davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
SAYS UNCLE CIV

We'd have a good deal of sympathy
for that particular pessimist who thinks
this age pays too much attention to
physical conVeniences and too little to
morals, if he had his facts straight.
There are still a good many of US who
have lingering instinct to regard the
products of progress as the works of
the devil. We don't put it that way ex-
actly, for that idea in that form went
out of fashion when popular education
came in and we ceased to regard the
wonders of invention as evilly miracu-
lous. We express the same old idea,
however, by saying that the motor car
is a menace to society and that the
telephone is the handmaiden of sin If
you haven't heard / tn you don't read
sermons of interviews uttered by dys-
peptic reformers. This is the verdict
of the superficial observer, the dictum
of the halfbaked, the opinion of the
mulligrubber. He who grasps the true
meaning of modern conveniences and
their relation to the social welfare, is
an optinist.
There was something significant said
upon this subject the other day by a
man who knows. He is the head of a
great detective agency whose work is
Worldwide and touches every condition
of life.
moral improvement of the times?'' he
was asked.
What we call the modern conven-
iences," was the reply. THE world is
getting better and the inventions of
the times are making it better-morally
better"
AT first glance the connection was not
apparent. There is still something
rather strange in the idea that men
can be made better by physical means,
although that principle is more familiar
today than it was yesterday.
oil in al Coid
the detective, that the moral tone of
the people of the United States is i'm
proving rather than retrogradfng and
that things so apparently foreign to the
moral uplift as the telephone, the motor
car the lightning express, the wireless
telegraph, and all the contrivances for
more rapid communication between
men are the chief factors in this
change.
Say what you will, the law and the
opinions of our neighbors are the chief
deterrent to wrong doing. The distance
annihilating inventions of the day give
law and public opinion quick, free and
effective play That is all there is to
it,
TT is no longer possible for the GRIM
inal to sink out of sight. The man who
steals his neighbours wife and flees to
the ends of the earth reads of his es-
capade in a newspaper delivered at his
refuge the morning of his arrival
Nowadays our little sins find us out as
well as the big ones. The lesson that
the modern invention is driving home
lis that it pays to be square
Which is submitted as q full and
complete answer to the particular pessi-
mist referred to in the beginning. All
things work together for good, and the
inventor will get you If you don't watch
OUT
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
BATTING THE BALDHEADs.

1t is a mean man who holds ont
the hope of improvement along any
line and then declines to show how
this betterment may be wrou yht.
Here, for instance, is DR.. Henry Sill
bermin, of Chicago, who has Just
brought himself into this class and
who, we are inclined to believe as we
ponder his case, SHOULD, like Abou
Ben Adhem, lead all the rest"
Primarily, he is a philanthropist.
He wishes to aid his fellow man and
to bring joy to a class who need SYM
pathy. 1t is not always those who are
vitality afflicted that have the hardest
times, that worry most, that despair
and grieve and bear the heaviest bur-
dens. Sympathy does much to soften,
but who ever gives any. sympathy to
a bald-headed man, especially if his
dome is as bare and rounded as the
top of the Tai Mahal and like it shines
and glistens?
These landmark men suffer because
of the savage sense of fun of the long
haired part of the world They are
joshed and derided; they are staples
of fun. like the mother-in-law, old
maids, and squally, impudent kids. If
they suddenly blossomed into hair
hirsute Jonah's gourds, so to speak
the professional funny men would
grow bald themselves scratching their
polls for ideas.
1t was then. charitable, sympathetic,
endearing, of DIR. SiIbermin to begin
the study of baldheadedness. He
wanted to be a philanthropist So far
so good. But now that he could be
such noble soul, he balks at the crit
zeal moment.
In an address in Chicago, a few days
ago, DR.. SiIbermin spoke feelingly on
the subject. He spoke prophetically
as well. There was no need for the
baldhead. In time, there would be
no baldheads, if man lived as he
should. The trouble would be wiped
away by diet. Eating, and right eat
ing, was the preventive and the cure.
There he stopped. He didn't tell
what TO eat and when and how much.
There is an old proverb about the bird
that will not sing. In like manner the
doctor who will not talk should be
made to talk.
Men, when stirred. forget nice points
of ethics. 1t might be we'll to call DR..
Silbermin's attention to this and cas-
ually speak of the frenzy to which an
angry and determined mob of bald
heads might be reused
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14

