The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-07-01
THE NIPPlNe OF A GENIUS.

he will miss something for which he has
long waited, viz, something he has never
read before in all Of his browsing along
the line of high grade literature. Alexis
effusions, according TO the ingrained
modus operandi Of treating things of this
| calibre, should have been cremated or
fed to the office cat. One can scarcely
blame ''Old Casual for throwing up the
rag and quitting the Job early; how
| ever. if he will only hang on a couple of
hundred years L or some other unfortu-
| nate funny thing will sell him a gold
brick and bunco him into reading
| small skit like this to the sad end.
| Alexis early poems were neither Gre
| mated nor fed to the office cat. They
were simply used as wind shunters in
| the sanctum of the Warm Warbler; in
| low terms, plainly speaking, they were
| pasted over knot holes to shunt the wind
/ from percolating through the spinach of
the bald-headed editor. who always wrote
the poems that appeared in the w. W.
l himself
After Aleck had written enough stanzas
/ to render the Warm Warbler wind proof,
! sand proof, water proof. and almost bomb
proof. and until there wasn't blow hole
| in the sanctum large enough for a flea
| TO crawl through, he quit.
| At the same time he quit grooming his
mustache, married the girl of his fathers
! choice and began to pound sand in the
| stove foundry. His food nicely hit the
! spot, for he was in the habit of Willing
away his spare hours by remaining at his
| own freside. Some of his old Blooms"
| said it was simply a waste of time to
| give his wife and growing family so much
attention-but Aleck thought for himself.
! hence was wisdom with a great large W.
| They told him of the rare enjoyment of
| the slant attitude, with a toe upon the
| foot rail, an elbow on the glittering glass
bar. and a schooner of good medicine
poised in the hand and few dozen of the
same brand under the belt But Aleck
| patted the Blooms upon the shoulders
! and said: Nit. Pauly."
When Aleck reached the age of forty
five and saw his first toilet wheel her
tootlet up to the front stoop he thought
he had finally arrived at the limit Of all
earthly bliss. But he hadn't, by any
means.
If "Old Casual has staggered to this
point of the skit hope he will continue to
the fms and make a date to meet a meek
scribe in the hither. If he has quit the
game at this tage he can let her go,
Mamiei for he is an old crank, anyhow
which simply means that the crank is a
man who doesn't think as do, see?
When Alexis first toilets tootlet poked
its toothless mouth under his chin. pulled
his tie over his ear and finally went to
sleep with it's bald head ensconced
among Alexis whiskers, Aleck was
ready to wager his house and lot against
thirty cents that there could be moth
ing this side of heaven to compare with
such exquisite joy.
Poor Aleck. He was only dreaming,
only dreaming, that's all.
During a spasmodic relapse he sat down
one evening after all the folks had retired.
and he put his soul into his words and
wrote a poem that made him smile when
he recalled the crude attempts Of the
poor things of the days of his youth,
when he groomed his mustache-at the
time he sent reams of stuff to the Warm
Warbler. He copied the peem carefully
the next evening sent II to the best
magazine in the land and forgot all about
the matter until he awoke one morning
six months afterward and found himself
both a famous genius-and an idiot. This
is what poor Aleck read in the Warm
Warbler as he tossed aside his regular
fodder:
Our fellow townsman, Aleck Penn
brook is not only a master sand FOUNDER.
but a poet of feeling as well. For years
he has been a steady contributor to the
leading magazines of the land. Under
various names he has gained fame; IN
fact most of the best verse found IN the
magazines for years has been written by
Aleck We have always patted our Eel
never failed to encourage him TO keep
right right along in the same old channel.
We print the fine poem Aleck wrote for
the Thunderer from advance sheets. and
we also print the beautiful bit of realistic
verse written exclusively for the columns
of the Warm Warbler. Aleck is a genius
worth watching"
The really fine poem from the Tunderer
proved to be all that Aleck expected II
ha in T1fo
heart jump, but a ton weight fell upon
him when his eyes read the following,
his poem for the Warm Warbler Of years
ago:
LOVES DREAM.
(By Aleck Pembrook.)
The turtle dove is in the glade,
We're sitting on the stile,
! and my charming little maid,
And talking all the while. 4
Oh, roses they are not so sweet,
She is beyond compare,
It's love that makes the singers feet
Go right up in the air
Aleck groaned. he CRASHED his teeth
and tore his beard in deep anger, but
the die had been cast years ago and he
could not escape the chickens that had
come home to perch. The Nemesis he had
planted in the days of his youth by con-
tributing to the clap boards of the Warm
Warbler is at hand Here in his middle
age when he is ripe to do great things,
his genius is nipped in the bud, so TO
speak.
He tried to buy of the editor Of the
Warm Warbler, but the fellow said ne
knew a budding genius if IL was grand
daddy He threatened to lick the stubborn
chap. but was confronted with a peace
warrant in a jiry. Then poor Aleck mort
gagged his house and lot and bought the
Warm Warbler outright and thought he
was safe from all further attacks The
editor was a foxy fellow. He loaded the
clap boards Of his sanctum on a freight
car and took the precious lore TO Texas.
and he did it between darkness and day
light.
He still prints the Warm Warbler. and
he still continues to print poor Alexis
erfusions. which he saws out Of the clap
boards each week TO the dismRy OF the
poet who has been nipPed in the bud
The one reat poem in the Thunderer has
made fame for Aleck-but he turns aside |
the Generous offers at any price for more
He has given Up the dream OF bliss and |
has pounded sand harder than ever since
the basilisk editor Of the Warm Warbler !
stabbed him with his pen
Last week came a marked copy from !
Texas bearing a column Of verse, starting |
OF after the following:
LOVE TO SING.
CBv Aleck Pembrookl
That budding genius that FEEL
From crown % head 20 toe and heel.
Must surely some day grow u he
A bigger sort Of man than re
Then Aleck sat down and held his head
IN his hands and said things. not 10 pint {