Evening star., 1925-01-15
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

No, snow too Deep" declared the
big sign on the bus sent around by
the enterprtsing transit company to
tantalize the, neighborhood through
which 1t hopes to run a line. 1t was
great piece of strategy Even the
obdurate gentleman who refused to
sign the petition had to admit that
the glitterfng bus looked mighty fine
there, biilowing up and down over
the snow like some huge swan on a
placid river
people! What a snow It was, to be
sure, that first real snowfall of the
season, with its incessant downpour
OF makes and sleet, continuing hour
after hour, all through the night
until by daybreak the National Capt.
tai lay coated. with glistening white.
Perhaps that was the longest case
OF sleet ON record, at least in the
memory of us youngsters Maybe
somebody who remembers 40 can
recall a longer one-but certainly it
was Of enough duration to suit the
most enthusiastic clamorer for real
winter weather.
There was nothing about that first
snow that reminded any one OF
Spring. Fall or Summer. 1t was Win
ter with capital W. real. for-sure
Winter; the kind we used to read
about in the story books of childhood
days. the sort the old folks told
about when they gathered around
the fireside.
Even Tom, the intrepid alley cat, re-
fused to go out that night. The warm
house suited him right down to the
ground. A wiggling of his sensitive
nostrils. two eyes pierced into the
dark, was enough for Tom. With a
new Of disgust he gave II up for the
night. abandoned thoughts of war
fare, returned to his warm chair by
the radiator. Yes, sir, a night that
even a cat would not 60 out in.
The sturdy milkman came along, as
usual, at am, his horse ploughing
through the alley on schedule time.
You gotta hand IT to the milkman
and his ole horse. Snow and sleet
could not stop them. An hour after
they went by their tracks and foot
prints were completely obiiterated.
The first real light of dawn shove ed
strange transforma tions In our alley
Bare flower beds, ugly patches of dirt
In yards still showing green grass
were gone, while over all were spread
blanket OF the seeds.
Radio aerials, from almost invisible
strings of wire, had become white
bridges across space, tangible evil
dences of the invisible spans of ether,
OF that miracle which bridges the
seen and the unseen. Across the alley
spring aerial, which had been
stretched TO its length on the hori-
zontal. now bowed to the ground
with its weight Of moist snow, as If
the burden was too much for ii.
Garages. ordinarily not things OF
beauty, although OF great utility, 1t
must be confessed, had become giant
doll houses. peaked with sugar coat
ing during the night, their roof-ridges
clean-cut and sharp with frosting.
Fences, too, had been glorifed. each
rail and wire being many times it's
normal size and pictured in a new
glory of usefulness and beauty. Even
the humble garbage can back by the
gate bore a great hat of white more
preposterous than those ridiculous
huzzar hats sometimes worn by hu-
manity.
And still the snow fell. without a
stop, as II showing was the normal
procedure of nature, not sunshine and
shadow, rain and rainbows, sunrise
and sunset, in the endless procession
of days and nights which makes ur
our time and eternity.
= %#
Now that the shouting and the tu-
multi has died, now that the cursine
at the snow--and at officials who did
not and then did remove it-has
ceased, let us calmly consider to-