The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-07-26
MIDSUMMER.

MIDSUMMER.
There are sounds of summer that impor-
Teeming, insistent insect life.
Rythmical. ceaseless. rank and rife;
But the spirit of summer finds its word
Where the tiger-lilies are drowsily stirred
BY the hum and the hum of the humming-
In the heart of an August noon.
Elizabeth woodbridge in The Outlook
John d. Rockefeller and the Reporter.
John D. Rockefeller is very modest
about his speeches. One of the pleas
ATTEST tales we have of him is from a
young reporter who had occasion to re-
port one of his Sunday school talks
once. 1t gives a side of Mr.. Rockefel-
Ter which few people see:
One Saturday in June, 1885, the re-
porter relates, 1.-THE Cleveland afternoon
papers said that John Rockefeller would
speak the next day-ChiIdren' Sunday
in the Euclid Avenue Baptist church.
Dealer at the time, I was held by the
city editor to be a fit person to send
out on an early Sunday morning assign
ment-to Sunday school.
The church was filed when I got
there. But an usher whom I knew put
me on an empty bench right in front
OF the pulpit. looked for Mr.. Rookie
Teller, but I couldn't find him. He
wasn't on the platform. The people
sang, the minister prayed and the little
folks gave recitations. After a while
the pastor said the children would now
listen to their beloved superintendent.
A man who sat in a pew near the front
stepped forward, stood directly in front
of me, and began to speak. 1 took from
my pocket a tablet, and, being able to
write shorthand, began to take the adj
dress verbatim. Mr.. Rockefeller saw
what was doing. He spoke as any In
experienced speaker does-nervOusly.
His nervousness was betrayed by slow
| ly uttered sentences, some of which
were repeated, and by short quick steps.
He talked for a few moments only
simply expressing pleasure at being
among old friends and with the children.
think everybody was satisfied and
| pleased with what he said. When he had
finished he dropped into a place by my
| side. Presently he leaned over and
whispered to me: Will you wait mo-
ment after the service? should like
to see you
"At the close of the services he
greeted a few friends and then took
me into committee room. He asked
me whether I was a reporter, what
paper was on, and whether had his
remarks verbatim. Then he reasoned
with me in this manner: Now, you
know, I am not an experienced speak
er. I have done little of that sort of
thing. I suppose my address was not
very good. 1t wasn't an address-just
little talk. wish you would say
speech in full, please. Mercy, not
Make it simple. short. Fix it up And
he laughed and I laughed. And he
took hold of my arm, and behaved
like a good fellow I said that I had
no desire to write nonsense about him
and I hadn't. I told him that my
city editor wouldn't print a silly yarn
about his slender abilities as a speak
er if I wrote it-and knew he
wouldn't. I said that I had taken his
speech in shorthand simply because
could, because I got fun out of exer-
cising my skill---and that was true.
$50 went to the Office and wrote
up a quiet account of the meeting.
fixed up the speech. I did not, how
ever. escape the sin of putting into
my story the fact that I saw him put
a twenty-dollar bill on the contribu-
| ton plate. That was because was a
cub think Mr.. Rockefeller was
much annoyed when he saw me make
notes after the deacon passed the plate
| to him and me on the bench.
1.-Two months later suburban cleo
trio car upon which I was a passenger
stopped couple of miles from Forest
Hi, Mr.. Rockefeller's East Cleveland
home. Mr.. Rockefeller and his son
came aboard, and took seats behind
me. Just as young Mr.. Rockefeller
told the conductor to stop at Forest
hill, some one IOuCneQ HE OH The
shoulder. 1 rose and turned to meet
| the eyes of Mr.. Rockefeller, and his
outstretched hand. Well he said
you are the young man who wrote up
my speech for the Plain Dealer down
1 at the church on Childrens day.
thought it was you when I sat down
Well, newspaper men generally treat
me rudely. Thank you very much for
what you did. I read it and appre-
ciated it. You fixed that speech W
~ -fnr1,f R,.e.A 10 zr,1-
you. Good day. Ida M. Tarbe1l, in
the August McClure's.
One on the Attorney General.
They are telling a little story here
with sting to it for Attorney General
Moody, but which Mr.. Moody would
probably laugh at himself if any one
conversation is supposed to be going on
between an admirer of President Roose-
welt and person who is not SO enamor-
| ed of him.
appointments nowadays" remarks the
admirer.
yes" asserts the other.
'"That was a fine lawyer he appointed
secretary of war;
Yes
And it was a fine lawyer he made
secretary of the navy
| Yes
| And now he comes along and makes
another great lawyer secretary OF
state"
Yes responds the less enamored
one, ''and If he keeps on he'll soon APP
point good lawyer attorney general
Washington correspondence in Balti-
more News.
The -Four Powers of the World.
Under all the circumstances must we
not acknowledge that, since the tenn
porary effacement of Russia from the
list, there are left only four great pow
ers on earth, towit, Japan in the
Orient; Germany on the European
continent; England, by virtue of hel
insular invio1abi1ity and her globe
encircling possessions; and the United
States in the New World? And il
there he left also any where a moral