Medford mail tribune., March 08, 1936, Page 21, Image 21

Narrow Outlook On
Life Deadly, Says
Reno "Sky Pilot"
Believes Old West Will Die if Traditions of
Freedom and Hospitality Are Forgotten
FOR a quarter of a century, Brewster Adams, beloved
Baptist preacher of Reno, his known all phases of life.
City folk and desert dwellers; wealthy and poor alike call
him "friend." Out of his great store of rich, human experi
ence, Brewster Adams Is writing these stories for readers
of Five Star Weekly. And they're stories you won't want
to miss. Watch for the Reno preacher's sage comments
and colorful anecdotes. They will be a regular feature of
Five Star Weekly. Editor.
By BREWSTER ADAMS
(For 25 Years Reno's Baptist Preacher)
OFTEN have I wondered about this western
dementia of ours. Why did we leave kin and
kind, old friends and fond acres for this land which
. lies toward the setting sun?.
Folks back there thought we were "crazy when
we left and they know we are crazier when we talk
about it.
We are reminded of our delirium when they
write us. Yet, strangely it is a rare letter which
does not conceal a coy query, "if you see anything,
out there that looks good, I might come out and
look it over."
But we came and we won't go back. If we return
r , .. for a visit we1 are as un
settled as a California
flea and as irritating as
a Nevada sheep tick.
We wear them out with
our description of our
gray hills, our wonder
ful climate, our glori
ous sunshine (for two
weeks now it has
rained). We are only
content when we take
the train back. And so
are they.
GREEN shutters, I
think started my
Brewster Adams min(j thjnking "west
ward." Perhaps you remember them. It was in a
typical little eastern town where my grandmother
lived. It didn't even have a "Main street," just a
county road with two rows of little white houses as
regular and as grim as Grandma's set of false
teeth.
The road was narrow and so, it seemed to my
boyish fancy, were the folks who lived along it
Every house had green shutters hinged covers
for the windows. They were always closed. But,
through a broken blade or a little crack, an eye
I can feel it now looked out to watch the "goings-on"
and happenings of the passer-by.
Green shutters still remain in memory with an
eye peering out that centered on us like the barrel
of a gun. Maybe it was a guilty conscience. It did
seem that it could see through the trees and even
around the stone wall back of the old school house
where we made our stealthy smokes out of corn
silk and plantain.
Always that eye seemed to be judging and watch
ing a little lad, who walked with careless steps
down the winding road. There was no warmth of
kindness in that judgment. That eye lived in a
dark, cold room with the shutters closed. You re
member that spare room.
VOWED in those days that if I got out where
I there were no green shutters, nor closed blinds,
nor spying eye, I would make my home in a land
of open windows with the hope that it might be
also where the dwellers lived with an open hand
and an open mind and an open heart.
Perhaps we are getting a bit crowded. A gril
led, old rancher friend of mine is troubled because
a railroad runs through his acres for sixty miles.
They asked to establish a flag station and water
XV f-j
Men soon will return to wearing clothing as gay and colorful as that illustrated in the above sketches. Yes, whether
you think so or not, these drawings are accurate and show the costumes worn by men throughout the years. They
were not masquerade affairs, either, but every-day garb, worn Jn days when "the male was more fine-feathered
than the female." The young woman In the center Is Miss Claudia Davis, color psychologist, who says men are re
turning to their former grandeur.
Farewell To Blue Serge Father
Wants Vivid Hues, Says Psychologist
It Won't Be Long Before Men Abandon Ordinary, Somber Colors in Business Suits To Return To
Fine Feathers; Wait 'Till Those Off-Shades Arrive!
MADAME! Take a look at friend husband in his
dark business suit and imagine how it's going
to be when he comes home from the office as gaily
garbed as an Indian warrior of old.
Think, too, knowing his sensitiveness about his
shaving soap and razor, how fussy he will be about
that off-shade of blue if the cleaner doesn't take
the right precautions. My word! You thought you
were particular, but that will be nothing when,
under the influence of this color-mad world, he
wears suits as bright as your own, and demands
fastidious attention to keeping the right shades
right! And he'll match his complexion, too!
Bunk?
Nothing of the sort! If you don't believe it, take
a trip to the San Francisco Museum of Art and
interview Claudia Davis, color psychologist a
champion debunker of old traditions, at least
where color is concerned.
Miss Davis will point out to you that manufac
turers are giving you everything from bright red
typewriters to pale blue refrigerators, and will tell
you that the day when men would suffer "imprison
ment" by somber tradition is past, that they will
no longer confine the expression of their color
hunger to "fantastically colored shorts, campus
tower on his property some 20 miles from his
house. He consented to the location of the water
tower but not the station.
"I won't object to no man nor an engine stoppin'
fer a drink of water on my ranch. But ye cain't let
' off no passengers. It's gettin' crowded enough al
ready." But there is still plenty of fresh air and bright
sunshine for us all, if we keep the windows open.
Freedom and hospitality made the old West and it
perishes when that is gone.
We like to breathe freely and stretch without
watching our elbows. We want room for ourselves
to live naturally and sincerely. We can't have this
without granting standing space to others.
AvVOMAN of our town went down recently to
the big city. She took her small boy. They en
tered the elevator in a well-known department
store. A large woman with a middle-age spread fol
lowed. She required room and she took it, brushing
the other occupants against the walls.
