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Show SEEING THINGS THAT HELP : AND THINGS THAT HINDER V By EARL JAY GLADE. EVER since the glorious days in the (j.'.nlrn of F.don, poets have sung thn praians of tho heart ami Samsons lmvo had a good word for the Imir. From the time when Aiurh.'inipal and Sennarhcnb were mere kids down to this wonderful era of Bv.anliuin I.ogothetes, our good friends, the physicians, have glorified tho nlumac.Ii. Vea, they have insisted that we humans are little el?e than appetites ap-petites with a bit of hkin stretched round. Toward dinner time, I am not at all oblivious to the importance of a dollar's worth of roast beef au jus, smugly nestled in one's yearning interior, in-terior, but mine is a story of tho eyes thn lustrous orbs that soo things and people. Society is largely what our eyes have made it. Suggestion and many other p.-ivehnh.gii'iil laws that shape the social slructure lind these organs their greatest great-est patrons. In some way or other, eyes have assisted mightily in the consummation consum-mation of every human achievement. They're nearly always on tho job. The Movies. This Salt Lake town is known the country over for its moving picture theaters sumo of them, in elegance and equipment, arc unsurpassed, da it not natural, theu, that periscoping about would bring one directly in tront of the movie box office? Listen to a little film philosophy. No institution haa more clearly demonstrated demonstrat-ed tho power of the eye than the movies. Over night they have bocome our most popular social attraction. Tt can be truly said that for the most part they function for good. In tho movies, tho eyes do the listening lis-tening as well as the seeing. They seem to hear aa distinctly as the cars. Thrilling scenes of war, shot through with furor and tumult, bocome so real that the noise is doafoning and breath- in is out of the question for minutes. In feven-h anxiety you clutch the arm ut tho nearest npt-ra chair, nr more likeiv, a soft little hand that's holding ou i'or dear lift? and that b.dony to "the big muff that's cud. Hod up in the darkness domwherc then, of -ni;i-sp. all is wr-11. "Fear not,'' ou whisper, swallowing vour Adam 's "apple, ' Alexander ot Macedonia sits by your side; he will protect you." A perceptible squeeze of tho Little band answers ''Thank you." When You Dodge. If Charlie Chaplin p'dl mollfl onto the screen and throws a lemon pie at you, hrdiove .me, you dode, for Chaplin, "like Cobb, invariably makes a hit. It's real, I ttdl you: you c;n't help wanting to wipe oft' that lemon-cream from your collar, every reel is just as real as "real can bo. Speaking of tho power of the eves and the film, here's another little thing they ture doing every day they speak all of the modern languages and theu some. Listen! Some time ago, in Chicago, f witnessed a presentation of " Les M iserablea. ' ' I hud rend the story in German and French and knew a little about Hugo's description of tho battle of Waterloo in American; however, some of tho most vivid impressions were to como in the language of the eye. It was right there that the power of the film was made clear to me. I sat beside a young Frenchman who had como out of regard for Hugo. Somewhere in the rear of us a small group of Mexicans, I believe, held forth in subdued chatter. Occasional whiffs of garlic from the right suggested the presence of latter-day Athenians and Homans. Cosmopolitan Company. I had seen Chinese students enter before and there were Germans up and down the aisles. These, with many homo-LTown Americans, urban and rural, ru-ral, black and white, old and young, and, for all I know, many others, composed com-posed the cosmopolitan audience. Although Al-though many of this crowd could not have addressed each other intelligibly in speech, every one of them, aa far as my uubltvuuuii was (jusmuii", ytfuuieu to understand the story on the screen. They all sniffled and searched for handkerchiefs at the right time, and very few required notification as to the proper timo to laugh. Now that spells power. It'B up to the theater directors and the town folk to see to it that this power Is not abused. As a rule, the movies in Salt Lake are of a superior type. There are occasional exceptions. Here's a suggestion to those who like to quote the phrase that on the screen "beauty unadorned is most beautiful" beauti-ful" The eye has already taken over the function of the ear; is it, then, really fair to impose upon it the work of the imagination also? In justice to the eyes, ought not- something be left to the imagination t Some Sidewalks. Like the capital "I," the eyes are overworked, not only by stuff that's pleasant to look upon, but particularly by things and people that distract. This happens especially every time a mirror comes around, which, of course, is real frequent. Restful landscapes, Mary Pickf ord physiognomies, Lueile gowns, well-fed policemen and clean streets fire good to look upon, but what about some of our sidewalks? Somewhere in the law and the testimony testi-mony there is an ordinance covering