The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-10-27
A COMMON ENOUGH
THING
By ESTHER GRIFFIN WHITE.

Morris and the de luxe editions of Eugene
Fields Child Poems, with Georl Meredith
Kate Douglas Wiggin and HoI er as sup
Elementary reading. This he said, would
polish UP their style and give them a relish
for good English. The Editor inveigled the
Richest Man in Town 10 the next lecture
and induced the latter to alternate with
MIN in firing a number of questions at the
Professor relative to the benefactions re-
ceived by certain Universities from Cor
pOration Magnates, which the Professor re-
fused to answer, saying he never entered
into Improbable discussions. After which
he closed his mouth very tight and looked
at the Northwest corner of the ceiling
while the feminine audience loudly APP
plauded.
The next edition of the Blade retaliated.
1t said that the Professor was pale blue
ass" habby, homeless. hollow. That he
was little two by four, who knew about
as much about Sociology as the Grand
Keezar OF Zooptum; that he couldn't hold
down a position as clerk Of a soda-water
fountain; that he was the laughing stock
of the men and that the women only tagged
after him because he was pretty. He also
said that the democracy he exploited was
the democracy of the poseur and the in
tellectual prig. That wearing turn-down
collars and colored shirts didn't make
man Democrat, and besides he, tn Edi-
tor, was reliably informed that lie pro-
fessor dined in a tuxedo every evening,
wore a high hat. gave the de rigueur hand
shake and ate pie with his fork. That Walt
Whitman. whom he exalted as rampant
democrat, was merely disgusting old man
who threw hodge podge of words together
and called il poetry. while he permitted
young men on starvation wages to contrib
ute to his support; and that the High Priest
of the Roycrofters, who was constantly
Haunted as the red republican of Art, was
nothing but a sort of literary Smart
Aleck," who posed on a pedestal of his own
awful art works and proclaimed himself
wonder in a loud phonetic tone. That So
GEOLOGY as preached by University Pro-
fessoTs and practiced by Club Women was
unmitigated rot" and only inspired sar-
donic amusement in the multitude. "Go-to,"
cried the Editor of the Blade, ''hie thee TO
thy metropolitan habitatiop, stretch thy
legs beneath thy club mahogany and re-
late how thee routed with great slaughter
the yahoo Editor of the backwoods. who
thought to engage in a battle of wits with
Grass ignorance in which we wallowed be-
fore we knew that the Rubaiyat on vellum
was a necessity of life"
This was all very painful to Ellen Wrig-
gleton She was filled with indignation,
and apologized to the Professor for their
lack of culture. She said the Editor was a
well-meaning man, and was known to con-
tribute to the support of his family. but
-f,o
wrote things merely to make his paper sell.
The Professor laughed genially, shrugged
his shoulders, and said he met these enc
mics of progress every place, and then &C
| cepted Ellen's invitation to dinner TO meet
several of the local elect and have pow
WOW over the special iniquities of Woodale.
Ellen had felt from the first that she had
met her affinity. When the Professor
walked TO the front of the platform upon
the occasion of his introduction to Wood
ale audience and swept it with an eagle
/ eye he encountered the gaze of Ellen Wrig-
| gleton, who was seated prominently near
the front. And Ellen had the thrill which
she knew was felt but once in lifetime.
"At last! At last!' thumped her heart,
| and she heard the lecture through a deli
/ cious lilac haze, conscious that he looked
at her constantly and spoke to her and
ner alone The Professor had a mild SEN
sation himself when he first saw Ellen.
''Ah." he said to himself, "the lady who
| gives the good dinners" who had been
minutely described TO him by a former
/ Woodaleite, now a tutor in the University,
who told him that to win the heart of FL
len Wriggleton was to insure himself a
/ greatly reduced board bill. and the second
time he met her he warmly pressed her
hand, saying it would give him greater
pleasure than he could express to dine with
her and her excellent friends, and he trust
\ ed they would have profitable and serious
discussion over the future of Woodale.
Thus began an autumn of excitement for
| Ellen, of frequent wearings of the blue
evening gown, of charming walks from her
1 house to the lecture hall, and of heart-to-
| heart talks about sanitation and germ the
cries after the study class in the afternoon,
before which Ellen read weighty papers on
the solution of the Domestic Problem, the
best of which was. "Shan Our Second Girls
/ Wear Decollete Gowns?' which inspired
the Editor of the Blade with such unholy
mirth and called forth an editorial headed,
"Give the Stable Boy a Chance" He also
recommended for the consideration OF per-
sons seeking titles round which to write
novels. From Overalls to Knickerbockers,
| or From the Stable to the Golf Links, Be-
/ ing the Remarkable Account of a Worthy
y Dung man Who. Through Applied Sociol-
| ogy and His Own Unaided Efforts, Rose
| from the Mental Position of Currying
Horses to the Championship OF a Golf
Club" But Ellen Wriggleton was blind and
/ deaf TO the jeers of the Blade. Besides,
she had stopped reading the newspapers.
She considered the years she had devoted
/ 70 their perusal as worse than wasted. and
/ playfully told the Professor he had con-
yerted her from Philistinism. How she re-
GREETED she had not come under his infu-
| ence sooneri
| ALAS Those wasted years." sighed
| Ellen, working in a play with her eye
lashes and dimple upon which she had
been practicing before her mirror for two
weeks. The Professor gave her a strange