The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-01-02

IOaStmaSter at the Banquet
It would be hard to make a person
who met the Saturday Night club first
under the conditions that prevail at one
of its more pretentfous celebrations be-
lieve that it's members ever have lucid
interval or that carefully prepared pa
pers on serious subjects are read and
discussed with the consideration they
deserve at its regular meetings. Never
theless the yearly programmes reveal
the fact that the Saturday Nighters pay
great deal of attention to literary, so
Geological, psychological, scientific and
ethical questions and it is therefore pre-
sumed that the banduets which are Civ
en- at irregular intervals and to which
guests are invited are merely in the ma
ture of a reaction from the gravity and
severity of the clubs usual department.
But however the fact may be explained
or CondOned a proper regard for the
truth forbids that one describe a Satur-
day Night banquet otherwise than as
a Rough House" A man standing out
side the ordinary Of the Thro0D last
night would have thought from the
sounds that issued therefrom that some
one had started what Billy Baxter
would have called a general survival
of the fittest." Still guests who We're
meeting the Saturday Nighters for the
had been there before that the be-
haviour of the members was very mild
compared to occasions when only men
were invited and the programmes eau
toned the club TO remember they were
talking to the ladies'
Governor and Mrs. Eugene Stanley.
Senator Joseph Ralph Burton, Congress
man w. A. Calderhead. General Wilder
S. Metcalf, and President ]. N Wiikjn-
son of the State Normal school and the
other members of the state board of
education were among those present.
Governor Stanley was down on the pro-
gTamme for a speech on What Man
May Learn in -Four Years" but object
ed to telling all he had learned and
evaded the subject ingeniousiy by re-
ferring it to superintendent Frank Mel
son, another member of the outgoing
state administration. Mr.. Nelson pass
ed it on" to H. G. Larimer who sat
nearest him and it was stin being
banded back and forth at half past 1
o'clock this morning. Senator Burton
filled Congressman Longs place on the
programme and Congressman Calder
/ head, President Wilkinson and General
Aetcalf were all called upon for speech
eS and their excuses were listened to
/ with some degree of respect, which ma Y
have been due to respect, for their sew
eraI high stations or to the fact hat
4 they came toward the end Of the BRO
gramme after the Saturday Nighters
4 had exhausted their wit a the expense
of earlier speakers.
There We're two women speakers, Mrs
/ Margaret Hill McCarter who talked
brihy about New Years Resolutions"
and Mrs. c. D. Welch whose subject
was. If I Were a Man Both We're
! treated with more than the usual de-
ference paid by Saturday Nighters TO
their guests; still it is doubtful if either
/ ever before addressed a company under
similar conditions. Mrs McCarter cited
among her credentials as a speaker be
! fore the club the fact that she had ad =
dressed state and city declarations of
WOmen's clubs and the voters of pre-
cinct in coiored church in Tennessee
town The club members shouted to
/ her to proceed which she did finally ap-
preaching the subject given her al
( though she said she understood that this
was contrary to the rules of the club.
! In obedience to an injunction printed on
the programme nobody threw anything
and she was allowed to wax senai-seri-
4 Gus long enough to advise that the New
+ Years resolution be MADE new day
+ resolution, of the 365th day as well as
the first. reminding her hearers that
Character IS the sum of life made up
/ the little minutes"
Mrs Welch. who talked about IF I
I Were a Man. was Introduced BY the
I president as q woman likely to -now
/ what a man ought to be but her hus-
bands O-workers Of the Saturday
Night club expressed wonder as to how
she would know. Some one suggested
/ that it would be well for Mr. Welch to
listen attentively to his wife's views On
what q man should be and some one
else retorted that he had probably al
ready been told good many times. The
speaker graciousIy overlooked these in
terruptions and put the club in a good
humor at the start with a graceful little
flattery to the effect that if she were
a man she would seek admission to the
/ Saturday NighteTs- The members swall
+ lowed the bait to a man and listened .po-
litely and without further Interruptions.
Later in her remarks she took several
shots at the Superior Sex but they were