Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-03

which expert roofmen could not manage
to hit.
Roofs with plenty Of pitch" to them
shed water better than flatter roofs, es.
pec1ally when there Is wind behind the
rain. A wind-swept downpour can gel
back under shingles and cause leaks
where rains twice as heavy but straight
down cause no trouble at all.
The intelligent detection of faults In
construction, and their proper and ade-
quate remedy. is q delight to the mind
which does net bubble about few pen.
MES spent. To listen to some people
talk one would think that a house ough
to have no upkeep at all, but it is COM
mon knowledge among persons of ex-
perience that there have been few
houses ever built without some need OF
liking up afterward.
Once repaired, the house is stronger
than new. During the big rain of 1925
water came through the brick walls OF
certain houses, whereas other homes
QUILT by the same builder were i'm
mune. 1t just happened that way
Bricks are q study all their own, and
the question OF absorption versus nom
absorption an interesting one. Brick
men say that perfectly impervious
brick Is not so good as a brick which
Will absorb small amount of water all
over its outer surface. The latter brick
will dry out when the rain stops, but
II there happens to be q slight crack
In an impervious brick, the water will
enter, and 1t will never come out again
mat Is why some walls are damp.
~ ~
The mental attitude toward rains is
no less important than the physical, II
lie m mt fIn AZ.
| life.
1t Is possible, of course, to pay nc
attention to the matter Of rain, any
more than one gives conscious atten-
ton to the fact that 1t may happen to
be a nice sunshiny day.
We have no quarrel at all with those
persons who adopt this attitude toward
those things in life which are outside
the control Of mankind. It is true that
man has no word to say about
whether 1t shall rain or not, or Just
when autumn will descend, or how long
Winter will last, or whether 1882 vii
have normal rainfall or not.
To regard such matters as entirely
outside the interest of mankind is ask
Ing too much, and We submit that The
city man or woman who may not have
to have any direct interest in them,
as matter Of earning living, Is yet
missing something by not being inter-
ested in them as matters Of fact.
That the majority of human beings
do take this interest is shown very well
by two factors. one, the weather fore
casts, printed daily on the first page of
newspapers throughout the land, and,
two, the use Of the weather as con-
verSational material.
One often hears talk Of the weather
deprecated as banal, but what other
topic can be better attempted by two
people who do not know each other very
well?
1t always has seemed to us that the
weather. as a conversation theme. Is one
Of our very best. The majority Of man
kind should and do bless 1t, rather than
laugh at it.
1t is, indeed, so perfectly normal a
subject for conversation that those
curiously misguided people who some
how have the idea that anything nor
NAL is wrong tend to sheer at 1t, as
beneath their sophistication.
The truth is. rather. that as long as
man is the child Of the earth. the eie-
ments will be of supreme Importance
to him, whether he knows it or not.
And 1t Is Just as well to know 1t.
One does not have to be farmer to
be interested in the weather forecasts.
or wear a shippers cap in order to find
q barometer an intriguing instrument.
Talk about the weather all you want
tot Is first page news every dayl