The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-02-01

On Q Fifth avenue bus there arose. the other day, a dispute as to whether @ window should be open or closed. The man who sat next to 1t closed 1t. The woman who occupied the aisle half of the same seat ordered him to open it.. He said no, he had a cold and would not subject himself to a draft.
 The woman said, "I'm going to open it myself" The man replied, If you do. I'll close It."
 The quarrel attracted attention; the conductor was called. He was 8 good-natured young fellow with a Killarney brogue that would peel e potato.
 "The person. next to the window has the right to determine wheth- CT the window is to be open or not said he. "I'm afraid, Lady, that we'll have to be satisfied with the status quo."
 So learned a decision was hard ly expected. The disputants settl- ed down to sullen silence, the lady glaring frequently at the man. who twiddled his thumbs nervously.
 A recent night round of skyscraper's service facilities with my friend, Arthur Peck, night watchman, taught me many things, but none more important than how to clean @ pipe. I'm not a pipesmoker, but many of my friends spend hours uncounted in the meticulous task of cleaning their pipes.
 MT. Peck, a friendly, efficient gentleman of middle years, smokes almost necessarily. AS he passes the spot where the steam service enters the sub-basement of the building, he knocks the ashes out of his pipe and holds the bowl, then the stem, with a long-handl- ed pair of pliers, under a small value. He turns on a jet of steam, l85 pounds pressure. In five sec- onds the pipe Is sweet and clean, all nicotine removed, from stem to stern.
 It's a little trick l learned at sea-" he says. Men in engine rooms of modern steamers all clean their pipes that way. Bring me the pipes of any of your friends; I'll be glad to do the trick for them. No trouble at all"
 MT. Peck, in smart gray uni-, form, looks after the automatic machinery and general welfare of Lexington Tower, tall office building at Lexington avenue and 4lst street. He showed me the delicate instruments that regulate the flow of steam into and through the building, turning 1t off and on as needed. Automatic pumps that raise water to the tank on top of the building, starting and stopping as supply ebbs and flows.
 He was a steward on William Randolph Hearst's yacht last time he saw duty at sea. He's happy in his work, and expresses no yearning for salt water.
 What happens to the funnies after they've been read by the metropolitan populationp Do those expensively printed colored comics of the Sunday papers go back to the paper factories?
 No indeed. There are two big concerns in New York that gather up the funnies, used and unused. In most comic printing plants there are surpluses each week, copies returned by dealers, and some misprints. All that can be collected In any way are bought by two big corporations. Most are shipped to Africa, India and In- terior China. There they are used for wrapping parcels in retail stores.
 In many Q Central African yil- lage, customers refuse to buy groceries unless they are wrapped in American comics. The natives can't read the balloons, but they get lot of fun out of the pie lures.
 Copyright, 1889, McNaught
 Syndicate)