The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-17
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BIZ JAY E. HOUSE.
(From Philadelphia Public Ledgsr.l

Il can't help wondering" writes A.
c.. eff you know anythins~about golf,
and II you do. how Nerves in Col
lier's of July 10 intrigued you" We
know very little about golf. but as one
whose most notable gesture is that of
reaching for his niblick, We have an
academic interest in the game; and If
the accompanying love story is not
too cloying, we follow it in its sporadic
outbreaks in the magazines and peri
odicals.
We withstood the initial agony of
the sappy affair of the heart upon
with a stoicism born of years of in
discriminate reading. We contem-
plated the spectacle of a hero who
hadn't touched golf club in five
years going into the finals of ma
tional championship without a sud-
der. But when they tossed a coin to
decide the tie leading to the semi
finals We quite cold. Lie Cousin Egg
bert, we can be pushed so far
After that we devoted the remainder
of the evening to conjecture as to how
the bird who wrote the story managed
to sell it.
We are little concerned about it.
but we do have a mild sort of curiosity
as to whether Senator Hiram John
son merely is paying the Republican
party a casual visit or intends to be-
come identified with the concern.
The senator. who was a member of
the Republican party for a couple of
months in 1916, will finds it much
changed. 1t still is a bit timid, but it
no longer shivers and shudders.
We hesitate to criticize our favorite
author, but to our notion Irv Cobb,
who recently made compilation of the
triumphant assininities Of the old Fifth
Reader and other textbooks, omitted
mention of the choicest of the lot We
refer to the story of THE Barber of
Bath" We'd love to have Mr.. Cobb
reread the story and express his reac-
ton to it to his legion of readers
Meanwhile, we'll do the best we can
in the matter of re-creating it.
The Barber of Bath, thru his dis
inclination TO minister to his custom
ers on Sunday, had fallen upon evil
days. Once prosperous, he had been
reduced to a dingy cellar and ex-
treme poverty. One Saturday evening,
just at nightfall, he was visited by a
stranger in extreme haste who wanted
shave and who expressed his disin-
clination to profane the Sabbath by
waiting for it until the morrow. The
DdFDeT lneTeupOn DurSt into tears and
asked the loan of a half-penny, eX-
planning between his spasms of grief
that it was too dark to shave the
stranger in safety and that, due to
his unfinancial condition, he lacked
the wherewithal to purchase a candle.
Pressed for details. he told the
stranger the story of his financial ruin,
which had its inception in his re-
fusa1 to open up on Sunday morning.
The stranger, who was rich and promi-
nent, Immediately recognized in the
barber his long-lost brother, and that
very night took him away from his
dingy cellar to a life Of easy afflu-
ence.
That, to US, is the most exasperating
story in McGuffeys old Fifth Reader
But we are not sure we weigh il with
the keen literary Judgment which dis
! tinguishes most of our criticism. PREF
udice may have something to do with
our attitude; we never could stand a
crying barber. And so we ask Mr.
Cobb to give it the benefit of critical
analysis.
The people of the state at large are
poking much good-natured fun at the
mob which assembled in Texas the
other day The mob, it seems. burned
the wrong man, and everybody i:
laughing at it.
Underneath the surface there i,
some dissatisfaction and not a little
half-veiled criticism. The feeling i!
that the mob made itself ridiculous.
| A story on John Tyler to the effec
that he never SO much as kissed MI
wife's hand until three weeks befor,
they were married has been revived
| Mr.. Tyler was not one of the notabl,
| presidents, but there is no reason t
hold him up to ridicule at this lat,
day.
Those who would criticise him FOL
his dilatory tactics should take into
consideration the fact that Mr. Tyler
lived IN conservative age. We dare
say If Mr. Tyler were alive today he
would observe the customs of hi
country.
The New York American fnallx
printed the picture of a woman in con.