davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
THE CITY MANS FARM.

In many a back yard, these April
days, city men and children, and here
and there woman, are intent upon
the spring planting, says the Kansas
Industrialist. Five cents worth of
this and dimes worth Of that prop
erly sowed and cultivated. with care
fully arranged rotations; a nickePs
worth of radish and a dimes worth of
beets, some lettuce and some onion
sets, a little patch of spinach-and
there it is: the city mans farm. It
means so much more to him than the
professional gardener or the serious
faced farmer can imagine. 1t counts
for good health, clean food, untouched
by strange hands, unspoi1ed with alley
dust; it means the delightful weari-
ness of work in mans own yard, his
own spade and hoe and rake; the
eager watching for the first green
shoots; the solemn, evening consulta-
ton about the next days weather, the
chances for frost. and often the hasty
gathering of newspapers and old skirts
and sheets to protect the treasured
pIantlets.
Perhaps, without knowing it, the
city man. with his backyard farm,
has been responsible for an unusual
interest this year in gardening in the
country towns where one might be ex-
cused for expecting to SEQ it most dill
gently practiced. The extension de-
partm ent of the state agricultural col
lege is giving its particular attention
TO a series of garden contests for boys
and girls, and is receiving the most
encouraging returns. superintendent
Miller has tried, in other years, to in
duce this sort of activity in rural
places. but until this season has not
been pleased with the outlook. But
with the earnest help Of more than
900 farmers institutes the reports for
1911 are likely to surpass all other
years.
To one accustomed only to back
yard farming the strange indifference
/ of small towns and of farmers to their
own welfare, as it may be worked out
/ in a garden, has seemed unexplain-
able. Where the big crops grow, with
every facility for quick cultivation, it
has been a mystery that vegetables
| from Alabama and Florida should find
constant market in the country towns.
Where inquiry has been made the
stress Of work in the summer has been
offered as an excuse, but for the win
ter. when farm work is slack, no justi-
fcation has been forthcoming
Why should not a farmer have a
hotbed and several cold frames with
which to supply his table? Why
should he not put forth as much effort
as city man who tolls all day in
Workshop or Office and afterwards does
Ibis garden work, often under an cleo
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
The Woman in Business.

What many girls. and women, too,
fail to realize is that work-any work.
be 1t for the comm ercial and imper-
sonal world that pays for it with a
small weekly check, or for the dear
personal world which pays chiefly in
love-that any work is a privilege. No
matter how monotonous it may seem,
it carries with it a responsibility which
should win a response not only of re-
spect and interest, but of affection; and
which should result in making for the
girl a larger and more admirable per-
sonality. OF course, girl may be
overdriven, in which case she can
hardly be expected to love her work.
What she needs is to be taken away
from 1t and nursed back to steadiness
of nerves. But assuming that a girl
has a normal working day, lasting
seven or eight hours Unfortunately it
is sometimes nine), she has no excuse
for not feeling an interest in it, for
not understanding that she owes it an
attention that has nothing to do with
the wage she draws for it.-Woman's
World,
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
Regains Sight at 80.

Having regained her sight after a
years blindness, Mrs. Mary A. Wright,
80 years, who, it is said. is the Oldest
Sunday school teacher in New Jersey
appeared before her class amid the
waving Of handkerchtefs. For 65 years
Mrs. Wright has taught Sunday
school class. 1t was thought when she
went to the hospital that she never
would see again, but one of the rarest
operations in the history CT optical sur
gerry was performed, and Mrs. Wright
said she was ready to give many more
years to the service of the Sunday
school.-Burlingto IN. J.) Dispatch
to New York World.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
.LAYHAWKER .JOTy

