New-York tribune. [volume], May 14, 1922, Page 9, Image 63

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PET FEARS
QUEEI
f BTt ? at
njn
By JOBYNA HUNTER
YOURS
f a
l
/
llluUrations by J. NORMAN LYND
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien has had some fears, believe him!
One thing he can't slaud is harsh words.
L\mm Im
EVERY ONE is afraid of something.
There was never a hero who wasn't
n cowaid at heart Admit your fear.
Yar.l: it up out of your sabconsciousness.
Eecognize it for a memory. Then ren it turn
tail and run.
These more or less profound 'eflections
are the result of an attempt of the writer
to conqner a rldiculous fear of escalators.
Like Eugene Field's small boy. I "ain't
afraid" ol "bugs or worm. or mice"?though
I cant say I'm for.d cf them?but escalators
terrify me. I know my fears are absurd. 1
never heard of anycn. beir.g hurt on
escalator, and yet the fear persists. The slow
and sinister approach of the monster perhaps
-tirs some old memory buricd deep ar.d r
yet imanalyzed. Perhaps it only recalls a
funny Chaplin film I saw ages ago in whic
aa escalator acted a3 a demon obstacle to
Charlie's progress. I cannot dccidc. S
day I shali conquer this fear r.r.d engage
?with gayety any escalator in the universe.
Probably when I am old I shall "take to"
escalators ns some other old ladies take to
bridge or knitting and my son-in-law or some
other victim will have to escovt me to an
escalator and watch mo ride up and down.
At present my only hope lies in a sympathetic
exchange of experier.ces. I rnuet have com
'" A" !". my fear?. I must find out what othei
? ple are afraid of.
"All right," says. my spiritual adviser.
"Let's put it up to the heroes. IU wager
you'll find some fear among them. Well
make a list cf heroes and heroines in varying
ssions and see wbui they're afraid of."
? > we close thus: a soldier, a tiger tamer, a
?oliceman, a auffrage leader, a girl reporter,
8 p?!:ticSan ?d public speaker, a boxer and
? ? of boxer.:, a musician, a p.vcho
analyst, and last, but far from lea.:, a mayor.
Ihen the fear quest started.
The Mayor Tries To De Kind
"h His RouSh Way'
Mayor Hylan had just come from the ast
Mng on the MacMonnies statue of Civic
l irtae, where hundreds of women had been
^"sshig thi r views ar.d where some had
made - embarrassing .suggestion that
"?'? - Bh. al act ss model for a new
ftatue.
Hewas ir a serious mood.
? are you afraid of?" I asked.
"Nothing," said cur hero.
afraid of lady orators?"
3a?' ^'hesaidfirmly. "I like the ladies
JT bICS3 'era~and l a^ays try in my
?^?' ?"?.'? ie kind to them. That's all they
t a little kindnesa."
t you ever have a fear in your life?
J* ?ven one little shudder over a bug or some
''?'- l asked.
1!K
"\
?' pondered. "Well," he said
' ? atmesuddenly like this, I can't
/ ' ^hat I ever had, though I don't
;. ???; -heaheroatalL But wait a min
There'a snakes. I'm not exactiy afraid
Wthem, but they give me a queer feeling
",rtins like **> ?*wly or creepy. I don't
Qkfi 'em."
. ?*??. -Mayor Hylan doesn't exactly fear
:':n' ?Ut dw*n't HM them," I Put down. He
??J?PP0inUng. I had hoped he'd have a
/? ?' :? fear of tigers or something Uke
that. Perhaps a hero
all covered with med
als would produce a
more satisfactory fear.
In the files of a popular monthly you may
read of such a hero, who belongs hero in
Xew York. He is Colonel William Hayward,
United States District Attorney, hero of the
15th Infantry, which later in the great con
flict became the 3G9th and proved its metal
by being "first to the Rhine."
Colonel Hayward received the Croix de
Guerre with gold palm and star, tha Distin
guished Service medal and notable citations.
"What aro you afraid of?" I asked him.
"Spiders," he repiied promptly. "Scared to
death of 'em. You see, once out West I was
badly bitten by a lot of spiders. Turned back
nn- army cot and found a lot of 'em had
pitched their tents there. That was awful.
Worse than any gunfire. I've always been
Mayor Hylan found it hard work remembering something he was afraid cf. But he succeeded Rnalh
He is afraid of snahes. They give him a queer feeling
afraid of spiders?was even before that. Can't
tell why, but the fear is there. My son-in
law, Philip Plant, ia afraid of bees. Can't
stand to have even a buzz near him."
This was better.
"Fear ia a curioua thing," continued the
Colonel. "You can't have a real hero without
it. I have always said that where there were
ten men in a regiment each doing 100 per cent
work the man who is afraid and still does the
work is the hero."
Andre Tridon, psychoanalyst, shrugged his
shoulders when 1 asked him about fears ar.d
heroes.
"Safety brake isn't working for heroe3.
