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PUBLIC LEDGER COMPANY
T ' CTRUS M. K. CUItTtB, rataitErT. '
Cfcarfaa H L'udlrirton,VlcPrl4nt) John C.Martin,
fjerriarr n4 Traaaurari Philip a. Colltna, John II.
ITOHama. Dlrtttora, .
EDnoniAiTnoAnD
Ctarall R Cutis, Chairman.
f. M. WltALBT Sicutlr Edltet
JOTIN C MAJlTlX (lnral Ihi.Inm Manarar
j i 1 1 t i it in . ..- a,l( . i
rutiih4 daily at reitio i.nxm nuiiainr.
Jmlfjwndtnca S;ur, TMIadrTphla.
X.araaa CcrnuL Broad and Chaitmtt FtfMta
ATUitTlC ClII Yraa-tnlan riulldlnr
Na YnaK. 110-A, Mttronnlltan Towar
Dmoir 2i fM liulldlni
BT. Locts ...0 Olob Pcmwrar nulldtn.
Cmcioo.... 1203 TXtuna llulldlnr
Aee Waterloo tlact. J'all Mall, 8. W.
NEWS IlUItEAfB:
WintimTox ncaam Tha l'o( nulldlnc
New Tok llnattl Tha Timn llulMlnr
MaU lltiur tio Frltdrlchitrasia
Ijiwo.h Hranu 3 Tall Mall Kant. . W.
Paan Beano 82 liua Louis la a rand
BrnscnimoN terms
Br rarrlar. Duty O.M.T, atx canta Ur mall. Ktpald
ytMa of. Philadelphia. icpt whtr foralrn pstia.a
ts required, Dltt OtLT, ona month, twentr-llre eenta j
DitLT Oxut, on r three dollara All mall tub
ajrlpllont parable In advance.
NoTfc Rtinrlnra wlahlnC addreee chanrad muat
ttra old. aa wall aa naw addrati.
ttVU IW XAVtiVT KEYSTONE, MAIN IMI
4 i
O Addrrt nil romwiunlrofloaa tn Fvenlnff
Ia&qit, iHdtptndtnot Squirt, rhitnArlphla.
KTiaics at Tna rniUMiirnn roiTorric. ia ncoKa
CUII Mill mattes.
TUB AVEHAQE NET TAID DAILY CIIXCULA-
TION OV THE F.VENINO I.EDOKn
rott JULY WAS t.3S4.
PniLADJ.LrillA. SATUnDAY, AUGUST 21, 115.
Xouth tn search of amusement should profit
oil the fate of the flu that tost Us
life in a plate of molnssrs.
Harmony Not Yet in the Offing
IT SEEMS to bo about as long a way to
harmony as tho bow; says It Is to Tlppo
rary. David II. Lane said In Atlantic City
that they nil agreed on Smith as the cnndl
Uate to solidify the party and prove to tho
nation that this Is n Republican city.
Senator Vare says that they did not agree,
and McNichol says that he does not believe
Lane Bald It, And harmony goes whistling
down tho wind without even a South Phila
delphia pig hanging to Its coattnlls.
And ono cannot help thinking of the epi
taph on tho three weeks' old baby when ho
considers tho Smith boom. It reads, as
very one remembers:
It is no soon that I am done for,
1 wonder what I was begun for.
And the boom for Smith was not even
three weeks old.
"Au Revolr but Not Good-by"
YESTERDAY dawned cold and Jltless on
the Philadelphia streets. No more was
heard the merry and menacing emphasis of
the Jitney's little horn, no more the friendly
sign was seen. By noon threo venturesome
drivers were arrested and an Incipient insur
rection was checked. The Jitney seems to
be no more.
Yet It will be hard to persuade Phlladel
phlans that they are to be deprived, through
a legal technicality, of a .service which thoy
really want, and which provided them with
a pleasure as unexpected as It was Inexpen
sive. To those who lived within tlte Jitney
radius the change from crowded elovated
trains and leisurely street cars was a great
blessing. Many who lived far from the main
Jitney lines took a combination Jitney and
street car ride to their homes after their
day's work. Following the first Inrush of
Jitneys, the extension of hired car service, at
reasonable rates or Jess, supplied a method
of recreation comparable only to taking a
fiacre In Paris. In a hundred ways the Jit
ney has served the city.
