The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-11-16

And then-they swear-the
| President of the United States
answered the telephone and said
hello, hello, is that you, Mr..
Uhl?" and that there followed a
suffering, incoherent and very
brief conversation between the
nations chief executive and the
nations foremost authority on
unemployment.
What was said no one can
prove, and it will never make the
| history books. But it is enshrin-
ed in the memory of New Orleans
journalism, and will stay there
as long as The Times Picayune
is published at 615 North street,
which will probably be until four
| days after the end of the world.
But it was Mardi Gras that
made us recall Ken, and this has
to do with his arrival in New
Orleans. In New Orleans most of
the natives, as | have said, have
the impression that Mardi Gras is
a force of nature, like the equi-
nox and the solstice. But Ken
swore that he had never heard of
it before coming there. And by
strange coincidence, of course,
what day should he arrive but
Mardi Gras itself? His story of
this event went somewhat as
| follows.
swell ] was working up there
in Birmingham, and ! vas sore at
my boss and sore at the town and
I didn't have any money and !
wasn't having any fun. The de-
preston had every one down in
the mouth and folks just sat
around glaring at n another,
and you'd walk down the street
and the cops would follow you
with their eyes. The preachers
were all preaching hell-fire and
birthstone, and the movies were
all sad and the newsreels seemed
to run to nothing but bread lines
and orphanage fires. l don't like
a background like that. I am
light-hearted by nature. | like a
bit of fun. / just didn't feel right
in Birmingham. Even sitting on
a prune ranch was better than
that, so / quit my job and start
ed to California. ] intended to
get out of the newspaper business
for good, no fooling.
well, at New Orleans | came
in at the Southern Railway depot
and | called a cab to take me
over to the I. and P. station. |
had heard the name of the town
once or twice but never knew X
actly where it was, and as a mat
ter of fact coming in from Bir-
mingham | was rather surprised
to see it on the time table. You
people in New Orleans seem to
think there is some general in
terest in this place. Well, there
isn't. As for Mardi Gras, Id
never heard of that either.
So | walked out of the station
looking for a cab to get across
town and what should | see but
the streets packed and jammed
with people dressed like Indians
and clowns and whatnot. BOYS
and girls playing ring-around-the-
rosie, and old folks in masks trip
ping over the curbstones, and
Just as far as the eye could reach
up and down Canal street moth
ing but a throng of ~care-free peo-
pie with an interesting and Won
derful outlook on life. | figured
that this was how folks lived
here. No one worries about the
| depression. AL the business
houses were closed and the BUSH
ness men we're out in the streets
dancing. That's the way life
should be. We live only a short
while at the most.
A tremendous parade began
to weave down the street, with
brass bands and floats drawn by
mules, and maskers throwing
trinkets to the crowd. figured
it was a new kind of twist on the
WPA idea. l was all for it. My
depression induced by the long
faces and the melancholy atmos-
phere of Birmingham began to
lift, and I began to toy with the
idea of staying in this city to
work. I felt I could thrive in
this new atmosphere. II was
more in keeping with my tenn
permanent. So I asked some fell
low on the street if they put out
a newspaper here. Sure" he
says, down on Lafayette square
by the city hall"
But suddenly | felt a momen-