lead men to invest in material man
sions instead of seeking one on the
other side of Jordan. In a word, he
has turned real estate dealer, as he
was starving in the pulpit.
The other day he offered a farm to
Samuel Watts, who was much taken
with its possibilities, but hesitated on
account of his bacheIorhood. I'D buy
that farm If had a wife, Watts told
Smell. To sell it under such conditions
was easy. The former minister had an
engaging way with him. He knew
womankind from all the educative
angles the associa tions of ministry af-
ford, and so it was no trouble for him
to find a sweetheart for Watts; to
urge the merits of each upon the other,
and to bring about their speedy engage
ment And then he stepped back into
his cIericals long enough to marry them
himself. 1t is not told whether he
asked the customary fee, but one SO
sharp would not overlook such a finan-
cial transaction.
Smell has found his vocation, just as
many another misfitted man could If
he took the step. The world is full of
opportunities to the fellow who can see
them. It doesn't require such wonder
full vision, either. To be on the spot
counts much.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
A SATURDAY SERMON.
Go. and sin no more. St. John viii:-


Although these few words are but
the conclusion of the gentle admoni-
ton that Christ gave to the unfor-
tunate woman who had been dragged
by the Pharisees before him for his
judgment, and after none of them
could qualify as an accuser because
he could not meet the test of being
himself without sin, they carry a
wonderful message to all men and
women
What a marvellous door they open
to the myriads of people who are of
a mind TO improve their ways. And
all normal humans are so disposed.
The man without sin, the only one
that the world has ever known, came
and passed with the birth and death
of Jesus of Nazareth. Every one else
has been and is a sinner of larger or
smaller proportions. The individual
who says that he is not is neither
honest with his friends nor with him
self. In his own heart, he knows that
he is hypocrite of hypocrites. Just
because a person does not commit an
overt or secret act against the laws
of God and man-and. of course, the
number who do not is exceedingly
small-that is no indication that he is
'ithout sin. Evil thoughts and de-
sires, even though they be unrealized
or unfulfilled, also constitute sin; such
as lusts and pride and envy.
But for every sinner, there is the
reassuring message: go. and sin no
more" 1t doesn't matter if his sin is
big one that has harmed others as
we'll as himself, or a less reprehensi-
BILE one that concerns only himself or
merely his thoughts. The chance is
always at hand for him to rehabilitate
himself in the eyes of men and of God.
The latter is no doubt much easier
than the former, for God is just and
forgiveness is one of the big tenets of
His creed. While men, being no more
nor less than mere humans are full
of frailties and harsh in their judg-
ments of each other, when, as a mat
ter of fact, they should not judge each
other at all.
And this pointedly suggests that we
should accord all sinners, who are of
a mind to make an honest effort to
reform, far more generous treatment.
1t is incumbent on everyone to re-
member that he himself is not free
from sin of one sort or another And
as he would that others should do
unto him, so should he do unto them
To help a man or a woman on his
or her way to a more righteous life is
one of the most glorious of privileges
that is open to all men. To kick an I'M
fortunate when he is down is not only
cowardly, it also places the kicker on a
lower level in the human scale.
No man has right to say that he
is better than his brother.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
AYHAWKER JOTS