Now tho city Is serving the Jitney rather
rfcurvlly, it will seem to the unbiased. Regu
lation, If It Is for the safety of pedestrians
and patrons. Is desirable for the jitney. But
regulation which Is prohibitive la a little
tainted with the unsanctlfled odor of con
spiracy. Are There Fairies?
THE good souls who superviso and enter
tain tho kiddles In the summer play
grounds are concerned at an unuBual wave of
Juvenile skepticism. Tales of faery are part
of tho dally diversion. Would you believe
It, the up-to-da'to youngster scouts Grimm,
Andersen and Perrault. Ho sometimes she
asks to be "shown." And a couple of
grieved teachuB have asked tho Evening
Ledoeh to bring the power of the printed
word to disconcert the doubters and to enable
those of more faith to say triumphantly, "I
told you sol"
So answering the eternal childish query we
asseverate, that there ARE fairies. "Why, it is
as heretical to doubt their "being as to ques
tion the personality of Santa Claus.
Many persons, who can be believed, think
they have seen the fairies. They are never
quite sure, of course, for the fairies are so
elusive, so fragile, so flitting. That is what
makes them so mysterious their faculty of
coming to those who aro good enough to
see them, yet leaving the witnesses Just a
bit unsure as to the vision.
Sometimes in the summer night the songs
of the fairies may be heard; sometimes in
lovely rustic spots the rings In which their
revels have been held are visible to early
risers before the dew 'dries on flower and
trass.
But these sights and sounds, like- the Grail
In the Parsifal legend, are only for the truly
good In heart and large In faith. If all of us,
and riot merely dreamers and poets and chil
dren, were eligible to glimpse them, through
our kindness, gentleness, forethought, how
much ljetter our workaday world would be
Ship From Philadelphia
aARENCB W. BARRON conducted a
nation-wide advertising campaign for
the New Haven Railroad, based on the catch
line 'Ball from Boston," and conducted it so
uccesfu!ly that when he planned to go to
Europe his family, convinced by the argu
ments in hU jsMvertlsements, Instated that
e should take tho ship at Boston ioatnad
afvotmc to Key York for It
Wop Melfs. of the 'pfrtmet of
ftaarvjE, Decks and Frrfe, la eru44
tht tb wpa .wwt et an advertising cam
let HM ke coawJucUxl for the beoeJK W
. tlkla pert, and ikt tlte ealefc line shouW We
"mtp from. PhltaUW
If K wwre mwd )n th rtfct way the
. mi tmn in this part of the mtry
weuM soon find H 1wpelble fo restt tlie
prsur pf the auftwstlon and the buiM
ot the port woulw boom. There (s a lira
und rteh country tributary to Philadelphia,
i i fs la. the j4r ahipptng pert for Its f
i '. They mmA huedid of aaillU U,
d. i .-' wnrih of coed U ltoropc, to com
v, r . iki t.i tiie JhEclUct but they do not
'" a'. Muf ot the facilities bear at hand.
The tutalnoa t tier Trie fac'lltlea; for han
EVENING T..wnBB-PHILAPBLPHIA-. SATURDAY. ATJGTJST 21. 191g4
dling it Are provided, or soon could be made
adequate to the largest expansion of trade.
And the result of aiich utilisation of the
wotcr highway at our doors would benefit
both this city and thoso who use It In all
the rest of the Commonwealth. But this
business will not come here unless we go
out to get It.
Is Germany Seeking; More Trouble?
THE gravity of the crisis precipitated by
the sinking of the Arable must not be un
derestimated. The principle Involved Is tho
ame as that which was Involved In the
Lusltanla case. Neither the Lusltanla nor
the Arabic was a -warship. All tho Interna
tional agreements and customs have pre
scribed that when a belligerent merchant
ship is attacked tho passengers nnd crew
should first be allowed to escape with their
lives. The Lusltanla was sunk without
warning and the lives of more than one hun
dred Americans were lost.
