Evening star., 1932-08-13
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Templeton Jones ate his chicken broth
with rice and wondered what there was
strange about It,
1t was not the taste; 1t was not the
odor; 1t was not anything he could put
his finger on.
1t was memory.
Sitting there in the restaurant, sur
rounded by some strangers and q few
familiars. suddenly he went back to his
childhood days, when handful Of toy
pistol caps" had gone off in his pocket
without due notice Of intention.
Temp Jones. 8 years old. was carried
into the house wailing, while some men,
Der OF the household was dispatched
foothaste for the family doctor.
Few homes had telephones in those
days.
Until the Doctor Arrives" was the
name Of a large volume on an upper
shelf of the cases which ran completely
around the library of the Jones home.
In the excitement OF the moment no
one thought of the book, but first aid
was given just the same, according to
the best household precepts..
When fatherly Dr. Smith arrived he
looked very dubious, way he had,
explained what must be done and or
dered that the patient be kept In bed
until the bad burn on the right thign
was on the way to healing.
So began an enforced rest for the
boy who was Templeton Jones then
but who somehow disappeared. in later
years, to be replaced by another crea-
ture, still called Templeton Jones, out
Of courtesy.
Nobody knows today. however. and
acf nf oil uhath hn iS that
same boy or not. Sometimes he fails
to see any resemblance. and then again
he sees 1t in unmistakable fashion.
Chicken broth. for instance.
As Jones recalls. there were two fea-
lures OF that illness he will never for
get. or, better three
The first was chicken broth.
1t was then. as no doubt 1t Is today
the first invalid food in the minds OF
the world.
Let a child. or a man. or almost a
dog, get something the matter with him
so that he has to take to his bed. the
world thinks only of chicken broth.
No doubt 1t Is nutritious, whatever
that means. and no doubt it Is "easily
digested," whatever that may mean, too;
but 1t has its drawbacks.
In the first place, 1t is too watery to
serve as food.
Soup In which water seems to pre-
dominate is never exactly pleasant, even
in heath; why is it that the world of
cooks has taken into its head that
chicken broth SO per cent water is just
exactly the thing for a sick man?
In his memories Templeton jones
desired to be fair He had to admit
that the first bowl or two of that broth
Of memory was rather tasty dish.
"They had chickens in those days, u
sighed he.
Another feature of that childhood
catastrophe Jones Is not likely to forget
is the sport which resulted in the
casualty
He was playing Indian"
1t was "the" sport of Juvenile Wash
ington in those days.
Tarzan had never been heard Of.
Airpianes did not exist; Langley was
just making his experiments on the
river.
Fictional "airships," such as the
famous one in Mark Twain's TON
Sawyer Abroad" attracted the small
boys. and many rug was twisted
hauled and draped into fancied re-
semblance to such vessels.
Bare floors became sky, turned-ur
rug edges were metamorphosed (trsns-
formed, If the reader likes that better)
into airship rails.
All that took imagination, but not SC
much, indeed, as to see forests in the