Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-13

Templeton Jones was in a benign
mood.
Nothing was further from his
thoughts than the possibility OF quar-
rel with fellow passenger aboard the
street car.
Even the rainy morning did not put
him out of temper, and somehow ne
thought that all other men should be
similarly at peace with the world.
He was to find out differently.
Jones got in at his corner, and Sc
lected his favorite seat on the left-hand
side next to the window, in the f1rst
| seat behind the foursome which runs
! in the direction of the tracks.
There was a red-headed young lady
| In the seat just behind him, and Jones
has a dislike for red-headed young
ladies.
Especially when they sneeze.
It was a good morning for sneezing.
The motorman began it, and Tenn
pleton Jones held his breath for at
! least two blocks.
Whether or not cold germs can be
spread by sneezes Jones had seen dis
puted in the public prints. but he still
held doggedly to his own private iopin-
ion, which was that they could.
Some say that the germs IN sneezes
are dissipated in distance OF feet;
others claim that they have an eff
cheney Of 20 feet or more.
Jones was not precise about the dis
lance, but did not like to feel that he
was breathing the personal germs of
other people, especially of people he
J did not know and had never set eyes
/ on before.
Well, now, here was Jones in his
| own selected nook In the street car. on
a misty, cool morning, with a red
headed girl directly behind him and
| nobody in front of him.
He had taken the car in prefer
| ence to the bus this morning on ac-
| count Of the cooler atmosphere of the
noisier but smoother form of public
! transit.
! 1t always was a mystery to Temple
| ton Jones, as no doubt 1t is to thou
sands of fare-paying human beings,
, why the companies do not invent a
/ window which will let down in the
| back wall of a bus.
This would permit a free circula-
| ton of air through the vehicle. after
the manner of street car ventilation,
| which in Summer Is splendid as long
as the car is bowling along.
Jones was forced to recognize, with
! sigh over the stupidity Of human
nature, that no one was willing to
realize that the same natural laws
which keep street cars cool in Sum-
mer would do the same thing for
buses If they we're given a chance.
y
So there sat our Templeton Jones,
! a red-headed girl to the rear of him,
a sneezing motorman in front of him
and various assorted persons ranging
back to the conductor. who did his
best to look old but who was absurdly
young after all.
There was an old gentleman of so
WinterS-Winters will do just as well
as Summers-who had been going
| down to a Government department on
that same car for % years.
Perhaps that was a record. Jones
| didn't know, but the old gentleman
had told him about 1t himself the
last time he rode on the car.
Jones wished the man wouldn't run
to catch the vehicle. He painted and
looked much too red inthe face. other
cars would be along shortly.
But human beings. young or old. will
run to catch the appointed car or train.
| Maybe that Is why they try to beat
| the amber light at crossings and
thereby are held up at the next red
light SO much the longer.