Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-06-04
This and That
BIZ Charles E. TrGce,DeH.

We were privileged recently to hear about q
man who went all the way to Central America
to bring home a better appreciation OF the
robin. Maybe he had to-
Fortunately, most of us do not have to go so
far I'd have such pleasant realization.
Why, there are thousands of housewives in
this city, thousands more Government men
and women, lawyers, doctors, retired Army and
Navy men, all and many more of whom love
old man robin
They sit tight on their porches and in their
windows and let the robin and scores OF other
birds come to them.
Not for them the job of chasing to far lands
to seerobin relatives and then to think, why.
the robins left at home are pretty nice birds,
aren't they?"
They knew it all the time!
Such knowledge is power, we believe-poWer
to enjoy life as one goes along. #
Power does not necessarily mean power to
injure as too many men have thought in re-
cent times
There is power to appreciate, and power to
love. and power to be good sport, and power
to perch in chair, too.
These are powers of peace, powers which
ought to be played up more, if the world is
ever to come out of its present state of turmoil
Think of the power, will power, if you will, 1t
requires for some men to sit still in chairs.
We know one man who is never still. If he
comes in to see you, he stands up. He never
sits down. Maybe he has swallowed that propa-
ganGa about never sitting down when he can
stand, never lying down when he can sit, ETC.
When he stands up, he fdgets. He picks up
articles, puts them down, walks around, looks
out the window.
Never once does he do you the courtesy of
treating you as peaceful human being, will
ing and able to soothe the savage beast or
breast
1t takes more will power than he has, EVIL
IDENTIFY, to relax.
Much has been written about relaxation
You can get big books Upon the subject. Some
of them are very good Any one would be the
better Tor reading them. provided he puts into
effect what he has read
One of the easiest practical ways of relaxing
is to sit.
This may seem no discovery, but watch some
of your friends and you will see they need
the advice badly.
Just plain sitting would be good for them.
When you sit, you relax, and that is why we
have little sympathy with these persons who
are forever lecturing others about slumping
in their chairs.
do not sit on the back of your neck" they
are forever urging, but one may feel that such
part of the anatomy is about the only thing
that fits properly into some chairs.
Such a slump If you will, gives relaxation,
and this is just what most people need in these
tense times.
We need to get back to the idea of peaceful
sitting.
The old-fashioned porch is more or less gone
now, but whenever you see one. it has
comfortable rockers on it. and maybe a swing,
and soft cushions.
People can sit on such porch and be COM
Portable
How can you relax on some of these modern
terraces, with their too-neat chromium chairs
and their rollalong beds and their stands and
their hard floors?
Let us drop sigh for the ofd-fashioned
porch or even piazza, with its comfortable
rockers and its old swing hung by chains, and
its ported plants, where Just plain folks met
after supper "jest to set and talk"
And old man robin was there singing for
rain with all his lungs and heart, because he
knew that dinner would come with plenty of
water falling from the skies. At home, on the
old porch filled with good supper, one
could sympathize with the robin wanting his
food to come easy.