Evening star., 1925-06-22
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| No matter who you are or how great
\ fellow you were in school, no mat
| ter how many "honors'' come to you
or how many times your cadet COM
pany won the drill there will como
| times when people seem to have for.
gotten all that.
These things, while always a per-
sonal satisfaction. probably will be
| singularly unimpressive to men 10
years later. The snappy. jeWeled fra.
| ternity pin (Which you probably called
frat" piD will not carry the weight
1t once did.
The brothers delighted in telling
each other then how the magic fash
of that gemmed article in the future
manner Of the magic sesame Of the
fairy tale.
Ten years later, however. when you
attempt to butt your way into the
Office Of some exalted brother" with
the aid of the aforesaid pin. you are
| likely to find that it Is a vest adorn-
ment to him and nothing more now.
The old pin will always be sign
of certain kind of achievement. and
at certain times and in certain groups
| 1t will ever have its old potency. No
longer. however. will you find 1t neces.
sary to walk with the hands in the
| trousers pockets in order that the coat
may be kept open so that the pin will
show.
Dear graduates. young and old. do
you remember the scorn with which
you held those members of rival or
ganiZations who pinned their insignia
almost out to the line Of the buttons
on the vest in order that no wight
might miss seeing their pin?
Surely you do. because you prob
ably did it yourself. as we'll as held
your coat open! Such is fraternity
life.
| You will almost forget. too. how to
give the secret grip" which you al
ways secretly regarded as q bunch Of
bunk, anyhow, although you never
even whispered that dire suspicion to
any OF the dear brothers.
AS a matter Of cold fact you will be
glad to get away from some of the
| selfsaue dear brothers. who are by
| no means as dear as tho ritual said
they were.
All these things will pass into their
proper places in the world Of men, but
there will be one thing of great i'm
| portance left, and that single thing
will be the ability to keep q stif
upper lip"
Lacking that. will be, then, the ad.
vice to keep a sun upper lip" This
| Is case where advice is very good
because one must remember about 1t
before he can do it. He may not con.
sciously put the thought into words,
but he will act on it Just the same.
He will find life a great deal like
schodls-only more so. If he found
college politics." he will find a larger
version of the same. If he encoun.
tered suspicion and hatred, he will find
well grown specimens of the same in
the larger life of business.
| There will be heartaches as we'll as
| backaches, and also several assorted
samples of what In childhood we called
bellyaches. Each one of these aches
Will require that he keep a stiff upper
| lip. as the saying is.
Above all, he will have to keep the
upper hand on the tendency TO become
cynical over the ndings he
Will encounter, the suspicion he must
race, the willful misrepresentation that
will cut into him like a knife.
Life is not exactly dog eat dog"
any more among civilized men, but il
has a surprisingly similar appearance
at times.
Then the old graduate Che will be
that In 10 years or 5 years, or maybe
2O) Will find that If he keeps a stiff
upper lip in this matter, too. he will
be the happier and better for it.