Evening star., 1954-12-23

those earlier days columnists
wrote verse and paragraphs.
4 There was Franklin p. Adams Of
| the Mall and Herald Tribune,
whose two columns Always In
Good Hunor. and "The Coming
Tower naagniflcerlt. Bert
Lesion Taylor "a. Z. r, who con-
Quoted "A Line : Of Type or :
Two" III the Chicago Tribune.
was equally wonderful.
/ Frank L. Stanton, the serious
poet in the Atlanta Constitution.
was in front Of them all. Others
were: Judd Mortimer Lewis in
the Houston Post; John p. Wells
In the Buffalo News: Don Mar
| quis Of the old sun, whose .Ar-
chic. the Cockroach" and other
superb verse held high attention:
Eddie Guest. and Henry Sydnor
Harrison from Virginia.
These and some others ruled
those days Of column readers.
They suddenly gave way to
Westbrook Pegler, Haywood
Broun, Alexander Woollcott.
Ralph McGill, Walter Lippmann.
Frank Kent. T.. ". Durling. John
O'Donnell, Bob Considine, and
many more. Certainly Frank
Adams. Bert Taylor and Don
Marquis had an appeal that
could equal that Of any colum-
mist of the present era with,
perhaps, the exception of West
brook Pegler. Pegler's fiery dia-
tribes kept you wondering what
he would say or whose scalp he
would lift.
FPA's Most Memorable.
Nevertheless, / got a far
greater thrill in reading Adams,
Taylor and Marquis in other
years than I have got since.
Frank Adams was the best light
verse writer I ever read in this
country or Europe. It was he
who wrote one of baseball's few
immortal lyrics
These are the sdddest OF pos
/ Sible Uords--
/ Tinker and EUers and Chance.
Pricking forever our gonf1lon
| hubble
Causing a Giant to hit into
double,
Words that are heapy tDith
nothing but trouble.
Tinker to EDers to Chance.
was at the evening mail in
1912 when Mr.. Miles, the man
aging editor, called me to his
Office. He showed me the verse
Adams had just turned In.
Frank may write q. better piece
of verse than this" Miles said.
'but this Is one he will ne re-
membered BY" He was right.
One of the finest columnists !
ever read was Hugh E. Keogh,
who conducted a sporting page
! compoSium in verse and para
graphs. Keogh had but a short
burst. He began his column in
1905 and died in 1911.
Whatever happened, the Peg
lers and the Wincheils, the
Brouns and the Ed Sullivans
drove. off the rhymers and para
graphers from most newspapers,
to the sorrow Of many. many
readers.
This Is q much more serious
age than the old days ever were.
There was lightheartecness
that the world knew before the
First World War that has never
been worn since. The dark
shadow Of war hasn't been absent
from the scene in a long time.
Most OF the true singers have
had little heart with which to
sing. Thank God for H. /.
Phillips!
Exciting Days on Road.
No newspaper man hits the
road more often than the writer
assigned to a major league base
ball team-or the one who en-
joys syndication and can hunt
| at large in search of game.
Sports writer's. as a group. tend
to be nomads, gypsies. II they
weren't Of that basic cut they
wouldn't be in it.
Certainly my most exciting
days-and nights have been
spent on the road. There is a
fresh outlook when you move
out on the trail that takes you
around the map-Los Angeles,
Chicago. Miami, New Orleans.
Louisville, Dallas, st. Louis, At
lanta. Philadelphia, Boston,
Shelby. st. Petersburg. Wher-
ever there's big sports story,
that's where the compass points.
Since 1901. In years Of work
| and travel. I've enjoyed meet
ing and knowing so many stars
and champions. But don't
think this feeling quite reaches
the deeper glow that has come
from my more affectionate con-
nectiOns with the writer's and
friends I've made along this
almost endless trail.
In the earlier days a lot of
us were often broke or next to
II. But one thing about The
Greatest Profession. little thing
like money or the lack Of it,
never gave US much concern.
] remember the night before
the Willard Dempsey fight in
Toledo. There was q big party
IN the outskirts. It was on the
house and nearly all the writer's
covering the show went. A good
looking girl was checking them
In. ring Lardner, Damon
GENERATOR 4 FRONT END
SPECIAL
fmixad Tfma f1mlw