AS the Jewell County Monitor says:
Early rising lengthens a mans days.
Some newspaper writer's are contin-
ually referring to people who snort, -
says the Holton Recorder and it asks:
Now. as matter of fact, did any
body ever hear anyone snort?
Noting that there is project on
foot to dam the Kaw, the Holton Sig
nal says: Something of a similar ma
ture is INDUCED in every spring by the
farmers who live along the river.
This is a good time for driving, ad-
vises the Jewell County Monitor. 4
you do not own and cannot hire a
horse, you can drive a nail. Patch up
fence. fasten a loose board and like
the stitch in time" save many a place
from becoming dilapidated.
AS the Clay Center Times puts it:
The curriculum of the state university
seems to be short som ewhat of q
course in SorreI Horse Sense. A good
lsorrel horse, wide between both ears
ana eyes, knows when he is we'll treat
ed, never balks and is willing
worker.
A valid excuse from the editor of the
Eskridge Tribune Star: When the cy-
clone struck Eskridge yesterday it tore
the roof off and blew in the front end
of the building in which the Tribune
Star is located. In the miXup our desk
was swept clean and a good deal of
copy anu IldIy JULIET payers were
swept out of the Office and carried for
miles. So if you telephoned or hand
ed in anything or sent an article
through the mail and do not see it in
this paper we ask you to be charitable
and overlook it under the circumstan-
ces. We have tried our best to get as
much Of it as possible and for the
omittance Of the things that it has
been impossible for US to write from
memory we ask your forbearance-
An "I-toId-you-so" from the editor
of the Kingman Journal: Some years
ago 1 slung a stray shoe in this col
umn at enc of the lazy, gadding, good
fornothirg girls of the community
who was then letting her old mother
wrestle the pots and skillets and do up
all the homework while she read yell
low back novels, bummed the streets
where the loafers could speak to her
in passing, and met incoming trains at
the Santa Fe depot. I said then, right
about here in this column, that some
day she would get her pay out of the
mills of the gods. She's got it. For
more than a year she has been sup
porting a worthless whelp of a hus-
band by the WaShtub in a neighboring
city He is one of the bunch that used
to stand around outside the church
door Sunday evenings waiting for her
to come out, while he smoked cigar
cites and exchanged foul remarks with
the gang. 1 see by the Wichita papers
that she has at last applied for a di-
Uorce
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
Jack Rabbit .sDrivev

Three hundred residents of Ethiopia,
Wash, including merchants who closed
their stores for the day, dispatch ed
several hundred rabbits in a drive near
that town. The jacks were driven into
V-shaped Enclosure of woven wire,
where the drivers made short work of
them with clubs.
The wire corral was more than
1000 feet in length, and as the jacks
dashed against it the recoil hurled
them back to 10 feet. The drivers
killed 200 rabbits before the corral was
reached. Following the drive the
ranchers served food and hot coffee.
Another drive has been arranged for
when it is expected there will be hunt
ers from various parts of the state of
Washington and Oregon. The rabbits
have caused much annoyance to
ranchers and orchardists IN the irri-
gated districts. and the growers have
decided upon series Of drives to rid
the communities of the pests.-Spo-
kane Dispatch to New York Herald. -
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
POINTED PARAGRAPHS.
[From the Chic

[F'rom the Chicago News
Even some bachelors have their
troubles.
An egotist is a man who thinks he
is better than you.
And every time a man loses money
he loses faith in somebody.
A man isn't necessarily a cripple
because he offers a lame excuse.
A woman may have the courage of
her convictions. but not of her defects.
Many a man tries to disguise himself
as a gentleman by putting on a silk
hat.
At % a girl will marry a man she
would have been ashamed to speak to
at the age of Is.
One way to get rich is to lock your
money in vault and induce other
people to give you theirs tn invest.
And many young man loves a girl
for the qualities she possesses which
he wouldn't tolerate in his own sister
for minute.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
QUAKER MEDTTAuONs.

[F'rom the Philadelphia Record.1
Many a man says nothing without
saving wood.
Even the most modern cornet player
blows his own horn.
The fellow who runs into debt gen
orally has to crawl out
People who live in glass flats should
not throw fattery.
The cleverest thing many a young
man ever did was to have a rich
father.
A woman is generally backward
about getting off joke Also about
getting off a trolley car.
When there's an epidemic of small
pox in q prison you can't blame the
convicts for breaking out.
1.-THE truth is mighty" quoted the
Wise Guy. Eyes, mighty uncomfort-
able sometimes" added the Simple
Mug.
"Just look at those eggs, dear" re-
marked Mrs. Newlywed at the break
fast table. Don't they look simply de-
licious? And such a bargain! I got
them for 20 cents a dozen, marked
down from 45.'' And then she won
dered why Mr.. Newlywed didn't want
any breakfast
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