1t may not be much, as the Gridley
Light says, but the only thing that
may be said of some people is that
they "do no harm"
No matter how bad politics become
you have no right to grumble at the
weather, insists the Ottawa Herald.
There never yet has been weather so
bad as some politics you have known.
Excellent advice for the Democrats,
from the Dickinson County News:
The Democrats have control of the
legislature. However, the Democrats
will have to do business if they want
to stay there long.
Down in Allen county, the campaign
committee testified that it spent So for
circus tickets, notes the Lawrence Ga
zette, and it adds: In nearly all the
counties there was a circus that was
free during the entire campaign.
That story about Walt Mason hav-
ing permanently severed his connec-
ton with the Emporia Gazette seems
to have been in error. FOR six
months since the Armageddon business
started" explained the Gazette recent
1y, Uncle Walt, who believes in the
good old world about as it is, has not
been working on the Gazette. But
now that Armageddon is cooling off,
and that the Armageddon editor is go
ing to California for three months OF
so, it is likely that along about Christ
mas the paper will be worth reading
again and that the Fat One will be
back on the old stand"
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
THE GRAPEs OF EsHCoI.

I have not entered in: across my way,
Shining and deep, silent river lies;
But sometimes, in the dawning of the day,
I see the vision of its vineyards rise.
And once. when Joy and walked hand
in hand,
One passed, his staff with purple clus-
tiers bent:
The whey juices dripped along the sand,
And all the air throbbed fragrance as
he went.
He spake no words, but in his eyes there
Shone
The steady radiance of the evening star.
And wooing breath of music, lightly
blown
BY fitful winds, came stealing from afar.
And still wait till. on some raptured
morn,
Astir with wings. and tremulous with
light,
The grapes of Eshcol, through the desert
borne,
May CLEAN again upon my eager sight
Tranquil and cool, little path will run
Through smiling meadows downward to
the sea,
Through fruitful vineyards shining in the
And Joy, that fled. will walk again with
me.
Emily Huntington Miller, in the Century.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
THE CLERIC IN REAL ESTATE.

Too many people wobble about in this
world, working at the thing nearest
their hands, hating it, perhaps, doing it
badly in many cases, and yet clinging
like grim death to it because of their
fear of striking out in other directions.
If they had this courage, and were not
rebuffed by three or four discoveries
that they hadn't vet arrived at the
work which best fitted their hands, the
right thing might turn up.
Or they might have the good luck of
w. B. Smell, of Climax, Michigan, in his
very first real estate deal. And yet
when the tale is told, it is wrongFto
credit the Smell success to accidental
circumstances, entirely out of himself.
1t was his promptitude. his resource
fulness, his knowledge OF human ma
ture, which won out
Smell used to be minister He is
one yet, as far as his power to baptize,
marry and bury is concerned. But he
does not exhort. He saves his voice,
his pleasing and his pleading ways, to
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
GLOBE SIGHTS
BY THE ATcH1soN GLOBE.

If a man has hobby he is sure to
ride it.
Many people hear strange noises that
don't exist.
Some folks are So easily amused that
there are a lot of good lodge men.
A woman's ideas of triumph is TO
make the Thanksgiving gravy last uni /
Christmas.
The convenient time to write letters
seems to be when you have nothing else
to do.
Link Preston does all the kicking about
Christmas and his wife knits all the pres
ents.
A conservative politician doesn't gain
that reputation by what he says about
the opposition.
Nothing much in the stories girl tells
on her return from a visit about the
Grand young men in the town she visited.
Conditions probably aren't quite salts
factory in this country. but if you save
your money you will eventually become
rich.
Ever know a loafer who didn't feel he
was underpaid on the rare occasions
when he went through the motions Of
working?
Joe Davis who once bossed a gang of
men who were moving pile of lumber,
has referred to himself as a foreman of
construction ever since.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14

in his pocket for his flashlight and
turned 1T full upon the face of the
shivering man. He started-it was
Tom Waters. Though unkempt and
roughly clothed he knew him in an in
slant. The man did lot cover under
the light, and the patrolman saw that
his face, though lineG and thin, was
not that of a hardened crook, and the
eyes, sunken though they were from
anxiety and want, had not yet wholly
lost their look of old-time pride and
honesty.
With a cry of surprise Patrolman
Burton released his grip on the ragged
collar. His hand sought his pocket ana
a moment later he pressed something
thin and crinkly into the hand of the
wretched man..
Here he said hoarsely, take this
home to the wife and Riddles and try
to keep straight for their sake" A
moment later he was swallowed up in
the storm.
Under the glow of an arc light Wa
tiers eagerly examined the gift. 1t was
a $50 bill.-(Copyright, 1912, by the Nc
Clure Newspaper Syndicate)
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
HU14OR or TIE Day

