Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1916-11-21
The Legend of Boston
BY Frederic 7. Haskin

Boston. Mass, NOV. IL. You nave
heard lot about Boston. You know
that all the, inhabitants eat beans, read
heavy literature, and think important
thoughts. You know that the streets
of Boston are as crooked as those OF
New York often look to visitor from
the west, and that the morals of Bos-
ton are as straight as those of New
York are supposed to be crooked. Yon
know that the Puritans landed here,
and never having found one anywhere
else, you suppose they stayed.
Having arrived in Boston, then. with
this liberal equipment of hearsay In
formation. you will naturally be curl
Gus to know how we'll Boston lives
up to its national reputation. Is this
grand old lady among American cities
really the venerable and austere in
tellectual she is supposed to be? Is
she really nourished exclusively on
beans and Victorian literature and
sermons. or does she unostentatiously
go in for Sunday supplements, pate de
fOie gras and cabarets?
You are on the trail of the Boston
highbrow. the Boston bean and the
Boston conscience You demand to
know whether Boston really has these
things as per advertisement. Admit
teddy. as more or less perfect stran'
ger, you are hardly in position to
grasp the true inwardness OF Boston:
but you are singularly we'll equipped
to get vivid fret impression OF its
true outwardness. And whatever is
deeply rooted in place, shows like
wise on the surface of its life.
The first thing to challenge your at
tention. and also your intentions. Is
the well known New England con-
science. The first manifestation OF 1t
that strikes you is the fact that all OF
the bars are open to the street. You
can see into them and all over them.
II you want to drink in Boston, you
have to drink in public-unless yon
prefer to buy your bottle and drink III
private. There are innumerable TAM
ily' liquor stores.
Yes. Boston is righteous city and
consciously SO. Where else for ex-
ample will you find large and popu
lar soda fountain that displays the
sign Temperance Drinks?' When
Bostonian drinks chocolate matted
milk, he is not only conscious that he
is drinking a chocolate matted milk.
but also that he might otherwise be
drinking high ball or a sloe gin
fizz. Thus is the consciousness OF vir-
tue inculcated even in the young.
And symptoms of that accelerated
celebration which is the boast and
fame of Boston are not lacking either.
For example in your hotel Cor at least
in mine) when you look for Laundry
list you find instead list of the books
in the hotel library! In all of your
goings and comings did you ever be.
fore strike hostelry which placed I'M
der your nose large bound catalog OF
its library? Some hotels in the south
offer you bible, and some in the
north offer you wine list. but only in
Boston does your tavern place at you-
disposal whole library. And it is
solid mental pabulum you are offered
here, too. The authors of Victorian
England, and the works of the great
New England sages who foregathered
of yore at Concord have large place
on these shelves.
On the street this intellectual note Is
echoed again in the amazing number OF
book stores. There is one every few
blocks, and all of them are full Of alb
sorbed, bespectacled browsers. There
are very toney book stores, whose
windows are full of de luxe sets in
shiny expensive bindings, advertising
this and that rare ami special edition
just over from London. And there arc
book stores of the people with their
long tables buried under bargain pric-
ed merchandise. and throngs Of eager
purchasers paving them over. One OF
these caterers to the literary appe-
tiles of the common people has not
only contributed to the uplift of the
public mind, but has enriched the Ian,
guage Over mountain of print la
belled choice. l6 cents" appears the
monoverbal legend: "Orgopaymore-
nuffcedd.'
Undoubtedly some books are writ
ten in Boston and some published here
though in both these respects. New
York has a long lead. Whether any
books are read here, we have no
means of knowing. But this is GER