Suddenly she turned and without explanation
slapped a little man who was crowded behind her.
Nobody understood this outbreak and no one will,
except those of us who heard the stury.
Our resident and her young hopeful stepjied out
of the lift, leaving the stout lady and her slapped
victim inside.
"Maw," the little fellow piped, "that big dame
stepped on my foot."
"Why didn't you speak to her, son?"
"I didn't have to. I just pinched her in the seat!
It's too bad she hit the wrong fellow."
The moral seems to be that if you don't want to
be pinched yourself, you had better give the other
fellow plenty of room.
blazers and sleeping pajamas," but will blossom
forth in colored business garb !
IN SPITE of present day habits, men by nature are
inclined toward brilliant apparel. That's Miss
Davis' point.
Throughout nature, it's the male who wears the
finer clothes. Females are clothed in drab, unin
viting garb.
Until recent times, the same' thing held true for
human beings. A brief glance at costume drawings
of centuries gone by proves the point sweeping,
striking war bonnets and paint for Indian warriors;
lace, ruffles and silk stockings for the gentlemen of
the French court. Those are just two instances.
And, says Miss Davis, it won't be long until men
return to the vivid fashions!
i
BUT this isn't the only color bomb she is explod
ing by this religion of shades. Just ljsten to this!
Sallow women can wear green !
Redheads can wear pink !
And you've believed for years that you couldn't
"wear a thing green" because of a dark skin.
"The statement that 'green makes the skin look
sallow' should be tested by every woman alive who
And the Camera Caught It!
One of a Series of the World's Most Unusual News
Photographs
&
1 . '
As the ground crew at Camp Kearney, San Diego,
were preparing to moor the Akron. The guide rope
parted, and the ship lifted, Jerking upwards three men.
Two men fell and were killed. A third man was saved
after dangling an hour.
likes green," she says. "There are as many shades
of green as there are skins." So, Mrs. Dark Skin,
try it out!
"That redheads can't wear pink is a conviction
originating no doubt from the bitter reaction of
some early colorist to the wrong redheads in the
wrong pinks. For safety, the titian-haircd beauty
probably should avoid pinks and reds, but if she is
a genius with color certain subtle and lovely har
monies are possible in these colors," adds Miss
Davis.
"Make an adventure of discovering the particu
lar shade that is becoming to you," she advises.
How can you decide which colors you should
wear?
HERE is some straight, sound advice on color
from the expert Misg-Davis:
Blonds are fortunate in their ability to wear
warm and cold as well as light and dark colors.
The greatest color danger in dressing a blond is
found in the delicacy of her coloring. Hues other
wise becoming are likely to overwhelm her person
ality if too vivid. Thus a lovely blond in a crimson
gown might present a lovely color harmony, but
the beauty of the color would be stronger than her
own: not greater, but stronger, so that the be
holder would be conscious of red beauty instead of
blond beauty, which, as everyone knows, is not the
right effect.
The same danger to a lesser degree applies to
brown-haired and gray-eyed women. These inter
mediate ones, on the whole, are able to wear a
wider range in color than pronounced types, how,
ever. A brunet, on the other hand, frequently gains
dash and vivacity from brilliant hues because her
dark hair and eyes and warm flesh tones are strong
enough to increase the beauty of the color and are
not lost in it.
Redheads are, of course, the easiest and,-considered
by many, the luckiest. Greens, green blues
and blue greens, as everybody knows, make them,
simply ravishing. Because of this common knowl
edge and frequent practice one could sometimes
wish, however, that more-imaginative, tawny
haired ones would discover just how wonderful
certain yellows and coppery browns can be under
their flaming tresses, not to mention white, cream
ind black.
BLACK is too much worn by everyone every
where. Black is smart and serviceable and goes
with everything and so we have too much of it.
Nothing illustrates this point of view more aptly
than the appearance, during these last few winter
seasons, on rain-drenched streets in our large
cities of colored umbrellas and even more delight
ful, beautifully-colored water-proof rain coats and
capes in red, green,yellow, blue, orange and white.
The gray buildings, dark pavements and general
drabness of any downtown district is lifted into a
gayer and infinitely more beautiful center of ac
tivity by these dashing spots of color in the rain.
A tradition of reserve and good taste has built
up a color conservatism in dress that is to be de
plored. It is true that a reaction to vivid color,
combining all the hues of the rainbow in each cos
tume, would be gaudy and theatrical, but an intelli
gent choice of color would improve our fashions.
Black is lovelier with a vivid scarf of red or
green than it is alone. White has more style and
character when accented with color. The danger of
using color lies in the use of too many colors at
once. A personality should be a complete com
position with all its parts harmoniously arranged.
IT IS a pity to divide one's self in the middle by
wearing a yellow blouse and a green skirt and
further to distract one's audience with a red tie.
If a geometric design is woven into the skirt and
a (lower design Into the blouse, possibly with polka
dots on the tie, the confusion of color, line and
movement becomes overwhelming; so that we are
not surprised that our ancestors retreated into the
safe use of black, gray and brown. Men are still
imprisoned In this somber tradition, except for
summer and sports wear. Many men crowd all the
color possible into their ties and socks, with an
occasional overflow to shirts and handkerchiefs,
but advanced manufacturers are gradually intro
ducing richer color harmonies into tweeds and
business suits, however, so that the color hunger
of the modern male shall be satisfied.
V PAGE FIV1