Evening star., 1934-07-14
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES z. TRACEWELL.

{ evidently a highly bred animal. step
ped from the curb and made diagonal
( ly across the tracks. II was q piece
Of Jay walking" ON the part Of the
/ dog. without doubt-but what did the
/ dog know about that?
The motorman changed his bell and
started at full speed. as street cars
can do. The dog did not veer from
its course. but kept right on. looking
neither to the right or left.
Don't run over that dog" COM
manded a passenger. sharply.
The motorman halted his car and
swung round on the fare
What do you care about the dog?"
he asked
His remark seemed at variance
with his agreeable face.
I care" replied the passenger.
what any decent-minded person
would care. and what you ought to
care. too"
The motorman was undecided. Fl
nally he grinned. as he saw the dog
attain the curb on the other side.
"Aw," he growled, finally, Il was
only kiddin'."
Whether he was. both passenger
and observer we're rather in doubt.
but, anyway, the affair passed off
happily, especially for the dog. The
passenger said afterward that he
firmly believed the dog would have
been ground into mincemeat If he had
not yelled at the motorman.
%%
This writer once saw a driver of a
one-man street car on Wisconsin ave-
nue. bring his vehicle to sudden halt
on the slight hill Just below r street.
1t was night. We peered over thS
motorman's shoulder, and onto the
tracks, outlined by the glare of the
headlights. There stood a bewildered
tom-cat, not knowing which way to
turn. Cats have no such trust in man.
kind as do dogs, and, in view of their
history, perhaps they are the wiser
animal of the two.
Cats are particularly liable to be-
come confused at bright lights. We
have heard tales of cats leaping onto
the spokes Of an automobile and rid
ing around until upright. then jump
ing off into the road, but such tales
are difficult to believe. Cats, as dogs
and human beings, becoming confused
in traffic, often pay with their lives.
1t is because the cause of street
safety of these creatures is bound up
with the safety of human beings that
one must be concerned about them.
And then, too. one may like them,
their pleasant ways and the pleasure
they give so many people, and be-
lieve firmly that, in their own right,
as living things, they deserve the full
est protection.
What is safety for one is safety for
all.
All men are at times pedestrians.
There always seems something hol-
low and false into the common as
sumption that motorists and pedes-
trians are two utterly different sort
Of critters.
There is no difference, except in
circumstance. A pedestrian who yells
the loudest against motorists may, If
he gets a car, turn into the worst
sort of driver himself.
If a man is instrumental in pro-
pelling a dangerous piece of matter,
called bullet, and some one gets in
the way of it. he is held to account.
If man is similarly reckless with
a larger piece of matter. called a
motor car, and some one gets in the
way Of it, he similarly ought to bear
the onuS.
Safe driving-safe for all-is prob
lem in which no angle is too small for
consideration. If all drivers would
make it rule to stop to let animals
get across the street, a great step
would be taken in a great campaign
Safety for all" is a good motto.