Evening star., 1924-10-25

| this daily occurrence he would come to
the right conclusion. as set forth herein.
| You see. the boss represents every
man, in that he Is in O. position that
| every man feels he could fill, or would
like to try, anyway! They say that a
newspaper man can handle almost any
| job in the world, because he has seen SO
! much of the inner workings of men and
affairs. and they are right about II, too,
as witness the positions held by men
| who at one time or other were journal
| lists.
Now the point is, that, since the boss
is the prototype of every man, he gets
| what every man ought to get, as a child
| of the most high God
| Respectful attention.
The more / see Of life the more i feel
that this is one of the deepest cravings
| of the average human heart.
There are far too many men today,
| even in our glorious America, who are
made the butt of ridicule, who are never
| appreciated who pine their hearts out
waiting for the respectful attention their
| hearts crave.
| Think of that wonderful scientist.
Prof. Langley, who actually was laughed
| into his grave because he was right
! They called his aircraft Langley s
folly" and refused the old man the re-
spectful attention his transcendent
merits demanded.
| Ignorant, unrespectful world
| When we laugh at the boss joke we
are according him the tribute of re-
spect which we ought to give to all men
| that deserve il, no matter what position
| they hold or do not hold.
That is the biggest merit of such
| laughter.
Here's a good one Thomas Edison
got off recently" says the boss. Bill
| Smith crowds in close, in order not to
| miss a syllable.
"A long-wnded prison reformer
| visited a prison, when all the prisoners
were marshaled into the hall to hear
| him." begins the boss.
"He spoke for a solid hour, and had
| started on his second when a colored
prisoner could stand it no longer. He
let out a tremendous whoop. which was
silenced by a guard, who cracked him on
! the head, putting him out of business
| for the time being.
| When the man came to about an
! hour later, the speaker was still at it.
| Hit me again, boss pleaded the prison.
er. j still hear it,"
So the boss gets off a good one and
| the crowd laughs loud and long. Maybe
| Bill Smith, afterward, wondered If he
| didn't overdo his "haw haws'' a bit, but
! he recalls that old Sam Jones was
| laughing even louder than he was.
1t was good joke, anyway, no doubt
about it.
| Maybe the boss is like certain pro-
| fessor of whom Chauncey Depew tells in
| his autobiography. Perhaps he has a
| favorite joke, which he tells with ever
| increasing appreciation. The whole office
| has heard it many times, but it never
! fails to draw A laugh.
| The professor had a pet joke on the
Chinese. He said an army was be-
| leaguered in a city, and decided to with
draw secretly. 1t waited until a dark
| night, then marched out. each soldier
| carrying lighted lantern.
Ho. no, no,
| l know Government official who
never fails to tell the following story,
| which always draws official laughter.
| He read it in The Star years ago. A COL
| ored man. who had been sentenced for a
| felony, after serving petty terms in the
| local jail. was on his way with other
| prisoners to big pententiary. Cheer
up. Buddy said old offender, pat
| ting him on the shoulder. You is in de
| big league now"
AS for the boss who never tells a joke.
| he has one great merit. You do not
| have to laugh at a joke that has no
point, or. haw-haw over a tale that falls
fat