Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1904-11-25
PLAIN TALK FOR PLAIN PEOPLE.
Crisp and Breezy Comment on Mat
tiers in tho Public Eye.
written for the Reformer,)

assembly, he has the immense advan-
tage of being right on the ground,
while his useful services ON the Ju-
dietary committee have demonstrated
to his fellow members that he Is the
kind of man who does things
BY the way, that inextinguishable
joller, Lewis Il. Strawser of the
Wilmington Times, has been Mt II
again. In reply to my innocent
writings upon the subject OF the
railroad commission. In which |
voiced the very general demand for
says: THE Times respectfully de-
sires to place In nomination the
name of II. l.. Hindley." Quit your
kiddin', old man. You're getting old
enough to behave.
suppose l ought to say a lot of
nice things about our neighbor. G.
T. Shanks, who is about TO retire
from the ownership of the London
derry Sitter Mr. Shanks l believe to
be an honest man. wrong on practi-
cally every public question: good
man, with vision limited to the
narrow outlook of backwoods
clearing; an able man, who has new
er taken the trouble to consider
whether any opinion but his own is
worth considering, an original man.
whose ignorance of newspaper de-
bate and the amenities of the profess
sion is almost phenomenal. The good
things about Sitter John are that he
has caused n newspaper to blossom
In a bowling wilderness, that he has
made his way singlehanded. that he
has been at all times fearless and
outspoken and that he has made a
distinctly local paper for a territory
almost unreached by any other. l
wish him an honorable and reposeful
old age.
| ran across good thing in
Howells book the other day. 1t adj
vised a young newspaper man to APP
peal to his public's best, not its ig-
noble, curiosity. And yet what n
temptation it is to tell the thing you
know will be read with greedy grab
bings on account Of its light on poor,
frail human nature, something to the
discredit of somebody, generally i'm
mune from criticism. / guess we've
all felt it at times.
The St. Adams Messenger. under
the able direction of Frank l..
Greene. Is a fearless champion of the
public rights and recent issue in
Inmates that the old misused but
familiar political leader club is be-
ing shaken at the investigating COM
mittee for fear that some one will
get hurt in the resulting publicity.
Why will men who have been hon
ored of Vermont so stultify them
selves and the state that gave them
fgsn ha
primeval instinct of self defence. !
suppose. Hammer every one else, |
but spare me and mine! The aston |
ishing thing is that such men should |
be permitted to suppose that such a |
committee could be persuaded or
bull dozed into embarrassing official
filth of any kind.
And yet Vermont history gives |
abundant warrant for just that be-
lief. Remember the wondrous Grout |
where the imperial |
Theodore S. Peck, who signs bust
ness letters. Yours in the Lord
was shown to have charged up ma
ple sugar and theatre boxes to the |
state OF Vermont? What happened |
Were the men who exposed that lit
tie scandal lauded or awarded? l |
should say not The old-timers stood
back deprecating. pity man
should stir up filth. No accounting
for some mems craze for sensation.
Always been done So That settles /
him in Vermont" etc And they
straightway wound new hand grip
on their political sandbag and wait
ed a time to knock those men into
oblivion. 1t takes good man and n
brave man to dare the disapproval of
vermont's political leaders.
/ haven't seen a big football game
this year. but study Of physiog-
nomy is always interesting. Take the
Yale and Harvard captains: Hogan.
and Hurley. the general,
brainy. courageous and game. Why
isn't the Hurley idea a winner? Be-
cause football, with all its science,
resolves itself, in the last analysis,
to our world old qualities Of scrap
and win. Hurley would fight on his
nerves, accomplishing wonders,
startling the assembled tribes by his
brilliance in fence, his adroitness,
his flnesse. his ought o-win- ness.
Hogan, cold, impassive and newt
able, would finally hammer down the
man of nerves with the calculated
CRUISING FORCE VI Sul-tp-"iil. it't |
what happened to Harvard last Sat
lrday and l like Harvard a whole lot
FOR dying game. The point is that
you must let the other fellow do the
lying.
The Yale idea is not Sunday
school ethics. 1t doesn't make
little gentlemen who never give
their mother moments uneasi-
ness" 1t makes men, men who gen.
,rally fight fair and win within the
,ues but they win. A Yale coach
ellis his men to advance the ball No
gain ANY one hurt?" No. Then
you get that ball over or some one
will get hurt. 1t goes over. This
dea is useful in business some times
l once knew a newspaper man with
The Yale idea. He had a foreman +
who belonged in Harvard-though he
didn't know it. 1t was. one of those
days that all printers and editors
thing goes crooked. 1t became a
question of catching a certain mail.
Gosh, / wonder if We can make it."
sighed the Harvard man with his
hands full of type. We've got to
make it, said the Yale idea. And
they did. There's the whole study in
a nutshell: Ought VS.. Got. l want
my boy to be a "Gotter."
It's a hideous and unthankful task
to stand up and say in one word
that Mary Rogers must hang, but
that's what the legislature has to do
next week l despise the notion OF
capital punishment, but Vermont has
said it's right. Therefore murderers
must hang. The sickening part OF
the whole CHASTITY comedy is the ret
respect that swings before your eye. L
Frank Shaw deliberate SLAYER of |