First Bachelor Maid-Td rather have
marriage certificate than college m
ploma, for 1T is so much easier to get
Second Bachelor Maid-True; but think
of the work after you get it.-Judge.
Husband-I don't believe that fable
about the whale swallowing Jonah. Wife
Why not? That's nothing to what you
expect me to swallow OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Colts.
Hello, Jones! I hear you were sick"
Yes; I was threatened with q fever, Dut
the doctor succeeded in arresdng it"
''Ah! he arrested It for making threats, 1
suppose. Boston Transcript.
IT fear 1 have made a mistake"
.'Why?" He proposed in a taxicab. The
minute 1 accepted him he paid the bill
and we got out and walked."-Kansas
City Journal
How did you ever come to be vege-
tartan, Slitbers?' queried Bildad. ''Oh, IL
was perfectly simple" said Slithers.
After had paid for my motor car 1
couldn't afford meat."-Harper's Weekly.
Well" remarked the boxer, as ne
walked the floor with his first born
some of my enemies have said that /
couldn't put baby to sleep, but I never
believed It tn now."-The Weeks Sport.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
POINTED PARAGRAPHS
IFrom the Chicago News.I


Your temper will improve with disuse.
Any one NAV find fault, but few man
age to lose it.
Lot was glad his wife turned to salt in
stead of pepper.
However, wealth is not the only thing
that is predatory
But. unfortunately, too many coming
young men fail t. arrive.
More umbrellas are turned by the wind
than are returned bysborrowers.
A man thinksehe would enjoy helping
his poor relations-if he hasn't any.
There's no monotony in the life of a
woman who marries a man to reform
him.
Some people derive a lot of pleasure
from spreading bad news about their
friends.
Sometimes a young lawyer makes good
because he has wife who lays down the
law to him.
When man has bad temper he is
never satisfied until he bestows sample
of it on all his friends.
When a married man has to use nail
to connect his trousers with his suspen-
ders he is justified in his belief that mar
rage is q faill~
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
QUAKER MEDITATTONs.

From the Philadelphia Record.1
If at first you don't succeed, guess
again.
The weather mans predictions don't
have much weight in a dry town.
Hoax-'Bjones thinks he's the big
noise" Joax-'He is-like thunder"
When a convalescent says he is feeling
Sew-sew, he must be on the mend.
Many a guide can't pitch a baseball any
better than ball player can pitch a tent.
A husband and wife are supposed to be
one, but that doesn't always mean single
blesSedneSs.
SiIlicus-''She's just the sweetest thing
in tie world" Cynicus-"That's what the
fly thought when it got stuck on the
molasses.'
Many a fellow who has been trying to
get his courage up to the proposing point
for two years is surprised when the gil
accepts him in two seconds.
Blobbs-'TYour wife suffers from neTv-
Gus prostration, doesn't she?" Slobbs-
''WeIl, sometimes think she suffers, and
sometimes L think she positively en-
Joys it."
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
JOURNAL ENTRIES

Misdirected charity is often worse
than none at all.
4 =
Manv people cease to be clever as
soon as they find out that they are.
X 4 y
Looking pleasant is easy enough
when you're having a photograph
taken.
A girl with a mouth full of pretty
teeth usually keeps it open when she
isn't talking.
Most men meet with reverses be-
cause of their high opinion of the ex-
cellent quality of their own judgment.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14

Governor Stubs and others are es-
pecially happy in their repeated COM
parsons of the Bull Moose conferences
and conventions to revival meetings.
Much shouting and exhorting are in
obliged in by the evangelists. There
is a tremendous beating of the tom
toms. Sensitive and impressionable
folk are moved by story new to them
that is told in an effective manner. The
converts are enthusiastic for the cause
for many days and even weeks. But
only a few of them stand hitched per-
manOntly.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14

