Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-08

| a mental complaint based on q pre-
! tended indifference to others. OF course
no human being can really be insensi-
! BILE to another human being, but It Is
| the easiest thing in the world TO make
ones self believe that he can.
| So this is the city! It Is Rome all
over again. although now the movie
| theater has taken the place OF the
| amphitheater, a vast change for the
better. no matter what the faults of
| the films may be. The people who I'LL
| these modern equivalents of the ancient
| circus are better people, too, as a group
! They are, indeed, more civilized, which
means cityized The motions of their
minds are not so cruel, although they
will laugh when the crook in the pic
| ture says, why, he didn't hurt her
| he only cut her throat"
The street car observer finds 1t diff
cult to distinguish between the mobs
which he sees and the individuals who
go to make up these crowds Of people
who stand perilously between thin white
| lines in the street, trusting to law
/ observance to keep themselves from get
| ting run over.
| He knows the impossibility of know
ing these human beings as individuals,
and yet he cannot keep himself from
wishing he could so know them. Out
| of these thousands. these tens of thou
| sands, no doubt he would find some
whom he really liked. No trip is taken
| without his seeing at least one man or
woman whose friendly eyes betoken in
terest.
IF your eyes show me that you like
me, why should We not know each
other?" asked Walt Whitman. But
Walt was an original, as they say: and
even he could not go around speaking
to every one he met. The convention
alities of city life prevent it, and prob
ably it is just as well that they do.
There is likely to be large revolu-
ton in the life of the average person la
regard to his personal acceptance Of city
| life, or his rejection of it. just when
this comes will depend upon the tndi-
vidual. Some people never find 1T, but
are forever strangers in their own cities
Some persons arrive at this state of
mind early. Who has not seen some
typical city urchin who at a tender age
was as much at home as the biggest
man Of the town?
Acquaintance with streets, buildings
theaters, hotels. has much to do with It,
but behind all must lie the personal ac-
ceptance OF the individual mind, before
a man comes to himself and grows to
feel entirely at home in the city.
The world of opinion will be forever
divided, apparently, on the question as
to whether man was intended for soil
tary or group living. There is much to
be said on each side, and the argument
will be won first by one advocate and
then by the other, depending upon his
own personal reactions to life as he
! lives 1t.
The small town man will remain a
small town man in the largest city In
the world, so long as he keeps his be-
liefS and hankerings for the same type
of treatment and living conditions. En-
vironment changes habits rather than
dispositions, but there is no gainsaying
that the tone of great city, II one may
put 1t that way, Is less kindly than that
Of smaller place.
Only those men and women are en-
abled to feel at home in a big city who
are able to forget the differences from
small town, or who genuinely prefer
them, especially in regard to the ability
to live ones life free from the inter-
ferences of others.
There Is a gain one way and a loss
another, but in the main city life is
very much like life anywhere else; he
Is the gamer who is able to accept II
as It is and make the best of It, Then
he will find. whether he rides street
| cars, buses or his own car, that he is
the master of his own city.