It is odd what turns the collecting mania will take. There is a man in New York, who never goes to the theater, but has for twenty-five years collected the programs of each New York playhouse weekly. Not only that, but he has clipped from each Tuesday’s papers the criticisms of the new plays. All this vast quantity of data he has carefully preserved. It is odd how he started in the quest of theater programs and bad health. His doctor told him he must exercise more. So he decided he wold walk around to the different theaters and ask for a program. The walking he found of benefit to his health, and it is an interesting fact that in twenty-five years he has not missed a day to make his rounds of the playhouses. He is a very shy old man, and as he has grown older his walks have been lengthened out, since new theaters have sprung up all over New York at considerable distances apart.
There are many reasons people collect things — for “investment” or “fun” or “just because I got one and everyone kept giving me more” — but usually one’s health isn’t a factor in choosing a collectible. Unless, of course, you’re allergic to something like the stuff that permeates old badly kept books. Wait! I’m allergic to that stuff, and we’ve got tons of moldy old books….
I wonder what his heirs did with his collection?