WILMETTE LIFE February 7, 1930 = SHORE . LINES IN QUEST OF Y~UTH OC ·Hughes our north shore exponent of the 0 World Bo~k, and other thoughtful frien~s in considerable numbers have enhance~ our ~nT~e WILMETTE LIFE ISSUED FBIDAY OF EAQH WEEK by LLOYD HOLLISTER llfC. 1232-1%86 Central Ave., Wilmette, Ill. Chicago oftlce: 6 N. Michigan Ave. Tel. State 6326 . 'l'eleplaoae .. . ............... ._ ........... Wllmette .U tt SUBSCRIPTION PBICE ... .. .... . ... ti.OO A YEAR All communications must be accompanied by the name and address of th~ writer. Articles for publlcaUon must reach the editor by Wednesday noon to Insure appearance In current Issue. Resolutions of condolence, cards of thanks, obituaries, notlces of entertainments or other affairs where an admittance charge Is publlsh~d, will be charged at regular advertising rates. and filed with the Illinois Commerce commission a petition asking for grade sepa~a tion. The hearing before the commtsston is set for February 25. Evidence is no~ ing collected to prove to the co~mtsston the necessity and desirability of thts grade separation. With the increase in population of our north shore towns the need for the consummation of this important project becomes more and more urgent. ?e- Grade Separation will save life Let's have immediate action I \\.hat the blind want is not pity or even sympathy, but a square deal. The self-r-especting blind wear no sign, "Pity the poor blind," nor do theY ask Give Them a charity in any form. Square Deal/ They do not pity themselves. We know a blind girl who insists that she is never conscious that her blindness is a handicap. The sighted find this hard to believe, but the blind girl has maintained her conviction against considerable skepticism. She says that all that she hopes for is a square deal. The report of the Hadley Correspondence School for the Blind, for 1928 and 1929 recently published, contains tnany interesting itetns. The membership of the school consisted on December 31, 1929, of almost 500 pupils. Think of what that n1eans in increase of opportunity to those who could not reap the benefits of ordinary schooling! Ten of the pupils who finished the course in life insurance are now engaged in active insurance work, one of then1 earning $1700 in 1929. One student who six years ago cotnpleted the course in salesn1anship has in these six years sold over 4000 sutts of clothes. What is even tnore surprising, and indeed gratifying, is the fact that he "tra ye Is about entirely alone, taking his own measurements and forwarding them to the company employing him." We don't know anyone who is perfect. Some of us can't hear very well. ~ome can't talk effectively. Some have undesirable di~positions. Some are distressingly slow. But most of us are doing fairly well. :\11 we want is a square .deal. The report of the North Shore Grade Separation committee presented by Henry F. Tenney contains many interesting and valuable features. It sho\YS Grade the progress made by the Separation committee, the status of the enterprise, and an indication of steps next to be taken. Residents of towns north of Evanston will find in this report information that will make clear to them what has been done towards realizing a plan that for many years ha · been in a more or less nebulous condition. It also allays fears, voiced in certain quarters, that the cost of this preliminary work is excessive. \Vhat has this committee accomplished? (1) Through its engineer, Walter :\. Shaw, it has made complete plans for grade sevaration of the grades of both electric and steam railroads from the grades of street and sidewalk. (2) Through its legal representative, Francis X. Busch, it has prepared Three New Trier high school girls, Grace Bartling, Marjorie Seubold, and Dorothy Win zen berg, have gained a general average of A for the first Excellent High three months of the School Grades school Y e a r. T hi s achievement must be a source of gratification and justifiable pride not only to the girls themselves but also to their parents and friends. These students did not merely just happen to receive these high grades, nor were the grades simply given to them. The grades represen.t high achievement, a re sult of native ability and hard work; not native abilitv alone, nor hard work alone, though each" be admirable. There are some 'vho say that grades should not be published and that prizes should never be offered or given. We are not of that opinion. So long as human beings remain frail, as they doubtless will for a few million years more, praise will plea~e them. It will not only please them but wtll spur them on to renewed and increas.ed effort. Appreciation, expressed apprectation, tastes better to the ordinary individual than the most toothsome dish, even though it be just like mother used to make. Being jealous for the reputation of the rougher sex we are somewhat sorry not to find a boy or two on this three-month top-notch-roll. John 11cCutcheon dre"· a triple cartoon the other day representing the "Little Things that 1-Iakc Life ~lore Complicated." These "Little Things" were "Receiving a chain letter in the tniddle of the day's rush ," "The automobilist who drives with only one headlight working," and "The ill-tnannered hoob v.