The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-10-16
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By JAY .. HOUSE.
(From Philadeiphis Pnbtic Lsdsss.)

We have been to the theater andi
have seen our first performance OF
the moutling season. We did not cross
the palm of a ticket broker nor
badger a box office TO the point at
which it was willing to abandon for
moment its attitude of disinterest-
edness and do US a favor; we got in
on a pass. The dramatic editor was
short-handed and needed somebody
to write the show. Otherwise we
should not have been there. But we
do not undervalue the experience. We
came away from the theater with a
thought. 1t is a pretty good theatrical
performance from which one may
derive a thought.
The thought shapes itself in the
form of an interrogation: Why do
theatrical producers put half-naked
women on the stage? There may be
a clientele for that sort of thing, but
we doubt that it frequents first-class
theaters. With us it is not matter
of modesty or morality-were
wicked devil-but a woman cavortinS
on the stage in a condition approach
ing nudity leaves us as cold as a
glacier. Our feeling about it is that
it is no treat to US and that it places
the women at a disadvantage. A
woman half or a quarter clothed is
at her worst. Bare flesh on the stage
is a venture in assinnity. And. besides
sort of thing isn't doing right by our
Nell. We get no credit for it; but
woman has no more frenzied partisan
than we have been and shall continue
to be.
Ours is the tenderest of hearts. We
/, hope the little lady whose legs were
so sadly bruised that the discoiora-
ton was plainly visible thru the rice
powder will be able to reduce the dis
1 8 xf1,, fNoFA 4 aalr t.
Already the New York papers are
talking about trading the Babe" for
a good outfielder who can hit. If we
are any judge of symptoms, the most
glazing osculatory orgy in the history
of baseball is over
The Babe" according to those who
still devote themselves to-the task of,
softening the blow, is going to barn
storm" in Nebraska for thousand
dollars game. It's a fine story, but
not a flawless one. There isn't a VII
| lage in Nebraska from which a gate
of a thousand dollars can be ex-
| tracted. And there is one other little
| thing: Next to the Kansans, the Me-
braskans are the smartest people in
the world.
The paragraph to the effect that
young man in our neighborhood had
/ gone TO WOTk drought many Iete-
phonic inquiries and flood of let
ters. The incident is SO unusual that
| everybody wants to know who he is.
We are not permitted to reveal his
| identity, but the work in which he is
engaged is necessary and useful. He
| isn't out selling tickets for the
sealper's commission.
an Intriguing Scenario.
hill fnC
| for a story in an oil town after the
boom. 1 spent a year in one of them
and / ought to know. But the would
| be author need not go SO far away.
Within thirty-five miles of Indepen-
dence Hall there is a village with
story that is itching to be told. 1t is
not Gopher Prairie. In 1914 it was
g. swamp. In 1918 overt ten thousand
powder workers and their families
called it home; and now the four
| thousand that are left are making
dyestuffs. There always was romance
Everybody lives in a company"
| house which is lighted with com
pany' juice; he buys his food at the
company store and rides to. work
| in the company" train. Paternal-
| ISM? Yes, but not to the extent that
individuality is smothered. There is
no lack of Characters" Here is a
| former officer in the Imperial Rus
sian army who came over early in the
| war to inspect munitions. The revolu-
ton in 1917 left him without job.
and he is supporting his family by
| working as chemist in the dye
works. A former professional light
weight pugilist has settled down here
after serving in the navy, bossing a
gang of coolies in Hong Kong and
running a saloon in Yokohama. a
| Chinaman with a Pho. from promi-
| nent university is here with his family.
| preparing to sell dyestuffs in the
| Orient. A, man who was a captain at
| scissors, and who is still suffering
from being "gassed," rubs elbows with
! a young husky who managed to-set
| 3K classification in the draft and
thought himself a comfortable siS-cyl-
| inder roadster. Sixteen people at
recent bridge party represented thir-.
teen states and ten colleges.
| I've barely scratched the surface,
-.