Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEWELL.

the daily papers. A secret society Is q
club which one finds out, after join.
ing, has few, II any, important secrets
after all. A club Is q place where mer
fake comradeship in the name Of hui
mainly.
All Of these devices are good in that
they help cover up, in the hurly-burly
of life, the battery of staring windows
In only one or two of which waving
hands appear for each one of US. By
the expeditions use of these devices
one at time or all together, a man
may build up for himself certain be-
lief that he is widely known. Call me
Bill" Call me Jim'-that is all very
we'll, and If 1t soothes it is excellent
but If one cannot fool himself by such
sentiments, he should not worry about
it at all. There are plenty Of things
to worry about.
When one faces the thousand win
dows Of life, hopelesSly shut, the most
Of them, the fact to keep in mind Is moi
that bright eyes do not CLEAN from the
999 windows, but that q pair Of bright
eyes, or several pairs Of them, do shine
from the one window.
The little girl who knew her window
and waved to 1t was q philosopher OF
SOIGS. one Qlu IloL waste hcI I1L!c SOu.
Sidering the other windows. She die
not lament the fact Of silence from the
ajority, but rejoiced in the silent ap-
plause from the one.
This is the correct attitude toward
life, II life may be dogmatized. One has
but to think over the persons one knows
to realize that far too often the oppo-
site attitude is being taken, with sorry
results for all concerned, and often fol
those not concerned.
In many a community Throughout
the United States, especially where
families are crowded too many In q
given area, sterile, negative attitude
toward life Is being taken unconscious
ly, owing to force of circumstances.
A psychological map of such a COM
munity would show family A at odds
with family B over exactly nothing at
all; family A at odds with family G
over exactly nothing at all; family z
at war with family G, family G cast
ing assorted glares at family A, family
d angry at family E, family K with Y
and so on.
All Of these people have lost, among
other precious possessions, their sense
of humor. They need new mentality
o fresh way of looking at life and
each other. They need to realize that
no one is perfect and that the great
est mistake any human being can make
Is to concentrate on the faults OF
others and to refuse persistently to see
the good sides.
They ought to snap out of it, for
their own good, so that some future
biographer of human nature will not
use them for material for a new
Spoon River Anthology" Many opti-
mistic readers believed that Masters
had been too hard on human nature
with his revealing biographies, self
written by the departed residents OF
the town. Experience shows that al
most any community, especially where
crowding prevails, could write its own
anthology" and that 1t would be sur
prisingly like that of Spoon River.
For ones own sake as well as the
sake Of others, there Is but one atti-
tude to take, and that is the tolerant
good humored, square-deal attitude
give and take in its better aspects
When you wave your hand to the one
window out Of a thousand windows,
remember that the other 999 windows
harbor life and love, too, and that the
best philosopher Is he who combines
the simplicity Of the child with the
mature attitude Of tolerance, good will
and good humor.