davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
his and That

1t was one of those warm fall days,
and Mommie and Daddy, and Peggy,
aged 1e years, had come out to do a
little yard work.
Here's the way the three-way dia-
log went:
PEGGY-Mommie, I don't know how
to NOW a lawn!
MOTHER-Well. darling. I will show
you. I will cut the first row-like this
then turn and go back along this row,
with the wheel of the mower well over
the cut row.
PEGGY-say, do I get paid for this
Jon?
MOTHER-No, dear, sister doesn't
get paid for doing it or for washing the
car.
PEGGY-My, it's really too hot to do
this. Why do we have to cut the
grass-we never did it before! this late.
MOTHER-Oh, yes, we have, in
warm autumns.
PEGGY-I can't make this old lawn
mower go-it just goes a few inches,
Daddy.
DADDY-Then back up and start
over.
PEGGY-Well, you aren't going to
nave n lawn left, I can tell you that.
DADDY-Why not?
PEGGY-Because this old lawn
mower pulls up the drifts too wet,
that's what.
DADDY-Well, keep on trying, dear.
PEGGY can't make this old mower
cut, Daddy, don't you want to cut the
yard?
DADDY-No, Peggy. I'm painting.
PEGGY-Well, why does it have to
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
Economic Reckoning Near?

While optimistic statements on the
business outlook continue to be issued.
the evidences of severe economic con-
traction accumulate. Why should any
one be surprised at this?
The business cycle has been an
established phenomenon for as far back
as history a be read. It's alternating
phases of rise and fall have followed
one another with almost clock-like
regularity. To talk, as some modern"
economists have done, of perpetual
prosperity is utmost ~fooliShnesS. It is
foolish not only because 1t flies in the
face Of all past experience, but because
the swings of the cycle have their basis
in human nature. And human nature
changes.
For nearly q decade and a half we
have witnessed the growth of the same
type Of factors that have characterized
past booms. And that invariably have
brought with them the seeds of the
contraction period to follow. In many
respects, in fact, the period, 1898,
is almost a facsimile of the period,
1915-'29. Greed, o~ver-reaching, the
amending cycle of rising wages and
rising prices, for the benefit of a few
stronger groups, have, relatively, i'm
poveriShed an increasing number of
weaker groups. Hence, even with the
most reckless abuse of credit, purchaS-
ing power of the latter has diminished,
bringing a drop in production in many
basic lines.
The chief point of difference between
the current cycle and that of a third of
a century ago is that this one has
chiefly been evidenced in an imitation of
tangibles-real estate, capital goods
and consumer goods, while the boom
of 1915-'29 was largely manifest in
intangibles-stockS and bonds.
A lot of talk has been heard about
the enormous amount of savings and
the 'normality" of relationship be-
tween consumer credit and incomes.
Only over recent weeks, however, two
large appliance store chains in our
town went to the wall. The reported
reason-an extremely heavy volume of
reposSessions. Washington is a white
collar, middle-claSs town. Clearly
there was no normal" ratio here be-
tween incomes and debts. No large
cushion of savings to fall back on.
And what is true of the middle class
in this city is unquestionably true else
where. The u%nceasing assault on its
purchasing power, on the part of selfish,
tightly organized labor groups and
short-sighted complacent management
groups, has taken its deadly toll. To
make no mention of what these trends
have been doing to farm groups.
The politicians doubtless will engage
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
Zane Grey's Manuscripts

