The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-21
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE.
(From Philadelphia Public Ledger)
The ChecrfuIest Motor Party I Have
Met

lines come under their observation,
the citizens of Windsor will not take
it unkindly that I express an earnest
wish to leave their village. 1t is a
cratic, kindly and hospitable. I was
invited this evening to sit in a game
of red dog" at one of the principal
meeting places which shows the ex-
tent to which 1 have progressed in
their good graces. When a stranger
is invited to sit in a game of "red
dog" he virtually has been adopted
by the community. But any town in
which one is compelled TO wait for
motor accessories grows tireSome, and
Windsor has palled. Some time Sat
urday afternoon a package of such
accessories destined for the Blue Swat
low was shipped out of Springfield,
Mass. Then It disappeared, leaving no
trace. A duplicate set ordered this
afternoon has not yet arrived. Pos
sibly it never will. The garage people
are kindly and devoted to converse
ton, but they are none too optimistic.
They say packages frequently go thru
to White River Junction and lie there
for weeks. They point out the fact
that the missing motor parts may have
been shipped to Windsor, Conn, or
Windsor. N: H. They are insistent up
on the point that when one wants
anything in n hurry he is pretty sure
to be disappointed. But every time
find myself annoyed and exasperated
to the point at which my endurance
is tried I remember the cheerfulest
motor party / ever met And it is of
that party I wish to write.
One day last fall we were blowing
along a country road in Illinois. The
word blowing is used advisedly. The
wheels of the Blue Swallow were turn
ing up subsoil at every revolution. The
world was q sea of mud. 1t is enough,
perhaps, to say we drove from 8
Ill G%,-
total of thirty-one miles. 1t was
one of those humid, sticky days so
common to the corn belt. From time
to time light showers fell At inter-
walls a yellow sun broke thru the
clouds and shone upon the earth with
fierce heat. The fan belt was loose
and the radiator was boiling on every
little hill. We came to a stop at the
top of one such eminence to find what
had been a Henry car parked in d
bend of the road. 1t was the nakedest
car 1 have ever seen. 1t would not
have been permitted on the bathing
beach at Atlantic City nor in any
other orderly community. The hood
which once had covered its intestinal
investiture had gone away, leaving no
address. The resultant exposure was
as indicate as the gentleman who
used to figure prominently in the
pages of Hostetter's Family Almanac.
All that was left of the top were its
which hung abjectly to it, On the
running-board was piled as miscel-
laneouS a collection of dunnage as 1
have ever looked upon, and in the
car were two women and two men.
They were dining. Dining with them
consisted of picking salmon out of
tin and soda crackers from a paper
bag. They were chatting nght-heart-
edly and laughing gayly.
water into the radiator that the car
bore the Oklahoma legend. Since we
had come out of Kansas and were,
at the moment, headed in that d.
rection, / walked over for the pur-
pose of paying a fraternal visit to
Representatives of a sister state. They
were typical of the hardy yeomanry
of the southwestern plains. The men
were burned, lean, prematurely
wrinkled, sandy complexioned and
needed dental work. But they were
friendly and communicative. And SO
I learned they had been out three
weeks and had visited Wichita,
Omaha, Des Moines, Chicago, Muncie,
Indianapolis and Terre Haute. They
were homeward bound, but in no par
ticular hurry to get there. They were,
of a fact, seeing the world for the first
time, and wiShed to make a good job
of it while they were at it. No man
could foresee when they would get
away from home again. I asked the
chief conversationalist his plans fela-
tive to moving onward. He had none
I'VE CANT git nowhar," he said.
This air a good, comfortable place
and we aim to stay till the roads dries
a little" And so, while the radiator
cooled, we talked on about this and
that, discussing politics, motion pic
lures, city life and other topics in
which we had a common interest. All
four were for the free life of the wide
open spaces. They were unanimously
of the opinion that they wouldn't live
in a city if you gave it to them.
Thinking it over later, 1 concluded
they were right. They never could
have stood the hardships of city life.
Meanwhile, Adelaide had picked her
way across the intervening sea of mud
and had engaged in conversation with
the women. They were elderly wom-
en- and looked it. The youngest was
thirty-five if she was a day. and the
eldest likely will never see forty
again. Now, Adelaide has the gift of
observation. In her it is a talent
which amounts almost to genius. She
noted at once what 1 probably never
would have seen at all. The elderly
woman-the one whose hair was gray
and who seemed to have broken under
the weight of years-appeared to be
strapped to a board. I should not
have asked about that. To me it would
have seemed none of my business,
and I should have gone on to the end
of time specializing as to the relation
between the woman and the board.
Adelaide has no such restraint. She
asked about it, and the conversation
alist explained. You see" he said,
Jest the week before We was ready
TO start the old woman fell offn the
back steps and busted her laig. We'd
been plannin' on this trip a long time.
and SO when the doctor got her Lang
set and fixed Up we put her in the
'whoopee' and started. We have to
help her in and out, but she's stood
it all right
I stepped on the accelerator, and
the Blue Swallow walloWed on its
way at the rate of three miles the