DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Shangri-la, issue 7, July-August 1948

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Shangri-la, issue 7, July-August 1948

Page 7

small, while in the windows of the rich large sheets of glass filling the entire window were often the fashion, and even up to the present time a rather good idea can be obtained concerning the wealth of a house owner by just making a careful study of the kind of glass he uses to glaze his windows.

As civilization demanded more luxuries, the middle class craved better houses and that simply meant more windows and better windows. This desire was frowned upon by the ruling class who were always afraid that with these desires on the part of the underling to ape his betters would come desires for liberty and equality and such foolishness that in the end might overthrow the Government. So, to discourage these ambitious upstarts, these foolish imitators of the nobility, a tax was laid on windows and on glass. The more windows a man had in his house, the more taxes he paid. Only by living in darkness could he be spared from paying a tax that was almost confiscatory. It did not worry the nobility any because they were the ones who collected the tax, so it did not make any difference how many windows they had in their palaces.

Years passed, and centuries. The use of glass windows was extended to business. The storekeepers exposed their wares behind glass, so that the passerby could more easily be tempted to buy the often unneeded items in place of the necessary bread and meat. In the cities, long narrow streets were lined on both sides with these glass show windows. On these streets, the common people sthronged to expect the proffered wares, and into these stores the elegant dandies and the bejeweled ladies passed to buy.

But day in and day out, for every one who entered and satisfied his heart's desire by purchase, there were perhaps a hundred, five hundred, who could only gaze curiously through the crystal glass and dream of what they would buy had they only where withal. Starving men, shivering women, dirty and hungry children stood there with only a thin sheet of glass separating them from food, from clothes, from the very necessities of life. And so they stood without year after year, and generation after generation; and, thus, to them,  the shining glass window became a symbol of the repressed desire for all the things they needed and all the longings for luxuries.

And not only these privations gnawed at the hearts of the oppressed. More and more, it became the fashion of the rich to so place their windows that at least a portion of the inner life could be seen from the street. The rich duke obtained a greater satisfaction from his food if he could dine in the presence of the common people. A celebrated hostelry[[?]] in New York, soon to be torn down, had its dining room so located that many patrons could look directly out on the pavement as they ate, and those tables, easily seen by the passerby, were always in demand. In all the years, how many starving men and women looked at the idle rich through the windows of this hotel?

(7)

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small, while in the windows of the rich large sheets of glass filling the entire window were often the fashion, and even up to the present time a rather good idea can be obtained concerning the wealth of a house owner by just making a careful study of the kind of glass he uses to glaze his windows. As civilization demanded more luxuries, the middle class craved better houses and that simply meant more windows and better windows. This desire was frowned upon by the ruling class who were always afraid that with these desires on the part of the underling to ape his betters would come desires for liberty and equality and such foolishness that in the end might overthrow the Government. So, to discourage these ambitious upstarts, these foolish imitators of the nobility, a tax was laid on windows and on glass. The more windows a man had in his house, the more taxes he paid. Only by living in darkness could he be spared from paying a tax that was almost confiscatory. It did not worry the nobility any because they were the ones who collected the tax, so it did not make any difference how many windows they had in their palaces. Years passed, and centuries. The use of glass windows was extended to business. The storekeepers exposed their wares behind glass, so that the passerby could more easily be tempted to buy the often unneeded items in place of the necessary bread and meat. In the cities, long narrow streets were lined on both sides with these glass show windows. On these streets, the common people sthronged to expect the proffered wares, and into these stores the elegant dandies and the bejeweled ladies passed to buy. But day in and day out, for every one who entered and satisfied his heart's desire by purchase, there were perhaps a hundred, five hundred, who could only gaze curiously through the crystal glass and dream of what they would buy had they only where withal. Starving men, shivering women, dirty and hungry children stood there with only a thin sheet of glass separating them from food, from clothes, from the very necessities of life. And so they stood without year after year, and generation after generation; and, thus, to them, the shining glass window became a symbol of the repressed desire for all the things they needed and all the longings for luxuries. And not only these privations gnawed at the hearts of the oppressed. More and more, it became the fashion of the rich to so place their windows that at least a portion of the inner life could be seen from the street. The rich duke obtained a greater satisfaction from his food if he could dine in the presence of the common people. A celebrated hostelry[[?]] in New York, soon to be torn down, had its dining room so located that many patrons could look directly out on the pavement as they ate, and those tables, easily seen by the passerby, were always in demand. In all the years, how many starving men and women looked at the idle rich through the windows of this hotel? (7)