The widow of Zane Grey has given II of
his manuscripts to the Library of Congress.
This means that a popular" Western novelist
is to take his place among the immortals.
For a clear understanding of what has hap
pened it is necessary to recall Mr.. Grey'S long
struggle to establish his subject material and
his method and manner of writing as values
worthy of the attention Of the publishing
industry. He began to turn out "copy" in 1904,
and his earliest effort was not a failure. But
no publisher was willing to take'a chance on it.
Mr.. Grey printed the book himself. In 1908 he
wrote "The Last of the Plainsmen," and it was
rejected with the usual promptitude." hen
followed THE Heritage of the Desert in 1910
and Riders of the Purple Sage" in 1912. These
were issued by Harper's latter long hesitation"
When they found thousands of readers, even
Mr.. Grey was surprised.
But the public knew a good story when
it saw one. Burton Rascoe explained Mr.. Grey's
achievement by saying: "He brought about the
~vicarious wishfulfillment of millions of seden-
tary workers in the office warrens of cities and
industrial towns" He also pleased the people
he wrote about. Copies of Desert Gold" 1.-THE
Call of the Canyon" The U. P. Trail" and
1.-THE Mysterious Rider" may be found in hun
dredS of ranch houses all over the Southwest.
Mr.. Grey was a true artist in the sense that
he dealt with that country and it's inhabitants
faithfully as we'll as colorfully.
He produced 81 books up to the time of
his death in 1899. Some of them were released
as late as 1945. Many of them repeatedly have
been reprinted, some have been filmed, some
have been dramatized on radio and television.
The end is not yet. "a Grey has dozens of
imitators, but none of his followers has sur
passed him. The recognition of his high posi-
"a -; A~a4~i14 1of4orc naoo~InI hu t1aA
Library of Congress was anticipated by a throng
of admirers long ago.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
No Cause for Further Alarm

If Federal personnel administrator adhere
to the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES policy
recommended by the Civil Service Commission,
there will be no cause for further unrest and
fear among Government workers in Washing
ton. The period of turmoil occasioned by de-
partmental retrenchment and reorganization
following the advent of a new administration
seems to be near its end. This reaSSuring news
is of interest not only to the Federal establish
ment but to the whole local community.
Chairman Philip Young of the Civil Service
Commission recognized the interest of the COM
munity in the Federal employment problem
when he summarized the situation yesterday
before the Merchants and Manufacturers As
ISOLATION There has been need for such fac
tual review and forecast as Mr.. Young presented
in an effort to counteract "groundleSS" fears
of further drastic personnel cuts. ManifeStly,
he spoke with authority, for he is President
~EisenhowerS chief adviser on civil service
matters.
The prospect, in brief, is for the loss in
Washington of 4,700 employees during the re-
r1ainder of the present fiscal year-but this
reduction is to be largely achieved not by dis
miSSal slips but by normal attrition processes.
Vacancies resulting from deaths, retirementS,
designations and other causes will not be filled.
Thus, the era of So-called wholesale" dismiS-
sails is past. Federal employment generally is
settling down to a more stabilized plane. IN
certainty of Government employees over their
future may be expected to settle down, too.
There still remains the problem of correct
ing injuSticeS done to some career workers dur
ing the rush to pare dow the size of the Fed
eral payroll. The President has ordered depart
ment heads to comply with instructions of the
Civil Service Commission respecting safeguards
for uyOrknrc with civil Snrvico status Tho pr0.
gram calls for unemployment Of careerists who
were let out while temporary employees were
retained. This program has not been taken too
seriously by some departments and agencies in
the recent past. Now that the President has
thrown his weight behind the csc effort, how
ever, fair play for veteran workers should be
the rule from now on.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
and a Red Defeat

