Evening star., 1945-09-12
This and That
By Charles E. TracetDeH.

How Templeton Jones used a noisy old
World War I electric fan to WOO sleep
by drowning out some of the loveliest
music in the world is being whispered
in his neighborhood.
Jones goes to bed early
One of his hobbies is Hawaiian music.
In those sentences the reader has the
genesis of all this fan business
The fan is curiosity. Always noisy,
it has grown noisier with the years. Old
and battered. covered with dust. it still
runs whenever it is brought out
So much for good honest American
manufacture.
noise than it should, but Jones got it
as bargain in 1918, SO he had no kick
coming then or now.
He will never forget that day when
the thermometer touched 104 degrees
in the shade. He was living in a small
apartment up under the roof.
That December he was to come down
with flu, pleurisy and pneumonia, all at
once, but fortunately he didn't know
that when he purchased the fan.
Wartime prices had gone to the heads
of a few local merchants at that time.
mdyDC tOO IildIly 4CdelS CuSIOlllClS ildO
something to do with it.
He walked in-remember,, this was in
the summer of 1918-to a store where
the fan was displayed in the window.
He inquired the price.
Sixteen dollars" responded the mer-
chant, sharply.
why" said Jones, "I know a place
where I can get it for $3.50. It is ad-
vertised in this afternoons paper"
(Jones read Star ads, you see)
The man drew himself up haughtily.
go there and get it, then" he almost
swore
Il WILL" said Templeton Jones.
And he did.
A good job it turned out to be, but
1t was always noisy.
Every now and then, through the
years, the Jones family gets out the
old fan, just for memory's sake, and all
are astounded by the noise it makes.
Its low speed is bad enough, but when
the high speed is put on the room fairly
shakes.
Well, this night not so long ago
famous composer and singer of Hawaiian
songs came to visit some folks in Jones
neighborhood.
they celebrate, with men of their own
in the Pacific?
The trouble was according to Jones,
that he wanted to go to bed.
And bass chords on guitar, accom-
panying a high tenor, are not exactly
conducive to slumber, when you don't
want to hear them.
Music is a moody thing One time
-. ni1 ton n
The music maker makes it, and the
listener makes it. But musician may
feel gay when listener does not, and
so on And listener has a right to
his mood, too. Music is infinite.
Jones has perhaps the greatest COL
lection of Hawaiian records in the Ma
tional Capital and vicinity. More than
500 discs, with more than 1000 different
tunes from this simple, beautiful musical
treasury of the great State-of- Hawaii
to-be
Tonight, however, he didn't want to
listen But how could he help it? The
guitar chords came boring through shut
doors and windows.
Then Jonesy has an inspiration.
That old fan up in the attic! Hastily
he went up after it, brought it down,
plugged it in.
He placed it on the floor and turned
it on.
Whirr! went the fan, accompanied
by an assortment of clacks and groans.
Templeton Jones, from his little bed,
grinned blissfully
He couldn't hear a single "aloha,"
even though he strained his ears. The
music was drowned out in whir and
clack, whir and clack, whir and clack.
AS Jones drifted off to sleep he was
thinking to himself that anything will
come IN handy If YOU keep it long
enough.