Willmar tribune., 1909-08-25
A COSM0POL|TE
IN A CAFE,
An Incident That Proves All MeE
Have Patriotism.
BY o. HEN nv.
iCopyright. 1906. by Mcclure. Phillips &


Col
At midnight the cafe was crowded,
BY some chance the little table at
which l sat had escaped the eye of in
comers, and two vacant chairs at it
extended their arms with venal hos
pitality to the influx Of patrons.
And then cosmopolite sat in one of
them, and l was glad, for l held
theory that since Adam no true citizen
Of the world has existed. We hear of
them, and we see foreign labels on
much luggage, but we and travellers
instead Of cOsmopolites.
l invoke your consideration of the
scene-the marble topped tables, the
range of leather upholstered wall
seats. the gay company, the ladies'
dressed in demi-state toilets. speaking
In an exquisite visible chorus Of TASTE
economy. Opulence or art; the sedulous
and largess loving garcons. the music
wisely catering to all with its raids
upon the composers: the melange Of
talk and laughter-and, IL you will,
the WuMburger in the tall glass
cones that bend to your lips as a ripe
cherry sways on its branch to the
beak Of robber jay. was told by a
sculptor from Mauch Chunk that the
scene was truly Partisan.
My cosmopolite was named E. Rush
more. Coglan, and he will be heard
from next summer at Coney Island
He Is to establish new "attraction"
there. he Informed me, Offering kingly
diversion. And then his conversati6
rang along parallels Of latitude and
longitude. He took the great round
world in his hand. 50 to speak, famil-
iarly, contemptuously, and it seemed
no larger than the seed Of a maraschi-
no cherry in a table d'hote grapefruit
He spoke disrespectfu1ly Of the equa-
tor, he skipped from continent to con
tlnent. he derlded the zones, he mop
ped up the high seas with his napkin
With wave Of his hand he would
speak OF a certain bazaar in Haidara-
bad. Wifi! He would have you OH
skees in Lapland. Zip! Now you rode
the breakers with the kanakas at Kea.
laikahiki. Presto! He dragged you
through an Arkansas post oak swamp,
let you dry for moment on the alkali
plains Of his Idaho ranch. then whirl-
ed you into the society Of Vicnnese
archdukes. Anon he would be telling
you of a cold he acquired in Chicago
lake breeze and how old Escamil,
cured it in Buenos Aires with a hot
Infusion Of the chuchula weed. You
would have addressed letter to "E
Rushmore Coglan, ESQ. the Earth
Solar System. the Universe" and have
mailed it. feeling confident that II
would be delivered to him.
I was sure that | had found at last
the one true cOsmopolite since Adam
and I listened to his worldwide dis
course fearful lest l should discover in
It the local note of the mere globe
| trOtter. But his opinions >never fut
tered or dropped. He was as impartial
to cities, countries and continents as
the winds or gravitation.
| And as +. Rushmore Coglan prattled
Of this little planet I thought with
glee of great almost cosmopolite who
wrote for the whole world and dedi
Gated himself to Bombay. In poem
be has to say that there are pride ani
rivalry between the cities OF tho
earth and that "the men that breed
from them, they traffic up and down
but cling to their cities hem as child
to the mothers gown" And when
ever they walk "by roaring streets un
known" they remember their native
city. most faithful. foolish. fond, max
Ing her mere breathed name thei1
bond upon their bond" And my glet