The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-03-02
HAD I THE POWER.

4 Il.
For the regions where love is the whole
To that glorious strand where the senses
where q the ships Of desire are those only
Just this 1 would say to my heart.
Had the power, would wander away
From that Ger Jealous guardian, Self,
Fhat sArgus-eyed guardian, Self.
the plain
Where no effort is false and no effort is
vain;
Where the treasures of earth lie in folly
and mirth,
And the fool and the knave have both
value and worth.
And the errors of life do not pain
From the stern. silent whisper Of Self.
That all powerful whisper of Self.
would say to my soul: Let US on to
Where the wind-driven waves all con-
Where no beacon light plays DER deep.
And no warning is toiied of the oncoming
Yes, this would say to my soul!
-Lurana W. Sheldon, in the Smart Set.
Odd Pension Story.
A story that rivals the tales of lola
was thrown upon the desk of A. S.
Van Valkenburgh, United States dis
trict attorney, yesterday, being twelve
pounds or the record OF the pension
case Of Sarah Baker, or Kinder. Pen
sion examiners claim to have found
that the woman was declaring herself
to be the widow of her stepfather, and
that in that role she had actually re-
ceived some $S6S in pension money.
Early in the sixties an Illinois sol
dier named Baker married Nancy
Brown. It is outside the story but in
side the facts that he had buried one
wife whose name, too, had been Nancy.
Nancy Brown had been the widow of
a soldier, and she had got pension
for his death, losing that pension
when she married a second soldier
named Baker. from whom she was di-
vorced. They had a child named
Sarah.
Being out of soldiers again. Nancy
took unto her self a third, this time
the Illinois man named Kinder. TO
Kinder she took her daughter by her
former husband, Sarah. Sarah had
attractions for the soldier, so the gov
eminent papers read, for the real wi1e
found herself supplanted by the
daughter, compelled to take the
name of Mrs. Robertson, and to say
that she was assisting in the work"
The condition of affairs in this ex-
traordinary household by this time
established in West Plains, southern
Missouri, is told in the last paragraph
of the government report.
Kinder died. and the government
heard of his death when. as it was
supposed. the widow applied for
pension for herself and their four
children. The claim ran through the
various channels pension claims have
to take; pension examiners went to
the Kinder home and made personal
examinations and Investigations. as
proof of the claims of the supposed
widow, Sarah Kinder, established
that not only she, but the four chill
dren also were put on the pension list
and kept there for four years. They
were paid as the widow and chlloren
of the Illinois veteran.
Last April Washington heard from
another Mrs. Kinder. This time IL was
Mrs. Nancy Kinder, who claimed a
pension as. the widow of the William
Kinder. Two and two were put to-
gether, and 1t was found that while
there were two Mrs. Kinders in the
files, the one drawing a pension and
the other wanting to, there was only
one William Kinder claimed as their
husband.
Away went the pension examiners
again, this time with a clue that led
straight to West Plains, where Mrs
claimed, they learned of the state of
affairs which had made her stand by
and see her own daughter take her
husband, but not the daughters
father, away from her and made her
be the servant of the house for the
sake of peace.
Being unlettered. not certain that
she had not made herself legally
liable, unfamiliar with the changes in
the pension laws, the real widow, the
mother of the alleged widow, post
poned asking for a pension until this
year, when her application started the
accumulation of a report that already
weighs twelve pounds and may SEND
a woman TO the federal pr1son.-kan-
sas City Journal.