Evening star., 1925-02-05
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

All OF us who are not perfect--and
that includes most of us-can flnd
immense satisfaction in that thought
that we have actually arrived, safe
ly, through all the vicissitudes of time
and space, and stand here at last
with our robust souls.
The soul Of the sickliest, the worst
favored, the most timid, must be
pretty healthy, wonderfully beauti-
full, bold and brisque, to have sur
vived all those centuries, escaped the
onslaughts of the dinosaurs, and the
terrible tempests of the aeons, the
great glaciers, the shuddering heat
when the sun came too near the earth
The next time the boss calls you
in on the green carpet and starts
bawlinR you out, remember your ro-
bust soul, and enjoy a little joke with
it at the boss expense.
In a ton of coal I saw another
picture.
1 saw the hilly mine country, or
the fiat mine country, whether of
Pennsylvania, West Virginia or
southern Indiana
TALL grimed men, in colorless
clothes, stiff shaped caps, strode by
under the gas lamps after a day in
the mines.
An oil lamp cleaned for a
moment through the opened door of
small house, a house with un-
painted boards, covered with coal
dust and smoke like the rest Of the
landscape.
Just for a moment 1 saw into that
house, where a robust woman waited
and two robust children ran forward
to greet Paw.
The same sentiments that crown
your Homecoming in the evening
glorify that mans return.
In my ton of coal l saw another
picture:
This time it was Of strings Of cars,
endless cars, one after another
jerking and humping over the ties
| click -cl lack-click- -clack-.dlick- -claok
They. slid under little bridges
prefaced by waving thongs to warn
men on the freight cars to duck
They rolled their way down the sides
Of mountains and climbed back UP
again.
That you and L might be warm
| this Winteri
| Click -clack over the hills and along
by ice-bright streams; click -clach
| through dull fields, soon to bloom
| again: click-clack into the local
| freight yards.
/ l saw a picture Of business men
coal yards. clerks at counters, taking &
! orders, wagons backed up to be
filed, trucks moving through the
Estreets OF the National Capital, un-
loading in street or alley.
l. I saw colored men, wash boilers
slung over shovels, come along &c
/ put the. new coal In. ] followed II
down into countless Easements and
heard the good housewives breathe
great sighs of relief when the coal
was all put away at last
The most beautiful picture Of all
| to be seen I'm a pile of coal is tha,
of warm households.
| See that living room, davenport
end table, cleaning lamp. soft, sub
dued. yet alive with light.
| See the man there. sitting in the
easy chair. listening to the New
Willard Hotel Orchestra play seIec-
tions from ''Maritana," while at the
same time he reads In Better Homes
| and Gardens the pathetic tale OF
Edgar Allen Poe and his Annabel Lee
He begins to read at the first
| strains Of music and. finishes the
article just as the last note of the
, music stills. 49,
Coal is responsible for this happi-
ness.
Yes, there are pictures and dreams
in ton Of COAL but none more
pleasing than this:
Thousands of warm homes, children
playing on the rugs, babies cooling,
dogs romping, cats mewing.