The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-03-17
FRON OTHER PENS
A TH1Ers STUPIDITY,

That man with a prosperous bust
ness. as a rug manufacturer should also
ply the trade of picketpocket, as
Louis Wolf did, is one of those almost
! incredible things occasionally brought
| to light by the police. Wolf was not
| driven to crime by need. He had been
earning an honest living. His factory
in East New York had paid him well.
| habits of a criminal and succumbed
| again to them after he returned here
| to lead decent life.
| If Wolf had never been in Jail or felt
the heavy hand of the law his practice
Of operating on the pockets of subway
passengers would be less surprising. He
confesses that he had been arrested
many times in Chicago and St. Louis
after going west some years ago. It
was a dogs life he led as a thief. He
seems to have made a praiseworthy eff
fort to learn how to get money by hon
! est work He had succeeded. His repu-
tation among his acquaintances was
good They showed their faith in him
| even after his first arrest some weeks
| ago. 1t looked as though the police
had made serious blunder.
| Yet, although he had a long police
record in the west, Wolf did not even
take the common precaution of chang
| ing his name when he set up in bust
ness. He did not show ordinary fore
sight after he was arrested for picking
| a mans pocket and aroused much SYM
pathy when he proved his identity as a
| fairly substantial business man. In
stead Of abandoning his evil ways. in a
few days he was back at his old tricks,
| was nabbed by his victim in a crowd,
| landed in Jail and his whole past was
revealed. The confirmed criminal, no
| matter how clever as a thief nearly
always betrays stupidity in the long
run. On what other theory Is 1t possi-
BILE to explain that this apparently re-
| spectacle rug manufacturer should
| have deliberately thrown away his
chances in life and should have staked
his whole future, not even to meet ne
| cessity, On stealing one moro purse?-
| New York World.
NO CURE FOR GOSSIP.
An upstate evangelist proposes to ex-
| terminate the habit of gossip in his
| neighborhood by inviting all the gossips
to his home one day in the week for a
sort of slandering bee. The first bee was
| held on Tuesday afternoon. 1t is plan
| ned that the women can hammer away
at their neighbors' foibles as much as
they please and do no harm. His infer
| ence is that they will use up all the
weeks material for gossip in this ap-
| pointed meeting. Nonsense! The meet
| ings will be as quiet as q Quaker as
semblage. The evangelist will do all
| the talking, in his capacity as ethical
| roIOT1n0r. he Will QonOuHCS lLo WIG
| of talebearing and scandalmongering,
and his hearers will depart to talk of
/ their neighbors elsewhere
| Gossip is the resort of an inquisitive
mind in idleness. Folks with plenty OF
| important things to think about and
| useful things to do rarely gossip. The
| gift OF inquisitiveness Is as useful to the
| financier and merchant as it Is to the
| playwright and novelist By Its en-
ployment they get to know men and
their foib1es, but they never ritter
/ away their knowledge. They use 1t for
| stock and build upon it. The evange-
| list may cure few susceptible persons
| of the habit Of idle gossip by the force
| of his eloquence. But he cannot deprive
| people of the Unborn trait OF fnquisitive-
ness, and. in general the only way to
prevent the bad use of that gift is to
] put 1t to good use.-New York Times.