White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1923-10-14
BABBLING BROOKS
IN THE DESERT

NOW Iudt tit; lcul at oSdSOH - van
ing it may be pertinent to discuss
some of its phases, one of which that
probably causes the most loss of time
through persons OF the masculine
gender stopping to take ocular note
of things they r not exactly re-
sponsible for bringing directly be-
for thir gaze, being the newly adopt
ed attire of an approximate one-half
the travellers from the supposedly eff
fete east as they pass through. Your
humble servant has no notion of dis
cussing these phases either critically
or infinitely, the bent of this brief
discourse being purely comparative.
For instance, is it either untimely or
unfair to ask the question, Why
should these worthy tourists be re-.
stricted to the matter of coloring of
their garments, or attire, or whatever
they prefer to call it? Under pres
ent rules, unwritten or written, it
appears from such evidence as may
be absorbed by private means, that
the colors are restricted to a certain
few, the principal of these being kha'
XII, with an occasional n OF brown,
or some moderate and unexciting
shade of the two, and that certain
other colors ale strictly on the for.
hidden list. Why this restriction and
what does it signify? Pardon the
suggestion, if there are those who
take it suggestively. but what harm
would there be in introducing other
colors, a few IN number, or for that
matter in holding persons down to
a set list of colors in the garments
that they wear Navy or sky blue.
for instance, are seldom if ever seen.
They are quiet cclors, nothing radi-
cal about them, if l am allowed the
expression, yet if they + permitted
by common consent to be worn some
amount to opening up the list to the
tabooed ones, permitting the use of
pink, scarlet, crimson and various
other shades and notifications OF a
bright and brilliant red. and this
surely would scandalize the earth. In
scandalizing the earth it may rs we'll
be admitted and assumed right here
that 1t would let down the bars to
the use of white itself, and wher
white is allowed. the barriers of in
decency would be ignored, overrid-
den, demolished, pulverized. But
what are the real and de facto bar
riers between khaki and blue, be-
tween blue and pink, between pink
and crimson, between crimson and
the shade metaphorically likened to
the driven snow2 In a word, what
would be the real harm in jumping
directly from khaki to muslin, I'M
bleached il you prefer for a starter,
but bleached and of immaculate
whiteness ultimately? The answer
of course is horrors. Ely and the
world would be shocked. Fair tour
lists would be roughly arrested and
imprisoned by the gendarmes of the
municipality and commonwealth that
stand day and night upon the streets
of u fair and sanctified little city.
protecting it from that and every
form of violence, preserving the
peace and directing the young, the
innocent and the frail upon the way
they should go and assisting that
their footsteps shall not falter in
pursuing paths of righteousness. II
Ed Campbell. Dave Mclean, Billy
Fuller, Bud Stroud and several
more Of them should have it put up
to them to put down a riot of the
sort described, or which might be
imagined from the premises herein
above set forth, it would be bad
enough, but suppose further that the
aforesaid white garments should
have a neither trimming OF crochet
work, even of the most artistically
perfect creations, what a hubbub it
would bring forth: 1t would be
awful, terrible, scandalous-I almost
said indecent.
On the other hand, while it is per-
fectly legal and withal respectable to