Evening star., 1932-03-21
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

woodworking shop will be struck by
the belts the shining saws, the smell
of sawdrlst, but the woodworker him.
se,f win not even notice these things.
The carpenter who visits a newspaper
office will stand with google eyes at
the sight of the great presses. the busy
citv room. the linotype machines, the
makeup" desks and the like.
Over in the planning mill We were
waited on by fine young fellow with
cne of the finest smiles we have seen
in many a day.
Here was a man who would shine In
a dress suit. under the glare OF bright
| lights He wore his overalls and cap
with such grace that one could picture
| him in any situation in the world.
Evidently he was made to be happy
| in a woodworking shop, amid the saw
dust. the whirr the perpetual din.
Being in cne's proper sphere In lie
has a great deal to do with Keeping
some sense of that poetic delight IN NE
which is the heritage OF every child, or
which, at any rate, should De the Dlrn-
right of every child.
The fortunate child knows this sense,
that is why he is able to reconstruct
so easily, at the behest of writers,
strange and remote places, and their
peoples. their lives and customs.
Set a normal small boy down before
such things as Robinson Crusoe, or
| that even better story, The SWISS ram
| ilv Robinson" or Treasure Island. and
he Immediately leaves the United states
and starts abroad.
| = X n r
The realities Of life. as mankind likes
| to call them, crop up in later years,
and tend to becloud this free fancy OF
youth. No doubt part Of their ability
| along this line is because they are freed,
! to some extent, from the realities
Often the realities are nuisance and
a cluttering Of the spirit, and nothing
more. They insist on entering INTO the
daily life, and what Is more, on stay
ing there, firmly implanted for the rest
of ones days. Try as one may, one
sees no prospect OF getting them out
unless there Is a windfall, as 1t used 70
be called. And there are no more
windfalls. Occasionally one reads OF
windfall happening to somebody else
long way of, but 1t never happens to
anybody one knows, does It?
| And that other standby OF hope
waiting for something to happenF'
| The big trouble with waiting for some
thing to happen, or turn up, as they
say, is that it doesn't happen, or 1t
doesn't turn up.
! Well, II windfalls no longer occur
| if nothing happens, and nothing turns
up, there is nothing for the thoughtful
! person to do but do little turning OF
his own-back into the mind.
4
The mind is at once the handspring
: and that which turns up. 1t Is the
original windfall. and as long as per-
son has his mind he has the possibili-
ties Of windfalls and better than wind
! falls.
| The sheer adventure of life, how won
! derful, whether 1t is cast in a wood
/ working shop or in clerkship, in the
role of counterman in restaurant or
grand official in a government depart
ment!
See all, nor be afraid" said Ben
Ezra.
! If one approaches the problems OF
| life from the viewpoint of interest he
| will find that the inequalities of it,
the danger OF it, the sorrow Of it, the
pain Of it, are as dangerously interest
ing as the joy of 1t, the happiness Of it
| the ease of it.
| So seeing. he will be able to find q
| wild poetic delight" even in the pre-
sale task of going down town or COM
ing back uptown again. His task Is
never through until life says it is. He
writes, not Why waltz" but, Why
! hurry?"