Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West
"
"I can't understand anyone's being indifferent to the charm of motion
pictures," he responded, somewhat reproachfully.
"Why, at first they struck me as wonderful," said the girl. "They were
such a novel invention that I went to see them from pure curiosity. But,
afterward, the subjects presented in the pictures bored me. The drama
pictures were cheap and common, the comedy scenes worse; so I kept away
from the picture theatres."
"Educational pictures," said Mr. Werner, musingly, "have proved a
failure, as I hinted, except when liberally interspersed with scenes of
action and human interest. The only financial failures among the host of
motion picture theatres, so far as I have observed, are those that have
attempted to run travel scenes and educational films exclusively. There
are so few people with your--eh--culture and--and--elevated tastes, you
see, when compared with the masses."
"But tell us about _our_ picture," pleaded Patsy. "What lesson can that
falling wall possibly convey?"
"I'll be glad to explain that," he eagerly replied, "for I am quite proud
of it, I assure you. There are many buildings throughout our larger
cities that were erected as cheaply as possible and without a single
thought for the safety of their tenants. So many disasters have resulted
from this that of late years building inspectors have been appointed in
every locality to insist on proper materials and mechanical efficiency
in the erection of all classes of buildings. These inspectors, however,
cannot tear the old buildings down to see if they are safe, and paint and
plaster cover a multitude of sins of unscrupulous builders. Usually the
landlord or owner knows well the condition of his property and in many
cases refuses to put it into such shape as to insure the safety of his
tenants. Greed, false economy and heartless indifference to the welfare
of others are unfortunately too prevalent among the wealthy class. No
ordinary argument could induce owners to expend money in strengthening or
rebuilding their income-producing properties.
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In a village there lived two men who had the self-same name. Both were named Claus. But one of them owned four horses, and the other owned only one horse; so to distinguish between them people called the man who had four horses Big Claus, and the man who had only one horse Little Claus. Now I'll tell you what happened to these two, for this is a true story.
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