That's al!," he said. "Or the hero is afraid of
being thought a eoward. The phobias or Aa;
that you speak oi* ere, of course, memories?
those little things that are buried down deep
in us. Many of them are unexplainablc
Iirough tiie pagea of a polite newspaper.
Take the fear of snakes, i'or instance"
"Oh," I gasped. Then I remembered that the
Mayor wasn't afraid of snakes. He just didn't
like them. I don't, either.
"My only fear," continued Dr. Tridon. "Is
that 1 may bo crippled in an accident."
As a contrast to the materialistic Dr. Tridon
I hastened to the musician, who ig also a the
osophist. He believes that we live many lives
and that. ivhat we do not learn in one incarna
tion we must study again in the next. ln
other words, that we are "kept in after school.''
Hc bdievos. that the memories we have are
often recollectlons of some of these past ex
istences?hence the fears we feel in this life
may be the result of terrifying experiences fn a
past iife.
"For instance," ho explained eagerly, "T was
always afraid of cpen space:-:. It rec-med to nie
he big traffic ccp r.ear the Woolworth Building is scar
of little dogs. The smaller thvy are the less he likes 'em
that 1 .'.* is always in
dange r of attack from
behind. When I v tt
out to walk 1 always
... : to keep near a wall. One night f had a
curious dream. 1 saw myself di I in
clothes of sixteenth century cut. i was
standing at tbe ton of a flight f which
led down on tho other i ide of a gard . I was
fighting singly against a mob of soldiers, who
swarmed up on both sides. Finally there was a
ri ; and 1 fell, pierced by bayonel '. Darknes3
came and I knew nothing further. rhat might
have been a memory from a past lifa and
might explain my fear of attack."
Darwin, the books say, sought to explain the
phenomenon of fear by an appc; i the princi
ples of habit, association and inheritance.
The cave man, for instanci , attacki d unawares
by a giant beast, either too!: to flight, mor<
efficient than graceful, or en'gaged the animal
in fierce combat. Thus the utter exdiaustion,
pallor, trembling, the result of such i n rti<
are still set up by the emotion of fear. although
the actual exertion is not p d f rth
By JAMES J. MONTAGUE
Illustrations by MERLE JOHNSON
Scckc?The Mayies. Persons cf the drama:
Mabel and Myrtle.
ABEL?That's that Lady Astor that
got elected to Congress in London.
Myrtle?They don't have no Con?
gress in London. London's a king?
dom.
Mabel?Well, she got elected to whatever
they have.
Myrtle?I s'pose she got elected to the royal
family or somethin'.
Mabel?Don't try to be so funny. They got
a place over there where they make !nws and
all, just like Congress, urA she got elected to it.
Myrtle?How could she be over here if she
was in a eongrc.:?? She'd have to be over
there and object to things, wouldn't she?
.Vlabcl?She's come over here at tho orders
of the Queen to prove that men is weaker than
women. I saw where the said that in the
papers.
Myrtle?Swell chance she's got of provin'
that! If men was weaker than women they'd
bo bossin' the country, wouldn't they?
Mabel?-Well, that's what this now Lady
Astor wants 'em to do. She says as soon as
they know their strength they'll be bosses of
everything.
Myrtle? Sounds silly to me?men stronger
than women? Ja ever see Mary Pickford
standin' on her hands on a cliff and throwin'
desperadoes off railroad engir.es like Doug
Fairbanks?
Mabel?Well, o' course, they aln't had no
uractice yet.
Myrtle?Lotta good practice'11 do'em! Just
Imaginc yourself gettln' in the ring
with Jack Dempsey
She says women is really runnin* the world and men don't know it.
imagine yourself gettin' into the ring with this
here Jack Dempsey an' tryin' to bust hirn on
the jaw. You could practko a thousand years
and never do that.
Mabel?Oh, well, she don't mean just physi?
cal strength. She means they got more eour
age. An' I see where a editor says ehe's right
about it.
Myrtle?I don't care what no editor says.
They aint got haff the courage a man's got.
Just imagine a big husky man lookin' under
a bed to see if they was a burglar there or
climbin' up on the bureau when a mouse come
into the room! Women ain't got no real cour?
age, an' if they had they'd be ashamed to
show it, for the men wouldn't think they could
protect 'em an' feel so brave when they was
around.
Mabel?That's just the idea. Lady Astor
says that women is tstronger because they
know enough to make the men think that the
men are stronger an' get tswelled up and look
down on 'em an' pity 'em and be kind to 'em
Myrtle?That's too deep for me, I know
I ain't stronger than Tommy, an' if I was to
tell him I was, instead of makin' him think I
was lookin' up to him all the time, he might
get sore on me an' wallop me somethin' fierce.
Mabel?Gee, but you'ro dumb! You're just
provin' what Lady Astor is tryin' to provo
?that men are a lot of Baps, and if it wasn't
for us women handin' em the ear oil all the
time theyM never have the nerve to be movie
actors or floor walkers or presidents or
kings or nothin'. She says women is really
runnin' the world an' tho men don't know it.
Myrtle?Well, if women is runnin* the
world already what does sho vrant fr talto
a vacation an' come over here an' make 'em
run it for?
