New Britain herald., 1926-12-31
THE OBSER YER Makes Random Observations
 On the City and Its People

samples of shirt goods. shoe polish, bristles for brushes, corn cures, ] nerve tonics, paint, writing paper, chewing gum and everything from concrete building blocks to samples of anthracite coal dumped on my doorstep with the same message en- closed
 T don't want them. didn't order them. I won't have them. I don't need pink pills; my liver Is all right: I don't chew gum, l have regular bootblack to shine my shoes and I'm not in the market for wallpaper. Neither will I waste my time un- tying and tying bundles, changing addresses and attaching new stamps or carrying packages to the post office.
 "On my desk I have a dozen handkerchiefs sent me by some kind firm which has thoughtfully attach ed thereto my initials in nice gold and blue letters. In the envelope was label with return address and three cents in stamps. The label and stamps remain inside the envelope. l The envelope rests on my desk. Tt will remain there indefinitely until some one calls for it. I will not address another unsolicited package. will not attach another stamp to a package l never ordered. If an agent calls at the house when I am home, and proves his identity and satisfies me as to his authority
 will hand him his package with a vote of thanks for taking it away. If he does not call all the form letters ever turned out on a job printing press will not budge me the tradi- tional iota of an atom from my present stand.
 i When this deluge ceases, as ! hope it will. there is another nuis- ance which I wish would stop. wish the guy who is bombarding me with placards. and glaring handbills, and printed postcards of new fur coats and the latest styles in balloon or collegiate trousers, or sport sweaters. or silly q mean silky) sox, would stop it. I don't read them. I never know what they are offering me. l read my ads in legitimate news papers,
 Slippery pavements and picked up auto riders form had combina- tion," is a statement made in a re- cent issue of motorist magazine which appears periodically in Con- Hecticut. The article explains that in most states Gncluding Connecti- cut) the driver of a motor vehicle is held responsible by law for the safety of passengers riding in n.s car, and points out that pavements covered with slush or ice tend to in- crease the burden upon the motorist due to the increased possibility of accidents.
 Several incidents are cited in which auto drivers were sued for death and injury occurring to strangers 10 whom they had given a lift" Both parties had suffered iH each case, the driver financially by court decisions and the free rider, or ride jacker, instead of saving trolley fare, spent time either at home or in a hospital recovering from injuries.
 According to recent observations, the number of side jackers seek ing to save car fare in Connecticut cities is tending to increase. It is said that motorist cannot drive through any city during the rush hour periods without being given the high sign" and hailed with the cry, Going my way?" several times. Observations show that ride lacking and fare saving is not confined to the male sex and that the number of women who seek free auto lifts is constantly increasing. The motor ists however, are gradually learning the folly in picking up strangers.
 Cnsuspecting as we are, we enter ed the stereopticon lecture because we hadn't anything else to do. We had been invited and nothing else had turned up to give us suitable excuses so We went.
 The lecture was entitled Far Off Japan" and it was evidently a little too far off for the photographer to obtain any decent views of it. Most of the pictures looked as though they were taken in a London fog. The effects of Japan's earthquakes was distinctly visible on good por- tion of the slides, one of the crew. ices was extending from the Elm peror's left ear to the largest medal and on another slide an alarming crack rent the smoke of the snow capped volcano above the port of 1oshiro.
 That wasn't all we learned. We saw two Japanese gentlemen in rickshaw upside town without a flicker of fear on their faces at the accident. Placidly standing on his head was the chauffeur or whatever he is called, waving two nimble legs in the air. They were righted all most immediately by the operator of the machine who burned his right thumb quite audibly in the opera ton.
 To us 1t was a wonder just how the harbor of Hishasho was conceal ed. Evidently 1t is in the form of a huge palace with two children standing on the steps. Or maybe it was a mix-up in slides, we couldn't quite tell. The mix-ups lent an air of chance to the whole affair. Re- sardless of the speakers words, the machine was liable to thumb its nose at the gentleman and put on most anything it chose. It held the ulti- matum of dissolving into darkness and this it did when the lecturer became too insistent.
 The operator burned his other thumb and said "Dammit' very hoarsely. The children in the front row began series of cat-calls that showed their opinion of the whole thing, the younger couples did a