The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-15

No trouble set awry:
He never eashed his worry checks.
At last that poor man fell from grace
By a grim trick of fate
| He saw his train pull from its place
just as he reached the gatei
There was man who sought to be
Within the limelight's glare;
He aimed to let his fellows see
Just who he was and where
Alas. the gods of public men
ONCE left him in the t inrel,
- -U - = Chicago News
Washington's Birthplace.
Every American knows where George
Washington lived and died. and no
small fraction of us have taken the
pious pains to visit Mount Vernon,
but one is likely to question con-
siderable number of our citizens. no
matter how intelligent, well-educated,
and patriotic, before finding anybody
who can remember-if he ever knew
just where the Father of His Coun-
try was born. AS for coming across
a man or woman who ever visited the
place, that is next to impossible. Yet
there is an expensive monument in the
little village of Wakefield, Va, erected
by order of Congress. and people do
go there to see it-sometimes as many
as four or five in a single year. the
official guardian of it reports.
They have to be determined and
Q0Sply interested Pt4SPlLlS, 1OI Ing
nearest railway station is 25 miles
away, and he who makes the journey
up or down the river by boat is land
ed at a broken wharf whence he will
have to walk four miles unless he can
hire farmer to ''hitch uu'' and carry
him to his destination. Somebody on
the Boston transcripts staff seems to
have made the pilgrimage lately, for
an editorial article in that paper tells
all about it and about the wilderness
of Tidewater Virginia and its big coun-
ties of King George, Westmoreland,
Northumberland, Richmond, and Lam
caster, in not one Of which is there a
single railway, steam or electric. -Four
other counties south of the Rappahan-
mock, on the peninsula between it and
the York River. are no better provided
with transportation facilities, and even
the sailboatS of other days have most
ly disappeared.
Washington passed only his first
four years in Wakefield, and naturally
his associations with it are of the
slightest. Besides that, nobody thinks
or as in any other way distinctly hu-
man, for that matter. He looms a
colossal figure, solemn and stately,
through the mists of legend and myth,
and perhaps it is just as well that his
birthplace should be forgotten. The
old house at Mount Vernon is more
fitting shrine. for there Washington
was himself and as much like the
could be- Laborious modern historians
try in vain to make him actual and
they dig up letters that show him
the possessor of a temper and other
wise human but he remains in the
popular mind always in heroic pose,
ready to have his portrait painted for
the inspection of posterity. Wakefield
interferes with that. and therefore,
probably, is the existence of Wakefield
ignored.-New York Times
Justice Browbeaten.
Justice as administered in Kentucky
sometimes goes hand in hand with law,
sometimes def1es and marches ahead
of 1T and sometimes forces it to COM
promise. A curious instance of this
last named procedure occurred few
days ago in Grant county. A negro
convicted of an atrocious crime was
committed to Jail to await the sentence
of death provided by law The action
few days enraged a mob which had
assembled about the courthouse and
it was decided that the avengers want
ed the affair settled Immediately so
without having to return
The judge reasoned with the mob,
pointing out that the criminal was
safely locked in Jail and that he would
be sentenced and executed in due
course. At first this appeal had no
effect but in little while the mob grew
conciliatory and confronted the judge
with this proposition: IF you will
keep him here and hang him in so
days We will quit and go home"
The offer was accepted. the judge
gave the promise demanded of him
and the mob dispersed. Justice ex-
pressed in the brute force of the mob,
had dictated to the court and COM
PEELED the law to conn promise, with the
result that all of the would-be lynchers
probably went away with somewhat
q Il f-.s4
the integrity of legal processes than
he had before. 1t was a triumph of
justice of the british type, which
makes the law weak and life less Sc
cure.-New York Mail
He Forgot.
The other day one of the Deering
conductors left the house in a hurry
He was a few minutes late. His wife
was. in the garden hanging out the
clothes" She called to him to come
back because she had an errand for
him to do. He tried to get out of
coming back but she would not stand
for it. when you get into the City
soap" and with tat request she handed
him two nickleS. Now he was in
hurry as before mentioned and his
great hurry made him forget for the
time where he was. He imagined that
he was in the car and that the car was
behind him. So great was his hurry
to get started that absent-mindedly he
reached up and grabbed the clothes
line and rang In two fares. and not
satisfied with that pulled two quick
bells on another clothes line to start
the car. His wife has told about lit
and now the boys on his division are
having a great amount of sport with
him.-Portland Express.
Out of the Mouths of Babes.
Mamma-What can I do TO induce
you to go to bed. dear?