trio light or the moon? The city man
has to skirmish around lively to get
the enriched soil, or the material with
which to enrich it. The farmer has
all the things at hand. The city man
hustles out early in the morning, in
many cases while the farmer still is
sleeping-all reports to the contrary
Notwithstanding a hasty break
fast, and runs for car. The farmer,
in the winter, gets through his chores,
or makes the boys do them before
school and after, saws a few sticks of
wood. potters around the barn, goes to
town for groceries, chats awhile in the
store, and gets home for dinner. But
this is enough. The women on the
farms know the end of the story.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
HUMOR or THE DRY

WI Why don't you sell that old mule of
yours? Well, suh,'' replied Uncle
de face to sell him to one O. de neigh
bors, an he wouldn' last fob a drive long
enough to sell i'm to a stranger. "-Wash-
PA, what is a philosopher" "a phil
osopher, my boy, is one who tells other
people that their troubles don't amount TO
much."-Detroit Free Press.
Hoax-I have discovered the only sure
way OF keeping ahead of the races. Joax
lows that? Hoax-Don't follow them
Philadelphia Record.
Hicks-Bluffer is talking of purchasing
an automobile. Wicks-Bluffer! Why he
couldn't buy a charge of ammunition for
an air gun-Boston Transcript.
what made the Tower of Pisa lean? Har-
old guess there must have been a
famine in the land.-Chicago News
Weary Walter-You've got vour nerve
going up to that house for a handout.
Don't you know they keep a dog? Tat
tered Terry-Sure' What of it? De lady
is one of desc F7etcherites, and after de
dog gifts one piece of you she makes him
masticate it 1872 times before she lets him
take another bite.-Puck.
She-What are you Laughing at? He
Your hat "Oh, dear! Haven't I got It
on straight" Eyes, that's why I'm laugh
ing 1t looks so funny on STRAIGHT
Yonkers Statesman.
whats the matter with your nephew
that's sick over at Skeedee?" "Oh, he
prescribed for himself out of a doctor
book, replied the Old Cadger, land near
ly killed himself with misprint. Puck.
She-But, George, you could never sup
port two. He-Well, I'm only looking for
one.-Newark Star.
Mistress (engaging serVant)-I hope you
know your place? Scranton, yes,
muml The last four girls you had told
me all about t.-London Opinion.
"What cured him of flirting?" "He
started filtration with lady who turn
ed out to be selling an encyclopedia at
$500 set."-Louisville Courier-Journal.
''How did the fatal accident in the air
omnibus happen to DR.. Jenks?" "EIe was
used to stepping off the street car before
it stopped, and tried ii with the air bus"
-F1iegende Blaetter.
ct don't know what to buy for my hus-
band. He has stacks of neclxties." "Ci-
garS'' HE gives them to the janitor"
-Suspenders?" He wears belt. know
what I'll do. I'll buy him hall rug and
pair of bedroom curtainsi"-Cleveland
Plain Dealer.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
THE DECLINING PRICES.

