Evening star., 1932-08-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

what he chooses to regard as authority.
Hence it came about in this country
of ours. where there are more perfectly
docile people per square inch than In
any other land in the world, and prob
ably in all history, that 70 degrees came
to have all the sanctity OF a decree
from heaven.
Many a misguided person felt cold
shivers run down his back, but the
moment he looked at his household
| thermometer and discovered that It
read a perfect 70, he looked himself
sternly in the eye and told himself that
he could not possibly be cold, or that
he must be suffering from chill, or
something.
The thin n-skinned man, however, who
had a mind open to reason, knew that
he was never comfortable indoors with
the Thermometer registering the theo-
retical 70 degrees.
He found much to his amusement,
that even the persons who prated the
most loudly of their sublime faith in
the sancity of the beloved 10, were
unaccountably pleased every time they
entered his house, with its uniform
temperature of 76 degrees.
How nice and warm 1t is here!"
they exclaimed.
But such is the power Of suggestion,
that if they had seen the thermometer
reading. they would have told them
selves they were too hot, and shortly
would have begun to pretend that they
were gasping for air.
| Man is a curious animal, In nothing
more than in this inability of his to
| be honest with himself unless it suits
! him for other reasons than the really
divine one of sheer honesty.
| The theoretical 10 is a nice outdoor
| temperature, especially with the sun
shining. because the chances are very
large that one will be moving around,
somewhat briskly, and probably be the
wearer of more clothing than when
| indoors.
| Even outdoors, however, the sensitive
skinned person will find that 76 Is a
much better temperature, and that 80
degrees, If combined with the right de-
gree of humidity, is better.
Its the humidity" is now q pro-
verbal saying.
| Its wide acceptance means that even
| the least curious man or woman has
permitted this finding of science to creep
into his stock OF readily available lore
How strange is the human mind, and
| how determined it often seems to be, in
its effort to keep its knowledge
| in compartments, where some of it is
readily usable. but where SO much Of 1t
is held only for special occasions!
The instincts CT worship, for instance,
too often are kept bound tightly for
| Sunday, as If the feelings which divine
services call uppermost are not as
readily available on the other days of
| the week
The truly worshiping mind finds ma
| terial for thought and inspiration in
the garden on Monday as well as any
other time CT the week, and glorious
sunset. bathing an entire city in beauty,
will be a sort of sermon on any day.
This mundane thing of weather lore
! is felt by too many to be the secret
| possession of wise gentlemen who call
themselves by big word, meteor
ologists"
After all, every person is a meteor
olOgiSt of sort If he deliberately pays
attention to the weather, which daily
bathes every man alive.
| 1t is this attention which gives him
some claim, although in a strictly
! amateur way. on that resounding title
| One of his first accomplishments will be
to be able to tell perfect day. from
an imperfect one, and solely through the
way the air feels to him, especially in
the morning on his way to work
Then, If ever, comes the perfect time
OF the day, when he is able to tel,
without recourse to thermometer or
hygrometer, whether the entire day
itself is to be called perfect" If it is,
the chances are 100 to that the mean
temperature will register about 80
degrees, with a relative humidity of
between SIS and 65 degrees.