The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-21
= william Allen White, Author of
tho Matter With Kansas"

p,,,.ot,s the Matter With Kansas"
.,.,iobted by the s. S. Mcclure Co.. 1899.
- little man with a slight limp,
u,re man who weighs less than 100
nss and is under five feet four; a lit
man with a Van Dyke beard, and a
80, If bumor that bubbles in him like
orsrvesence of wine. and you have
he exterior picture of Col. Funston of
=, twentieth Kansas, the man who
s,,.iee5 the army in his famous charge
ar,lolos and who was a credit to the
~, nv his swimming feats before Ca
,n,oni- Fancy a man who hates shams,
,o isers at pomp and circumstance,
~bo loves to sit in his shirtsleeves in the
rp5srness reading Kipling, who is i'm
.,,si,e generous and always kind, who
avoids the forms, functions and punctili-
.ios of this world as he would shun pes
.reroo. fancy a merry neart that takes
rotbing seriously save the good will of a
friend and the honor of his country; fan
cv Cvrano de Bergerac minus his blus-
.er and the Gadhy without his sting,
rolled into one body thirty-three years old
and given wandering foot that has TAX
On him from the Arctic ocean TO the trop-
ica finding adventure, and you have a pic
ture of the happy. courageous, knightly
soul of the little Kansas colonel who is
winning fame in the Philippines.
Fred Funston came from the farm on
Deer creek. Allen county, Kansas, to the
State University of Kansas fourteen years
sgo He remained in the university off
and on for five years. He was a round
faced fellow full of fun and of the type
that Instructors yearn TO strange, for the
lcvitv that he bred in the class room. If
vunston ever got grade above So in any
studv. the instructor who gave that grade
will have TO answer for great crime, for
his sin of silence has established for Fun
sion . record for unbroken scholastic
nediocritv that has been rarely equaled
IN that institution. He was a member of
tbe Phi Delta Theta fraternity-the fra
ternltv which ex-President Benjamin Har-
rison helped to establish in old Miami Uni
versiv half a century ago. and which
counted among its members Eugene Field,
ex-Vice President Stevens and Senator
B,ackburn-and Stephen Crane of these
latter DAYS Funston gave more attention
to his fraternity than he did to his books,
and IT is a matter of fraternity record that
he broke four chairs learning to waltz
with them on festal occasions Funston
grew solemn and melancholy and felt call
ed upon 10 go forth without hilarity and
ribaldrv. but in terrible earnest, and tear
I'D The board sidewalks of the town of
Lawrence, because he deemed their pres
euce dangerous to the public welfare. Be-
cause he was small of stature he Knocked
athletics into disfavor while he was in
school. he was the maker of nick-names,
the dictionary of mirth. Ten years have
elapsed since he called the Greek professor
"Zues, and the auburn hair of the pro-
fessor whom Funston called "Old Sunset"
has turned gray; Purple Whiskers have
lost their lusler but the names still stick,
and afford comfort and solace to those I'M
fortunate students who funk In the de-
par.ments where the dignitaries reign.
Perhaps the shudder of horror that ran
through the faculty at the mention of Fun
ston's name years and years after he had
left school has somewhat subsidized, but it
Is likely that the faculty of the University
Of Kansas can come more nearly knowing
how Aguinaldo feels than all the antrim
periaistc leagues in this broad and patri-
otto land
Funston spent much of his time in the
university library reading whatever his
hands could find. of the fiction of war and
the poetry of romance. Early in life he
had the prairie boys knowledge of every
sort and condition of fire-arm in the hard
ware store He had a Yankee knack for
screws and bolts and nuts, and could
tnke-. This knowledge is as much a
part of every farmer boys education as
the knowledge of the points of the com
pass. The farm is a manual training
school; it also teaches individual initia-
tive, and many of the recent military ex-
potts of Funston before Caloocan, and
Maolos and Calumpit, are merely out
groupings Of the farmer boys training to
60 ahead, not not go clear across the field
and back to the house for orders.
During his off years-the years when he
earned money to attend the university the
next year. he turned his talents to va
rols and profitable account, and he ac-
cumulated the capital of experience which
ne afterward invested in glory.
For instance, in 1885, an off school year,
ne became Santa Fe train collector. AT
inherent times his route lay all the way
IRON Kansas City to Albuquerque, and
south % the Gulf of Mexico. Among his
0taer duties was that of train bouncer."
ne weighed little more than 100 pounds
lnen, put that Gldnt stand in the way
as "uCCeSS us Il DOuncef. Inc record
VI ms grit is still in the clogged Supreme
court Of Kansas, where damage suits
against the Santa Fe are awaiting the
judgment cay"
ana among the grcasers and boys
u New Mexico, Colorado and Western
Aausds tnere Is myth to the effect that
NS 9aHte lee once put a human marmot
ou us trains, who concealed death in his
i i.sAl hand and lingering Illness in his
,AI'er peaceful year in the university
tHs on Longtd for something less monoto-
aous lhan encounters with cowboys and
eo1sht to satisfy the lust in his soul for
t1 he by going into the newspaper
oa me Had never been in city newspaper
t Ga''g' Wien by the force Of sheer audac.
t ne struck a Kansas City city editor
pace and got a probational job. Luck
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