Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-28
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

low alive. Life is not always ro-
mantle. ever pulsating. Sometimes 1t
flows evenly. perhaps turgidly. Dark
gloomy days come, when there is lit
tie excitement. Rain falls day after
day; there is no escaping it. The
daily routine seems thrown into re-
lief
1t Is then that one may see more
clearly than ordinarily the necessity
for doing everything that one does
just a little bit better than one is
likely to do it, on the average. Let
us better our best" is the slogan of
some moderns, and 1t is not bad one,
at that. No matter how well we do
a thing, we may try to do 1t better
the next time. Complacency was not
made for human beings. The super
optimist Is somewhat of a nuisance.
While he Is smiling to himself over
the happy state of society, there re-
main 10000 underfed children and
any amount of crime and misery not
included In his rosy picture. Let US
try to perfect our own state, which
Is not so perfect, and then, In the
bounty Of life, go on to help those
who are Immediately around us. We
will forget our precious solicitude Tor
the heather some 5000 miles away,
and devote more time to the Souls OF
the roughnecks around the corner.
Next to learning how to follow
through, a. boy ought to learn how TO
keep on trying IF you don't cue.
coed the first time, try, try again.
goes the old copy book motto. In our
youth we practiced so assiduously on
the motto that we forgot that 1t
meant anything.
1t is not until one gets older that
he commonly stops to consider that
the sentence which he copied so glibly
into the book actually is good sense!
We will take another homely ex-
ample from life. We know a gentle
man who started in to paint the as
bestos lining Of his fake fireplace. 1t
was of a nondescript gray color, and
he didn't like it. The thing did not
look real. OF course, nothing more
than g. gas heater could be placed
in it, but as it stood it did not look
genuine enough even for that. Some
thing had to be done to make the as
bestos lining look capable as enduring
fire. Asbestos will do it, but it does
not look as though it would, whereas
brick or iron or stone is fire resistant
and possesses the admirable quality
OI 30 lINpTcSSlIlS LlIc UcIlOlucI
First the idea came to paint bricks
but this would only be adding fake to
fake, he thought. So he gave up that
idea. Then he thought that a dull,
smoky black would do the trick, max
ing the interior look as If it had actu-
ally been used.
He purchased a can of black enamel,
labeled dull He should have
known better, but the paint men said
it was just the thing. When he got
the fireplace" painted it looked for
all the world like the interior of a
camera. AS an interior decorator he
was distinctly failure, he admitted.
What was he to do now?
AS luck would have it, he had a
small can Of bottle-gr enamel. He
had hazy idea Of what he wanted
to do. but no assurance that the re-
suit would be what he wished. He
believed, however, in the old motto
about keeping on trying. He would
try 1t, anyway. The dark green
enamel, flowing over the black, the
latter not yet completely dry, took"
in some places, and in others it did
not.
When finished, the gentleman had
the finest appearing green and black
notified marble you ever saw, as gen
Incorporating a fireplace as one
made. Of wood and asbestos could ever
be. He deserved success, for he had
followed through" by keeping on.