The Topeka state journal., 1922-12-22
ON SECOND THOUGHT
By JAY n. HOUSE.
tFrom PhiladalpAia Public LedgaR.D

A------------- -----------------------'----
The Songs Our Fathers Sang.
Come all you tender Christians,
Wherever you may be,
And likewise pay attention,
To these few lines from me.
For the murder 0 James A. Garfield
I am condemned to die.
On the thirtieth of June
Upon a scaffold high.
Ny name is Charles Guiteau.
Ny name I'll ne'er deny.
In sorrow for to die.
But little did they think.
While in mysyOuthful bloom.
I'd be taken to the scaffold
To meet my earthly doom.
Twas down at the station
1 tried to make nv escape
But Providence being against me
There proved to be no show.
They took me off to prison
While in my youthful bloom
To be taken to the scaffold
To meet my earthly doom.
Ny sister came to see me-
To bid a last farewell
She threw her arms around me
And wept most bitterly.
She says, MY darling brother,
This day you must cruelty die
For the murdeE of James A. Garfield
Upon the scaffold high"
Those of US who lament the pass
ing of the melodic strain from bal
anu MilO are wont 10 say
They don't write 'em any more" for
get some of the horrors of the earlier
years. "Guiteau's Lament was ex-
tensively sung in the years immedi-
ately following his involuntary exit. 1t
was supposed to be a highly moral
song, proving. as it did. that the PEN
atty for shooting a president was hang
ing on scaffold high.
OF course, the phrase ''scaffold
high" is poetic license. A scaffold
attains no marked height. Compared
to a tree or a brick building it is, shall
we say, rudimentary. That isn't the
word, but 1T will do.
MY God. man." writes Mr.. c. c..
Fosdick, of Fort Worth, chow can
You sit idly by and scott at fate?"
Well, sitting idly by is one of the best
things we do, and If, as we suspect,
Mr.. Fosdick interprets scoffing at fate
as a reluctance to invest in his oil
stock promotion scheme we are pretty
good at that, too.
We have gone pretty carefully over
the list of those who have diagnosed
the troubles of the Republican party
and who have expressed%a wish to save
it. We find that none of them has
carried a working card in the or
Ganization since 1912.
We don't know whether the Repub-
-lican party needs saving or is worth
it.. But as a member who has his dues
paid in advance to 1924, we insist that
the job be let to friendly contractor.
"I am intensely interested in my
operate career Nine Gamma Walska
is quoted as saying, land not in what
people say or think about me- Gamma
should quit her kidding" The dis
repute which this column has achieved
indicates pretty we'll the attitude of
America toward that branch of humor.'
The human animal is mildly inter-
ested in many things. But what he
really and passionately wants to know
IS what people are saying about him.
Recurring to the letter from H L.
NJ, printed in yesterdays paper, we
submit the observation that question
ing by detectives holds no terror for
the average husband. What he's
afraid of is that he'll talk in his sleep.
Just the other morning Adelaide
asked us if we'd ever known a woman
called "Petey." And the embarrassing
thing about it was, that we had.
What Germany really hopes, of
course, is that this country will take
over the reparations claims and pay
them. And, doubtless. that would be a
good idea If this country WOULD take
over the reparations payments, and
at the same time cancel the debts
owed 10 CnlS country Dy various Eu-
ropean nations, it, would rehabilitate
us in their esteem and they would
stop hating us for going to war for
them.
We merely indicate the general
plan, leaving it to congress to work
out the details But we counsel hasty
action. The feeling of disrespect in
which Europe holds this country cuts
us to the quick.
The doctrine that retribution always
overtakes the criminal has again found
Substantiation in the Hall-Mills case.
One of the fellows who lied about it
has been sentenced to the penitentiary
for two years.
This Pierce Butler seems to be all
right. Samuel Gompers Is fighting
him.