Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1923-01-19
SCRIBES AND
PHARISEES
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES


~ URS is q little town In that part
Of the country called the West
~ by those who live east OF the
Alleghanies, and referred TO lovingly
as back East" by those who dwell
west of the Rockies. 1t Is country
town where, as the song goes, you
know everybody and they all know
you" and the country newspaper office
is the social clearing house.
In our little newspaper Office we are
oil reporters, and we know many init
mate things about people that we do
not print.
AS the merest incident of the daily
= ind, II came TO the office that the
~ nix cashier, whose retirement was
grer, was caught $500 short, after
20 years Of faithful service, and that
his wife sold the homestead to make
his shortage good.
Though our loathed but esteemed
contemporary. the Statesman. speaks
of our town as this city," and calls
the marshal "chief of police" we are
none the less country town. Like
hundreds OF It's kind, our little daily
newspaper is equipped with typeset-
ting machines and is printed from q
web perfecting press, yet ii is only
country newspaper, and knowing this,
we refuse to put on city airs. OF
course, we print the afternoon Associ-
nted Press report on the first page,
under formal heads and with some
pretense of dignity. but that first page
Is the parlor of the, paper. as ii is of
most of its contemporaries, and in the
other pages they and we go around in
our shirt sleeves. calling people by
their first names; teasing the boys and
girls good-naturedly; tickling the
pompous members of the village with
straws from time to time and letting
out the family secrets of the comnu-
nity without much regard for the feel
ings of the superciious.
Nine or ten thousand people IN our
town go TO bed on this kind Of mental
pabulum. as do country town jewellers
all over the United States. and al
though we do not claim that il is help
full. we do contend that Ii does not
hurt them. Certainly by poking mild
fun at the sliams-the town pharisees
we make ii more difficult TO main
tain the class lines which the pre-
tenders would establish. Possibly by
printing the news of everything that
happens, sHppressing nothing ION ac-
count of the responsibility of the par
ties concerned" we may prevent some
evil-doers from going on with their
plans. but this is mere conjecture. and
we do not set 1t down to our credit.
What we maintain Is that in printing
our little country dailies, we. the
scribes. from one end of the world to
the other, get more than our share of
fun out Of life as we go along, and
pass as much Of it on to our neighbors
as We can spare.
Because we live In country towns,
where the only car gongs we hear are
on the bakers wagon, and where the
horses in the fire department work on
the streets, Is no reason why city
dwellers should assume that we are
natives. We have no dialect worth
recOrding-save that some of US west
erners burr our "r's" a little or drop
an occasional final "g." But you will
find that all the Things advertised in
the backs Of the magazines are in our
houses. and that the young men in our
towns walking home at midnight. with
their coats over their arms, whistle
boys are whistling in New York. Port
land San Francisco or New Orleans
that same evening. Our girls are those
pretty. reliant. well-dressed young
women whom you see at the summer
resorts from Coronado beach to Buzz
these girls fill the colleges of the East
and the state universities of the West
We take all the beautiful garden
and our terrn-cotta works
are turning out creditable vases
which we pronounce "vahzes." you may
be sure-for formal gardens And
though we men for the most part run |
our own Iawnmowers. and personally |
look after the work of the college boy |
who tukes care of the horse and the |
cow for his room. still there are few |
Of us proud and naughty creatures
who have automobiles. AT the flower |
parade In our own little town last
October there were fen automobiles
10 line. decked with paper flowers and /
adeD with pretty girls in lawns and
iimit'es and lInens--fhough as a mat
er OF fact most of the linens were
'Diy Indian head" And our partic-
liar little country paper printed an
TEN 20 The effect fhst the real social
Inc ~ cleavage IN the town Hes not
'sfvsep the cut yIass SET and the dey-
tees ~ hand painted china. bur be
weeD the real nobility who wear gen.
Inc linen and the base limitations who
wear Indian head
W. some toNns 90 Item like thai
YOU'D make peolde mad bar Nc haze