The %fve-power Neutral Nations Repatria-
ton Commission is in a state of SemiparalySiS
at the moment because its two Communist
members-Poland and Observation-Disclosures
walked out on it. They have walked out (their
return in the case of the American CT seems
to have been temporary because the three
other Members clear majority made up
Of Sweden, Switzerland and India, the
chairman-have fatty rejected their demand
that Chinese and North Korean prisoners of
war be physically forced to listen to "explana-
tons designed to persuade them to return to
their Red homelands.
In effect, what the Poles and Czechs have
demanded-undoubtedly on orders from the
Communist high commands that the MIRO
violate the Korean truce by embracing a policy
of in~humanity. The truce itself, of course, is
quite clear on the subject. "No force or threat
of force" it says, shall be used against the
prisoners of war to prevent or effect their
repatriation, and no violence to their persons
or affront to their dignity or Self-reSpect shall
be permitted in any manner for any purpose
whatsoever" Yet, despite this, the Reds have
adamantly insisted that the POWs be driven,
with tear gas, whips and guns if necessary, into
submitting to persuasion sessions. Seldom
has there been a better example of the kind of
brutality that governs in the world behind the
Iron Curtain, and seldom has there been a more
stupid display of it.
Actually, although they are supposed to be
supremely clever p~ropagandistS, there is some
reason to suspect that the Communists have
been more or less panicked by the POW situa4
ton. If that is really the case, then their
demand for the use of force, plus their Sullen
walkout, may be regarded as a measure of their
confuSion--either as that or as a deliberate
~ AM oo1o1,1otol ~ Lrool> ,~ &Lo ,@o4
long as the Polish Czech boycott continues. And
so there is considerable sense in the speculation
that the Reds may have taken this step in order
to e~Xtricate themselves from further embarrass-
ment in dealing with resisting prisoners. It
seems clear, in any case, that they have been
greatly discounted by the fact that they have
succeeded so far in getting only 10 Chinese
captives to return home, that hundreds of others
interviewed" have violently denounced the
"intervieWerS" and that over $4,000 North
Koreans steadfastly refuse to listen to even
the slightest measure of explaining"
In these circumstances, the Communists
obviously have good reason to wish that there
were no such thing as a repatriation problem.
Certainly, in handling that problem to date,
they have cut an extremely poor figure in the
eyes of the free world, and they look poorer still
today as a result of their demand for the use
humane violation of the truce. Unwittingly
enough, by thus revealing their true nature in
what seems to have been a moment of lost
composure, they have inflicted upon themselves
a propaganda defeat of the first magnitude.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
Silence and the Word

NoD cup the ear to catch the lack OF
sound
Here on this pinnacle nudoin0 the
sky.
The aural drGuohts of silence, surely
found,
Are tricklin0 eGrwGrd from their
springs hard by.
A cedar SD1ys to m1drto1lS EnheGTd,
A great, gray cliff seens broodtng, as
In thought,
And brGcken knoD, Dr. seem to know,
the Dord
That fingers here, and that Is silence
brought,
A word, lono-needed, and NTH letters
taken
From an alphabet OF leaf and height
and f1lDn,
To Which the dreams of long ago
dWGken,
Blinking their eyes, and welcoming
the ddDn.
Edword D. Garner
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
Abandoned Refriqerutors

Deaths of children in abandoned
refrigerators continue in spite of
publicity and talk of legislation. Just
as loaded guns are left where children
can play with them, so re~frigerators
are bound to be abandoned, perhaps
with the intention of removing the
door tomorrow. Laws can only pro-
vide penalties for such negligence,
they can not prevent it.
There is, however, one very simple
device that could prevent these hor-
rible tragedies. That would be a
panel on the inside of refrigerator
doors which. when pressed against,
would release the door. Laws requir-
ing that all refrigerators be provided
with such panels would stop the
accidents at the source. Manufacturers
would doubtless be glad to cooperate.
Marcus I. Goldman
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21

be cut today. Here, doesn't somebody
else want to NOV?
Daddy. why can't I change jobs with
Ruthie? I'd rather wash the car.
DADDY-Next Sunday you may wash
the car
PEGGY-Oh, it will be as cold as
Greenland. then!
DADDY-Nonsense. Get going, dar-
ling, get this job over with. Then you
can play.
PEGGY-Well, I want to wash the
car today.
DADDY-All right, after you have
cut the grass and raked the yard.
You might rake it up. and see how
much you have cut and how well.
PEGGY-Well, I'm not going to do it
over!
DADDY-Is that an ultimatum?
PEGGY-What's that mean?
DADDY-A threat.
Peggy-Yes.
Later:
PEGGY-Im all finished now. Do I
have to rake the yard. too?
MOTHER-I don't believe you have
cut it all.
PEGGY-Yes. I have. too.
MOTHER-How about there behind
the chairs, and over there where the
locust sprouts have come up-they
haven't been cut of.
PEGGY-Where do l put the stuff ]
rake up?
MOTHER-Put it in a basket and set
it out there.
PEGGY-Out where?
Etc. etc.. etc.
h +
There is so much talk Of delinquent
parents and children that it is a pleas
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21

only for the big farmers. I have seen
reports that a potato grower did not
sell a single potato to the ultimate
consumer but he was rewarded with
$4,000 from the Government for grow
ing them.
I want my Government to stop using
my tax money to buy something and
hoard it so that I have to pay an ex-
orbitant price for something that there
is plenty Of.
Joseph Meegan.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21

in a mad scramble to subsidize this,
and support that, whereas what is
needed is for the readjustment to take
its course and teach the much-needed
lesson to those who have forgotten
that their economic duty is to serve
and not exploit. The reckoning con-
ceivably could be deferred but not for
very long can offending groups escape
the consequences of their own acts.
VeritaS.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
idnup-Murderer

