Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-28

| vehicle, there is nothing else to do but
kick ones heels against the curb and
watch the endless stream o. people.
both afoot and in cars. The pedestrians
are by far the most interesting.
Motorists are submerged in their cars.
| literally and figuratively. Many man
in what Is popularity known as swell
car" is entirely secondary in popular
interest to his vehicle.
The man on his own feet is not
so. He has no glittering machine to
! take away from his identity, nc shiny
| chromium to compete with his face,
or mechanical gadgets to attract before
him.
The pedestrian, too is more of a
mystery, not only because there Is so
many of him. but also because his
ultimate destination is more shrouded
in mystery.
His pace, for one thing, enables the
| bystander to get better look at him,
and thus to wonder more largely abSut
him. Has he home. and is he going
to it? Is he married? Does he live
at club? What manner of man Is
he?
The man in car is only an adjunct
at wheel. he excites perhaps smaller
interest than the shape of the hood
of his car.
But this fair face beneath this small
hat, bonnet hood, or whatever you
choose to call it, attracts the attention
for its own fair sake.
1t is not an easy feeling to analyze
this sense of loss in the face of the
streams of pedestrian traffic. AS we
have indicated many do not feel it, and
such no doubt will wonder about 1t, and
especially why it exists. They may even
question its ex 81 1nce.
Its analysis is less interesting than
It's effect. The latter will insure that
lis victim will spend many minutes
| looking at crowds. and actively wonder
ing about them, even while he realizes
that they are composed of human be-
ings essentially like himself. He may
have been walking along. utterly un-
conscious of his fellow pedestrians, when
suddenly he will realize that he is nc
| longer "a part of a motion, but spec
tator of motion, flow of human be-
ingS.
He is the spectator, and the rest are
the show. Slyly looking around him, he
realizes that his role is not unique, that
there are hundreds of thousands OF
spectators, too, and that each one is
contemplating the same mystery, and
wondering where all these people have
come from and where they are going
and, above all, why don't they go there
The answer is always the absurd yet
startling one, why, they are going
| there. as fast as they CAM" There can
be little doubt of that. In the streets
they are rushing needleSsly on their
various ways, attempting to get the
jump on the signal lights at the cross
ings, even at the hazard of their own
| lives. The few seconds gained will
mean nothing in their lives, for they
have plenty of time, but the rush to get
ahead of somebody else is part of their
characters, and cannot be laid aside
just because they are on wheels.
The pedestrian, our onlooker realizes
is not in quite such hurry. He does
not relish a collision with another
pedestrian, because he realizes that a
full-nedged humping may secure a fine
nice humping, and that he will deserve
1t. The slight brushes which every one
in sidewalk traffic INDUCES in cannot
be called collisions. They demonstrate
the feXibility of foot traffic, for a
brush of the elbow does not ordinarily
result in a broken fender or denied
hood!
The crowds of the city streets, wheth-
er on foot or awheel, are among the
Oldest group manifestations of man. No
doubt centuries ago in ancient cities
now only memories, men gathered and
moved on to mysterious places, while
other men stood and watched them. and
wondered at the process and the NOV
ing, even as we do today.