University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1909-03-09
A boy REPORTER"
WHO MADE GOOD

Z
mark for Kansas new>paperdom. VIII
liam Allen White tells this story about
Capper in the edition. entitled when
the Operator Told About the Boy Re
porter.
Twentythree Years ago. in teie-
graph office in Emporia. an operator
named Harnerd-a pink-cheeked. blonde
mustached, red-lipped youth OF man!
conquests among the ladies then. but
who now probably is a fat, bald-headed.
short -winded. wateryeyed. purpre-faced
man of 55-sat with his feet on the table
before him with an eye to passing girls
on the walk outside. and told about the
Walkup murder trial. | was pimple-
faced. lOng-necked. milky-eyed. loose
iawed. callOwness of Is. chasing locals
between school hours on the Emporia
News. and just long enough out of the
backrOOm of printing Office To think
knew all there was to be known in
the printing business. Harmed was a
wizard. He con ured the court room
into the dingy telegraph office: he pic
tured the defendant as IL peri. and upon
questioning brought the reporters from
the four corners of the earth and stood
them at the counter before the clicking
Instruments. Then he added: But
there was the clevere>t kid-boy only
l6 Years old: boy named Capper. down
from Topeka. You ought to know him
just out of short pant>-but say-he
wa> Il daisy"
That was enough. The romance of
the picture was complete But it need
ed the picture of the boy reporter to
fix it in my memory. For. |. too. was
ii boy. and fancied myself Il prodigy.
Every boy does that. but here was
boy. younger than |. who actually had
been Il real reporter. sent away on an
assignment. He was my Highest Ideal.
| was only a runaway chaser and per
>onal' purveyor. who rode with the
driver of the hacks to the depot. and
skirmishcd back to the office in the bag
gage wagon. But Arthur Capper was a
real reporter. and only lG y"H~' old. 1t
was like Il fairy tale. So bidcd my
time and waited for Arthur Capper. to
pay tribute to him.
In the meantime the Years Jagged
On as they do i'm ones teens. That fall
met Gerald Nolk-thc first real city
reporter | had ever seen. and also had
seen from afar Van Bcnthuy>en- after
wards managing editor Of the New York
World and Albert Blunt. and Charley
Duncan of Lawrence. who were special
OF the Kansas City /
Times. but while. of course they We're
pcr>On> of consequence To me. waited
BOY reporter. And then. in 1855 he came
% Lawrence. There one night we met /
lnder the maple trees of Tennessee /
street. and | told him who | was Il .
ocal chaser and student reporter in /
.awrcncc and more | told him how | /
lad heard of him. and always which .
: true. for always when one j. 2n doesn't .
late much further back than the year
'cfore-I had wished To know him. And
e smilcd-likc chrrub. and "rllnted
nd looked pleased. And | became hi>
as>al.
That was nearly wcnty-nnr wears
90. And he has worked and grown.
nd grown and worked and made him.
elf il great power in the West since
hen. And still the smile of the cherub
aS not rubbed off. He has quit gr,,nr-
l". but he still looks pleased. And in
II these Years We have been friends
o me. he is still the boy rcportcr-a
cr>On to he rcvrrcd To him. / am pro-
ably still that wild-eycd. impctuou>
outh who rushed up to him that
light i'm Lawrence and shook his hand
: If it were force pump. and blatted
bout his trnmphS. and told him of
armed. AMI tried to impress my i'm
Drtance on him. all in one breath. And
, it will be to the end Our first i'm
rcs>ions last. We really change but {
tile. and when we know one another
youth. when the veneer is thin. we
q people better than We do who run
ump into them i'm middle life. The I
nj Is essentially the >am". but it !
lowS clearer i'm the DAYS OF our youth Il
hen tn" evil days come not. And I.
the cheruhic smile. the patience of h
IL youth who permitted the iav to as Il
nlt him 81 blatantIv with hi- .xuher- u
IT fooli>hne>> in the night under the y
APPLE trees in Lawrence. i the same i
Iticnt. kindheartcd gentleman he was !
cn. The Kindness that moved him V
at night to seem pleased. moves him Z
make the plea,antc>t work place in II
Kansas for those who arr near him.
ne same kindness that made men ad- |
ire him As a boy. makes them respect d
m "a man and has been the funda- i
entail character of his whole life'>
Drk. For he succeeded by smiling and g