New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1928-08-11
THE OBSER YER
Makes Random Observations
On the City ano Its People

quite efficient measuring instru-
ments In testing the brakes. Now
they want one to remain within con-
slant sight OF the driver.
The most metropolitan OF New
Workers have taken to going
rurar during the summer season.
Whereas the moneyed folk have
for generations had their country
estates, the vogue among artists.
writer's and such is to own a farm.
Hundreds now live on farms for sew
eral months OF the year and scores
actually attempt to lead a farm life
as reaction from the exactions Of
Manhattan life.
The great open spaces of Connec-
ticut, New Jersey and New York
have rapidly been surrendering to
the demand that suddenly has re-
suited Abandoned farms in Connec-
ticut, with histories that date back
to the Revolution, have taken on an
artificial value Scouts have gone
hither and thither. buying up the
remnants of tumble down and ram
shackle old places. 1mprovident
owners, who had long since given up
hope OF struggling with stubborn
soil. rub their eyes as the bids for
the supposedly worthless property
soar into the tens OF thousands.
Throughout the countrysides, the
farm folk have been getting wise"
This season farms brought prices
hitherto unheard of, and colonies of
the intellectual who's who" have
sprung up. In many such groups the
farms lay miles apart ,as good
farms should and do in rural COM
mnnities. On a Sunday afternoon,
with a farm party" underway. one
is likely to encounter half the celeb
rites Of the writing, painting and
theater world. The grand old GUS
tom Of hayrides has been restored,
And "neighbors" 60 calling Of eve
nings in their liivvers.
The Pennsylvania Bureau of
Motor Vehicles reports an odd quirk
in the laws of the state governing
motorists liability for property dam
age. If a mans car runs over, say,
a $1,000 chow dog, the driver
needn't bother much about the ac-
cident. If, however. he happens
to run over a $50 pig, he must re-
port the accident to the bureau and
stand ready to furnish compensa-
ton to the owner.
That isn't quite as peculiar as it
at first appears. A dog, by rights.
is either a cherished pet or
nothing. He has no dollars and
cents utilitarian value. A pig, on
the other hand, is a big of property
that is raised solely for profit Kill
ing a pet dog may injure the owner
severely, but it isn't the sort Of an
injury that can be assuaged with
cash. A pig, however. is a creature
that being unlovable, can be paid
for and forgotten.
This is the hard boiled age On
every side one hears criticisms of
the past. 1t seems that our ances-
tors were morons and degenerates,
their actions were silly and stupid,
their thoughts naive and puerile, and
so on There never were businesses,
athletes, philanthropists, inventions,
women. styles. and comforts
like those of the present.
The remarkable part of this stand
is that it is mainly true. Yet, with
the present tendency. to revise histo-
tory, we have a feeling that we are
not going to recognize our familiar
heroes when we pick up the future
textbooks of our children and grand
children. When the present blase and |
sophisticated younger generation be-
older and commences to re-
work history, we imagine that some |
OF the prominent personages will |
about like this.
Columbus didn't do much All he
had to do was keep on sailing. and /
with the whole American continent |
in front of him it was harder for him
TO miss it than strike it. And, at that, |
all he found was a few outlying
islands. making him pretty close to
the worlds least succussful navigat-
or.
Pocahontas was not heroine |
when she saved Captain John |
life. Smith had sex appeal
and she couldn't resist him.
Cowardice, not bravery, kept the
Pilgrims in Plymouth during the |
first winter. Their ship had gone |
back to England and they couldn't
get away if they wanted to. And |
they didn't have the nerve to Jump
in the ocean and end their misery.
The Revolutionary war was won
by a group Of sncaks who hid behind !
trees. took pot shots at the British,
and then ran.
It was no honor for George Wash
ington to be the first president. Polk
Or Cleveland or Coolidge would have
been the first II he had lived at that |
ime and been elected. And Georges
election wasn't such a stunt. for
there was nobody running against
him. While his refusal to run for
orlty complex.
The only real battle we won in the
War of 1912 was fought after the
var was over.
our western pioneers who crossed
he prairies in their covered wagons,
we're far from the heroes we picture
hem. Instead, they We're merely
and debtors fleeing from
heir creditors in the east. They
couldn't turn back or they would
1e Jailed.
The victory of the North in the
Evil War was merely a matter of
,hysical condition. The Southerners
'inally starved almost to death, and
before they died, the Union saved
is face by rushing among them and
shocking them down.
The Spanish American war was a
weeping victory solely because the