The Washington herald., 1921-01-26

sum u w ttGsfSE IN tLOllDA, Jan.
est may seem to some a far cry
from The Sultan of Sulu," The
County Chairman" The College
Widow" and Fables in Slang" to
backspin mashie shots and ten
foot puts under a Florida sun.
But it isn't. For only one whose
spirit of youth was as eternal and
as vivid as George AIDES ever could
have turned out such enduring lines.
AIDE is content to spend spring,
summer and fall upon his Indiana
farm, where the first tee is only a
.-pthlick- shot ftom his front door at
Brook.
But when the long, gray evenings
begin to gather down from the hills
and the north wind starts to sing
its winter song the Sage of Haz-
leden gets into quick communication
with Ort Wells, their golf clubs are
/ lacked and each year the two then
open the winter season at BelleaIr.
Mistaken Identity.
They were the first pair to ar
rive this year and were both prac-
( ucing quick starts for the veranda
J when the hotel opened. As the crowd
/ dit that time hadnt started to gath
er. the big building re-echoed with
their footsteps, which alone broke
the silence.
Two days later" said Ade. "Ort
and l saw a new arrival. We dashed
upon him, yelled Welcome,
stranger and dragged him protest
ing to our room, where we insisted
upon him taking Copious draughts
of hospitality. With this arrival we
only needed one more for a four
ball match. After we had regaled
him bountifully l decided to see
that he was properly directed to his
room
Where is your room?" I asked.
i amt got none" he said. Il jes'
come over to fix busted bulb"
Literary Flavor.
George AIDE isn't the only author
of note who has found that he couId
easily turn out 1000 words a day
and a SO on the No. 1 course.
Sewell Ford. famed through his
Iorchy stories and other offerings,
is a dweller at Clearwater, only two
miles away.
And only mashie shot off the
course we came upon Clarence Bud
ington kelland, inventor of Eff
cheney Edgar" "SCattergood Raines."
ana something like 5000 words of
fiction day, ready to swap mashie
shots with Ade and Ford
The New Company.
1t was George Ade and Sewell
Ford who first devised The willing
Ears Company, Inc"
The idea of this company was to
relieve careworn wives and annoyed
friends of golfers from the monot-.
ony of having to listen TO a full ac-
count of each stroke played in each
/ 36-hole match.
The willing Ears Company, Inc,
guaranteed to furnish each of these
| golfers an expert who would charge
only 81 an hour to absorb the re-
cital of missed puts and cuppv lies
When Friend Husband dashes up
to his wife with long yarn To spin
and observes at once a bored ex-
preston on her face, all he has TO
do is phone The willing Ears Com
pany' which promptly dispatches an
eager, attentive listener. who is
guaranteed not only to sit with a
wrapt expression but not to kick
in with an interrupting word on his
Eown account.
The One Weakness.
This company at first seemed 10
have vast possibilities. But. there
was Just one unforeseen weakness
l. The employees of The Willing Ears
Company, being thrown exclusively
with golfers, were soon bitten by
the bug themselves. Thereafter. af-
ter taking up golf, none of them
was willing any longer to listen to
any one else relate narrowing ex-
periences in bunkers. or the buoyant
thrills of the 20-foot putt that
clucked into the winning tin of the
eighteenth hole.
Except for this feature the or
ganization today would have been
upon par with the oil and moving
picture industry, if not distinctly
ahead of both.
The National Pastime,-
Golf" says George -Ade, lis on
its way TO being the national pas
time. ] don't mean the national
pastime for spectators. but for play
ers. In fact, believe it has already
arrived neck -and-neck with base
ball as a playing game. Ii Is no
| longer directing its main attack