Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-15

justified in accepting these rich gifts
Of a lazier and freer life offered TO US,
alas, at their own expense. by sisters,
wives, sweethearts and mistressesP
Let us consider the matter from a
broad, common sense point of view.
have q friend named William Strube
who lives In the neighborhood of Nor
bury. Every morning he rises at half
past seven, swallows a more or less
filthy breakfast, kisses his wife in the
passage and catches the $40 train to
the city From $50 until 6:30-With
a brief interval for lunch, generally
eaten in company with fellow slaves
he adds up figures, posts ledgers, dives
into cash books; in short. he performs
the offices Of q mercantile clerk.
Now mark this: He Is good clerk
or q bad clerk-that is TO say, his po-
sition is secure or insecure according
to the completeness of his concentra-
ton upon his task. Very we'll, then.
Surprising his powers of concentration
are of the average quality-his whole
mental force Is spent for nine hours
during the day upon those figures whose
Significance with regard to life ter
inmates with the closing Of his ledgers.
Bear that in mind for a few minutes,
please.
there are just as many Alfreds as VIII
lians who, catch that early morning
train. Alfred arrives at his office, Is
perhaps granted a few understanding
words by his principal or the buyer OF
his department, he packs black bag
or loads truck with samples, accord
ing to the nature of the commodity he
has to sell, and off he goes through
the highways and byways Of the city
ar Vlfn IA N dtaT1nCn n
his wares.
Must Sell Goods
He probably takes his morning drink
with a possible customer, he lunches
with another. Nothing Is more GER
tain than this-eVery segment of his
brain power every fragment of his in
times weary days work must be de-
voted to one object. and one object only
the selling Of his goods
Now we come to Mr.. Harrington
Strube, first cousin to Mr.. VaYasour-
Strube, nearly related to Mr.. Arm
strong-Strube, who once stood for Par
lament. These more important Of the
great family Of mierobe men who
crawl each morning up to the anthil
these days of condensation and the
blue pencil, be treated as one. The
main difference between them and
their humber eompeers is that they
are in a position to take a taxi on q
wet morning, and certain numbeE of
them who have married judiciiously
own automobiles.
Much Brains Needed
Here are to be found the merchants,
the professional men, the stockholders
and the vast eagerfooted crowd who
are described as being something in
the city" Believe me, no concentration
which, they axact from their UNDER
lings Is equal to the brain force which
they themselves are compelled to exer-
else to hold their places without dis
aster In their own peculiar occupation
There are. no easy Jobs left in the
world, except the gigolo's, who is out
side human life land even he some
times eomplains). The saunterer
crashes, the man who looks behind Is
down the precipice before he can re-
cover his lost footstep.
The brains of these men, too, are
flung on to the flaming pyre of prob
able success. They cannot barter with
Godl They give-what they have to
giVe-and they go home to Kensington
or Golders Green to take their wives
out to dinner and hold their own in a
mixed company as best they may, with
what remains in their tired minds of
inspiration and spontaneity.
Back to Mrs. Strube
And now back again for moment to
Mrs William Strube, to Mrs. Alfred
Struhe-the hyphenated ladies will come
later. With the departure of their
husbands the two farmer ladies have
ten hours of liberty. Even II they live
in q town there Is park near for the
baby or babies, there Is a char woman,
If not a little serVant=maid. At the
worst there is for them four or five
hours of freedom apart from the
necessity of concentrating upon any
thing.
The thoughts Of humans, normally
speaking, float upward. Women, left
to themselves, are likely to think-well,
to think cleanly. The Joy of life is
brain freedom. Mrs. Strube has 1t. Mr.
Struhe haSn'tl Naturally she becomes
his intellectual superior. He reads, If he
reads at all, in his spare seconds the
trade journals of his business; or the
lowest priced newspaper. She reads Of
travel and sunshine in other countries
Visits Free Library.
She finds. time to visit the free library,
she has leisure to read of the world
her waking and sleeping vision.
And so a few miles westward, Mr..
Harrington-Strube, when the breathless
day is over, reads Edgar Wallace, but
Mrs. Harrington Strube prefers Gals
worthy. Mr.. Vavasour-Strube aSpires to
Arnold Bennett, but Mrs. Vavasour-
Struhe pores over the latest Russian
novelist, whom she finds so nluminat-
ing.
are beaten in the graces of life by their
wives. They are none the less unwilling
TO accept the great sacrifice. They to
the treadmill, even though their hands
have to be stretched painfully upward
to catch the hens OF their wumen's
garments. They are content to accept
as inevitable their own infeFierity. They
want their women where nature placed
her!
To Realms Of Politics,
Up step or down a step-whiehever |
realms Of politics, art and literature. A
member of Parliament God save our |
wpmenkind from passing the dreary |
portals Of that mauspleum of life, hope |
and geniuS-the House of Commonsl |
Three or four have dared 1t, Let them |
remain-the flaming and lettering |
monuments of warning to those Others |
Of their sex who, In this magnificent |
spirit Of inmolation which we are in |
these pages invited to consider, might |
make this frantic effort to share the |
burden Of suffering mankind.
Don't let them DO it Let US send
Michael Arlen, Tom webster or Lord |
Castlerosse to the sacrifice But let us
spare our women. Was there ever q |
member Of Parliament who did not aus
tomatically lose his sense Of humoF, his
of thought and his per-
sonal chivalry? In they 50 to the vteh,
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