The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-02-09
HOW TO READ.
Governor HOch's Advice at Au-
thOr'S Club Banquet.
Wants Newspapers to Reflect
Editors Personality.
MR.WARE AND THELAW
Poet Lawyer Discusses the Rul-
ings of Ancient Romans.
An Enjoyable Evening Spent at
Banquet Table.

The people who stayed at home. whose
folks attended the Kansas Authors
club annual dinner at the Y. w. c. A.
rooms on Wednesday night, must have
thought that their beloved ones had
been stolen, gotten lost. strayed, or had
been kept in The latter proved to
be the case. The pasteboards, at 81
per. bearing the countersign and right
of way to the feed, read, u P M.
Sharp" So promptly at that hour au-
thors, versifiers, rhymists. scribblers.
and hack writers, began to ccngregate.
with some others. like George A. Martin,
who came ITO see what was going on"
Half an hour later eight pretty maidens
from the Y. W. c. A. were busy bring
in treatises pertaining to stomach arbi-
tration, and it was after IL O'cock be-
fore the POSTMASTER pronounced the
benediction with a famous English
mans famous phrase, God bless you
every one''-past the hour when the
Ellks upstairs had risen to the health of
'the absent brothers,,
In every sense was the affair a sue
cess. Just 81 took places at the BAN
quoting tabe. D. o. McCray, Paul
Loveweu and S. d. j. Emerson were ar
rayed in dress suits. The remainder
were dressed a la. carte, on the Ameri-
can plan. There were some virulent
vests, a few readymade ties, and some
need for Il shoe-shiner-but otherwise
there were no explosions Authors
are noted for their idiosyncracies, and
so one must forgive much.
Trouble commenced right at the very
beginning. At the eleventh hour, after
the people had gotten tired shifting
from one foot to the other, waiting for
the bombardment. to open, Thomas Nc
Neal, labeled on the program, ''Arbiter
Elegantiarum, had to leave. It is not
known whether he had to grind out a
speech for the governor on his type
writer, or whether his wife called him
home because he forgot to bring in the
for this morning. Before leav-
ing, Captain H. NJ. Philips asked him
what ''Arbiter Elegantiarum'' means.
He replied: Il bite elegantly" Who
bit?
SO as Mr.. McNeaI made his graceful
exit from the hall, after partaking lib
orally of the feed, he walked down the
south aisle, and passing Frank p. Mac
Lehman, tapped him o nthe shoulder,
and asked him to take his hand in the
game. Mr. MacLennan took it. The
toastmaster's chair was between two
ladies, one of whom was Mrs. E. w.
Hoch, the other Mrs. H. w. Roby. Just
in front of him was a bunch of Arneri-
can Beauty roses. He established him.
self without delay. by speaking of "a
rose on either side of me, and a large
bunch in 'front.'
Mr.. MacLennan introduced Gov
ernor Hoch, who was charged with
speaking on Literature and the
Press The governor filled up the
tires on his talking automobile with
few stories. and it was not long be-
fore he was speeding away at sixty
miles an hour He hit only one bad
stretch of road, and that was when he
said that twenty minutes a day for
IF nc c f.
Gent A little wind was let out of his
tires about half a dozen times during
the evening for that unfortunate re-
mark In this direction the toast
master was the chief offender.
Getting the good down grade. Gov
ernor HOch said: "An ideal news
paper in my judgment has three essen
tilas: an editorial character, scissors,
and the news department. My notion
of an ideal newspaper is one into
which the editor pumps most of his
personality, assuming that he has
pleasing and pure one. like a news
paper that reflects its head A news
paper is a refiex-a mirror-a mental
of those who make it. If
the editor and his assistants be
ignorant unlearned, coarse, lacking in
the finer sensibilities, his paper will
e like him, but If on the other hand
he be possessed of refined sensibilities,
if he be scholarly and learned, on
good terms with good literature, IA
n'inar with the poets, imbued with
sound theological creeds, rich in lit
erary lore of the right kind, the paper
will be like him, and you can tell what
an editor is by his paper
Getting still further from the sub
iect, I wish to speak of the reading
habit. You have heard about ON
niverous readers. never thought the
term complim entary. You can read
too much as we'll as too little One
had better read completely through
one book. than smatter through
dozen. To promote power of thought,
improve the memory, increase the
store of knowledge, add force and