Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-31
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEwELL.

the original status of mankind, Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden. As
far as the records show, there were
| in Eden no crowded street cars, no
teemlns theaters, no groups of $50
persons eating dinner III a hotel din.
ing room, no masslng of persons to
hear a band in the chief public park
| of Eden, no radios roaring far into
the night, no monographs playing
Valencia" no trucks of gravel and
bricks cracking The plaster in houses
| already constructed, no footing OF
| horns, no changing of bells, no brush
ing elbows on sidewalks with 1893
| persons one never saw before nor
will ever see again.
From the original Eden to the
smaller modern ones, which dot the
countryside around every one of our
| larger cities, is not such far step
as 1t might seem. In the one case
! the happy pair were put into 1t by
main force, and finally were put out
| by the Landlord: in the latter, the
| pair build themselves q home to
| live free from the haressing contacts
of modern city life.
| We see too many people. We talk
! to too many We huddle together In
| apartments, surrounded on all sides
| by families. If one sits across the
| street from a huge modern apartment
! building, and watches the lights at
| dusk flare up one by one, first in one
| window and then another, he realizes
that each light is home.
The lights. however, are too close
| together. When Tom Jones, tired
| from hard days work, comes home
to rest. he Will not get IT, for Sam
| Green, I'm the apartment below, has
| just got a new radio, and Is anxious
that ell his neighbors hear it. SO
Sam turns the set on at fun blast,
and allows it to belch forth into the
night until it runs down Of it's own
volition about | am.
Row houses are not much better.
When you 60 out into your back yard
garden, YOU are simply forced to talk
to your neighbors, whether you feel
In the mood for 1t or not. One feels
as If the eyes of the world We're upon
him. as he stops to fuss around with
the flowers. There are simply too
many persons living in a given area,
that is all. and there is nothing to
be done about it. The city eXacts its
penalty. You are all playing the
Civilization Game. under certain rules
known as city ordinances, but certain
persons do, not scent to know the
rules 1t is as if you tried to play
base ball, and one player finally de.
clared, my one-bagger ought to
count as a home run" and then
would walk around. and demand that
his run he counted. 1t is exactly
as if you started to play a game Of
chess, and, when the game went
against you. you pushed the other fell
lows queen off the board and said.
triumphantly. Now | can win
If one were willing to listen TO the
few who do not know how to play the
Civilization Game. he would begin to
think that TO love his home is alb
normal, that to want neat lawn and
flowers is absurd, that others ought
by right to be allowed TO destroy what
others build up. that pride in property
is an old-fogy notion.
This is but one of the evils Of over
crowding, resulting in too many con-
facts. the prime evil of city life. The
country man. and the small-town
man, has his problems. too, but the
city man has this one. His life is
largely an attempt at solving it. with
the most successful method already
outlined There are other ways. how.
ever, which every person must work
out for himself, some one way some
another.