

! sether the benefits we derived from
that first real snowfall.
For surely the traffic problem is
only one phase OF the matter, al
though at the time it seemed to be
| the one and only consideration, did
it not? Yet were we mistaken, as we
often are.
For what did the snow do for US?
First, It took US out of ourselves,
made us forget ourselves, our sue
cesses and our failures. The one uni
versal topic was the snow.
| How to get down town, how one
| was to get back, what was the matter
, with the street cars, whether one
should try to take the car out of the
garage, whether. If one got IT out. II
would get stuck in the road halfway
| topics forced upon the 100000 per-
son toptimistic estimate) of a great
| city.
The snow took all OF us out OF our
selves In exactly the same way the
| world series base ball games did. e.,
MADE every one think upon the
same thing at the same time. Such
mass thinking is good for the soul
1t does, to certain extent at least
| replace narrow, individual thinking
| with broader, community thought.
one big topic for conversation-and
what a blessing that is! Mr.. A
stopped talking about houses, Mr.. b
ceased lamenting his poor coal. Miss
c. gave up for the nonce her plea
| for better Manchurian children, Mrs
u. found there was something else
| interesting in life bsides her five
! hopefuls.
The snow, too, gave US grand
| chance to pan somebody. Grave
| philosophers may agonizingly de-
clare this to be a base aim. and per-
! haps 1t is, but il is SO human
| brothers, IL Is so human. ] love tc
| knock others-and so do you--and
! the snow gave me grand and
| glorious opportunity. What in the
| thunder was the matter with the
! street cleaning department. why
! didn't it clean? What was the
matter with the snow ploughs on the
street car tracks. why didn't they
| plough2 What was wrong with the
taxicab companies, why wouldn't
| they even answer the telephone
And what, in the nam1 of higf
heaven, was the matter with The
| telephone girls, that thsy wouldn'1
even give one & chance TO call 6
taxicab company?
Think what the snow did for tn.
| boys and girls and theji trusty dogs
New sleds went into commission fol
! the first time. There was much run
ming to and fro, much shouting, mucr
scuIrying through drifts and rolling
| over in the same.
Snow men and snow forts, dear tc
children since Napoleon's day, went
up in a thousand yards at once. in
the Northwest, the Northeast, tbs
| Southeast and the Southwest sections
| of our city. And the surprising thing
was that the snow man Of the North
west looked exactly like the snow
man of the Southeast, and the snow
man OF the Southwest was deac
ringer for the man OF the Northeast
| In this universal fun there wa:
one discordant note. It was TIL,
meow OF the cat, sending maiedictior
louder than that OF a coal dealer or Z
| for-nothlng whiteness that incum
! bered the city.
| Perhaps the best thing the snow
did for US was to make US realiz,
more than ever just how smooth ant
| beautiful our streets are. in the mafr
with some exceptions of course, like
r street on the hither side Of tn,
| creek, etc.
| AS Pennsylvania avenue began Il
clear up. how it did look! How cas-.
| under FOOT We seemed to have sud
denly acquired streets such as we
never had, or, if we had them. We
| had forgotten we ever possessed.
For cleaning off the snow, gentle
men, is only one part of what we ge
| for our taxes.