The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-11-20
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY e. HOUSE
(From Phiiadelphia Public Ledgsr.)

b6lOT0 we return the DdI11IneEs 10 lLS
accustomed place in the hall closet
and the stepladder to the kindly
neighbor from whom we borrowed
it we wish to drive another nail into
the gentleman who tainted us with
ignorance concerning Steele and Addi-
son. We have framed photographs of
the late Ebert Hubbard, Ida Tarbell,
Walt Mason, George AIDE. William
Allen White and Woodrow Wilson. In
somewhat casual fashion it is true
we know Irv Cobb, Ring Lardner,
Franklin P. Adams and Sam Blythe.
Margaret Hill McCarter is an intimate
friend. And we are the only mem
Der of the literati from the champion
country who has had his picture taken
while seated beside woodrow Wilson
in a Packard touring car standing in
front of the Central high school build
ing on cold day in February.
More than that, if it is to be left to
us-and the disposition is to leave it
to us-Cobb, Lardner, White, Adams,
Mason and Blythe can write rings
around either Addison or Steele.
A reply to the young fellow who re-
Gently was permitted to express his
has been received. It is couched in
vers ibre and, as a literary compost
ton, ranks well up with the contri-
button to which it is a rejoinder.
Probably we can best explain our dis
position not to print it by telling a
story on Dick Cooley. Cooley, once
a baseball star in the major leagues
who for years fitted his Adonis-like
form into a Philadelphia uniform,
with the passing of time dropped out
the minors. In that capacity we came
frequently into contact with him.
Passing one day behind the prescrip-
ton case of the pharmacy under
which ostensib1e business large trade
in Illicit liquors was masked, we came
upon Cooley in the act of delivering
adjuration and admonition to the
members of his team. He had them
all lined up before him. 81 want you
fellows to understand" he said. as he
pointed each steel-jacketed word with
his favorite intersection, eff there is
to be any drinking on this ball team
I'll do it. AS a drinker am the most
competent man in the minor leagues;
1 don't intend to stand for any conn
petition from youse guys"
Now the point is, and We trust we
have succeeded in making it clear, II
there is to be any arguing in the col
umn we propose doing it.
Voices From the Narrowing past.
Sir-I have never seen you make
any reference to the wooden Indian
that used to stand in front of the
cigar store, the glass case in which
the family Bible was kept, the glass
case with the wax flowers in it, the
family photograph album, the hair
cloth sofa. the iron dog with the
broken tail, the marble-b1ocl door
stop, the ottoman, the mustaehe cup
and the picture frame with rice or
shells scattered on it, covered with
gold or silver gilt. What's the mat
ter? Aren't these things unimportant
nnn1IOI7 fn T1Ihlioifyo
W. C. NJ.
One scans the picture painted by W.
c.. M. with an interest tinged with re-
greet that many of the familiar articles
of virtu are missing from it. There,
as an instance, was the large pink
seashell which reposed upon the what
not. We shall ever hold it in fond
memory. Two thousand miles from
the nearest coast line one could, in
winter or summer, in fair weather or
foul. place it to ear and hear the gen.
tie murmur of the sea as it beat upon
the sands. To one who had never been
nearer salt water than keokuk, Iowa,
that was a boon which may not be
measured in words nor acknowledged
in phrases. And the whatnot itself.
An humble thing of discarded spools
and board and baling wire, it became
thru the artifice of man and a little
bronze and paint a thing before which
William Morris might have stood and
may have stood in awe.
And there were other equally famil-
lar articles of less artistic mold. What
became of the bootjack, the cottage
organ, the cove oyster ana the crayon
reproduction, done with machine
operated by a skilled mechanic, of the
family photographs? We do not think
the missing articles justify the search
that must be made for them, but we
are willing to undertake it if there is
a demand that it be done.
One further thought in the connec-
ton intrigues US. Now that father
has shaved and the mustache cup has
become a needless splash of color in
the setting of domesticity. what do
they give him for Christmas present :?
The editor of the Public Ledger has
received the following letter. signed
Ledger Reader" We have asked per-
mission to print it and the privilege of
making apology in our own way.
Ledger Reader" writes: What as
SHINE nonsense your man House
writesi He insults the intelligence of
your readers. 1t is bad enough to
have Philadelphians see his stuff, but
what must outsiders think? The other
about Longfellow and Lowell writing
the melancholy days have come and
yesterday the following tidbit appear
ed: AS Nelson said at the battle of
Lake Erie, "Give me liberty or give
me death"
A thousand curses on our stupidity
and lack of education. We bow. in
humiliation. 1t was not, of course,
Lord Nelson who said, "Give me liber-
ty or give me DEATH" It was John
Paul Jones And the scene was not
the battle of Lake Erie. 1t was in
Faneuil Hall, Boston.
We don't know how you feel about
it, but the report that thirteen towns
in Scotland have gone dry gives us
pause.
George Matthew Adams