indiscriminate expectoration, but if my eyes serve me well it's poorly covered. cov-ered. Here's some real estate philosophy: phil-osophy: Business property values are largely determined by the degree in which the adjoining thoroughfajes are frequented. Not only frequently by hangers-around, but particularly by men and women of purchasing power. Indiscriminate expectoration lowers real estate values, in that it keeps these men and women away. "Who wants to trail along a sidewalk all the time obsessed with a fear of the pavement? Careless expectorators should sret on the outside of this truism: "If you expect to rate high you must not expectorate ex-pectorate indiscriminately. " As everybody is advising the new city administration, it is only natural that I should like to join the chorus. With some well-placed vigor on the part of the officials whose business it is to enforce the ordinances, a very great deal can be done. It's done in Glenwood Springs, Colo.; it's done in Buffalo, and practically everywhere in Europe except in Italy and England. In Germany the streets as a rule are immaculate. I recall one day dropping- a small piece of paper on Fried-riehstrasse Fried-riehstrasse in Berlin. With head high I walked on, but suddenly suffered the chagrin of being gallantly escorted back to the fluttering little bundle. A big, fat, blue uniform with a sword hanging to it bade me take the scrap of paper unto myself again, which 1 did out of consideration for the paper. When we came to a garbage can tho paper and I there was a question as to which of us ought to jump in. It takes lotB of courage on the part of an officer to watch little things of this nature, but it. is these that count. Street Dangers. j About the time of tho pioneer jubilee ; one could read a newspaper while cross- j ing the intersections in what, today, we ; call the traffic district without any likelihood of being run down. Practically Prac-tically all the vehicles on the street were handcarts, velocipedes and delivery deliv-ery wagons. In these days of semaphores sema-phores and Fords, however, we reserve the newspaper for the street car and the hearth. One of the greatest street dangers in Salt Lake Is tied up in this very matter of sight distractions. Observation Observa-tion on Main street any evening will bear out this assertion. The layman, or anybody else, cannot read the street car signs at a distance that will enable him comfortably to leave the sidewalk j and mount the car without going into j the middle of the street every timo ! a new car puts in an appearance. On busy evenings tho masses will surge into the thoroughfare and then back again, only to be disappointed. I have counted as many as eight such expeditions expe-ditions made by people who apparently have seen street cars before. Just a Suggestion-Last Suggestion-Last week at the intersection of Fourth South and Main streets, where there is comparatively littlo traffic, on four successive evenings I asked those waiting to announce the moment they were absolutely sure of their car's identification. Very few got it before fifty yards, although they waited there every night for this very transportation. transporta-tion. If the street is filled with vehicles this hardly gives time to mount the car properly. In the rush that iB invariably in-variably necessary, especially if children chil-dren are at hand, much discomfort is experienced. Without desiring to appear presump-tous, presump-tous, whether I am or not, I respectfully suggest the following solution: Let there be mounted on the front and rear of every car, about one foot above the present signs, a removable number, capable of being illuminated and indicating the route run by the car. Let that number bo large enough to be seen distinctly at a distance of 150 yards at. least and fixed definitely to a given route. From an attention-compelling point of view, a red numeral on a white background would serve advantageously. advan-tageously. Such a device would undoubtedly assist as-sist in keeping the prospective passenger passen-ger off the street until his car is at hand. About Bicycles. It was a messenger speaking: "If l carry a bell on my bike and ring it, everybody gets excited and sure as fate I bump into someone. The thing I do is to go sizzin' by before anybody knows it. It's the only way." The facility with which bovs "on wheels without bells and lights dodge tho traffic is nothing short of remarkable. On busy nights it takes an auto five minutes to cover Main street from First South to Second Southj a wheel needs only five seconds. May its rider never run into anything smaller than himself. As a rule, in looking at a thing, we can see just what we desire. There are, however, some things in good old Salt Lake which probably can be holped a bit by being looked at vigorously and then in modifying them to make the seeing more pleasant and easier. By all means, let's he appreciative of our eyes that put us next. If they are in a bad way, and require the services of a specialist, let them be taken at once to Jeff's friend, the optimist. |