The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-28
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By JAZZ =. HOUSE
(rren Phiiadslphia Public Ledgsr.)

We found this note from the chief
ON the desk: 'sWilI you say to your
readers, If you have readers, that you
are going away for a couple of weeks
and that the column will be suspended
during your absence? It will save the
humiliation. Every time you drop out
of sight for day or two people write
in to ask IL you have been fired and
to express their appreciation of such
action on the part Of the newspaper.
1t is humiliating to us to confess TO
them that you are still on the payroll
and it is disappointing TO many of our
subscribers. Kindly relieve US of the
necessity of blushing in the presence of
valued patrons"
Anything to oblige When these few
lines are spread before an omnivorous
and beliigerent public we shall be
winging toward the heart of a great
country. This afternoon we shall reach
the spot where the trails of the East
and West converge-the gates of Chi
cago. For Chicago is the uttermost
eastern stand Of the sombrero and the
western terminus of the broad "a" and
the hooked walking stick. 1t is the
one common meeting-point Of the
cowman and the picture I'M
presario. They touch shoulders and
pass in the night. But they do not
DlenQ ana neither selS that -
of value in the contact. Tonight, If
the Santa Fe Limited follows its pre-
destined habit, we shall hit the South
west Trail, and on Friday morning we
shall be in Kansas City. Now, kansas
City deserves more than the hne OF
comment herewith vouchsafed it. Later
on. if we navigate successfully its peri
lous highways and emerge from its
corporate limits alive, we shall take
Measure in discussing at greater
length the habits and customs of the
city But for the moment we deem
it enough to say that beside Kansas
City, Sodom was young woman
seminary and Gomorrah a bank of
new-fallen snow. For Kansas City eX-
presses sins fortissimo note. and those
who fought in the Argonne had bet
tier chance than a stranger in kansas
City with an unclaimed dollar upon
his person
The Southwest trail will lead us to
other massed centers of population, but
ii is a pin point on the map OF rural
regions of which we wish to write to-
day. AS ,the pioneers travelled and
made note of distance. Grigsby city is
three sleeps and a. setting sun beyond
Kansas City, and it is of the FORMER
that we would sing to the linotype.
Grigsby City is not an exception. but
with its kind. And they epftomize
much more forcefully and impressively
than the massed centers. and the
finished villages of the east the coun-
trys striving for better education, q
broader culture and an intimate rela-
ton to the comforts and luxuries OF
modern life. III you wish to know
how far this country has travelled in
that direction, recall the Middle West
village you knew best thirty-five years
ago and then give its prototype OF to-
day the casual "once over"
When, in the eighties, we first knew
Grigsby City it was huddle of
wooden houses set at irregular inter
walls beside a wide place in country
road The environment was fiat
prairie. In SUMMER the town warped
and curled under the rays of wither-
ing sun and in winter it shivered be-
side a barrel stove. Fewer than ESQ
persons found asylum within its limits.
IA dozen or so of these were county
officials, who lived off the taxpayers.
How or where the others found sus-
tenAnce the Lord only knows. The
towns yearning for music was ex-
pressed in three cottage organs. Its
social life revolved about the oyster
suppers and ice cream socials period
ically given by the Ladies Sewing
society of the Methodist Episcopal
church. Its literature was the Grigsby
City Weekly Clarion, the Chicago
Weekly Inter-Ocean, the New York
Ledger and the Youths Companion.
Grigsby City is not yet one of the
metropoli. The current census gave
it a population of 1926 persons. But
in proportion to its population it owns
and plays more Caruso. records than
Philadelphia. Its motor cars are in
the proportion of one to every six of
the inhabitants. Thru it's length and
breadth run smooth asphalted streets.
1t has hot and cold water, electric
lights and steam heat. The bathtub is
commonplace. In the center OF a
grove of great catalpa trees, set out IN
1886, an architecturally impeccable
courthouse lifts a naughty brow. A
theater of brick and mortar and stone,
with a capacity sufficient to every
adult in the town, sits just across the
street. Mission furniture was discard