Evening star., 1919-12-28

When Mark Twain's Connecticut
fankee woke up in King Arthur S
court-after some one had handed
him one" with an iron pin-the first
hV1ng being he saw was a youngster
clad in long red tights and a velvet
Jacket. The Yankee asked what and
who the lad was.
I'm page at King Arthur's court
was the reply.
G'wan. you're only a paragraph
was the Yankees rejoinder. but it
never "feazed' the boy.
The Senate pages today do not wear
red tights or velvet jackets. but it
takes just as much 10 "feaZe" one of
them as it ever took in the days of
King Arthur. Instead of waiting &
upon lords and ladies. these boys wait
upon the senators of the United
States during the sessions of the Sen
ate, and it is as good a training as a
younESter can have in the real work
ings and history of his government.
Every year at this time Vice Presi-
dent Marshall has been the host of
the pages at a Christmas dinner in
the Senate Office building. The annual
banquet took place yesterday. and the
boys, after thoroughly enjoying the
feast. settled down to the real busi-
ness Of the aftern0on-the after din
ner speeches. Were the boys "feazed
Not a bit. They are too used to the
ways of speechmakers in the Senate.
Richard Fenton's Poem.
One of the pages, Richard Fenton,
produced and read the following original
poem entitled, "A Page:
'cTheres a page that makes you happy.
There's page that makes you smile.
There's a page that often makes you wonder,
What it is that makes him worth while
The-e are pages Of other dispositions.
There's page that always talks too loud,
But when all the pages get together they nave
pretty good crowd.
1here's a page that makes you gloomy,
There's q page that makes you sad,
There's a page that comes late every morning,
And they think he's very very bad
There are pages of other dispositions.
That do not like the old blue plate;
But when it comes to eating Christmas
dinners,
They never seem to hesitate"
One OF the TOasts.
Among the toasts responded to was
the following:
as the Congressional Library a better
place for a boy at night than the NOV
ies?" 1t isn't on record what reply the
Trainer of this toast expected to receive,
but Louis Ludlow, jr., came back with
the following:
Fellow pages. 1 will put the question
to you, and to those OF you who would
rather spend an evening at the Congress
sional Library than at some good movie
! would say:
Don't all speak at once.
81 know a boy about my age who
wears spectacleS and has bulging
brow. His idea of a roaring good time
would be to spend an evening among
the masters whose works are found on
the shelves of the Congressional Lii
brary. If he were to meet me some fine
evening he probably would say:
Let US proceed to the Congressional
Library and entertain ourselves by
reading eight or ten chapters of Bun
yan's Pilgrims Progress"
Il have another boy friend who is
just a real kid-that's all. If he
should happen along about that time
it is safe guess he would explode in
about this fashion:
Say, kid, let's go to the Circle.
There's Mutt and JEFF show there to-
night and it's hum -dinger.'
HWonderful BaiIding.o
'1n expressing a preference for the
movies. l do not wish to say word
against the Congressional Library.
My father, who has been in Shelby
vile. Ind; Laurel, Nd. and other
Mogderful ,aogd f,fIes building n he IS ever @ saw saw.
It's miles of book shelves and statues
of world celebrities are never-end-
ing attraction. Many of the most
wonderful prints in the world are in
the Congressional Library. But when
/ gaze on these splendid works of
art, I think thoughts like these:
Gold and lifeless statues of de-
ceased ladies are nice to look at,
but 1 find more enjoyment in the
monkey faces of a live movie woman
like Mary Pickford.
Napoleon was a good deal of a
scrapper, but he was not quick on
the trigger like Bill Hart.
Cleopatra was some 'vamp, but
she was not in Theda Bara's class.
'.How dear to my heart are the scenes Of the
Where Mary and Douglas and Charlie are
seen;
The thrills and the fun and the slde-sphttln4
In all the great stunts of the stars of the
screen"
Night school Attendance.
''Why attend night schools?' was an
other toast and John NJ. Mclnerney re-
sponded, saying. in part:
while it is the opportunity OF every
page to hear the greatest men Of the
United States explain big topics Of the
day, and thereby to acquire vocaou-
larry and knowledge of the, correct use
of English. yet he must learn the foun-
dation upon which this knowledge Is
based to thoroughly understand what he
learns in this manner.
There are numerous subjects that
must be learned at school and what
tirne is better than that in which he il
q page, and somewhere between the
ages Of twelve and sixteen years? There
Is no time when the pages mind will
grasp a new Study like that in which he
must be constantly alert on the floor
of the Senate What he has learned
during the day will just fit in with the
training he will receive at night in
school
Shorthand and History.
Mark Trice answered to the toast,
sWhy a page should study shorthand
and United States History"
The position of a page calls for a
good bit of work. but at every spare
moment you should concentrate your
mind on something that will be USE
fui to you in future years. So sug-
gest that you study shorthand.
Have you ever stopped to realize
how many hundreds of times short
hand can be used in every walk Of
life? If you but learn shorthand to
use as an occupation you can always
get a job that will mean bigger op-
Uortunities to you sooner or later.
On the other hand. if yor do not care
to use it as an occupation you can
make it useful in any position or pro-
fession that you may hold.
"a Senate page studying history and
shorthand has better opportunity
than a schoolboy learning the same
subjects, because we are constantly
In touch with both, We boys have
an opportunity to watch the official
reporters write shorthand and they