The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-02-22

.5 DCuOAASt ClOVu-
 es for the fam-
 fly, groceries. Hours of sil- ence. Then my father said: "It's Washington's birthday. The banks are closed.'
 Why he couldn't have explained that when he first came home, I don't know. Having said it, he went to bed.
 Out of the air: Carl w. Jones, of the Minneapolis Journal, is an amateur magician, magic fan, and is publishing the most com plete book on magic ever issued, I'm told :. Every time any newspaper printing this column happens to slip into a typographi- cal error (which can't be avoided altogether in any kind of print ing) I have letters demanding an explanation of what I meant by that Jan Masaryk, son of the first president of Czechoslo- vakia, is a good-looking man, speaks English perfectly, and has been drawing good audiences in New York =. !. I have a friend Paul Jones, but I always call him John Paul Jones. No offense; I just can't help it. But I meet few people who say Johns Hop- kins correctly. They leave the s off the first name Thyra Samter Winslow has a name that few remember correctly, yet she's in print throughout the year with short stories and novels .. Adela Rogers St. Johns is another writ CT whose name is almost never spoken correctly. The two esses are too much for most of us = And it's St. John, New Brunswick, but St. Johns, Newfoundland; both cities that figure in news from the North occasionally |. There's Johnstown in New York, as well as the better known city in Pennsylvania.
 Apology: Recently in this column I tossed off a sentence thought lessly and lightly that has hurt the feelings of a man of 75 who never did me any harm and is worthy of every courtesy from newspaper writers, am sorry I did it, and thankful to the person who wrote me about it. Will my readers think less of me if I apologize?
 Writing about Sidney Toler, the actor, I said that he was once member of rather ham" stock company directed by MT. Barney Wolfe, in Wichita. That was un- kind, unwarranted. was a high school student when I witnessed those plays, and my judgment wasn't seasoned. Yet I permitted myself the luxury of stating that judgment in print, after many years.
 MT. Wolfe is still acting, and the audiences that see him in MT. Ted North's stock company in the West, like him. Too many people know how to say stinging things in print. don't want to be class ed as one of them. An actor has a hard job, even when he is young, and cruel comment is one of the desolating forces he has to work against.
 A columnist must write fast and go on to the next days stint. That is my only excuse, and a poor one.
 Now I feel better.
 Margaret Byrnes is a capable business woman and a lover of books. She enjoys life because she spends all her time with books. For ten years she has been manager of the book store at Macy's, large department store. During the last few years she has sold over a million books a year. That must be a good deal of satisfaction to 8 booklover.
 Deafness is an affiction that seems to teach patience. I know many persons who are hard of hearing, completely deaf in one ear, or almost altogether without hearing. Almost without excep- ton. they are calm, quiet people, enduring their affliction with a dignity that compels respect. Per- haps the very fact that they are not annoyed by the multiplicity of hounds that assails the ears of most of us accounts in some meas ure for their unavoidable good nature.
 William McFee, who writes about the sea, is so nearly deaf that one has to shout in his good ear. He speaks slowly, distinctly, in ex- cellent English. They say the chatter of machinery in the ships engine room. where he worked for years. injured his auditory apparatus.
 On West 18th street there is an electric sign that is no longer lighted. "Friars Garage" it says. The garage is still there, but a newer sign proclaims that it is now the official garage of the Lincoln Hotel.
 That unlighted sign must bring back memories to many of the theatrical people who frequent this part of town. The Friars was such a popular and prosperous organization that it required a garage for it's members cars. To- day its clubhouse is closed; its 55 big rooms untenanted. Yes. Broadway has changed!
 Copyright, 1889, McNaught
 Gxt.s ItankaA