The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-27
Squaring
the Circle
With
THE HOOSIER EDITOR

u high up on to the elevator Xix
seepings IN a cave. It was the in
side frost melting on the first warn
day after record cold spell. 1t was
of course, the Soldiers and Sailors
Ionument on the Circle.
I had paid rs cents to go up, 81
I couldn't turn back. But I was I'm
easy Height makes me dizzy.
have to watch myself even when
stand on my tiptoes.
But the elevator man said it wa
all right and up we went. He point
ed To unmelted frost as we went III
and Up. Used to closed-in elevators
this open job, climbing two rods anc
getting no place but up-no floor
or stopping-off places-made MI
very, solemn
Pretty soon a roar developed il
my ears.
rs there a roar in your ears?"
asked the elevator man.
Yep he said; its the wind
Sometimes it blows hard enough 81
you can hear it the minute you ster
on the elevator at the bottom"
"Oh," I said.
THROUGH the oblong window,
l. I got a dizzy view of some
place in Indianapolis, but was 81
mixed up I couldn't tell which way
I was looking Tie elevator stopped
The door opened.
-Four short flights and you'll
come upon the balcony" the mar
said, and closed the door anc
dropped down.
was alone. The wind was roar
ing. I thought I felt the tower
shake. Why hadn't I asked him
if it sways? I started up those
-four short flights" and they were
too short.
Before I realized it, there burst
before my jittery eyes the pan
Drama of indianapolis from 2291
feet above it. The wind almost got
my hat. I turned back. The ele-
vator hadn't even gotten down be-
fore rang for it.
When he got up again the ele-
vator man said, Gee! You paid
You should have looked out"
Known at the bottom again
~ T. N. Rush, the cashier, said
it was an awful shame T. hadn't
taken squint.
ut did you no good at ALL" he
said.
He's been there three years and
there are several things about peo-
pie he can't figure out. The silliest
thing that ever happened was last
June.
A blind couple came tapping in
with their canes and wanted 10
cent tickets. For 10 cents you
walk up 80 flights-324 steps.
Mr.. Rush was little reluctant to
let them go.
Why" he said, you can't walk
up that far"
But the man impatiently gave
him to understand that they had
walked it before and that they in
tended to do it again.
GO they got their tickets and
~ tapped their way to the top
about a six-minute climb. Mr.. Rush
got worried again and sent the ele-
vator man up just, to see if every
was all right.
He came back with the report
that the blind couple was up there
on the balcony chatting happily
and enjoying things immensely
After a while they tapped down.
again.
Mr.. Rush can't understand that;
says he sees the couple once in a
while on the streets and it always
sets him to wondering again. He
still doesn't know whether he did
right to let them go up.
Frequently, he says, a man will
come into the place, clutching a
city map and cursing softly. He'll
take 25-cent ride to the top, COM
planning all the way up about the
way the city is laid out.
When he gets there he will spend
as much as an hour looking at the
map and then the city. When he
comes down he's usually smiling,
Mr.. Rush says.
II OTIS of tourists, he says, go to
- the top just to pick a short
way out of the city. Some people
ride up in the elevator and. right
down again, without looking out,
just so they can "tell mother I was
up" They're usually from out of
town.
Last September the monument
took in more than $700. Last
Sunday, nice and warm, SO went up.
The monument employs five people
in winters, six in summers. They
have a lot of trouble keeping people
from scratching their initials in the
stone. They use wire brushes to
erase them.
When it was. Is below zero there
were two couples made the trip up
One was from North Dakota and
one from South Dakota. They were
not together.
They stood on the balcony in the
arctic wind for while and then
came down.
They were terribly amused that
people in indianapolis thought it
was cold.