The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-04-13
As MAN TO MAN.

As MAN III
BY their clothes and outward ap-
pearance shall We not know them. The
newspaper man knows many men, and
OF those he meets daily in the walks
OF mirth and employment none betrays
by his brow. his eye. his mouth or
his clothes the nature of his
occupation or degree OF success in
that line Of endeavor. Many examples
! come to mind. The other day the
judge. The latter talked baseball. At
1.-THE same table sat a farmer who talked
nothing but law
To the newspaper mans desk that
suffragette but she had poetry to pub
| ltsh. After the woman came q husky
man with a rather pugnacious appear
ance who wanted q notice printed
about the sermon he was going to
preach the next Sunday. Then follow
ed q slender mildfaced fellow who
wanted story suppressed that had to
do with fight in which he had taken
an important part.
The newspaper man wondered at
the guise and habiliments of men who
in their time play many parts. It was
as strange a riddle as Samson pro-
pounded about the lion and the honey.
The newspaper man went down to
l ms CluO ana Inefe ne met men OF
many walks in life. He saw banker
+ who talked about corn and a mer-
chant who loved a banjo and a real
estate man who had bought q dog
and manufacturer with a roll of
music under his arm and a railroad
man who wanted to Join an opera
company and q lawyer who was going
, to butcher a hog. The more the
newspaper man thought about 1t, the
more strongly he became convinced
a DO 70 not rrytpo k
He began to study the men he met
that day. Knowing beforehand the
work they did with their hands and
brains. he would try to make their
post for their occupations. 1t was an
bad mixup as the prophecies of the
seven men in white on the sands Of
Patmos
Tho doctor looked like a banker
ought to look. The banker looked like
| q clerk. The clerk looked like q mil
lionaire. The manufacturer was too
young. The merchant looked too
pleasant. The railroad man looked
too sad. There was . buyer there
and he talked necessarily and a sales
man In that company and he was
/ dumb.
Sitting there to listen while these
men talked, looking at their clothes,
studying their faces. analysing their
conversation. the newspaper man knew
that ordinary methods of deduction
would prove a weak and vain guide to
find their walks In life and their
rounds upon the ladder.
These people carried the q. s. army
lover the Rio Grande. across the noun
tains and into the City Of Mexico, and
yet there was not soldier in the
room. They discussed the dread dis
ease of cancer and sought q cure, and
yet the only doctor in the room took
no part in the debate. They sifted the
good and the i'll that may result from
suffrage, and there was never q fe-
male voter present. They decided the
lquesti0n Of the unrighte0usness of the
repeal of the law exempting American
ships from toll to pass through the
Panama canal, and never a shipowner
or sailing master or congressman was
4 present at the assemblage. They saw
:, ed the crops without q farmer. they
built q boulevard to Denver without
an engineer.
They changed the board In charge
of the reserve banks. although the
banker there opened not his mouth.
They settled all these great ques-
tions that had so little to do with their
Town affairs and then went away leav-
ling no clew to their identity. class or
occupation.
j The Newspaper man wondered. He
had met so many men. And some
were brave and some were not. He
had seen the slender fellow In the big
coat strip as a ball player, hard and
muscular. He had seen the large man
fade in the stress OF conflict. He had
!. scoffed at bricklayer who turned out
to be q musician also. He had seen
empty pride in broadcloth and brains
land ability in cheap hand-me-doWns.
He had seen the man with the strong
looking face and the high brow wheel
q truck and marveled while the COM
monplace looking man changed border
!. lines and wrote words that burn and
cashed big checks. He has mistaken
the clerk for the boss and the owner
. for the clerk. He has heard the day
/ laborer quote from Marcus Aurelius
i and listened to the tongue of the rich
man in high places while II proclaim
ed its owner ignorant Of all philosophy
i and the works Of men who have gone
| before.
Judge NOT rashly, saith the gospels
One Of the smarteet men that came
| to Topeka in the last fifteen years
walked In solele0 shoes in the snow.
And one Of the most ignorant men who
! ever came to town - driving q biz
. streamline automobile today.
The Newspaper man was introduced
/ 1.-THE other day to . fat round-faced
man. jolly and care free and inclined
. | to the frivolous in his remarks. Sure
IL this man u . traveller for Z new
brand Of soda water, thought the
newspaper man. But he II vice pres
fdent OF big Chicago snanufacturing
concern. Then came along man
with : thin. hawk fnce. deem ~ 49,
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