Evening star., 1909-03-13

by the time inauguration day arrives
I'd got sort OF mixed in my mind as to
whether No. l was the fair weather or
the bum weather Introduction. Five days
had passed since I'd fired the stuff into
the home Office, you see, and I'd been
pretty busy in the meantime, and SO got
a little haZy about that numbering OF the
introduction business. My impression was,
ton morning and found the weather TO
be perfectly vile that No. 1 was the bum
weather Introduction. 1 was some shaky
about this as began to think 1t over. but
the more I thought about It the more
convinced became that No. 1 really was
the horrible weather Introduction Now,
the thing that I should have done was to
send a query to the managing editor
asking him about that point. But 1 was
twenty years younger then than I am now
and kind O. youthfully vain. and hated to
have the NJ. E. think that I was such
pinhead that. couldn't remember little
point like that for such a pioltnG space
of time as five little days.
Another thing that could have done
If I hadn't been ratified was to have
scribbled a few lines to the enect that
the inauguration weather was something
hideous, and all that sort Of thing. ana
that would have served as tip TO the
folks at the home office to uee the cor
rect Introduction to the story.
But. as 1 say, I was ratified: More
over, the more I doped on 1t the moro
convinced peCdfne tQdt NO. q VICE s1iO
fair-weather introduction and No. / the
bad-weather Introduction.
THE essence Of the telegram from my
managing editor. however, was that ].
me, myself, the Washington correspon-
dent of the Chicago newspaper aforesaid.
was pinhead, mollusc. muttonconk.
a rummy. crumb of Camembert q fat
lid, a clown, a bing-bang incompetent,
'longshoreman, roustabout, coal
HEAVIER, a piano mover-oh. we'll, I don't
remember all Of 'em, you know, at this
distance Of twenty years, and didn't
save the telegram You bet didn't save
the telegram.
"Y'see No. really was the fair weather
Introduction to the Inauguration story.
and my paper had appeared gaily on the
streets Of Chicago telling Of how Mr..
Harrison, beneath sapphire skies, and
with balmy breezes ALLOWING and the
folks in lightweight spring clothes. had
That's ali. The Associated Press
story. giving the real weather conditions.
hadn't sifted into my Chicago papers
office until it was too late~until the pa
per with my fair weather story was on
the street and in the hands Of thousands.
And all Of the other Chicago papers. OF
course. that appeared on the streets OF
Chicago at virtually the same time had
the rotten weather conditions down pat.
In such circumstanceS-let US be charfta-
ble-dye really think managing editor
Of a newspaper would have been blamed
for sending his Washington correspondent
a telegram over private wire that would
have caused his arrest and imprisonment
If he had submitted 1t to public telo-
graph company for transmission?
"Yes, I went anyway from Washington
on the following day, and never return.
ed as a correspondent. Never worked ln
the newspaper business at all after that,
in fact. That's the only good part OF e.
got a chance to quit the newspap0e
business and make a couple Of dollars for
myself in other directions. But, gee! ia
without that telegram having been hnrlo6
1t me.' :!