The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-01-02
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE
(From Philadelphia Public Ledger.l


This time it is j. w. S. who stabs the
column with the deadly PARALLEL In a
note ]. w. S. incloses paragraph
from the Boston Transcript, printed SO
long ago as December 8, in which
Harold Bell Wright is CHARGED, or
credited. with having written Young
Visiters.'' We do not see the Trans
cript regularly and missed that partic-
ular paragraph, but we are pleased to
know the idea is attaining something
like a general circulation.
Bpt upon the point that Mr.. Wright
is great humorist, we must continue
to claim priority of idea. So long ago
as 1908 or 1904 we wrote a review of
That Printer of Udells," in which We
crowned Mr.. Wright king OF the laugh
makers for the bituminous or soft-eoaI
districts of Missouri, Kansas and Ar
kansas.
billie Burke we quote the esteem
ed New York Sun. will give a spe-
Sial matinee tomorrow" What. we
desire to ask, what for?
Maurice M~eterlinck. we learn from
an editorial coadjutor, shortly is to
lecture at Bryn Mawr. The period OF
remuneration is approaching We trust
our failure to arrive before the hour
appointed for the lecture will not be
conside- ID a reason for delaying it.
one should give up something, and we
nave the habit of relinquishing the
thlngs Tor which We care the least.
Meanwhile. there no longer is reason
to lift the languid lid or vouchsafe the
satirical remark concerning the horno-
rarium of the bricklayer. NJ Maeter-
hnck gets $4,000 throw.
And we remark. as we throw the
clutch into high" and adjust another
sneet or copy" paper in the antique
Remington. it the preceding illusions
10 Maeterlick do not arouse the Phila-
delphia cognoscenti to a state of in
olgnant fury, we shall have to try
some other plan. But we fancy we
have this time stirred it.
The Philadelphia ccgnoscentt IS.
however slow to anger. We took a
poke at 1bsen once and it never moved
a muscle. The middle West IS less
placid. Upon time we expressed 10
a middle western community the opin-
ion that James K. Hackett is no Ed
win Booth. They chased us with a
braided rope.
They welcomed Gen. John ]. PERISH
ing in Laclede, Mo. Otherwise, you
probably never would have heard of
Laclede, Mo.
The reporter who wrote the story
seems TO have regarded the outstand-
ing circumstance of the generals
Homecoming as minor incident. He
made only brief reference to the fact
that General Pershing shook hands
with an aged colored man. That sort
OF thing simply isn't done in Missouri,
and Missouri opinion may be relied
upon to condemn it.
General Pershing, we note in pass
ing to~more arduous matters of COM
ment, mas again distinguished HIM
self. He has said he isn't candidate
for president. There are a number
OF others in the generals situation,
but they lack both his perspicuity and
his frankness.
It seems worth noting that New
York ''yeggs'' who looted the hotel
suite of Texas oil millionaire" got
$1,000. Taking them as they come.
oil "millionaires" yield an average of
not more than $40 apiece. -
The tendency is to exaggerate.
News events are always magnified by
the reporters who write them. Had
to cover " the story of the flood he
would have written report indicating
that the ark had foundered and gone
down with everybody ON board. In a
later edition of the paper in interesting
account of the rescue of Noah and
the dove would have appeared.
While an election to choose n
member of the school board stirs II to
its depths. indignation in a small town
does not reach fever heat until the
barber raises the price of cutting hair
from twenty-five to forty cents.
Moneymaking is popularity supposed
to be the chief industry of this coun-
Try. But, as a matter of fact. II Is
the second industry both in point of
the number of persons employed and
the total hours OF labor devoted to it,
The chief industry in this country
Is hurting hypothetical harpoon at
a purely speculative target.
The rule is that the father paws for
the brides trousseau and for having
her teeth fixed. After he has done
that the husband is supposed to look
out for all of her material wants, al
tho he occasionally neglects to do so.
Critical situations are from time
to time. but the country makes steady
progress. Communities in which a
college graduate is held in contempt
have become SO rare as to be the ex-
ception rather than the rule.
Do not permit the thought your
neighbors may discover the fact that
you, have disreputable relatives 10
worry you. Every family has disrep-
utable relatives which it wishes to
keep in the background.
A man goes to the school of life for
fifty or sixty years, but about all he
learns is that he doesn't know much.