The New York herald., 1922-01-23

US. Later I caught for Binghamton,
Syracuse and Troy and then became an
umpire.
"It was In 1888 while umpiring the
final Observation-Disclosures series on which
pennant depended that hint was
slipped to me that it would be worth
$4,000 to shade decisions for Boston,
and told the middlcman that he would
need new set of teeth and likely
brand new face II he let out another
peep of that kind. Nick Young. presi-
dent OF the league. heard about the mat
ter and slipped me the monicker, Hon
est john 1t stuck because l kept on
living up to it. No man can ever say
truthfully that he was robbed in ono Of
my houses. or that he didn't get a
square deal in any game he played
with me-
Going back to the changes In the
town that hit us old fellows-Tm Sc,
you know, might as we'll admit ibid
you ever stop to think that there are
fewer hotels. many fewer hotel rooms,
than there were twenty-five years ago?
You don't believe that? Well. son, don't
bet against It. for you would get
trimmed. I've gone into the matter and
have the figures some place. and they
show just what say.
Hotels have been wiped of the map
by skies and dozens and have been Gre
ated by ones and twos. For instance.
there used to be the old Union Square,
the Sinclair, the Morton. the Everett. the
Continental. the Bancroft. the Fifth Ave-
nue., the Hoffman House. the Albemarle.
the St. James the Gilsey, the Metropoli-
tan, Sam Martins and the Rossmore,
later the Saranac. All gone. So is the
Knickerbocker. younger than any. In
their places we have few only. the Nc
Alpin. the Astor and the Imperial
i've always been crazy about the the
ater, and I'd rather have toothache
than miss first night ] think / saw
Peter Pan seven times. and was the
, softest mark in the house when Maude
Adams came to the footlights with her
| appeal for the dying fairys The best
play | ever saw was Shore Acres but
Frank Bacon's Tghtnin'' comes close
| to Il.
"The stuff they turn out nowadays
! and have the nerve to call dramatic en-
| tertainment gives me a pain. Sex stun,
slop. slush.
''How Bacon ever got Tightnin'' ac-
| cepted don't know. He had 1t in his
trunk for fifteen years at that. The the
| aters need plays of the old stamp. clean
sentiment. frank humor. more emphasis
upon the solid. simple virtues 1t needs
| TO get rid of this rotten insistence on
sex, these problem plays that no young
| girl or boy ought 10 be allowed to see
and that nobody else ought to want to
see. Maybe. after all. the people are
merely getting what they want. The
! times are cheap and hypocritcal. FAX
ers and liars flourish The prohibition
farce symbolizes the fakery OF the period.
Prohibition is here to stay. probably. but
Il must be ameiorated. We Americans
| are the damndest fools In the world when
we start out to get rid or something
! that has bad points. We go charging
at IL like bull, trying utterly to de-
stroy it, going to extremes. OVERRIDING
the matter"
The hour was growing late. Henry
Watterson. well fed and warm, dropped
his yellow head and filmed his beady
eyes Kelly arose with gesture-resis-
| nation.
Good night" he said. There are, In
deed. only few OF US left, so we had
better make the best OF things"
Deal re some cards, said henrs
Wstterson, coming to life.
THAT'S the talk" laughed Kelly.