The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-10-20
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By Jay 2. HOUSE
(From Philadelphia Public Ledger.)
Atehison, Kan, Oct. Is.


two country editors have been the in
spiratien of much Fit. SeeiologieaIly
and economically as far apart as the
Antipodes, they almost daily have ex-
pressed the philosophy of the oppos-
ing factions. So far as 1 know. they
never have been able to agree on a
single economic proposition. Both z.
W. Howe and William Allen White are
remarkable writing men-the best
probably, a State fecund of writing
talent has produced. Each has been
able to find and hold an audience linn
tied in its. extent only to those who
read and speak the English language.
Each has been a prolific producer.
Howe has a dozen or mere books, in
GLIDING four novels. to his credit.
White has written voluminously in fic-
tlonal and other vein But Howe won
his enduring fame in the colupns of
the Atchison Globe, which he founded.
ana Whites name is indisselubly
linked with that of the Emporia Ga
zette. They were and are country edi-
tors, who have carried the country
town viewpoint to the massed centers
of population.
We visited Mr.. Howe at his home on
Potato Hill, four miles south of Atchi-
son, today. 1 don't know anything
that typifies the Atchison philosopher
better than his modest bungalow on a
bluff overlooking the Missouri river.
Most men achieving q competence and
DESTROYS of esca ping the petty and an
noying details of 1ife's activities retire
! to some comparatively secluded spot
and desecrate it with a triumph in
architecture They surround it with
manicured lawns and all of the arti-
fices of landscape gardening. Having
done SO, they besteW upon 1t some
such hifalufin'
Windover or Walbridge-on-t Hills,
and hate it all the remainder of their
lives. When Howe ran away from
the office of the Atchison Globe to
escape the opportunities of a reader
from the Missouri river bottoms who
insisted on the personal attendance of
the editor of the paper every time he
observed the formality of paying his
subscription. he bought eighty acres of
land overlooking the river south of
town. He might have bulk an italian
VIA or Swiss chateau. He could
nave reVeled in an imposing Colonial
structure OF vast dimensions He had
| the money and the leisure in which
| to quarrel with architects, builders
| and interior and exterior deeora tors
| But he did nothing of the kind. He
| bu1lt a bungalow of five rooms and
christened it Potato Hill. For IL ose
| VINO love rolling panorama of woods
! ana waters banked by distant hills.
only the view from Mount Royal back
OF Montreal and the one from Point
Iona across the bay from San DIEGO
| approach that from Potato Hill. One
can trace the course of the Missouri
river from st. Joseph, twenty miles
north to a point twenty miles down
stream.
| Mr.. Howe had attended a cooking
| picnic held on his place last night, and
we found him in felicitous vein. He
was grumbling at food. He does that
sort of thing better than any other
writing man I have known. All of his
life he has been cursed by good cooks,
and he cannot resist their blandish-
! ments. When we lived in Topeka he
! used to come to see us once or twice
| a year. Invariably he returned to
Atchison in the throes of indigestion.
fAdelaide's search of the markets for
some delicacy which tempted him to
| gustatory indiscretion was always sue
| cessful. If the paragraphs written by
| Mr.. Howe and aimed at those who sur
| felt themselves with rich and pungent
| foods were placed end to end they
would reach from Omaha to Arkansas
/ City. But he can't take his own pre-
| scription. Today he set out to make
a modest meal of green bean salad.
But before we had finished luncheon.
/ the steak the "marshmallowed" sweet
| potatoes, the Golden Bantam corn the
dessert and the coffee had all tempted
him and he had fallen. I am sorry
the exigencies of the situation do not
permit me to listen to his lecture on
the curse of food tomorrow. 1t will
be, I fancy, his masterpiece. A cook
| ing picnic and a heavy luncheon in
| succession should produce a classic
Mr.. Howe had been helping the
| farmer husk corn. The farmer pays
him nothing in the way of wages; his
is gratuitous service. But Mr.. Howe
cannot overcome his habit of indus
try. A story illustrating this ingrained
habit still is a fayorite in Atchison
One day word was passed along Com
mercial street that Mr.. Howe had beer
seen sitting down during his business
hours. A good many secuted the story
and gave it no heed 1t was too palpa.
| bly, a canard. Others more eredulous
hurried to the spot at the corner o,
Fifth and Commercial streets at which
the pnenom enon was to be observed
and found that the story was accurate
in every particular. Mr.. Howe wa;
seated on a plush divan in front of {
Z. furniture store apparently engaged IL
|, trifling conversation with an aged
and somewhat deaf farmer. Properly
vouched for, the story created a sen
sation. 1t was talked about that thu
editor of the Globe had become al
idler. Afterward Mr.. Howe explained
the matter in a manner which was en-
I LAEely PA uS4plc anu SATISFACTORILY az
farmer had an item. Since he was ole
and deaf and somewhat feeble, Mr.
Howe sat down beside him while h
gathered the detail of the item for thu
Globe.
To me Mr.. Howe always has beer
the typical American. Most of thost
of US who have the leisure to think 4
, over visualize a certain type and place
, a seal upon it.. Howe comes nearer
to my own INSTALLATION of the type
than any other man I have known
He came out of obseurity to a definite
place in the sun. Always he has prac
! tieed and preached the simple virtue!
of industry, frugality. temperance
thrift, honesty, politeness and eeur
itesy. He grumbles about taxes and
the expense of running the govern
, tment, and is disposed to believe tina
"a Ill ranIsttniarn- "a .