The Topeka state journal., 1921-10-07
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By JAY z. HOUSE
iFrom Philadelphia Public Ledger.l

camp 3O4Hlp Ill., sept 90
Horace Greeley once visited Camp
Point and remained for brief period
as an involuntary guest. He got into
the town and couldn't get out OF 1t.
George W. Cyrus, for fifty years editor
of the Camp Point Journal, remen-
eers the incident very well. 1t was IN
the late sixties, and Greeley. travers-
ing the county on one of his lecture
tours, effected entrance into the viii
lage, but could find no means OF exit.
They found him wandering up and
down the platform of the railway sta
ton utterly at loss as to what to do
and took him in for the night 1t still
is comparatively easy to get into Camp
Point. We have been trying for two
days to get out, but we still are riding
at anchor. So far as 1 have been
able to learn, nothing has happened
here since Greeley's visit. At the din
ner table today there was some trifling
discussion of William Jennings Bryan.
who appeared at the Camp Point
chautauqua late in August. But
could see that Mr.. Bryan's visit was
regarded as an incident. Mr.. Gree
ley's appearance here ranks as an cpl
sode.
If the town has no background of
history, no wealth of legend or tradi-
tion, it cannot be said that it is en-
tirely devoid of human interest. There
and l fain would write of one lovely
heroine who, as the years crowd upon
her, is gripped by the steel teutacles
of adverse fate. My lowly heroine is
Miss Mehitable Bassett, waitress and
serving maid at Aunt Minerva plank
ensop's dining hall. known to its habi-
tues and familiars as Aunt Min
erva's." AS have intimated, Miss
Basset is no longer in theS flush of
youth. Perhaps she never was beau
tiful; am no judge as to that. But
the impress / get of her is that of
frail, worn, middie-aged woman to
whom hope has not recently whis-
pered, and who has not dreamed her
dreams in many years. l had noticed
with what deftness and sureness she
supplied the gustatory cravings Of two
tables of guests, some sixteen or sew
enteen persons in all. / noted also
that she was acting as cashier and col
lector-that she saw to it that no
transient guest passed the door on his
way hence without first contributing
asked one of the regular boarders
about her He told me that. in addi-
ton to serving the guests three times
day and guarding the financial for
tunes of the establishment she also
did all the dishwushing. all of the
cleaning and, twice a week, the family
washing and ironing For this she re-
ceives an honorarium of $3.50 a week
and has done so for nineteen Years.
But she does not, of course, work all
the time. She has her momects of
idling. She gets two days off every
year. Once she had three days off
but that was the year she had her
dental work done. The regular board
er was full of that particular incident
He said they had three women in to
do her work the day she went to
Quincy to see the dentist and that
thew Cnf 1inr fsho1I Iod "a
Point is. frankly indignant concerning
Miss Bassett's honorarium. The peo-
pie think she should have a dollar a
| day and make no bones of sayiLg so.
"A woman can't get ahead much on
$3.50 a week." they say. And it
sounds reasonable.
Mine host, Elder John w. Gideon.
also interests me. We are occupying
the second floor back at Elder Gid
cons. On the wall of the room hangs
a fine crayon portrait of the elder. 1t
is inclosed in the regular 81 frame,
and must have set the elder back a
cool So. 1t was painted when he was
thirty-five or forty-he must be near
/ ing sixty now-and it discloses fine
specimen of physical manhood. The
elder is more than six feet tall ana
| has, in recent years, taken on some
embonpoint. The elder pastors two
churches, one six and the other thirty
miles distant, preaching in the one on
| Sunday mornings and in the other on
Sunday evenings He is of the evan
gelizing type and is in great demand
at revival meetings. During the week
the elder drives a taxicab in Camp
Point, meeting all trains. speaking
we'll to all he greets of the rooms his
wife let's to paying guests. and con-
veying those who do not care to walk
hither and yon for a nominal sum.
The elder, in point of fact, has two
taxicabs in service. In rush hours he
is compelled to hire help. And on
Sundays he gets into his private, high
powered car and drives away to his
pastorates. His is busy life and a
useful one.
Forty years ago Jesse Gulick was
the town beau and the town spend
thrift. From a father who had been