The Washington bee., 1910-12-17
Public Men AndTIIinDS
(By the Sage of the Potomac }

1he Other evening l TELL into rem |
iniscent mood. | had been down to
Bob Aliens, where they sell remins-
cent fluid. Figuratively, l hibernated
back to the good days of old and
called up the spirit of the old Pen and
Pencil Club. Back in those days there
were a dozen or more of us who used
to write for the colored newspapers.
Everyone of us imagined himself an
embryotic if not real Max O'Rell,
William I. Stead, or a George Alfred
Townsend. We were all gifted cor
respondents, to hear us tell it. Now
and then we turned out some sizzling
hot stuff, too, and some of it bordered
dangerously close on real live, up-tO-
date correspondence. There were in
that galaxy of bright particular stars
| Willis Menard, Bob Terrell, Ed,
| Cooper, Ed. Thornton, Doc Richard
son, Lafe Hershaw, John Bruce, John
| Paynter, Bob Pelham, Will Pollard
and one or two others whose names
| do not Jump up before me on COM
inand. What has become of all that
| bunch? Willis Menard, who used to
| heavy enough 70 break the forms, is
still running the Government Printing
| Office at a nominal salary. Bob Ter
rell is dispensing something that only
the successful litigants call justice;
| Ed. Thornton has so many babies now
/ he has not time nor inclination to
write dope; poor Ed. Cooper has join
ed the innumerable throng that
wends its way to the silent halls of
death; Will Pollard is picking easy
dollars out of the pockets of those
who think they have a right to en-
ploy a lawyer; Bob Pelham is run
ming the Census Office for Durand, in
addition to his regular duties of as
sorting the mail; Doc Richardson no
longer signs the Government pay roll,
Though the enforced absence of his
iname from the rolls is not in accord
Iance with his wishes; Lafe Hershaw
still writes for the Horizon whenever
it appears, but that is semi-OCcasiOnal-
lily; John Paynter no longer initiates
. BulWer LyttOn'S style in his Eugene
Aram, for the Colorado Statesman;
John Bruce, old Bruce Grit" is draw
ing money from the Government up
in New York State Of all that bunch
of real, imaginary or pseudo news
Ipaper writers that hung over Wash
Iington like a pail some few years ago,
not one, save Chase and myself, are
still in the harness, and | have only
recently "come back" Chase has been
going on ever since he started, and
the indications are he will be running
The Bee even after Gabriel blows his
| swinenett to announce that the FIRE
department better get its hose out to
put out the fire that is promised to
consume this old mud ball we live on
That was a great bunch of pencil
pushers, and Washington, the country
and the race misses them and the serv-
ice they rendered. Their efforts was
'love's labor" for they received nc
pay. Why not let us have a reunion
of the old gang? Lafe Hershaw, vii.
e lis Menard and VIII Pollard might
2 constitute themselves a committee tC
: work it up 1t would be rich as cream
dinner and reunion of the ole
scribes. Let's do it,
= IN my last weeks matter, when re
I ferring to Hon. Henry Lincoln John
f son, a typographical error was made
4 A sentence read "He resides some
t where in the Southwest under the per
= sonal supervision of Sam Harris OF
, the Jane Mosely." This should have
. read, Sam Harris, formerly of tn,
] Jane Mosely." Sam anu Henry Lin
coin are old Georgia boys, and Friends
' of long standing Sam is as proud o
= Henry Lincoln as a boy with his frs
I pair of red-tops, and he has a righ
S to be; and his loyalty, too, and ad
E miration for his friend is something
S commendable. Sam would go an
D length for Henry Lincoln, just as
real friend should
: A bunch of us were discussing BIZ
+ colored officials of the past and pres
e ent the other evening, and the presen
= were made to suffer by comparison
/. with those of the past. It ought no
= be lost sight of, however, that il
: any comparison the rank and fl
4 should be considered. Since Douglass
e Bruce, Lynch and Langstons day
d there has been a great advancement
= in the ability of clerks and messen
: gers. Now we have colored clerks il
S the Departments who are graduate law
0 yers and physicians, men who ar
fully abreast of the times, and tn
equal of the so-called big officials
And we even have messengers of col
or who are graduates. and who ar
only retarded by their color. Thi
i is one reason why the big official
d suffer by comparison with that grea
: galaxy of the past In one particular
il however, they dc fail, by comparison
r and that is in manhood, Not one @
e them of to-day are the equal @
s Douglass, Langston, Bruce, Lynch an
s others of their day when it comes t
It standing up for their people. Absc
e lutely not one that measures up a
/ a real leader. We who have bee
s here for many years know how thos
l, men went to the front when a rae
II question was at issue. These of tC
e day seem content to simply draw thei
d salary and perform their routin
IS duties, but they are not leaders .Thos
o of the past had a following and cor
l. stituency, and they spoke out for tina
+. constituency. They were not afrai
l. of their jobs. But we may neve
e have a coterie of officials here agai
n the equal, man for man, of Douglas
Bruce, Lynch and Langston. The
don't make them in that heroic mol
any more. I mean no disrespect t
e the present; l am simply giving fu