Evening star., 1925-03-16
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACENELL.

II only we could read the mind,
or others, how much more we would
know than We do!
Kindly nature, however, has drawn
veil over each mind, through which
no one can see. although he ma,
play peek-a-bo
/ Whence comes so much Of the mis-.
Understanding common In everyday
life. In real life matters are not
worked out SO we'll al they are on the
stage, where mind reading" is o
vaudeville necessity.
On the stage. some woman wifi
nothing particularly distinguished
about her, az far as we can see, easily
reads the minds of others, tells the
man in the flrst row where he los,
his watch, and what the girl two
seats away wrote on the piece of paper
How interesting life would become
If this magical ability, so common
place on the stage, should be given
to you and me and all the rest Of us
1t ts toss-up, in that event, whether
universal peace would result, or uni.
versal war.
Probably, the latter. Truth is q
hard. master. a Jealous friend. an
uncomfortable companion, in many
truth, and nothing but the truth is
often more than mere man can bear
now.
What would life be, If, amid the
tolerant wall OF bunk which men have
built up TO make living more amia BILE
the white light of pitiless publicity
suddenly should be turned full upon
all our, minds?
Perish the thought! Let US live as
ioolishly SIS ever, and as happily.
Il = -
Man looks at his dog and wishes
he might be able to peer within its
brain, that he might actually know
what the animal thinks, If IL thinks.
He might look at his wife In
muci, the same way, because he Is
almost as far from knowing what
she thinks. SO, she. too. might look
at him. So, too. each man of Us may
look at each fellow mortal.
The impossibility Of getting within
the mysterious brain Of the cat holds
good OF the more mysterious brain
OF man. We only know what others
think by what they 7chooses to tell US,
either orally or in writing.
Even then we never know when we
are getting the truth.
Man has evolved a complex sys-
tenn of desires and repressions. The
resultant mind, the product of vast
centuries of time and thought, lives
with each one Of us.
What we say is not exactly what
we think.
Even when we try to say what we
think we find il a very. hard task.
as witness the difficulty of the young
man proposing to his sweetheart.
Or doing such prosaic thing as
buying the engagement ring.
See this group of men talking
about another who is absent. Each
man wants to curry favor with the
absent one. Each knows that this
latter is churl, utterly unworthy.
Each one knows that every man in
the group knows II.
Yet each talks openly in praise of
the man. Knowing full well that al.
though the other fully realizes what
he says Is nothing but the veriest
untruth. each man Will not dare to
say anything.
Watching such conversational II
feat, one Is struck with the futility
OF 1t all--and it's essential humanity.
AS long as We are az We are, as
long as II is impossible to know the
real thoughts Of any other person.
such conversations will go on, and
must go on. Human nature will not
Oh, see the happy group
Jim is a great fellow" says Bill.
What he really thinks is simply this:
1T will sound we'll to say that. or
course I know he amt. and the rest
of them do, too, but--oh, WE'LL
wonder IL I will have time to get to
that engagement? Gee, tina. sunshine
is pretty" ..=