Evening star., 1932-11-18
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

thought that anything can be done
about it," especially after the house
is purchased
In time they find q distaste for
their front door growing upon them,
If it happens to be of the type so
often seen, which has no particular re-
lation to the house itself.
Just something to get into and out
of house by is not enough, If door
is to live up to all its possibilities
often doors, no more than men, live up
to their best.
Whether door should open on the
right or left side is a question to which
there seems to be no real answer, at
least as far as this investigator has
been able to discover.
Like gates, some doors open one way,
some the other, even in related build
ings, wherein one might think a GER
tain uniformity desirable.
In stepping up on a porch, some
householders prefer to reach to the
left to insert the door key and others
to the right.
Often such matters are settled by
interior arrangements and design which
necessitate the placing Of a door q
certain way, regardless of other con-
SlQeraJlOnS.
We have seen >an entrance door sc
placed that it swung inward and
against the cornice Of the wall behind
it, calling for a wood bumper there
rather than in the usual place occupied
by the traditional doorstep.
x X
These and other clumsy arrange
mentS are due to faulty designing, OF
carelessness, often 1t is dificult to de-
termine which In the last analysis ii
makes no particular difference, since
such faults are committed before the
average person ever has a chance to
have any say in the matter
There is nothing equtvocal about
door.
An open door says Come in" and q
shut door says Keep out" as plainly
as such words.
There is no door that may not lead
to happiness or pain.
It is therefore the duty OF every
what shall we say?--determired person
to see to it that in so far as in him
lies he will make his own doorways
paths to peace.
The door may stand for anything
why should it stand for unhappiness, II
1t is humanity possible to prevent 1t?
Often, alas, it Is not possible, and
there the door deserts us as symbol
and becomes just door again.
X X X
From q strictly utilitarian stand
point a door is particularly useful In
keeping out cold and canvassers.
The thicker and heavier, the better
it does both jobs The winds we have
with us only at times, but the modern
houSe-to-house salesman we seem tc
have with us always.
While one may have great sympathy
with these people, especially in such
times as these, the fact is that theiI
multiplicity has made them a vastly
larger nuisance than ever before.
Even the most kind-hearted person
finds it impossible to buy much from
them, not only because there are toe
many of them, but because for the most
part their goods are unknown.
One often wonders why, when these
men go from door to door, they do not
carry with them something or other
which householderS might want, anC
which they also might recognize as gooc
goods.
There are any number of well adver-
tiSed commodities. in which the average
householder has full confidence, but Sc
far we have never been offered any oi
these by the door -to-door canvaSSer.
He seems TO specialize on things VIZ
| don't want, and never have heard OF
and gives US cause to be thankful agair
for doors, especially when they are
aided and abetted by latched screen
into which no foot can be thrust.