The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-04-03

Life Story of the Candidate for
Mayor of Topeka.
Written by ID. D. McCray, a
Man Who Knows.

A common bond of sympathy exists
between men who have travelled the
same road up to and through the
school of hard knocks. There Is much
in common between this writer ana
Jay e. House. cleaned from MIN at
our first meeting some fourteen years
ago that he was born in log house
The knowledge of that fact t1Xed our
friendship Not that birth IN log
house of itself should distinguish one,
except that from these humble envlr-
onments in childhood men and women
go out into the world and fill place
honorably in the affairs OF life:
Humble birth. early responsibility
and the struggle for life's necessities
are things that bring out the best in
men. The story of the Savior OF men,
He who was born in a manager, is the
one supreme inspiration OF useIul
life. For it was Jesus Christ VINO
said in the greatest sermon ever
preached, Blessed are we, when men
shall revile you, and prosecute you;
and shall say all manner OF evil
against you falsely, for my sake.
Jay E. House completed his school
house education at the age or H.
With a mastery of McGuffey's read
ers, a smattering of Rays arithmetic,
an insight into Harvey's grammar and
an outline of Monteith's geography he
entered the school of hard knocks.
This was a school of Life-a printing
the great lesson in industry and econ
omy. The first six months he worked
for his board; the second six months
he received SO per week. INCREASES
of salary came slow; too slow to be
sufficient to support a mother, an in
valid father and four sisters. The
only thing in sight was work on the
railroad grade at $1.25 per day:
shovel nine months and then went
back to the printing office.
In the years that followed before he
came to Topeka, there was ever before
ents and sisters as the head of the
household. Their support rested on
his shoulders. An added responsible
ity was the education of his sisters,
which this splendid type of aggressive
Kansas young man fulfilled with non-
or and credit. You may hear the
story of Mr.. Houses indomitable in
dustry and energy during the years of
the homes of Neosho county, and he
yond it's borders. 1t all is the story
of the struggle of life against odds: of
a love and devotion for his parents
and sisters, and an ambition to sue
coed in his profession. For Jay T..
House came up to his present place
as a newspaper writer along the we'll
beaten path which many others have
trod-type-setter. editor and owner of
a country newspaper at the age of 20,
and now a contributor to nearly one
hundred of the leading newspapers of
the United States.
One day I was talking with Mr..
House about Life We chatted about
it's trials and disappointments, it's
pleasures and happiness. He said the
little visit had brought out thought
which he wanted to round into SEN
fences. He said the most persistent
and continuous search by humanity is
that for happiness. The next day he
wrote and printed these lines:
II have long believed, in later years
I have become convinced, that money
and position are the least important
factors in life. Given something hui
man for which to love and care"a
woman or a little child-and given
work which is congenial, and to which
he gives his best effort and his great
est skill, and no man can escape hap
piness. Joy in his work is a mans
best asset. To love human being is
his finest experience. And if he has
these two essentials he really needs
nothing. else. For no matter how
humble his place in the world, no mat
ter how closely he must cut and cover
to make ends meet, he will be happy.
If there is anything else in the world
worth striving to obtain L have never
discovered it. 1 do not undervalue
I should like to have both. Each is
distinctly worth while, and each
brings qualification. AS subsidiary
aids to happiness each is valuable. But
know that every soldier, every son
and daughter of a soldier every wild
oW or soldier, and every patriotic
man and woman who reveres the sac
rlf1ces and services of the veterans of
the Union, will read with interest an
extract from the pen of Mr.. House.
The Soldier I Knew Best is the title
of an article published in the Capital
which has become a Soldier Classic.
1t reflects the writer's respect and
generation for the soldiers of the re-
public. He was crossing the state
house grounds May 25th, last, when
he met five old soldiers who had
come to- participate in the dedication
of Memorial Hall. ..As came abreast
of them I involuntarily stood at at
tention and saluted the bronze button
and the men who wore it, he said.
Mr. House went to the Capital Office
and wrote of THE Soldier 1 Knew
Best" This soldier was his father
who suffered as an invalid from the
day he came home from the army to
that of his death. These were the
lest upon the young man and who,
with courage and determination,
turned his face to the front and met
them-just as he will meet the ex-
pectations of Topeka's splendid men
and women who will elect him mayor
next Tuesday.
When the father of Jay E. House
was laid to rest, freed from his years
of suffering, the son spent his vaca-
ton one October in the south, there to
follow for a few days the long since
effaced footsteps of the soldier he
knew best, but let him tell it in his
own way:
And so, 1 followed the trail of the
soldier I knew best from the copse-
grown field of Shiloh to the monu-
mental heights of Missionary Ridge,
nooga and the inspiring heights of
Lookout Mountain. I saw the fields