From the day
Perspective: The Anxious Local · Sound
The morning air is thick with the screech of streetcars and the frantic barking of newsboys shouting about more battleships, making me fear some foreign power wants to bump off our peace for good. I ducked into the druggist’s to escape the noise, but even there, a simple loaf of bread has climbed to eleven cents and the shelves are cluttered with those floppy Raggedy Andy dolls that cost a fortune. Between the crackle of the new wireless sets and the jaunty hum of "The Sheik of Araby" coming from the record shop, the world feels too loud and far too expensive. I just hope all this talk of airplane carriers and new-fangled robots doesn't mean my paycheck is going to vanish into another war.