Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

i, ing immense cerise blooms inches
across. The red ties were gorgeous.
nothing less; parakeets might have en-
We'd their splendors. You don't see
men wearing such tiss anymore. They
have succumbed to the cries of con-
servatism which have long gone up in
the woman's camp.
Yet the other day we saw a friend
wearing a cogwheel tie He cheered us
up for the day, and since he will wear
that tie-doggedly, persistently, de-
votedly-until it wears out. we know
that we shall be cheered up each and
every day until that hour comes
This tie is like none ever seen before
Its background is a greenish tan which
is not exactly green nor yet precisely
tan. If you can imagine a nice. neat
lawn getting a fashionable "suntan,
you have the background.
But the background is only the back
ground. The cogwheels are the tie
Once a cravat designer went mad and
in his delirium saw coRwheelS.
Not just ordinary cogwheels. mind
you. such as do noble duty on engines
and so on and of. Not cogwheels with
numerous cogs.
These cogwheels were cravat cog
wheels, which to the minded person
conveys wealth of meaning. Design
crs call them ''conventionalized.
Cogwheel manufacturers would cal
them absurd.
But there is no escaping the fact
that they were Intentionally conceived
as cogwheels They have all the ear
marks, if not the trade marks, sno
seem to want to do nothing so much
as spin deliriously around and around
One can get an acute case OF sea-
sickness by steadily watching those cogs
for a few minutes, say when taking
coffee with the owner at a restaurant
table.
At first you scarcely realize what Is
going on. Your eyes are held as
birds. They become glued to the tie
You talk away. but all the time your
unconscious mind is considering tnat
tie.
The usual Office chatter passes be-
1 tween you, with comments on the Lon
don Conference thrown in for good
measure You may even discuss the
question of poetry and Kiplings place
in It.
Nothing makes any difference except
those pinwheels rolling groteSquely
adoWn that stream of a cravat, as II de-
termined to plunge headlong onto the
shirt and go spinning away into space
to crash through the restaurant door.
The cogwheels become more deter
mined to impress themselves upon your
conscious mind They begin to turn
| ferociously in their orbits as If to grind
! you to bits.
"Stop!" you suddenly shout, to the
utter amazement of nearby cot1ee
drinkers. II know what it is!''
! We'll, what is it?" comes the un-
spoken question of the innocent.
/ lists that tie!" you groan in de-
/ spair. Il saw it once in dreams after
/ / had eaten both Welsh rabbit anc
raisin pie, but 1 never, never expected
! to see it come to life
! 1t takes a tie masterpiece, of course
| to have such an outrageous erect
/ MIST of them are too conservative, toe
determined to keep up with the modern
maxim that all one has to do is to
dress we'll to fool everybody into be-
| lieving that you are the president oil
! your Arm, or, at the least, general man.
| ager.
The progress of mankind, however. is
! toward bigger and better, and espe-
cially gaudier, cravatS. The cogWheelS
may roll us to freedom at last. And
when we see the precious statue OF our
ssrtorial liberty we will find 1t wearing
a fine tie, thing of many hueS, prefer
ably decorated with huge and reSplen-
dent roses. Wouldn't roses be better
! than coPwheelS