Pokračování textu ze strany 153
it offers the newest field of purely city work. These are some of its headings:
Signs and blazes on the main street (a blaze or Indian sign is understood to be a simple mark conveying information without using words or letters.) There are on Broadway at least fifty signs and blazes descended from those used in the wilderness by savages; in some cases the very same mark is used. A totem is a simple form, usually a natural form used as the symbol of a man, a group of men, or an idea. It has no reference to words, letters or language. In this light, there are 200 or 300 totems of daily use in every big city. Some trade marks and all armorial bearings are of the nature of totems. Every great railway company has a totem, though it was not so fifty years ago. The change has come because a totem is copyrightable, rememberable, advertisable, visable afar and comprehensible by all, no matter what the language or lack of learning may be.
The old sign language of the plains exists among us to the extent that over one hundred of the gesture signs are in daily use among the school children and the folk from Southern Europe. The policeman regulating the traffic uses at least fifteen of these signs daily and hardly realizes it, yet every one understands them and obeys. Here they serve the same purpose as in the wilds; they convey information when it is impossible to be heard and they do it in the universal language of ideas which all can comprehend no matter what his speech may be.
The tracks of different human beings as well as of dogs, cats, rats, mice, horses, sparrows, etc., are seen after every shower, when the gutter is wet and the pavements dry, as well as after a snowstorm; and they all have a story to tell to the eyes of woodcraft wisdom.
City craft — the knowledge of the things which are particularly a development of the city: how the streets are paved, how the garbage is disposed of, where the city water is obtained and its quality, these and many other things relating to making life in the city produce the best results, are an open field.
All of these and a thousand more are to be found in the city. And the value of city Woodcraft is not merely in the things themselves but in being able to see the things about you. Begin to-day to see, comprehend, and master the ordinary daily things of your life.
The Value of Doing
Our grandmothers gathered, dyed, and prepared material for their own clothes; made their rugs and carpets, their own candles, ..text pokračuje
