The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-07

They say that age commands re-
spect- I wish to add a little sentence
to this tribute probably written by an
old man Age also creates respect
Painted in upper and lower case let
ters. weather beaten but stern, sign
reading mo Trespassing' is nailed to
a staunch oak guarding the entrance
to a more or less famous farm in CEN
trail Kansas.
I read this sign the other day. Il
had not changed letter from the
time that I last read it many years
ago. But somehow or other it carried
different meaning. When it doomed
up before me as I ducked my head
and emerged from a throbbing and
shaking little Ford I submitted to its
warning and in my own disappointed
mind 1 was ready to resign to its COM
mand- Years previous I had read this
same board Then 1 dIcked from be-
meath a waving and prickly hedge and
darted past the sign. thru the orchard
if there were nothing ripe-and on
to the wooded creek banks below
Therefore, I insist that age creates
respect
My father is a lover of James Whit
comb Riley. That isn't original, of
| course, and 1 do not claim an inheri-
u
! to dream of the old swimmin hole. Ny
father. two or three years ago, went
I back to New Jersey and tramped thru
| the SwampS and under q railway tres
/ tie only to find bitter disappointment
in the realization that his boyhood bay
was simply a mosquito breeding pond
/ So late IN June ! took a justly earned
I hope, vacation and instead of con-
! tributing to the earnings of the Pull
man company I took a chair car tc
. y i
around, beside, above and within the
old swimmin' hole.
! As I was saying, I read that sigr
| No Tresspassing." 1t didn't occur tC
! me that the warning was anything bu
the meaning it carried. So squeezed
out of the Ford, dragged my 5-year-
old boy from somewhere within. ano
walked bravely and fearIessly to the
farmyard gate The wheat field Il
the north was falling into the water
wheel click of the binders and tbs
alfalfa field to the south was WINS
bleaching in the hot sun, but I founc
the old farmer at home. He peerec
f, at me thru the screen door as I un-
folded my tale-a recitation of my
desire to walk down thru his field.
and slide into his icy spring fed creek
bend where the fish and the turtle.
and the water snakes of long ago had
scattered to their hiding places at the
sight of naked youngsters.
I asked him if he remembered me
He looked a t my Panama, my silk shir
! fluttering in the breeze my Palm
Beach trousers cut to meet my can
vas shoes and admitted his ignorance
To refresh his memory I described MI
attire the last time we meta widt
brtmmed straw hat. a blue shirt,
pair Of pants and that was all No
that didn't suffice. Then I gave m,
name-it was enough
! Say, boy, do I know you - he ex
claimed do you see that old pea
tree yonder, huh-do you? That tre'
down there near the hedge that look
as tho the blight had killed the cas-
side of it Well. sir. that's my favor
tie pear tree-it has been since tn,
day it was planted. The last time
saw you. you were leaping squirrel
like from the topmost branches Yol
took the biggest branch with you ans
as you hit the ground running. pear
bounced from your pockets. from you
shirt blouse and your packed straw
hat fell with a thump to the ground
boy, I hain't seen you since that day