Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-23

The road between Office and home is
not always the same, although those
officially interested In 1t might be will
ing to swear that there had been no
change.
This thoroughfare, wherever 1t may
be or however long, varies from hour TO
hour and from day to day. according to
the mood of the traveller.
Not street lamp along the way Is
any different in itself, but the man or
woman who pursues it faithfully knows
that it is never precisely the same.
In the map of Washington which
every one makes for himself, this is the
most important road of all, and II 1t
were actually put on paper 1t would be
outlined in red, or maybe gold.
Some mems lives would show series
of such roads, perhaps crossing each
other, as they had changed from job to
lob, or from habitation to habitation.
Other maps would show one we'll worn
route, year after year growing deeper
a street of hopes and dreams, OF solid
satisfactions and ppointments.
The satisfactions might stand out like
shining lamps, the disappointments like
so many ugly features which exist along
most lines of travel, but which become
tolerated through constant Inspection.
X i x
Thus the road between home and
Office is at once seen to have two as
poets. the physical and the mental, in
terlocking to such a degree that no
one, especially the traveller, can tell
them apart.
Every one has noticed how this street
has surprising elasticity. On some
mornings the journey downtown seems
endless, whereas on others 1t is all too
short. On both trips it is exactly the
same, in the mere matter OF miles, but
what a difference otherwise! Then, OF
course. sometimes more physical min
utes are consumed; traffic goes awry,
gets tied up, honks horns, shouts, even
! curses. All these matters reflect upon
the spirit of the traveller along this most
| important road.
He may be feeling poorly that morn
| ing, or get up with crouch, or IN some
/ incomprehensible way be in the exact
mood to find travel irksome. Some
! journeyers know from experience when
they are going to be Ill by the way the
down trip impresses them.
| If the ride seems short and carefree
| If the sights long the way prove inter-
| esting. if the people they meet are
pleasant. they realize that their physical
being is at its best.
On the other hand. If the way seems
I long and dreary and the people crowd
them, and the ride proves tiresome ano
| draggy, they know for a certainty that
| they are coming down with some illness
| * x \
No road anywhere shows the inter
action of physical and mental states
better than this one.
| So close is mind to matter, and vice
versa, that the very result of our lives
depends upon the cooperation OF the
two: and if we are willing to speculate
upon a third factor, spirit, which is
convenient word to place phenomena
unexplainable any other way, we have
| the third side of the triangle.
| When a worker is at his best, the roac
| from home to work is too short. He
wants to get there. Success calls! The
desire to get ahead urges him on.
When he finds greed and indifference
and a few other inimical qualities OBJ
truding upon the horizon, where the
teachers of youth declared only glory
awaited, he may find the road from
home to work not exactly a shining
boulevard. Oftentimes the way seems
| dingy, even on the brightest mornings
| Look around in the street cars, and in
| the buses, and even at the faces OF