The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-05-15
RALPH Balm AT SEATTLE
T. T. Scudder Writes Interesting and
Humorous Letter.

Humorous Letter.
| Assistant Postmaster Mccoy has re-
ceived a very interesting letter from
| T. 7. Scudder, who is a well known
Wichita man, now residing at Seattle,
Washington. In a postscript, Mr.. Scud-
der reports that he has heard that Ralph
| Balm, who was tried for the killing of
William Flynn in this city recently. is in
| Seattle.
The letter to Mr. Mccoy in part, fol-
| lows:
| Ny Dear jim: Your letter of the 18th,
which l assure yod was more than well
come, came just in time. 1 had been
planning for a week, the execution OF the
plan being deferred only on account of
my being heels over head in work to
write you a short letter containing only
the story of the quaker who wanted 10
call fellow a liar, but his religion
wouldn't stand for it. The story, which
you may have heard, runs as follows:
Our quaker friend met the offending pre-
varicator, and said: William, thee knows
/ never call any bad names; but. William,
if the mayor of the city were to come
to me and say, Joshua, 1 want you to
find me the biggest liar in the city,,
would come to thee and put my hand on
thy shoulder, and say to thee. William,
the mayor wants to see thee.
Just beforfe / left Wichita you prom
ised me that if I would write to you oc-
casionally you would take pleasure in re-
spending promptly. After more than a
month had elapsed since / wrote to you.
and l had received no reply, L began to
think that you were the fellow that the
quaker ought to have spotted.
Your essay on the mental processes by
which liars are evolved is a peach. and
is altogether like ou-philosophicaI al
ways. You have no doubt been studying
the ways of Bob Heron, Charlie Dan
iels, Lon Williams, Colonel jerks, and a
few other professionals; judging from the
skillful way in which you handled the
subject. Now, If you will take post
graduate course, as it were. and examine
the heads and mental machinery of Bob
Collins, Don Porter and(Larry Delaney.
you could fill a library that would make
the congressional library look like an
armful of primers, and every volume on
the subject of lying. 1 guess that ought
to hold that bunch for awhile!
1t seems a year since L left Wichita.
Jim. 1 am not homesick, nor do 1 expect
to be; but | miss the CHEEKY Hello
'Scud - with whicn 1 was used to being
greeted hundreds of times each day.
Somehow Mr.. Scudder'' does not fit me,
and that is of course all that 1 get here.
l will always long TO see my friends, but
cannot fancy myself ever visiting to
leave this beautiful country to return to
monotonouS Kansas The board waters
of Puget sound, with their ever moving
panorama of ships of every size and sort
and hailing port, lying to the west; beau
tifuI Lake Washington, a body of water
thirty miles long and from three to six
miles wide, on the east: both bodies of
water in a beautiful setting of lofty
pines, ever green, and growing down to
the waters edge; the whole bordered by
mountain ranges, the Cascades on the
east and the Olympics on the west; snow
capped, and seeming to beaienlyi just
across the sound and at the city limits.
while in fact they are more than fifty
miles distant; are in marked contract to
the nlonotonous succession of wheat and
corn fields and the even more monoton-
Gus stretches of level prairies of the
sun flower state. Speaking about flow
ers there are flowers everywhere here.
The poor devil of a fisherman who lives
in a worn out boat that he has pulled
ashore along the tide flats, has his hum
BILE habitation surrounded with flowers,
and takes as much pride in the varieties,
and their care and growth, as does the
millionaire who pays a gardener n big
salary for growing them in profuson
around his mansion. The club man and
swell takes no more pride in his bouton-
Mere, than does the teamster of motor
man in the modest but fresh and bright
flower that is inevitably TO be seen on the
lapel of his we'll worn coat. The man
who eats his luncheon in a restaurant
where the price is twenty-five cents a
throw" sits in the midst of table decora-
tions which in Kansas would cost many
times more than the grub. Nobody ever
buys Gala lily here He can buy
dozen for what you and l have paid for
one in Kansas at Easter time Last
Easter here, and during the entire week
previous. the down town flower and fruit
stores had them by the wagon loads set
ting in all available space, and out at the
edge of the side walk. and the price was
fifty cents per dozen.
For the past three weeks the weather
here has been ideal, the sun shining
brightly on all but three or four days.
When we were reading dispatches giving
accounts of bizzards and freezing
weather in Kansas, Missouri, and Ne
braska along about the eth or Sth of
April, we were riding in open cars. and
81 @,rn nd
dressed in light spring suits and cos
TUNES.
We arrived here on March 10th, and for
the first three weeks after our arrival the
weather was something fierce, there be
ing rain or sleet nearly every day; bat in
all that time not as much water fell as
would come down in one day of one of
our Kansas spring rains" The rains
here are more of a drizzle than a rain.
and nobody pays any attention 10 them.
Out OF thousand people visible at any
one time on the streets. not more than
a hundred will be seen carrying UNI
brelas Destructive lightning is a thing
unknown here and only once since we
came have we heard thunder. and that
was only a low rumbling sort. Neither
do tornadoes grow in or visit this section.
No black clouds are ever seen: the ap-
proach of a rain being foreshadowed only
by the sun making its get away. the
sky turning from blue to a dark lead
color. and then beginning a gentle rain.
Seattle is a hummer. There Is so1ne-
thing doing here all the time The
Alaskan trade is beginning TO open up
now. and everybody is rushing. l think
l am safe in saying that | viii be able
to do five or six times the amount OF
business here that l ever did in kansas