The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-02-06
FROM KANSAS.
by Roy Rolfe Gilson.1

by Roy Rolfe Gilson1
Courtesy of Leslie's Monthly Maya
zine. Copyright, 1904, Frank Leslie
Publishing House, New York;
You remember Burrows-lean, lanky
fellow. sat ON the back row in school
and rolled marbles. Remember how
they'd rumble away under the seats.
hitting this desk and that one, and the
teacher mad as a wet hen because she
could never catch on where they
started?
Well sir. Burrows-same old Burrows
dropped in Wednesday. Looks the
same. acts the same. same grin. same
chuckle, same long legs. and I'd have
sworn they were the same old trousers.
hitched to the shoe-tops. if it hadn't
been twenty years since last saw him.
Hello, Bill" I heard, and looking up,
there stood Burrows chuckling.
Just thought I'd take a run down to
New York" he said, ito see Wall
street and the Statue of Liberty. How's
all the follxs?''
Well" said I, I'm about all the
folks there are in my family, Burrows:
I'm pretty WE'LL
What" ... said he. mot married?"
NO" said I. mot yet, Jim
isn't it? Why, I've got a wife ana seven
children. Bill, and a feed store out in
Kansas ~ 40
ouVe done WE'LL
Yes, manage to get along" said he
MOI married. you say?''
NO, We don't marry early as a ruIe
IN New York. It's too expensive"
~ Pshaw," said he. That's too bad
My name is William, but used to be
Bill, in Kansas.
No" said I. TT costs about all I
can earn to support myself, Burrows. 4"
Psnaw," said he. You don't say
SO. why you-you must be getting
pretty nigh onto forty"
"Well-yes,' said L
And not married, you say7"
That's what I said"
Well, well. Why, you used to be
fond of the girls, Bill, in Kansas"
Ever been in New York before
Burrows?" -
Mo- said he; that is. not as re-
member" and chuckled = same old
We'll" said I, you'd be likely to
remember it if you had, wouldn't your"
Might" said he, still chuckling
Well" said I. what do you think
of Wall street?'
Kind of an alley. But I suppose now.
II you'd shake one of them there build
lngs, you could pick up dollars and
haf-dollars and bonds by the bushel-
Ell, Bill? But where's the trough?''
Trough" said I.
and shaking like an earthquake.
Trough where they w-water their
you know-s-stOck!" said he, and burst
dumping me on the shoulder
Wen sir. Burrows had made up that
stale old joke in his feed store out in
Kansas; just lighted on that cast off,
musty jest he had, and chuckled and
brought it with his old vaIise all the
way from the prairies simply TO fatten
it on my New York blood and make a
whole I'm 0f If n n hoo -
boys" in Kansas.
There I was, in that Broad street
bedlam, trying to show him the great
buildings, and the sub-treasury, and
the statue of Washington, and the banks
and offices; straining my lungs above
that Internal din to impress the man
with the majesty OF the financial spec
tacle-but great guns! You take one
of these country Kansans, they won't
forget their apple arre1ed Jokes They
won't let on they're thunder-struck,
even when they're looking at the very
things they'll go home and brag about
for six years after.
Why, I took Burrows to Carnegie
hall in the evening.
pretty big place." said he gazing
around him.
Pretty big!" said I. Biggest hall
you ever saw, Burrows
Guess you're right said he chuck
Eng-same old ehuckle. Guess you're
right, Bill, though I have seen Silas
Winters new barn." said he. did I
ever tell you about Silas' new barn?"
And off he went with his little story,
which was just as funny to him there
IN Carnegie, with the great orchestra
playing Wagner, as it would have been
sitting on a rail fence listening to the
katydids in Kansas.
There was a man who had come a
thousand miles to see New York-and
still in KansasI
New York" said he, ''is a great
place to come to-buildings and Statue
of Liberty and a1l-but I wouldn't live
here, Bill. You couldn't hire me. It's
too big, and there's too much rushing
it costs too much It costs too much
for victuals and drink and beds to sleep
in; yves. and for water and sunshine
and air, by thunder-things you get
free where I come from in Kansas.
Whats the use2 You're making
money. So am I You're making
thousands where I make hundreds but
you're spending hundreds where I
spend tens. So what's the odds? You're
dressed up a little tonier sure-but you
amt married and you haven't a chick
or a child in the world, Bill. Why, you
look tired and worried. You look yell
low. Liver out of Killer? You ought
to come out and p1ow awhile and husk
corn-in Kansas"
What do you do evenings, Burrows ~
I asked by way of diversion
Evenings? Why, We smoke, and
read, and gas little. and play cards
and go to bed,
s@Wen.'' said 1--WE smoke, and read,