The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-22
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE

we had thought of dismissing the
controversy concerning the superficial
differences between East and West
which has been raging in this column
The protagonists of the sections
seemed to get nowhere with 1t. But
the subject still allures. II should be
good for three or four more para
graphs and, to a columnist, para
graphs are paragraphs.
As we have indicated, we have a
tremendous liking for the East 1t is
cordial. eonsiderate, neighborly and
kind But thruout our term of resi-
dence we have missed something. We
never have felt quite at home. AL
ways there was the feeling that we
should be up in the hotel room pack
ing the old bag preparatory to catch
ing the evening train fer the West. We
hoped fer some familiar device, token
Aor gesture, and we couldn't rem ember
what it was. We know now. L was
the breezy Western Interpretation of
the ceremonial of introduction.
Now the Western Interpretation Of
the ceremonial of introduction is
simple. transformations thing. 1t is
hearty and unaffected, but almost
naked of phraseology adornment. 1t
consists in bringing two gentlemen
who have not been formally intro
duced into juxtaposition and saying,
''Mr. Smith. shake hands with Mr..
Jones'" Us newspaper chappies tried
for many years to hee-haw this for
mula of social contact out of the book
of etiquette, We knew it was a Grass
thing and frankly said 50. But we
made no Roadway. And yesterday it
was borne upon us that it was the
thing we had missed.
We sat at luncheon adjacent to the
left elbow of a Harvard man. mas
much as he has never been west of
Downingtown, it is unlikely that he
has been contaminated by Western
idiom or the phraseology of its social
contacts. But when he sought to in
troduce two of his friends who sat at
his right. he said "Mr. King, shake
hands with Mr.. Pawn" It was sur
cease to a lonely, homesick soul.
And when we heard the familiar
words we sat back and purred like
contented cat.
After all, the tokens of the Sections
are superficial and disappear under
the gentle friction of wider contacts.
On Sunday we talked for a little while
to an actress now appearing as a CO.
star in a production on view in Phila-
delphia at the moment. Profession
ally, she ranks with the leading come
diennes of her day. She talks as cas-
,ually of playing in London as we
should discuss a trip to the Aronimink
golf course. PERSONAL---VERY. had not
met her before-she impressed US as
a keen, cultured, refined sophisticated
woman of the world, with little bet
ter grasp on the verities of life than
is common to her sex. A sharp turn
in the conversation took her back to
her childhood.
MY mother was a widow" she said.
when I was eight years old I was
bound out to farmer who lived near
Garth. I stayed there three years
Morning and night I MIXED eight
COWS; by day I worked in the fields
1 have plowed and narrowed and
planted corn. I have tossed the new
mown hay with the aid of the we'll
known sulky rake. I have shocked
the golden sheaves of grain and
cooked for harvesters and threshers
1 did it at an age when most of the
women to whom I play were being
escorted by nurse or governess when
ever they had occasion to cross a
street. But the experience made me
physically, and never have regret
ted it,
Now Garth is an inconsequential
village bufied deep in the Middle West.
OF fact. it is only fifteen miles, as
the crow flies. from Grigsby City. an
other inconseeuential village, to which
occasional reference is made in this
column. That is coincidence. But it
is a long journey from the kitchen of
a farmhouse in Weeping Willow
Township to the top the theatrical
profession, and the woman who makes
it isn't likely to disclose many sec
tional superficialities at its end
In presenting a petition for the re-
lease of Debs to President Harding.
the World War Veterans set forth the
allegation that a majority of the rank
and file of ex-soldiers and millions of
plain people turnout the country are
for it.
We have no objection to the release
of Mr.. Debs. Whatever Mr.. Harding
does in the matter will be entirely sat
isfactory to US, but before conceding
that a majority of, the rank and file
II AH-p-@