Evening star., 1927-10-28

OF an lnQlgent aged person, IS express
sive of an experience which only the
tragedy or comedy of age can reveal?
1t is worth 10 times dime to pur-
chase a book in the pages of which is
inscribed From John to Mary, Oc-
tober Z, 1856" One does not need to
possess an imagination to span the
years from lipsticks to bombazines.
Your correspondent, during recent
visit to England, contrived to purchase
a number of ancient green-backed
volumes of Dickens, printed by the
English writer's publishers, Chapman
& Hall. In American dollars they are
valuable. Sentimentally. and as a
stmulant to the fancy, they are price
less.
Let us return to the Washington
book store. Just the other day we
were mulling around the tempting
shelves of one of these places. The
proprietor of the shop, like all his
clan. observed the unwritten etiquette
which permits the bookworms to
snoop around without interference or
suggestion. Into the store came a
shabbily attired person. He was per-
haps 35 or so years old, a permanent
guest, undoubtedly, of 25-cents-a-
night lodging house. You know the
type.
We waited for touch" Instead,
the nondescript sought a particular
shelf. From it he withdrew a book
and slowly examined it, page by page.
Still another he perused. Then he
approached the owner of the shop and
whispered few words to that gentle
man. The proprietor nodded and dis
appeared in the back Of the store.
Shortly after ne handed his potential
customer a book entitled First
Principles" by Herbert Spencer.
The nondescript was sadly in need
of a shave, a pair of new shoes, and
a less draughty coat, but he manage ed
to extract from his pocket rs cents,
which he handed to the book man and
left in possession of his priced volume.
He probably dispensed with a meal
that evening.
Lots of them come in here like that
fellow" said the proprietor. Il feel
guilty sometimes, taking money from
them, but they probably find more
| food for thought in these books than
! food for their stomachs. There is
something distinctly fine about these
men,"
The day before yesterday Mr..
Clifford Bergman, cartoonist for the
| Star, inquired what this writer was
going to do at 430 pm. The answer
was more or less ambiguous. We had
| a hunch that Mr.. Bergman was going
| to suggest a game of golf. Instead,
he requested that we ''pinch-hit' for
| him as a judge of the posters sub
nit ed by Washington's young artists
who competed for the prizes offered
| by the Washington Travellers Aid
| Society. Who could resist such a
compliment?
| Now, it is always a delicate matter
! to sit in judgment on such things.
| AS a youngster many years ago, we
confess that we never lost any love
| for judges. especially in art. We
admitted that we were good and the
| prizes winners either were friends of
| the judges or had something on
them" After % years of newspaper
/ cartooning and writing, those views
have been considerably modified. AT
any rate we joined the jury award.
Those composing the committee
were c. Powell Minnigerode. Mrs.
John Allan Dougherty. Clifford X.
| Bergman, Miss Leila Mechlin and
| Henry c. Sheridan,
Let it be said that this writer has
sat in judgment on bathing beauties.
| radio beauties, dogs, pigeons and prize
| hens. One night I'VE" and Howard
| Chandler Christy almost came to
blows over a difference Of opinion
| concerning a certain girl who was
| entered in a contest. We finally left
| decision to Daniel Frohman, who pro-
claimed that we were both wrong and
gave the ribbon to a rank outsider.
Thirty-five young amateur artists
competed for three prizes offered by
Arthur c. Moses and Henry w. Nor
| gan. The winning posters are to be
printed by and for the Travellers Aid.
| Considering the inexperience of the
youthful artists, it was amazing the
amount of talent displayed. We be-
gan by a process of elimination, and
| reduced our choices to perhaps a
dozen. Then came the struggle.
| This one or that one? We were up
against this: The jury to base an
opinion upon masterful expression of
| ideas. excellence in technique.
strength and harmony of color, ex-
cellence in drawing and composition
and excellence in word copy.
That was a big order. We decided
to the best Of our ability. The judg-
ments were unanimous. Not a dis
senting voice disturbed the harmony.
| We did not know the name of sin
gle entrant. We do not know now.
But this is just to inform everybody
| that no one had any drag" in the
awarding of the prizes. The victors
won on their merits. Judging is so
| difficult.
An amusing incident occurred