Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-06-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

| that we cannot forget. When the Their
mometer registers 81 in the shade, the
heat visibly impresses itself upon one,
You feel it, and only wild bull
rampaging down the street would be
able to make you forget it, and he only
| for a few minutes, after which you
would be hotter than ever.
Discussion of the weather is mankind's
escape from the fact that he really has
nothing to do with It, His lack Of con-
| troll inks him, systematically, so he at
| tempts to take 1t OUT In lot of pa
| laver
| In this course he Is quite correct. Talk
is the safety valve. Letting off of steam,
now and then, hurts no one, II the or
binary precautions concerning explo-
sives are observed.
Talk about the weather is. In the
main, entirely harmless. Let us groan
over the rain, and moan over the heat
as much as we please, so long as we OBJ
serve the ordinary rules OF polite con-
verse.
One reasonable way of accepting the
weather (Which Is something we have
to do whether we want to or mott is to
think of the many good effects 1t has,
| in any of its various styles, In most cases.
OF course, too much of anything is too
much. Excessive rains degenerate into
floods. too much heat into Sunstrokes,
too much snow into traffic tie-ups.
Even these catastrophes, however, are
outside the scope of Nature. as one
might say, since the Universal Mother
did not plan her visitations with man
kind In mind. The snowstorm, as a
snowstorm is very pretty piece OF
work. Man has learned how to over
| ~tx 10 ~%<> tn "a q
constructs small, tight crafts which are
able to live in tempestuous seas.
Continued rain, In seeming never
ending succession, has its good points,
one of which is that 1t furnishes topic
of conversation. Despite the innumer-
able activities of mankind, most ac-
uuaintances find 1t difficult to carry on
a conversation. And much talk, as we
have tried to point out, is necessity in
world in which thoughts are refiec-
tons of life-are life itself, In sense.
Rainy spells give every man and his
friend a handy topic which may be
| brought into play the moment they
meet
| Say. did you ever see such weather."
asks one This puts the other completely
at his ease, so absurd Is the mind Of
man, which Is at its ease only when
some one Is talking. Just why this is so
is still mystery, although some have
been so unkind to our common human
nature as to suggest that men feel more
at ease when some one Is talking, be-
cause for the time being at least they
are not chilled by silence. Silence is the
original cooling system. Nothing chills
party more than the wight who sits
TO one side saying absolutely nothing.
! Liquor is used more to unStop tongues
than for any other purpose. II some
one would invent harmless substitute
to warm up a party, the prohibition
| issue would solve itself.
Rainy days put one in mind OF the
many things which one may do during
such times. There are all sorts of books
to read and various games to play which
normally are passed up because of the
greater lure of the sunny outdoors
Older persons as we'll as children are in
danger of giving In completely to the
restless age which manifests itself in
rushing motor cars, whizzing golf balls
and blatting radio sets. These are all
good things in their sphere. but there
are other spheres, as a set of rainy days
convinces us. Let US make the most Of
them. since there is little We can do
about it.