The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-01-19

used a tobacco that did not bite my
tongue, or been able to find salts
factory cigar. Sometimes. in smok-
Ing an old pipe now. become as sick
as | did when boy learning the
filthy habit. Lately ! tried
quitting, and the nuisance Of quitting
was no greater than the nuisance of
smoking; In fact, a little less.
shall try the plan on some other Of
my bad habits. since have long
preached that practice of good habits
Is easier than practice of bad ones.
In justice to myself | find cannot
read all the interesting things In the
newspapers. The editors and report
ers have become as entertaining as
the moving pictures, the radio. but /
have my living to earn. so must cut
down on my reading, as I have been
compelled to cut down on smoking,
liquor, society. and other of the more
agreeable things.
A woman In my town was born in
Keokuk, Iowa, and lived there until
she came bride to Atchison, Kan
sas (my country town.. where she has
lived to old age. Keokuk is her out
side world; it bounds all her reminis-
cences. And she tells some interest
Ing stories about Keokuk. Lucy
Worthington, who married Henry
Clews. the noted banker, lived there
as a girl. and now has a palace In
Newport. the most exclusive colony In
this country according to a certain
magazine which sells for dollar
copy. Rupert Hughes lived there as
boy; In fact, the Atchison woman
gave him music lessons. l once at
tended banquet in New York city,
and made speech for nothing. q
heard later that Irwin Cobb. who pre-
sided, is so witty and famous as
toast master that he received hum
dred and fifty dollars.) Mr.. Cobb
considered Rupert Hughes so notable
a man he invited him to speak. Mr..
Hughes had lately written a candid
life Of George Washington. and In his
introduction the toast master said:
Eve have with us this evening a gen.
tleman who, If he has not proved that
George Washington was the father of
his country, has at least proved that
he tried to be. Mr.. Rupert Hughes, of
Keokuk, Iowa." The more creditable
history of the United States is the
history Of its country towns and the
farms surrounding them; cities are
largely commercial necessities coun-
try town people visit with regret,
and. while there, learn bad habits
from their inhabitants
large number of experts in edu-
made over the English grammar. The
decision of considerable majority
was that to make your meaning clear
is the secret Of good punctuation. good
usage, good speech and good writing.
According to these men the quarrel
between farther" and further" ends
in draw; neither word is further
away from correctness than the other.
Mice" is welcomed to nice linguistic
society. So is folks" So is Loan
me pencil" 1t is proper now "to
make a date" and ito taxi to the
spot. We are told that a proposition
is perfectly proper word to end a
sentence with. We are advised that
we may split the infinitjve all we
like IL our object In doing so Is to
more clearly express our meaning.
And we may open our sentences with
conjunctions. The writer who has
spent lifetime in learning to be nice
and refined in his technique will won
der, the painstaking are told. that the
old and difficult distinctions between
shall" and Twill" are no longer i'm
portant. The copyreader who for
years has patiently changed "provid-
ing" to provided" in sentences like
81 will go, providing he stays" will
find to his sorrow that he has wasted
his time. An old-fashioned rhetorician
coming home to the English depart
ment from his sabbatical year will find
strange company all over the place.
Soon after they were married Es-
telle Taylor began "bossing" Jack
Dempsey. although he could whip her
with his little finger. His bedroom
was of silk and lavender, and his wife
said to her friends: "After all the
hardships Jack has endured. | want
him to have comfortable and inviting
surroundings. He has had enough of
the hard side; will soften the cruel
ty strain In him." They were
divorced in few months. =. +. A gen.
eral married after the war, and be-
came so completely suDdued that
those who had served under him mar
veled, as he was hard master. Final
ly he disposed of his wife with carv-
ing knife; she insisted on slicing ham
thicker than he believed proper.
If there Is any virtue that works
out well in practice, 1t is the thrift
and stinginess of the Scotch. Ameri-
cans are so liberal they use Jokes on
the Scotch in their propaganda to help
everybody. Harry Lauder once asked
friend: when can you go to break
fast with mel" The friend replied
quickly and greedily: ANY time"
"All right" Mr.. Lauder said, "tomor-
row morning, at your house"
You will recall that the great break
fast to the Belgians, French, English,
Germans, citizens of the Congo, etc.,
was at our house, and that the foreign
guests are still here.
Every reader expects to frequently
And In his reading a new mosSaoo