When the prices of the commodities
that make up the bulk of the food pro-
ducts were soaring some months ago.
about all that was heard of was the
high cost of living. Many assailed the
tariff as being responsible for it. 9th
ers thought the trusts were to blame.
Still others insisted that. the unusual
supply of gold in the world was respon-
sible. Some charged them up to all
three of these factors combined. A
variety of other causes were also adj
vanced for the high prices, including
the one put forward by the Harvard
professor that, as they related to food
stuffs. they were due almost exclusively
to the tin cans. glass jars and the pa
per boxes in which many of the food
products are now passed out to the
consumers. Any one who had the
temerity to suggest that the high prices
might be largely due to the old eco
nomic law of supply and demand was
laughed at with dertsion by the modern
economists.
There has been no change in the
tariff law. There has been no change
in the methods of the trusts, nor have
they been busted up and put out Of
business. Neither has there been any
diminution in the gold supply. Even
glass jars, tin cans and paper boxes
are still used in the handling of food
products to the consumer. And yet
there has been an appreciable decline
of late in the prices of almost all food
stuffs. AS a matter of fact. the cost Of
living, as measured by these prices. is
now lower in he United States than it
has been for twenty months. And
scarcely a word is heard about this
rather startling change.
According to figures compiled by
Bradstreet's, the average level of COM
modify prices experienced a decline d
per cent in March as indicated by the
index number used by Bradstreet's for
the purposes of comparison. The index
number is 8.5223, which means that
average prices are now lower than they
have been since August, 1909. The cur
rent index exhibits a decline of 7.3 per
cent from a year ago, and a decline of
rs per cent January 1, 1910, when prices
were at record high point. Wheat,
which in 1910 sold at $1.19, now COM
mands only SO cents. Flour year ago
brought $3.50 a barrel, and now may be
had for $50. Pork sold year ago at
$25.7 10; it now sells at $19.25. Beef Is
$3.50. against 1873 in the same month
last year. Other foodstuffs show
corresponding decrease. These are
wholesale prices.
Isn't it about time that the devil was
given some small portion of his due?
Are not these receding prices in the
products that are largely concerned IN
the cost of living worthy of a little at
tention? Surely the field would seem
to be a large one for the economists to
labor in again, even if they will have
put on some unusual stunts of the
mental gymnastic order to reconcile
their arguments for a few months ago
with the prices that are Prevailing to-
day, with the tariff, the trusts, the
gold supply, ct al, still doing business
at the same old stands. Their exhibit
lions in this field would certainly be
interesting, if nothing more.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

Coates for your cows" remarked
Perry McCune as they left the direc-
tors room. MAY 1 inquire, as your
attorney, what you propose to do
next %
Marry you"
"What7''
"Thar is my intention She stop
ped and faced him. They were alone
in the corridor of the office building.
ST have always wanted to marry you,
Perry, 1 loved you before my fathers
failure and death. But you did not
ask me then to marry you. You waited
"'Beggar maid, your ling deigns to
honor you with permission to serve
him as his WIFE
IF you did not use those words you
used that meaning. You did not say,
Marry me, because I love you and
want you.' Your attitude shocked from
me, I believe, all my love for you and
all the hopes I had had that our life
together might be a tender, beautiful,
perfect thing.
But today you realized that the
beggar maid was entirely capable of
becoming successful business wom-
an. You acknowledged. without words,
when the directors were applauding
Joab Coates's change of mind, that the
beggar maid had succeeded and that
or to haunt your money. And because
of what I saw in your eyes and I'M
derstood, I am willing to give up my
cows-don't Perry, dear! You must
not kiss me- mean you must not
herein this public place."-(Copy-
right, 1911, by Associated Literary
Press.)
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
A HEAVY SEa

A HEAVY SEA.
Down by the wild, tempestuous sea
l sat and wondered why
The wind, that blew
Across the blue,
Should raise the waves so high.
I asked the seagulls If they could
some proper reason find;
''Um-er, you see,'
They said, 1.-The sea
Amt solid with the wind"
l thought their answer should be right
Because they knew the sea,
And yet knew,
Although twas new,
That they were quilting me.
Then spake the wind: ST make the sea
AS heavy as dare,
Because 1t weighs
By natural ways,
A great deal more than air."
you're blowing now said and left
The place wherein L sat:
do not like
To hear what's like
A notion such as that.
sought my books. THE wind" they
said,
rs to the waves thus kind.
Because it sees
The busted seas
Too poor to raise the wind"
See?
w. J. hampton. in the New York Times.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
GLOBE SIGHTS.

LFrom the Atchison Globe.1
If a farmer had rather keep a dog
than to keep sheep, whose business is
it2
1t is our theory that no girl ever
got married because she needed man
to protect her.
Does a man wear spring overcoat
because he thinks he needs it, or to
prove that he has one?
Howling about calamity when there
isn't any, sometimes produces realistic
results in that line.
In a prairie country, it isn't consid-
cred stealing to take rotten ties from
a railway right of way.
When a man is in a great hurry to
get back to work, it may indicate that
he is late, rather than ambitious.
Why does hen cackle, when she
knows her egg is going into cold stor-
age and that she will never see 1t
again?
It is another sign of advancing years
when you begin to be cautious about
venturing far away from your UNI
brella.
A horse always seems somewhat
ashamed of working with a mule, even
if the mule is worth $500.
1t isn't any discredit for a woman
to loaf. but no man can get away
with it to good advantage in this land
of the free.
Some men have to go through a tor
nado before they realize the folly of
fighting one of those funnel-shaped
fiendS.
There isn't anything to him. said
one man concerning another the other
morning. There isn't anything to the
majority of us.
While the coroners jury may serve
useful purpose, it probably would
take a better detective than the cor
oners jury to locate 1t.
Man is becoming weaker and wiser
and even the small boy doesn't begin
going barefooted so early in the sea-
son as he formerly did.
HE is the kind of man." a brake
man said in referring TIC a ladylike
citizen, "who would like to make GRO
quet the national game"
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
JOURNAL ENTRIES

