Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-28
1t Was q Comfortable World in1914
By George Kennedy


On an otherwise quiet Sunday. Gavril
Prinzip, an 18-year-old Bosnian terror
list. killed the Archduke Ferdinand. heir
apparent to the imperial throne Of
Austria Hungary, and his morganatic
wife, the Duchess Of Hohenberg, in
Sarajevo. the capital Of the empires
southern province, Bosnia. This started
the First World War.
A subhead in The Star the next day
was prophetic. It said: "Act is bound
to have momentous political effect on
monarchy" But more than thrones
were swept away. What we so fondly
believed was the best Of all possible
worlds went under.
And what comfortable world it was
for the American middle class! Maple
avenue was so peaceful that Sunday
afternoon.
One Of the advantages those Of US
who are as old as the century have over
those born in the troubled times that
followed is that we can remember that
world.
1t was warm Sunday. The sprinklerS
tWirled on the wide lawns. There were
no power mowers but some boy in the
neighborhood was always glad to NOW
the whole lawn for quarter.
Tca cream cones were a novelty, and
a nickel. At Weipert's confectionery
tney made their own cones with an
IMPLEMENT like waffle iron. Horizons
drugstore had special sundae for
Is cents, but none of the boys had
ever seen one ordered.
Boys roamed at will We re-enacted
joseph Altsheler's tales of Indian
Scouting in the woods. We could ride
bicycles, even o.: the wrong side. of
the streets, in comparative safety. An
occasional automobile passed, but
multiplication of their numbers and
their speed had not yet made them
r;vals of wars as killers.
Once in a while Father thought it
nCGG SSary to chase away boys practic-
ing tight rope walking on the back
= fierce u haG way Of breaking it
down. But none Of them sassed him.
Once one did and mis- parents brought
hun in that evening to apologize.
Food shopping was merely matter
of telephoning. Simon Lake, the grocer,
saw to it that his favorite customers
got the best. and so did the meat man
&C. CSS the street. Large rib roaStS Of
beef were not considered an extrava-
eance
tlousemaids and cooks who lived in
werG available at SIS to $40 a month.
lii the classics Middle West it was
still debated whether hired domeSticS
should eat with the family or in the
kitchen. Common labor was 81 a day,
killed $1.5O. The Federal income tax
Was 1 per cent. Only criminals were in
vtstigated.
There were radicals A man could
protest the "Sorry scheme Of things
entire" tit was true the rich were much
Kicker and the poor poorer than they
IRE today by taking position on the
extreme left, by becoming a Socialist.
But he would not De aligning himself
with q barbarous power threatening
the survival of this Nation. The radi-
Gals who were getting the most at
tention were women-the militant
suffragettes who were making Wig
orouS campaign for votes for women.
There were fears even in that secure
world. for mankind is always prey to
fears. The germ theory of disease had
just made its impact on the public
mind. All drinking water at home was
boiled, which gave it an unpleasant
taste. The health department posted
big scare placards on homes where
measles or chicken pox had broken
out. City people were shocked at coun-
try folk who still drank out of tin
dippers. Drinking fountains were
changed from upright to Slanted jets.
An ingenious manufacturer had made
all previous fountains seem hazards
by suggesting that germs might dance
indefinitely on the crest of vertical
jet.
It never occurred to us that the
national borders of the map of Europe
which we traced in our geography
lessons would ever change. The age Of
history had given away to the age of
progress. The truth is that this para
disc, so fondly recalled today, bored
us little.
Those of us who read, and many
of us teen-agerS read lot, even the
long 18th century novels, felt that we
had been born too late. We would have
preferred to live in more exciting,
nobler days. Henty had taken us with
Richard to Palestine and Give to
India. We had even read Dickens tale
of Two Cities" and felt that we also
could have played the role Of Sydney
Carton who went to the guillotine for
his friend saying:
"It is a far, far better thing that
do. than I have ever done; it is a
Tar, far better rest that I go to, than
have ever known
AS for the events in far-off Sarajevo
that ended this pleasant world. we
are indebted to Prof. Sidney Bradshaw
Fay for an excellent journalistic &C
count in his Origins of the World
War;"
It was a pleasant Sunday. st. Vitus
Day. when the heir apparent and his
wife rolled into the Bosnian capital
in a motorcade. He was waited for.
along the Appel Quay, which was