Evening star., 1925-01-09
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Senator wesley Ia Jones OF Wash
ingtou backed me up against the out
side of the oyster house on the cor
ner, and proceeded to freeze me stiff
in a cold wind while he told me OF his
1s,000-nile Chautauqua trip.
tell this, not to impress the reader
with my familiarity with Senators,
because he is the only one l know,
but merely to show what a friendly
man Senator Jones is. And how cold
that corner was!
The Senator has big, rugged race,
agIow with human sympathy. NO,
said the dwarf in one of Grimms'
tales, something human is dearer
to me than the wealth of all the
world"
Senator Jones has something of the
dwarf's belief, otherwise he would
not have taken the time to freeze me
In the lee of the oyster house while
he told of the men he lad seen and
the places he had been, giving tnose
two lectures a day, months on enc.
People, people, people! They were
what Interested the Senator, and they
are what interest me, and what In
terests you, all those who read here
and elsewhere of the doings of men
the thoughts of men, their appear
ances, their likes and dislikes.
No matter what memories or Wna'
strange sights we bring back WIN
us, even from q trip covering lS,ooo
miles, more or Lessor from cream
iourney--or from a trip downtown
tbe lasting Impressions are made by
people.
!: II :; y
Mankind is like the alternating
electric current, now attracting US
now repelling. We need the rectlnef
of love to receive the best OF thelf
impulses and to filter out the bad
This overwhelming interest In our
kind ON this mysterious globe thai
hears us on strange journey
through space and time, this tran
scendent curiosity about other men
women and children, is our heritage
in our general humanity.
If II were not for this interest,"
peryading us like sunbeams through
the sky:i IL It were not for this great
curiosity OF ours, the writer's oi
novels would go sell shoe strings on
the corner.
AS things are, nothing SO grips Us
as a good story we'll told. We PICK
I'M that earliest of Conrad's novels
IAN Outcast of the Islands" with the
determination of reading just a fe"
pages, ito see how it goes" and when
we come TO Eve hours later we are
on page 364, looking regretfuiiy al
those mournful words, The End,
A friendly member of the unteo
States Senate can hold us charmed
though cold. as long as he tells US
OF the queer characters he has seer
and the funny things they said.
His own reactions. too, in all ne
saw interest US. because he, too, Is
human. Remember, / am human
said the bishop at the dinner of con
graduation upon his elevation to the
bishopric.
The fact that the Senator spoke
twice a day was interesting, not as
showing his energy, but because ht
declared that his audiences became tt
him after a while merely so mucf
scenery.
He came after while to accept
the groups under the big tent as par
and parcel OF the tabernacle itself. al
an Indispensable adjunct TO the spread
of canvas, he said.
He knew before he mounted tht
platform just what portions of his
addresses would bring applause. JUS
where old Farmer Corntossel woult
let out a loud 'fHaw, haw," and a
Just which line the good housewives
would snicker.
r \ y y
You see, ii does not make much
difference how we consider humanity
whether in the piece or in the parcel
men and women arc always enga5
ing.
Nor do we have to be a United
states Senator TO enjoy the spectacle
in which we, too, act part. Heavens