Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-18

woman and child in the District of
Columbia
And that is that every one of us. in
view of the great influx of visitors which
will shortly be upon us, should take
particular pains to be courteous. espe-
cially in the matter of speaking to
each and every stranger who accosts us
There are far too many persons here
who seem to be shocked griCVed, hurt
or just plain unified" if a stranger
speaks to them Only the other day we
were standing at corner waiting for
a bus when a second man turned to a
third and made some comment upon an
automobile accident which had just
taken place under the eyes of the trio.
1t was not serious accident--a car
had bumped into the spare tire of an
other and had backed away and had
gone on down the street After it had
gone perhaps 100 yards the bumped
spare the had blown out with mighty
bang.
The second man had made some good
| humored comment upon the happening,
| which he had addressed directly to the
third, and which ordinary courtesy de-
manded be answered in kind. But the
| fellow either through boorishness. or
timidity. or indifference, or something
or other, paid no attention to the
| speaker. The effect was simply that he
Intentionally ignored the fact that a
remark had been addressed to him.
"
Now, we know those people who are
going to be lured by the Pennsys adver-
/ tiSement They are the great common
| peepul" of this country. They come
| from small towns. cities States where
everybody speaks to everybody else.
Mostly every one knows every one eles.
That is a distinct advantage, of course,
but there is more to If tho.l that. The
atmosphere of the States is cordial.
When some one says Hi. there!" the
| person greeted is supposed to say, and
he does say, Hill in reply. If he doesn't
he is put down as stuck up" and that
is the biggest crime Of all "out where
| the West begins"
| They are good people, too. Let no
born and-bred WaShingtonian turn up
| his nose at them Some of them may
not dress exactly to please you, but
| beneath those coats and dresses beat
| the warm, home-loving hearts which
have made this Nation what 1t is
| today.
! When they put the family in the
| fivver and head for the National Capt.
tai or when they step into one of the
! Pullmans on any of the great railroad
! lines and start for Washington, D. C.,
! they come with a large supply of the
milk of human nature sizzling in their
veins.
They want to like everything they
/ see. and they expect to like everybody
! they meet, and they will do both if they
are given half a chance. There is just
one thing which will make them re
| gusted," as Amos N Andy put 1t, and
/ that is failure to be greeted cordially
/ by the strangers of whom they may ask
| questions.
| + X \
There are thousands of kindly people
! in Washington always ready and willing
| to help the sighteseerS, but If visitor
| is unlucky he will run across one of
| those persons who seem to be afraid to
! be spoken to and who will not reply TO
chance comment that comes his way.
The trouble with the average human
| being Is that he Is so taken up with
| his own affairs that he forgets that
any one else has any affairs at all. And
in such a mood it is all too easy to
answer chance question abruptly or TO
give incomplete directions for finding a
public building or park.
Let us never forget, we who live here
! that the people of The Nation have been
1 told that this is their city. 1t is. When
1 they come here to see us. they come on
| the quest of wonders. They are looking
for magnificent distances. They expect
/ to see the Washington Monument a
mile high. Let all OF us try our best to
| help them, then, to see 1t at least as
tall as 1t is.