Evening Star Newspaper, May 16, 1937, Page 88

2 Pre-Views Tatsor Munpy hates to be called an adventurer, though he is one and hasn’t the slightest in- tention of becoming anything else. Of course he has tramped Africa from end to end, hunting lions and elephants; ridden horse- back over much of India; done secret service work in Palestine and Africa. But these, he says, are just experiences: genuine ad- —venture, he believes, lies entirely in the realm of ideas. Talbot Mundy is not a pacifist, but he loathes war; says that the martial spirit can be used for nobler purposes than killing peo- ple who don’t agree with you. He is putting this philosophy into a book (the forty-first or there- abouts) and has also made it the theme of a bang-up adventure story —in both senses of the word — which appears in this issue. Be sure to read: ““THE AVENGER” C. C. BeaLl’s paintings have illustrated many of the stories that have appeared in THis WEEK — but the first magazine he worked for tried to change him from an artist into a writer. “They hired me as an artist,” he says, “but fired me almost im- mediately. Then they rehired me as an advertising copy writer. But six months of this proved that I was no writer. “So I returned to art and began to paint pictures of pianos, coffee, cigarettes and collars. “The war interrupted this, and I found myself in France, not more than 300 miles from the very thick of it all, completely surrounded by generals who had to be painted. The pictures caused talk, and to stop the whole busi- ness they signed a peace pact. “I returned to America and started painting pictures again. This caused a collapse of the stock market, brought on the de- pression and lost me my job. “ThenItriedillustrating stories for magazines — and I’ve been doing it ever since. I am married, live in a small house with a big mortgage, a wife and three children.”” C. C. BEALL THIS WEEK Try Living Blowing off steam prevents dangerous explosions by WILLIAM MOULTON MARSTON HEN a prisoner becomes in- sane under the intolerable mental pressure of repressed emotions his fellow con- victs say that he has “blown his top.” The expression is very apt. The pres- sure of nervous energy in the brain is quite similar to that of steam in a boiler. If the steam is denied outlet it will literally blow the top off the strongest container. That is why safety valves are required by law. Unfortunately there isn’t any pres- sure gauge attached to the human skull. You cannot tell by looking at a man or woman whether his brain is over- charged with seething rage and fury. If he goes crazy that is, in a way, fortunate — his behavior becomes er- ratic and is easily spotted by psychia- trists. But if he blows his top in some sudden, violent fashion, crime or irreparable injury to other people may occur before his condition is recog- nized. Or, as in most every-day cases, the victim of repressed rage may com- mit some ill advised act which injures himself, his business or social standing. A young man I know quit his job recently as a result of repressed anger which had long been accumulating against his chief. It will cost him and his family a good deal of worry before he finds new employment. Another chap went further —he devised a scheme for cheating his company to get revenge for supposed injuries done himself. He is lucky if he escapes the penitentiary. A wife, her anger against her hus- band piled up for months because he “drank too much, rushed home to her mother, deserting the children she adored. I persuaded her to return just in time to avoid a divorce suit. So it goes — emotional steam that isn’t blown off explodes dangerously. Nature is no less intelligent than the steamfitters— she provides al- ways an emergency outlet, a safety valve for getting rid of excess emotion. Men can talk, women can cry. Men can chop wood furiously, women can clean house. I listened to a four-hour rave, the other night, against a fiend in human form — an office boss “who is mean, Drowing by G. Patrick Neleocs sadistic, vicious, cruel, who oppresses the men and women under him, who expects his employes to work over- time against company regulations.” I said, “Yes, yes, yes. Terrible!’ About 2 A.M. my patient went home, relieved and rather proud of himself. He had told the boss off! I sighed and made this entry on my case records: “T. blew off steam 4 hrs. No danger serious office trouble next 2 wks.” A woman came to me, took a pearl- handled .22 out of her handbag and laid it on my table. “You’d better keep this,” she said grimly. “Other- wise I shall shoot my husband.” I studied her. “Pooh, pooh!” I finally remarked. “You have lost your sex appeal. You’re neglecting your make- up. You’re getting fat. Great heaven — when I think how attractive you used to be — ”’ She began crying. She cried for a long time. When she left I handed her the little gun. “This trinket is safe with you,” I smiled. Even if you break out with your outburst of anger in the very presence of your superior it is better than sup- pressing it — if your boss is an under- standing person. I chanced to be sitting in the office of a famous editor re- cently. She said over the telephone, “What did he say when I discharged him? Why, he was furiously angry. He raved at me — said he wouldn’t even talk to me. Said he could get twice as muchwriting forother publications — She said, “It was good for him to blow off steam — I'm glad he did. I offered him a reasonable arrangement and now that he has gotten rid of his rage he will probably accept it.” Suppressing anger is one way of pushing your trouble off into the future, refusing to live your problem out in the present, waiting for revenge to re- establish your ego’s supremacy. Forget that. Finish the matter now. Try living — rave, or sputter, or cry, or go out and spade up the garden, whacking the heavy loam furiously at every lump you turn up. Live your rage harmlessly, let nature’s safety valve do its work: That is good prepa- ration for tomorrow, when you start with a clean emotional slate, thanks to today’s blow-off. Mogazine Section | m Snatches SeveraL days ago I was in the office of J. Edgar Hoover when a fingerprint card came through marked “Seven Millionth.” It was that of a Los Angeles man, recently injured in an automobile accident and unidentified “for many hours. After thatexperience he applied for a fingerprint record. Seven million Americans finger- printed and registered with the government! A portion of these are criminal records, but a great many in another department are for the identification of law- abiding citizens. “Many people were buried in Potter’s Field,” explained Mr. Hoover, “after the Florida hurri- cane. Those who had been identi- fied did not meet this sad fate. In the Texas school tragedy, a number of children were identi- fied by fingerprints which had been made at the Dallas Fair. Every American should be finger- printed. It protects the innocent. Only the guilty need fear it.”” All of us in this office have been fingerprinted. Have you? J. EDGAR HOOVER INTERESTING to note, whether or not you believe in astrology, that on page 72 of the 1928 edi- tion of “Cheiro’s World Predic- tions,” he had this to say about the love affair of the then Prince of Wales: “Rumour says that Queen Mary, and in a lesser degree, King George, have worried them- selves seriously over this problem of the Prince who may be fond of a light flirtation with the fair sex but is determined not to ‘settle down’ until he feels a grande passion, but it is well within the range of possibility, owing to the peculiar planetary influences to which he is subjected, that he will fall a victim of a devastating love affair. If he does, I predict that the Prince will give up every- thing, even the chance of being crowned, rather than lose the object of his affection.” M. Copyright, 1937, United Newspapers Magazine Corporstion