·ho stops on the crossing." The last t\\'O can be found on the north hore, and also the hog who occupies seats for two on the crowded suburban train. library with copies. of the J ~nuary t_ssue o e National Geographtc Maga~me, wht~h, as perchance you have noted, contams a glowt~g and p~o fusely illustrated boost for de~r old Flond~ a region it likes to term "The Fountam of Youth. This fine display of helpfulness on the part ~f friends toward one about to embark. upon h1s maiden trip to the land of e~ernal su~shme seemed of our undying gratttude unttl we scanned wo rthy rout h" , our case~ the title, "Fountain of Y , "'! h' tc h , 111 appears to harbor a subtle meamng. In the first place we feel no need ~f more youth since we now possess that treasure m great abundance. Secondly, we never expe~t .to need r~ juvenation since it is our firm convtchon that we 11 never gro~v old (and we. don't belo~g to any of Chicago's playful ganga etther), a,nd, tf such at; a.ffliction should come upon us, we 11 never admtt 1t. We were duly impressed when, gazing upon an illustration of the actual "Fountain of Youth," we noted the caption informing us that sa\d F. of Y. "con tains good drinking water anyhow." Incidentally, we discovered another. fountain among the glorious illustration~, more ptcturesque in design than that pounced upon by Ponce de Leon's and further enhan.c~d by the presence of. a Florida specimen of femtmty, who, we hope, wtll keep her seat until we can get down that way. Among other highly interesting pictures we fi~d, also, several views of the mo~ern Carmens bustly engaged in wrapping our favonte havanas who,, _we feel certain will provide smhe keen compet1t10n for our lam;dry damsels who toil within a stone's throw of the sanctum sanctorum. And so, we're off to gaze upon th~ ··~o~ntain_ of Youth," but to tast e not of its alleged mvtgoratmg concoction. Valentine Verses I\·e often tried to write such valentine verses as would win for me fame and a small, but real fortune. The old variety of verse is out-of-date and a trifle insincere, and too general. to m~ke any strong individual impression. The followmg linesThe rose is red, the violet's blue, Sugar's sweet, atid so are you. . -is too infantile for anyone over ten. Yet every body must have in mind someone to wh~m he would like to express in lovely language hts undying affection at least once a year. Let's try a few of our own, invented now and here: My love for you, my Valentine, Is like the choicest brand of wine. Xo, that won't do in a prohibition land. Besides it doesn't sound genuine. Once more: St. Valentine's Day has come round again And so I am moved to take up my pen And ask you, my dear one, just about when\Vhat's the use? \Ve can't do it. Besides we can find plenty of perfectly suitable sentiments at th e ten-cent store. -Notta Poet As we survey the past few years it seen1s to us as if there had been growing a strong and profitable inter-community spirit. We think that this is a-s it should be. If our north shore towns 'vere separate, individual. self-sufficient communities, there are ma~y worthy enterprises that could not have been accomplished. \Ve may not live in the big city, but we're not so far a\vay from it as to be out of the reach of bandits, bombers, and crooked politicians. Are ·we preparing to meet them when they see fit to call on us? The lives of Lincoln and Washington remind us that by courage, devotion, and hard work we can make our country what we want it to be. We're sure of one thing and that is that when we receive our tax bill for 1929, we'll find it SO to 60 per cent higher than the bill for 1928. Scooping the genial society editor, we hasten to let all and sundry in on the fact that our Florida journey will be made via motor car in the company of one Jack "Count" de Nord, eminent men's stylist, and Lowell R. (for rapid) Beyrer, principal model for the count's fashion plates. Singularly enough the conveyance will be the pride of the Norsemen (one guess). Date of departure deleted out of consideration for local traffic regulations. And in our absence we shall be comforted by the certainty that John, last named Baab, erstwhile of the King's Guard at Windsor Castle, will keep matters in ship-shape condition. Gin, the editorial canine, being now possessed of his 1930 "vehicle" license, has se about to patrol the broad countryside without feCl . of Chief Brautigam and his sinister troops. Aufwiedersehen! -Mique ..