Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-15

The age az which men cease 70 he
| friendly constitutes an intriguing sub
| ject. II varies with the individual
temperament, OF course. but In general
1t may be said 10 come when three
things happen;
!. When he sees that no one Is going
| to help him except himself
2. When he definitely. although with
/ regret, gives up most OF his youthful
| ideals.
8. When he ceases TO believe In
miracles.
This phenomenon Is TO be observed in
any business establishment In any city
| in our broad land. We would not say
| that 1t is an urban disease, or that II
exists not In the country: 1t Is simply
| more prevalent in towns, and much
more easily observed there.
Men have taken all sorts OF precau-
| tons against It. The tremendous IN
| creases in luncheon clubs, given over 10
good works and cheerful words. are UNI
conscious anecdotes, helping largely to
contradict this plain condition.
Another method TO checkmate the
enemy Is to deny his very existence.
Thus many will refuse to admit that
any such thing happens at all. They
will say that introspection has found
evils which do not exist, and Will de-
clare heatedly that men, as a class, pc
come more friendly as the years go by,
as they come individually nearer the
great parting.
Yet nothing Is surer, In world which
is inhabited by so many millions OF
men, and which has been the tempo
rary homes Of so many billions, that
all Of them are and have been strangely
alike in basic mental characteristics.
We were reading recently in book by
Russian mystic. novel laid in the days
Of Akhnaton, Egyptian sun worsh1per:
The conversation, the very Thought
patterns, might have been out OF novel
about twentieth century folk. Was this
right? Should the reader not have
been given a quantity of "thees" and
"thous"? Second thought convinced
us that the writer was right; express
sions which would have convinced the
reader as Egyptian would have over
thrown the sense Of reality which the
author wished to create.
Just as the conversation OF far-on
times was essentially like that OF today,
so most characteristics Of mankind have
changed little over the centuries, In the
great basic details. That is why one
who observes that there Is an age at
which men tend to become unfriendly
need not be afraid of stating his obSer-
vations. What he has seen In himself
and others he may feel sure others have
noticed In themselves, too.
* x X
The unfriendly attitude mostly arises
between the ages of 80 and 40 years.
The victim may be totally unconscious
of it. He Is hurt at mankind, and
turns in on himself. He gives up his
fellow men, and shows 1t outwardly in
many ways. For just one, the old
time CHEEKY greeting to associates dis
appears.
It is the great, unspoken remuneration.
all the more terrible because men do not
speak of 1t. Great ideals, such as ro-
mantle love, are seen to be nine-tenthS
imagination, the product Of the one TO
mantle creature in the wide world, the
male Of the human species.
It Is the age when men begin to
buckle down to life in earnest. They
put of the playboy attitude, at times
irving to make up for 1t by conscious
approximation of the old splendor.
Have you ever seen typical business
man who hasn't taken a vacation In 10
years attempting to enjoy himself on
fishing expedition? No boy acts more
foolish-and yet there is something hol-
low about it. He Is conscious all the
time that his heart Is not In 1t. The
next day the boys" talk 1t all over, and
he is the object of wonder. A drop too
much out of q certain bottle, it is held,
was partly responsible for his gayety.
They do not know that 1t was the DARK
drops out Of the bottle OF time Wnicn