big appetite and a lean purse.
=
There is, considerably more mutual
distrust than mutual admiration in
this world.
Most of the good impressions made
by men and women are not of the last
ing variety.
n
The man who is all smiles when he
is out in company is generally a bear
when at home.
Some people are so easy they go
right ahead when they know they're
going to get the worst of 1t.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

Evidently the Aero Club of America
has an idea that aeroplanes will soon
be as numerous and popular, especially
when they belong to other people, as
are automobiles. It is planning to have
legislation enacted which will provide
punishment for any one who uses an
aeroplane not owned by himself with
out the consent of the owner In
other words it Is planned to nip joy
riding in aeroplanes in the bud
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19
LIGHT Work

A weather-beaten damsel somewhat
over six feet in height and with a pair
of shoulders proportionately broad,
appeared at a back door in Wyoming
and asked for light homework. She
said that her name was Lizzie, and ex-
planned that she had been i'll with ty-
phoid and was convalescjng.
Where did you come from, Lizzie ~
inquired the woman of the house.
Where have you been7''
1--WE been workfn' out on HowelPs
ranch" replied Lizzie, "diggin' post
holes while I was gittin' my strength
back "-LippincOtt's
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

This seems to be the accepted year
for state houses to burn up. The one
in Missouri was totally destroyed not
so long ago. Then came the disastrous
fire which ruined the most wonder
full features of the magnificent New
York capital. And only the other
day, a fire started in the basement of
the Massachusetts, state house. Luck
lily it was extinguished before it gained
much headWay
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

Colonel Roosevelt wanted to read a
little bit before he went to bed dur
ing his recent trip from Chicago to
New York, so he provided himself
with fourteen volumes of variegated
literature during his few minutes stay
in Chicago. And the chances are that
after he had disposed of this trifiing
amount of reading-matter, he did a
months editorial work for The Out
look before retiring.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

Shame on Dave Leahyi Stickler for
facts and exactness that he is, he is
nevertheless content to make an esti-
mate of the number of trees in KAN
sas And naturally that estimate is
safely over the billion mark. Insist
ence is hereby made that Dave be
compelled to count the trees in Kansas
one by one. And when he gets
through with that job he ought to be
made to count the leaves on them in
the summer time. He had no bust
ness stirring up such an important
controversy anyhow.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

Hobson will probably insist that the
dinner given by Count Komura. the
Japanese foreign minister, to Mr..
O'Brien, the United States ambassador
to Japan, during which there was an
authoritative exchange of fluctuations
on the friendly relations that exist
between Japan and the United States,
was merely one Of those Gains that
precede a serious storm.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

Representative Dwight says ma
dority of the Republicans in the house
of representatives are opposed to the
Canadian reciprocity bill. Yet. an
equitable reciprocity such as this
measure provides. is pretty good Re-
publican doctrine. It was champion
ed by such tariff experts as James G.
Blaine and William Mckinley.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

last year. But the price that the
consumer pays for it is about three
times that figure. If the coffee job
bers and retailers were asked to ex-
plain this large discrepancy they
would probably reply, freight rates I"
But the people, generally. have reach
ed the point where such an explana-
ton in matters of this kind is far
from being satisfactory
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-19

Holland, the financial writer, says
that a majority of the bankers in the
west as we'll as the east favor the Aid
rich plan for the revision of the bank
ing and currency system of the coun-
try. 1t is apparent that Holland for
got to interview Mr.. Dolley. the bank
commissioner of Kansas