The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-05-04
DON'T HURRY.

tbs the only password to the Olym-
plan Heights
'Tis a precious chip from the funda-
mental foundation stone of truth.
There was a time when we We're
prone to hurry. Our knees arose and
smote our chin in our desperate en-
deavor to get there. We yearned for
results The passing of events was
too slow a process for Us and we at
tempted to forecast them. The pool
rooms saw US and the guardian angel
of the three gilt balls had an occas-
ional squirt at US. But that is now
all a thing of the dim and misty past,
unmourned, unhonored and unsung-
We know a ferryman who gives US
so much philosophical enjoyment that
we shall miss him when he succumbS
his devoted head OutWardly and Visi-
bly, he is only different from his fellow
men in that ne wears uniform of
blue adorned with buttons of brass. 1t
is inwardly and spiritually that he
shines apart. The car of the Rus
slams is a messenger boy compared to
him, and the Empress Dowager of
China is a timid little thing with no
will of her own.
It is the duty of this man to open
and shut the ferry gates, and it is evil
dent that he has put lot of thought
into his work. Opening and shutting
a gate might seem like a simple pro-
position to a non-ref1ective mind. But
this man makes his daily task blossom
like a rose. His work is an epic, and
a popuIace already yearns to write his
epitaph.
We like to see this man at night
when crowd has collected against the
ferry gates and surges impatiently
against the barrier. The ferrynal1,
with his hand on the gate, looks them
over superciliously, sneeringly, with a
/ certain cold and unfond analysis. He
opens the gate bit and as the crowd
presses forward he shuts it again. This
] iG In hn al of a
the shutting thus caused has died away
he opens the gate again about two feet
and bars the aperture with his devoted
body. The crowd behind presses for
ward in a hurried frenzy. and finally
the ferryman is obliged to throw the
gate wide open. AS the crowd swirls
past him, he stands there with reluct-
ance writ large on his features ana
sarcasm wrinkling his nose
Soon the time comes to shut the gate
again. Then the ferryman rises to the
occasion and grandly breasts, the rising
sea of opportunity. He waits until
there happens to be a crowd of passeu-
gers passing through the ferry house.
If there is a stout man in the van, he
likes it all the better. Then. without
a word of warning, the ferryman slams
the door with incredible swiftness, and
with arms folded and a moody look on
his dark handsome face he listens CRIT
| ically to the passionate remarks that
are addressed to him.
| of policeman at a fire. If the police
man has his club in his hand, we would
/ climb a lamp post any day Just 10 get
| look at him. The policeman has been
instructed to keep the crowd back He
Hseems, to take a real pleasure in his
work. He humorously swipes- citizens
In the region of their don1es of thought
/ and he prods through the tnterstices
/ of the crowd and lands with precision
where the brisket of man comes into
/ such admirable conjunction with the
/ short ribs. The policeman stands there
like Horatio at the bridge and the citi-
! zens fall away from him discouraged
| and thoughtful. 1t has been often ask
| ed why policemen wear such ambitious
shoes. It has remained for US to solve
! this knotty problem and give the an
swer to an attentive world A police
man wears such shoes so that he may
| step on the toes of citizens who want
| to get nearer to a fire. No policeman
can be in two places at the same time,
but we'll trained patrolman can cover
an amazing stretch of territory WIKI
| those shoe-clad feet of his.
An elevated guard, properly considered,
| is another very pretty sight of nature. He
] chants the names of the stations like a