Humans df they can be called such)
as cold FLOODED and despicable as the
two responsible for the kidnap-killing
Of little Bobby Greenlease are not
deserving of a court trial for such a
horrible and heartless crime! Far bet
ter that they be taken back into a field
and shot. ALI the money in the world
could never compensate for the life of
a little, innocent child, but it is clear
that there are some people in this world
who are totally devoid of conscience,
moral, or heart.
Mrs. william E. Grill.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
On Bunninq Firearms
Joseph Meegan.

H. A. Sheehan's contention that the
Greenlease murder was committed be-
cause the weapon vas handy is like say
ing that the highway accident occurred
because the automobile was available.
BY what process of reason and logic
Mr.. Sheehan arrives at such a cosmos
shaking conclusion and at his stand to
outlaw the pistol must be, indeed, an
unfathomable mystery to every fire.
arms enthusiast and serious shooter.
]. j. Basil, jr.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
Wendall A. Paris.
Movie Program Success

At the October Is meeting of the
D. C. Recreation Board an attendance
of 8,042 persons was reported for the
1858 Summer Movie Program.
Much credit for the success of this
city-wide community program can be
attributed to the cooperation of The
Star, for which the board wishes to
express it's sincere appreciation. We
hope this service will be available next
year.
Alice C.. Hunter,
Secretary, District of Columbia
Recreation Board.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21

threatening to the peace Of the Near East. #
some constructive answers can be found they
should work to the advantage of all parties
involved.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
BY THE HASKIN SERVICE.

AAeb ~ ~ hOtOc q CCnbb v
BY THE HASKIN SERVICE.
@. Why are ships supposed to be Of
the feminine gender and referred to as
"she"?-E. K.
A. This is merely a matter Of usage
and convention, and the custom is so
old that no one knows when and how
it started. Records show that some
types of ships were regarded as mas
culine, for example merchantmen, and
in a poem of 1926 there is reference
to a ship weighing his anchor"
Q. Is malaria transmitted in any
other way than by mosquitoes?-C. r.
A. Malaria is transmitted only by
certain kinds of mosquitoes Of the genus
Anopheles. Malaria cannot exist with
out the presence Of Anopheles, but only
about one-fourth of the species trans
nit the disease.
@. How should cattails be treated to
preserve their attractive ap~pearance?-
C. o. M.
A. Cattails will keep some time in
their natural state If not kept too
warm. They may be given a thin coat
of clear shellac or dipped or sprayed
with aluminium Of gilt paint. This
procedure makes an unusual and at
tractive winter bouquet.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
Questions and Answers

OF fact by writing The washington Evening
Star Bureau, 1900 ! street NV,
Washington 8, D. c. Please inclose 8 cents for
return n0Sta0a
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-10-21
Letters to The Star.

would speed up most Of the slow drivers.
In removing in large part this legally
pampered notwithstanding menace
the slow driver-from our highways,
those long, slowly moving lines of cars
would be greatly reduced, If not elm
mated, thereby decreasing accidents
and restoring the orderly flow of traffic.
II. L. B.
Evening star., 1953-11-10
This and That

room on the rim of feeding station
close by window.
5 This was not fighting, in any real
sense, but merely the lively emulation
for place that humans know 30 well
at a crowded bus stop.
It is all nonsense to regard such
crowding as quarreling. In an effort to
put blame on English sparrows, some
spectators have labeled their chirping
as noise" and their natural manners
as greedy.
Only one species can be called greedy,
and that is the startling. Here, truly, is
a greedy fellow. He is lusty in every
movement, and needs a great Geal Of
food to keep him going.
A much better way to watch home
birds is to drop criticism in any form,
and be glad for the picture presented.
Once a watcher gets the idea Of pic
lures, motion pictures, if he will, he
finds an added pleasure in his watch
ing.
No TV set can present better or
livelier picture than that of the morn
ing hour at feeder.
It's theme is food, one dear to the
heart of humanity.
AS much as we try to disguise our
feeding by calling it dining, and cover
ing up consumption with the glamor OF
damask and silver and beautiful china,
we must admit that at bottom we are
eating just the same as animals, and
for the same reason. that we are hun
cry and need the food.
Evening star., 1953-11-10
Our Snow stopping Regulations

