The Oskaloosa herald., 1907-03-14
Random Thoughts
of a
Busy Outsider

4
Secretary Cortelyou, new head of
the Treasury Department, astonisnei
the hundreds of clerks VINO take their
midday lunch at restaurant across
the street from the treasury building
Iby appearing among them today. he
ate sandwich and a piece of pie and
drank a mug of milk many of the
81 900 clerks partook OF more stump
tuous repast."
Now there may be those VINO will
not see anything particularly joyous
in this statement, but the Outsider
found two points on which to hang an
exhilirating smile. In the first place
it was so good to think of the scoop
of that lylx-eyed reporter. No one
who has ever mad anything to do with
newspapers, but has a jubilant feel
ing over the scribe who gets there"
Think of him, wild-eyed but alert,
in that hurrying mass of hundreds OF
clerks and spotting the one Truly
Great among them, the secretary, Mr.
lCortelyou. Then to see how care
fully our friend jenkins secures the
great mans menu. 1t reminds one of
those famous reporters VINO Desieged
Martin Chuzzlewit and Mark Tapley
when they set out for Eden. Was
not such enterprise worth smile?
The second comes in the contempla-
ton of Mr.. Cortelyou's menu. "A
sandwich, piece of pie and mug of
milk. No wonder many of the $1,000
clerks sought something else.
Yet there is lot of character in
that selecti01-tnat was a concession
to the practical, the nuIriment need
ed for Mr. Cortelyou to go out and
chop off some more irregularities in
weighing the mails. A piece of pie
that was concession to aestheti-
cism to taste. Concerning the Ame.i-
can voters taste for pie there is no
disputing. Your fine lady may desire
an ice, your schoolgirl may wish her
sweets in candy, but the American
man wants pie. Mr.. Cortelyou bears
every mark of the real Yankee. Then
the glass of milk-there as the ply.
siologists tell us, you have the great
est amount of nourishment with the
least bulk, etc, etc.
Mr.. Cortelyous lunch has the ap
proval of his fellow citizens in gen
eral, and the sapie1t reporter mas
their undying gratitude.
But let us not joke too much. The
new secretary of the treasury is real
ly an interesting character, most il
teresting because he has known how
to keep his own counsel. he seems
to rather shun the limelight and pos
sibly there is some excuse for the re
porterrs watching him and mis- simple
meal. Probably he did not think any
tning about it, and ate what he could
get the quickest because he wa
hungry.
. But the simple unaffected way Of
mixing with other workers is good
lesson. Many men in his position
would have little use for the lowel
ranks from which they themselve:
have climbed, and do not mix witt
= the crowd. The secretary seems too
big a man to do this. His simplicity
AMI independence are to be admired
and should be initiated.
@
n At the basis of the real American
n nh o 10 turn VII eli
!, plicity and independence. 1t is sim
:. plicity that carries a man direct t,
Q his goal of usefulness and keeps hin
4 busy there. 1t is independence tina
e makes man live out his own life l.
i his own way without stopping to car
3 what his neighDors are going to sa
4 about it. "A decent respect for tn,
e opinions of mankind" that is al
: Thomas Jefferson required of tn
e Yankees.
: The man who has much or NOR
d than that measure of human respec
r Is likely to be either a great weaklin
: or G great rascal.
I To this same human respect is du
. | MUM VI INC pIeoeut eplueHllC Vi ut
5 faulting trustees and embezzling oil
t flcials and employees. 1t is very har
r for some people to realize that the
e can not in honor live as well as thei
r neighbors.
A young man can see no reaso
why he should not have the pleasure
of his neighbors, even though hi
! own wages are far less. lie indulge
in those pleasures-with the usual re
suit.
The young woman feels that sn
too must dress like other girrs an
we all know the downward path I
which such determinations lead.
Why should we regard our neig.
bors' opinion of our clothes or on
furniture or our table? Before Mar
Twain had reached his present seal
condition of white broadcloth he use
to say. AT home 1t does not matte
what | wear for everybody know
me. Away from home 1t does nc
matter, for no one knows me- Tner
was world of philosophy in tina