The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-07-14
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY z. HOUSE.
(From Phiiadelphia Public Ledssr.)
In Which Another Gentleman Rides
the Column.

In Which Another Gentleman Rides
the Column.
Sir-This roughneck business is all
very well, but what percentage is there
in extending your candor to the point
where you call q thing pish posh just
because you don't happen to under
stand it?
You don't pretend to understand
Einstein; neither do I. At the same
time I know two sincere and brilliant
men-both of them a. damsite smarter
than either of us-who not only have
a grasp of what he is trying to get at,
but readily admit he is several jumps
ahead of contemporary thought AS
one of them puts it, His theory IS
the present Mount Everest in the field
of mathematics"
Now for unlettered yokels such as
you and myself to brand his stuff as
f1apdoodle instantly puts us in the
class of the Hottentet who remarked
anent the Law of Diminishing Re
turns, "Chug guzzle wopi" which, upon
being translated from the vernacular,
means, What are you talking aboueE
1t sounds like bunk to me.
well, that's that. If this be con-
troversy, make the most of it:
We crave the privilege of setting
ourself right on one point: We did not
refer to the Einstein theory as pisn
posh' or as "flapdoodle:" We said
il was fiddIe-faddle. = We are par
simonious in the matter Of phrase
illogical expenditure. We do not
waste perfectly good descriptive terms
on subjects as -nebulous as the Elm
stein theory.
Prof Einste.n was unable to ex-
plain his theory. Can the two Drill
liant, sincere men" who claim they
have grasp of what he is trying
to get att do better? II they can
give the public the faintest glimmer
of truth concerning it. space in this
column is theirs to command.
And that, we shall add, is not a
proposition. It's a challenge.
Harrison Sell used to say, IF a
man knows a thing. he can tell it"
Harrison was a. rough and untutored
yokel to whom his native soil chung
sedulously, but he was always near
the bottom of the well of truth.
In his way Harrison was almost as
mysterious as Prof. Einstein's theory.
When he ran away and left his wife
and children to shift for themselves
he took a fiddle and a shotgun. He
couldn't play a note on the fiddle and
he hadn't gone hunting in forty years.
Mrs. Bjursted Mallory's alibi oc-
CND1eS nearly a quarter OF COluHln OL
space and is much too long, for repro
cuction here. The fact, however, that
she attributes her defeat, in part. to
over-anxiety ruins the entire alibi
for us.
There was nothing at stake but the
tennis championship of the world and
the competition was between two
ladies who love each other as sisters
in-law love. Why should either of
them Rave been over-anxious?
Well, just to Oblige adelaide"
Satisfactorily while driving thru
the shore road in Mortified we came
across a. sign worthy of note. My
Adelaide insisted that. send you a
copy showing that she is a daily and
interested reader of the column. Here
1t is:
FORDS FIXED
AUTOMOBILES REPAIRED
My Adelaide says that fellow
butlded better than he knew.
And that naturally brings up the
question aslto how a Ford should be
fixed. We have always advocated
chloroforn, but many advise choking.
We trembIe for the fate of Mr.. Ar
thur Trains society serial now current
in the Cosmopolitan. Mr.. Train vir-
tually is contending that an unchap-
eroned girl should not attend mo-
ton picture theater in the company
of a young man. We fear Mr.. Ira in