Several of the large dressmaking
firms throughout the country are all
legged to be concerned in big SNUG
Cling conspiracy. But that's a mere
bagatelle when compared with the con-
spiracy they have framed up against
the married mems pocketbooks. Its
chief feature is the incessant changing
of the styles of women's clothes every
few months
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14

Not to be outdone by Professor
Yerkes, of Yale, who declares that
worms have brains and think, Pro-
fessor Coburn, of Harvard, announces
that mice have been found to reveal
temperamental tendencies. Some pro-
fessor of the University of Chicago,
will probably go them one better by
insisting that the lobster is the true
prototype of humans because when it
gets warm it turns red.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
DAFFYDuS
BIZ q. NoALL.

If q Duke was handed a million
bones what do you suppose the settle
ment?
CAS- Dat Abar suggests: You'll find
sympathy in the dictionary
If a man can't write to his girl
friend will the typewriter?
Chit him again for me. He's the
boob that put the chill in chiuchilla,)
Are all the other birds nieces and
nephews to the pheasant?
(Say, Ma. Give me another piece of
pie, will you, please?)
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14
KANSAS COAGMENT
sPuGs AND OTHERS.


Two organizations are receiving more
or less attention at this glad pre-Christ-
mas season, one known as Big Brothers,
Good Fellows or some other title indica-
tive of an enthusiastic Christmas spirit
that wishes to see others happy, the
other known as the Society for
the Prevention Of Useless Giving
or by the shorter, more easily
remembered name of spugs. And
the two organizations represent
to greater or less extent the
spirits that characterize the Christmas
season. There are those who see in the
return of the most universal celebra-
ton an opportunity to add to the happi-
ness of those whose lives are not all
sunshine and there are others who hail
with no delight the season Of gift giving
because of the burdens it will entail
upon them, who see in the Christmas
celebrations only a call to give because
II they dc not some one will feel
sighted. Some approach the day from
the gloomy side because of selfishneSs.
who would cut off all gift giving for
the pleasure of boarding and then there
are spugs, to use the wonderfully ex-
pressive term, who have good reason
for joining the society. The selfishness
of others, members of their own family
and their own set perhaps in the be-
stowal of gifts may make the exchange
OF Jewelry and other high priced pres
ents anything but the enjoyable act it
is intended and in such cases the
''spug'' movement might be of benefit,
particularly SO If it is used in connec.
ton with some other along the lines of
the Big Brother or Good Fellow plan,
and uses the Christmas allowance
where it will bring value received in
happiness instead of adding to the ac-
emulation of gifts on some one who
does not want them and does not ap-
preciate them. If you must be a spug,
do not be a selfish one.-Salina Journal
NURSES WANT A LAW.
The Kansas Nurses association wants
law passed by the coming session of the
legislature calculated to give them a little
protection. What they want is a board
constituted to issue certificates and reg
lister nurses. They point out that doctors,
veterinarians, dentists, lawyers and 9TH
ers have such protection, and the nurses
portant to the general health and peace
OF a community as some of the other pro
feSSionS named. One idea behind the
movement is also to provide protection
FOR the people. As every one knows, care
f1l nursing is half the battle in case of
Illness. Graduate nurses, is well
known, must devote several years hard
work and careful study in order to per-
feet themselves for receiving their di-
| above has been started in the interests
of those who are willing to put forth that
effort and study. On the face of the
matter, 1t would seem to be just request,
and tereh can certainly be no objection to
a fair argument of the case before the
lawmakers of the state.-Newton Kan
sas-Repubncan.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-12-14

Incidentally, the initiative and the
referendum will not develop much pop
ularity with office holders. All of the
propositions recently submitted to the
voters of San Francisco for the amend
ment of the citys charter, that pro-
vided for increased salaries for city
officials and other employees and which
would have thereby increased the taxes,
were defeated decisively. And it is
probable that the voters of every city
will do likewise whenever they get the
chance,