The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1937-01-14

~ - - "a - 1SANSOAN
II Mahlon B. Smith follows his an
nounced intention to quit committing
between Hackensack, N. j., and
New York he will have set mark
which will give commuters in gen.
eral something at which to shoot.
For the last &c years, Mr.. Smith,
who recently celebrated the eighty
ninth anniversary Of his birth, has
been riding to and from business
each day with the exception of Sum
days and holidays. Between New
York and Hackensack there are q
miles Of water and land, and thus he
has travelled Sc miles a day. That
means that in those three score
and six years, he has ridden on rail-
roads total distance of about l, 108,-
300 miles, That's mess of miles.
AS matter of fact, it is more than
A times around the world at the
equator. In the old days, it used to
take him an hour and Is minutes to
get from his house to his office.
Now, because service has been
speeded up, he does it in SIS minutes.
Roughly, that means $4,000 hours
travelling or 1,650 days of "a hours
or more than four and a half years.
Mr.. Smiths mind, memory and
sight are still excellent and accord
ing to the announcement, if he could
drive from his home to the door
of the Seamen's Saving bank, where
he has been employed for SO years,
he wouldn't think of retiring. In
making that declaration, Mr.. Smith
fastened to add that he was casting
no reflections on the Erie railroad
on which he has ridden all those
years. He has no complaint as to
the service and he should be- in a
position to judge since his memory
goes back to days when railroad
cars were heated with coal stoves.
But there are occasions when even
the oldest commuter has to sprint
to catch his train and Mr.. Smiths
legs aren't what they used to be.
That's his main reason for retiring
he doesn't like to miss trains. AS
a matter of fact, he has missed
few. One missed train stands out in
his memory. It was during the great
blizzard Of 1888. His train pulled
out just as he reached the platform
and he couldn't get to the bank
for three days.
A lot Of New York husbands do no
agree with the ruling Of the
magistrate who held that it was no
crime for women to play poker. It
was complaints Of husbands Of poker
playing wives that caused the po-
lice to take cognizance of the games
that flourish in various apartments.
Not only were meals late but house.
hold allowances vanished. So, some
husbands. having reached the break
ing point, poured their woes into
sympathetic ears and raids followed.
But the cops didn't get enough evil
dence and so the judge let the wom-
en- offenders 60. Incidentally, the
judge who made the ruling is
woman.
Bridge widowers-and there are
many of those in the great city
are more patient than poker widow
ers. That may be due to the fact
that the games in the many clubs
are not for stakes but involve only
scard fees Of from so to IS cents.
Thus, losses are minimized since
the wife may spend whole after
noon at her favorite diversion at
low cost. Then too, if she wins, she
brings home S. or so and that pays
for week more Of playing. The
most kicking is done by husbands
who are dragged to evening games
by contract playing wives.
Posters of bills met with loss when
a big wind blew down the high
board fence surrounding an exca-
walton at Forty-second street and
Eighth avenue. The fence was paint
ed a neat red and there was sign
forbidding bill posting. But one
night, an enterprising brush wielder
put up some political posters. With
that beginning, in a few days the
Eighth avenue side of the fence was
covered. A new fence has been put
up. It bears no restrictions as to
bill posting but there are none on
it. It is the woven wire kind.
Brought together by one OF those
Fifth avenue traffic swirls during
the height of the shopping hour, two
white-mustached, aristocratic, gold
caned gentlemen, bowed stiffiy.
shook hands equally stiffly, kissed
one another on the cheek and went
on their way. And ever since then,
the old brain has been churning in
an effort to find an answer.
g Bell Syndicate.-WNU Service.