Evening star., 1932-02-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEFELL

A reader wants to know II we are
q countryman.
We take that as great compliment.
There is nothing We would rather be
than a real countryman.
There is something genuine about
the soil and all its products.
No ballyhoo there!
The dream of many men, sitting at
mahogany desks, is to return TO the
land some day, on a farm of their own,
say about 400 acres.
Our good friend (and fellow country
mani writes as follows from nearby
Virginia:
thanks for your efforts. I read and
enjoy most of all in The Star on the
editorial page your column every day
and 1 often wonder If you are man
of the country.
Your writings are good evidence, but
I would really like to know If you are
a real countryman-that is, man who
lives in the country and knows the
country. You write as If you do.
Having spent most of my life on the
farms and in the fields and woods OF
grand old Virginia, know whereof
I am speaking.
1n6Se lew lines are W CApiCoo "
YOU my appreciation and to let you
know how much I enjoy your column
in The Star. Your homelike country
and nature writing Is the best column
in The Star and I always look for 1t.
Your writings have SO impressed me
(being a countryman myself that l
have made a collection for a long, long
time of hundreds of copies of This and
That "a scrapbook, so to speak,. so l
can read and re-read until I return to
the country. which I hope to do in the
near future.
I'm closing I would like very much
to know if you are acquainted with the
country and If you live in the country.
Here are best wishes for your column
and NAV it long continue. Yours sin
cerely, a friend and admirer.-J. L. M. B"
Well sir. we thank you for that let
ter, and will say in reply that we are
sort of countryman.
If a countryman means a feller who
doesn't care much about clothes, we
are a true countryman and no mistake
about it.
Col. Knox and his anti-hoarders
would be positively aghast at the amount
of money we did not spend on clothes
during the past decade.
No doubt We have been mistaken
by many a paSserby for hick, rube
and maybe tramp. There is fat
old Pekinese dog out our way, who sits
on a doormat on a front porch, and
when it sees us coming along, even
though a neighbor. it barks furiously.
This, of course only when We wear
a cap. Like all dogs. Of fawning
nature, it will not bark when We wear
a felt hat. It's master probably wears
a standard hat therefore every one
wearing a standard hat is standard.
So much for canine psychology!
During college days the writer here
was exposed to some Of the best dressers
of the era, without once catching the
desirability Of trying to look successiul
whether you are a success or not. -.
Since those days We have watched
with interest the battle between the
advocates of starched collars and soft
collars. and creased trousers and baggy
trousers. We have listened to the argu-
ment that every man alive ought 10
try to look like an executive earning
at least $25 900 year. But why? II
YOU are not an executive, and have
the heart of a farmer, why isn't II
better to look like farmer? Other
wise, some one might take you for q
motion picture actor.
II a. sincere respect for the men OF
all nations who TIL the soil, and real
love for nature, may be construed as