In December of 1851 an unexpected snow
storm tied traffic in a knot Thousands of
people were very late getting home and their
dismal experience provided conversation for
months afterward. The Commissioners, feeling
that they should do something, drew up set
of drastic emergency regulations designed to
prevent future catastropheS of the sort Any
body whose automobile stalled and blocked
traffic during a SnoWStorm on any one of Sc
Streets-designated by broad, yellow brand on
the lamp poStS-would be seized and summoned
to court for trial Some time later the regu-
lationS were softened by making them apply
only to the owners of stalled automobiles not
equipped with chains or snow tires.
The chief effect of the regulations was to
prevent SnoWStorms There had been no heavy
fall of snow since December of 1851, until the
storm last Friday On Friday evening, at TAO
o'clock, however, things seemed to be getting
out of hand. Traffic Director Keneipp, like the
Angel Gabriel blowing his trump, invoked the
emergency regulations. Hundreds of automo-
bileS, unequipped with anti-stalling devices,
were stalled. Nobody was arrested, however,
and few hours after the regulations were in
voked the storm began to feel discouraged and
petered out before dawn At 10 o'clock on Sat-
urday morning, Mr.. Keneipp again reached for
his trumpet and called off the regulations.
1t is evidently good thing to keep the
their mere presence tends to prevent heavy falls
of snow. Nature probably abhorS the regulations,
and holds off her bllzzardS.
Evening star., 1953-11-10

tee, budget section, he was told his re-
marks were directed toward the 1854
District budget. This Recreation Com
mittee is an alert and sensitive body
But what can it do? 1t recommends
and the so odd civic organizations
pleading for more youth facilities must
hope that somehow, somewhere, the
needs as they exist will get through to
the appropriating powers of the Con-
gress two years behind time.
Perhaps youth does not understand
the procedural delay but they under
stand when they have been short
changed. They sense the feeling that
leadership given to them is underpaid
understaffed or just not available.
All youth needs character training
and expert guidance. The better and
more widespread the youth services,
the richer will be the citizens of to-
morrow.
All who are students of the delin-
quency problem know that preventive
efforts are less costly to a community
than courts, probation officers, judges,
and jails . :. not to mention vandalism.
theft or physical violence.
There has already been far too much
delinquency particularly in doing
something about it.
Milton A. Mandel.
Chairman, Sousa Junior High
PTA Recreation Committee.
Evening star., 1953-11-10
'FunctionoI' Art Gallery

Several letters have appeared in The
Star approving the so-called modern
design for a new Smithsonian Art Gal
lery. One of the epistolarians asserts
that the dry-goods-like box design" is
one of the most functional and beauti-
full buildings ever designed for the
Mall" and is quite suitable to our
terrain, climate and age"
Like most special pleaders who advo-
cate complete abandonment of the
classical tradition, so deeply woven into
our English language, our laws, our
architecture and our learning, your
correspondent resorts to the threadbare
and utterly meaningless cliche that a
bare boxlike building is necessarily
functional" and that the same box, if
its walls in any way follow the pattern
of the prevailing classical style of
Washington, is perforce not functional!
There are literally thousands of "func-
tional" buildingS-tenS of thousands, in
fact-in America. There are ware
houses, manufacturing plants, Office
buildings, garages etc., etc. They were
built for special and purely commercial
purposes, and proclaim that fact in
every line. They are therefore "func-
tional" for the simple reason that they
perform the single, precise purpose for
which they were intended.
The absurdity of the charge that
functional building cannot have a
traditional type of exterior is best illus
trated by the Washington Union Sta
ton. Here is a vast edif1ce given over
entirely to the functions of providing
quick, convenient facilities for thou
sands upon thousands of travellers en-
tering and leaving the Capital "a hours