Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-01-14
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEFELL.

day for the good 1t does to the grow
ing things.
Afterward they come to see, as every
one will who takes up gardening, that a
rainy day has a charm all of its own.
In the first place, It makes the house
holder appreciate more than ordinarily
the normal happiness OF good home.
Oftentime. in the rush OF life, one takes
a home for granted. The fact that the
/ roof does not leak, for instance, is as 1t
should be, that and nothing more.
But isn't there more? When one De-
comes interested in his garden, and
hence in the rains which keep II sweet
and green, he naturally turns ms gaze
at last to the downspouts and cutters OF
his own dwelling, and to the roof lines,
and appreciates to the full the excellent
work which they are doing to carry
away the water and to protect him and
his from the elements.
This happy chain OF appreciation
/ then extends to the foundations, 10 the
very walls themselves. Proper drainage
IL thought of next. The whole lay OIL
the land for blocks around comes IN
for general appreciation.
Nothing is better for a human being
than appreciation. 1t must be, OF
course honest appreciation, based on a
real understanding of relative Vaiues.
The witless appreciation which many
have for numbers means little In the
high art of proper appreciation.
Recently we heard an artlst )usC!y
his art by an appeal 10 numbers. ae
failed. quantity has nothing 10 40
with real worth in that hne. Inc IN
artistic is never made artistic because
dc En l.
sands may regard it as better than II
fs That is appreciation running the
wrong way.
rainy day. in the second place, as
gardener sees it, breaches lesson all
its own. Despite the pleas OF those
who have so many faults-and know
it-that they do not like to have les
sons read them, lesson is good Tor any
one, And all the preachers are not
in the churches. The forces OF Ma
ture remain glorious preachers, as they
ever have been, preachers after 1aSn-
ION They speak to those who are will
inc to Listen, and enforce many moral.
Sonrwhow q section Of mankind has
devised for itself the silly idea that
morality is Just something to scare
babies with something to be laughed at
Morals change, but, even more, words
change. Behind the changed attitudes,
as manifested in words, remain funda-
mental facts of Nature. The wise man
sees much in little, and in few years
amasses much wisdom. 1t will do no
good to tell him that he is "old-fash-
toned" or that smart young people
do not believe as he believes. He knows
that the only essential thing is that he
believe in what he believes. others
make little difference to him. 1t Is all
a matter between him and the rest OF
the world He places the emphasis on
himself. the others place it on the rest
of the world.
The rainy day brings home to a man
the essential quality Of the self In
society which at times seems bent on
destroying individuality. Hypocrisy,
coupled with desire for ease, attempts
to wipe out the laudable desire of every
human being to be strictly and openly
himself. Somehow 1t is easier to under
stand this on a rainy day, when the
whoop-rooay boys have been stilled
and the voice of the ridiculous sort OF
optimist has been silenced by the fall
ing raindrops. Then the spectator is
back to the essentials, alone with him
self in Gods world, such as 1t was in
the beginning, when there were no
hypocrites, or crooners, or futile OPP
timists-only few honest liars.