Mabel?Sho wants 'em to know they're
runnin' it, an' to git the credit for ifc an' hold
tha jobs, and make tho money an' all.
Myrtle?Say, look-a-here! I been, lookin'
for a chance to let go tha job I got for three
years now, an' when I can find tho guy that
will pay the meal checks I'm gonna do it.
They ain't no London woman from Congress
going to mako mo think that I oughta bo
iioldin' any job. That's a man's business.
Mabel?That's what you say! But men
don't run nothin' right. Looka the crime
wave an' the Volstead law, an' the Genoa
conference an' evcrything they'ro responsible
for. Women wouldn't wish nothin' liko them
on the country.
Myrtle?But I thought. you said Lady Astor
said women was runnin' tho world as
things is.
Mabel?Well, ehe did. Only she thlnks
they're too kind hearied to tho men and let
'em do a lot of foolish law-makin' an' start
wars an' get us all in a lotta trouble. Sho
wants all us women to git into Congress an'
flx up evcrything right.
Myrtle?Well, if you should happen to see
Lady Astor walhin' down tho avenuo you
just say to her for me that I ain't goin' to
run for Congress, an' you tell her that if
there's a king, or a duke, or anything over
thero that wants a wife of a savin' dispo
sition. and her owj hair an' complexion, and
can buy her son.s good lookin' clothes an'
ba a good husband to her, he'll have a chance
to keep one woman out o' Congress, nnyway.
Copyrifhti i?2l. by Jumes J. Montague
Just figure a big husky mor. loohir.g
under a bed. ^
<
"Well, I don't know how you psycholoj
it," says Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, wl
trained Kid McCoy and fifty or more not
wielders i f the fist, "but I've seen some fea
believe mei Sometimes thei*e's n sort of tim:
ity that makes you kinda sick. i've had to
home myself and take drops. But what am
afraid of generally? Well, maybe it's a knii.
I don't like to see knives. Once I saw a doct
operatc in a ciinic. The knifc gleamed, au
then ho said: 'This man will be dead in fifter
minutes.' Zowic! My kuees were knockir.
together!
"Another thing I'm afraid of is harsh word
1 can't stand 'em. If I think somebody i
going to be harsh to me I just try to walk ce.
of his way."
Looking at Mr. O'Brien's powerful right, h
big head. brawny frame and clear eye.t, I wo;
ti red that anybody should ever have the co- .
ago to be "harsh" to him.
The poiiceman was next. There he stood .
front of the Woolworth Building, tho mos
questioned man in the world and one of tl
bravest?a hero, who not only haa to answ*
the queries of New York'a army of 300,001
transients but keep Broadway tratiic regulate '
and betimes untangle bcwildercd ladies from
untimely taxis.
"What are you afraid of?" I asked in a lt
tbe traffic.
"Nothing," he said. "We have to go everj
where and do our duty."
"Yes, yes," I said, "but the traffic wiil cci.
heavy in a second. Ilurry up and tell mo wh
you're afraid of. You must be afraid of so: .
little thing."
"Well," ho finally confessed between wa
ings of the majestic arm, "I'm a bit une.a*.
over little dogs when they bark at me. '1 / i
littler they aro the more I don't liko 'em."
He could not explain his fear any more tl.
the others, but I'm sure it wiil do him gocd :
get it out of hia system.
What Do You Suppose Scares
a Lion Tamer? Subways
Neither could Mabel Stark, tha marveioi
tiger taruer of Ringling'a circus, explain h*
fear. Sho is afraid of subways. Daily sl
enters alono a cage full of fierce beasts. Sh
receivea their rough caresses with no terr
at all, but in a subway etation sho tremhk ?
and turns pale.
?*i.'he trains roaring through the tunnel ai
wor-re and more terrifying than any bcast
ever met," she said.
The girl repcrter whom I interviewed r.e.
said that tshe had never been afraid of an:
?hing except railroad yards. She, too, hn
a morbid fear of the snorting engines.
Former Senator Chauncy M. Depe
facing hia eighty-eighth year with .ublim
serenity and looking back over more thi.
Feventy years of public speaking, could rn
remember that he had ever been afraid <
anything. "I dare say I am afraid of a 1
of things," he said, "but for the life cf rr
I can't remember what they are. Fears ar
strange things, though." And ho told of i
woman whoso fear of cats made her clait
voyant. "She could detect the presence or
one even though it were hidden from night."
he declared.
Last on the list, which was eneouragh.
me mightily by this time, was the suffragh
and hers is the strangest fear of all. Sh
fears praise. In tha early part of her caret
when her esuse Ttas not as popular a? it lt
to-day, Bhe received little but ridicule. SL
began to feel that people who praised he
either wanted some favor shown them c
were trying to v/eaken her by flattery. Nov
at tho close of a long eareer, when tho work
recognizes her services and potentates deligh
to show her hopor, she fears the rewards c
hard work and blanches at a kind word:
Women smile at this, the only weakness the:
have over dctected in their leader. (