The note, to Germany, demanding repara
tion for this outrage, set forth the rights of
neutral noncombatants, nnd continued:
Friendship Itself prompts It (the Amer
ican Government) to say to the Imperlat
Government that repetition by tho com
manders of German naval vetaels of acts
In contravention of those rights must be
regarded by the Government of the United
States, when they affect American cltliens.
as deliberately unfriendly.
This was on July 21. Less than a month
later, on August 19, a German submarine at
tacks the Arabic without warning, Just as
the Lusltanla was nttneked, and sinks tho
ship with loss of llfo. There were 26 Ameri
cans on board. The early reports are that
tho lives of two of them have been lost. But
even If no American has been killed, tho
nttack upon the" Arabic comes within the
Administration's definition ot an act that Is
"deliberately unfriendly."
We munt assume that when tho State De
partment has learned all the facts It will
take such uctlon as Is consistent with the
dignity of a great nation nnd with Its duty
to protect nt any cost tho lives of Its citi
zens on the high seas.
Race Suicide for Mosquitoes
THE fly is bred In filth. It can be elim
inated by eliminating tho stuff It breeds
In. Absence of flics means the presence of
cleanliness. Mosquitoes, however, breed In
still or stagnant water, in puddles in uneven
gutters, In pools In the back yard. In swampa
and small ponds. It Is not so easy to swat
the mosquito as the fly, but It Is easy to
frustrate the reproductive plans of the mos
quitoes. Every one knows that a little oil
spread on the surfaco of the breeding places
will suffocnte the larvae and clear tho neigh
borhood of the pests.
The recent swarms of mosquitoes that
have been annoying the city are evidence of
neglect of duty on the part of the authori
ties, whose duty It is to appropriate money
for buying- and spreading the oil or for
draining the ponds and filling the depres
sions where water gathers. The present
equipment of the division of sanitation, con
sisting of seven barrels of oil and a few oil
cans and sprayers, Js woefully Inadequate.
When the city Is governed as It should be
!! work of mosquito prevention In summer
will be carried on as regularly as the work
of snow removal In winter. Then the citi
zens who have to stay in town can sit on
their front porches or picnic In their back
yards with comfort. Although the mosqui
toes do not bellevo In race suicide they
should bo assisted In bringing it about, in
this neighborhood, anyway.
- Misleading Casualty Reports
ALTHOUGH the business of counting the
xxdead nnd wounded cannot bo carried on
with any degree of precision the belligerents
are fighting and not compiling statistics the
Governments are pretending to satisfy a
very natural curiosity about the casualty
list. An "official" list of killed and wounded
and prisoners has been submitted to the
French Senate, showing that tho Allies have
lost 1,739,000 killed, while 3,360,000 Germans
and Austrians have lost their lives. The
Teuton armies are said to have lost 3,885,000
by wounds, while the' loss of the Allies from
this cause Is only 2,589,000.
Of course, these figures are Incorrect. The
Allies are not going to let the Germans know
the extent of their losses. They aro as likely
to magnify them as to minimize them. In
either case they would attempt to deceive the
enemy. And for tho name reason the Ger
mans and Austrians will conceal or misrep
resent at the present time the" extent of their
own casualties.
As a matter of fact no one knows today
how many men have been killed or wounded,
nnd no one can know with even an approxi
mate degree of accuracy" until long after the
war is ended and the truth has been dug
out of thousands of reports.
Submarined is not a verb; it's a tragedy.
How did you like tho Jltneyjess Broad street
yesterday7
"Suffrage first on fall ballots" and first In
the fall balloting.
America can feed the world, but what It
wants to do Is pacify It,
Carranza Intends to annihilate V11U, but
the difficulty Is that talk won't do It.
As the du Fonts have to keep their powder
dry, no-one will charge them with watering
the Stock of their new company.
Perhaps the President came here to get
his eyes doctored so that he might be able
to sea light in the Mexican situation.
Some comic artists, like some actresses,
get enormous salaries, three-quarters being
Uken In publicity and the rest In cash.
.I,
The Brooklyn Judge who, has decided that
the tomato Is a fruit and not a yegetable
ought to be asked to tell us what green
corn ts.
D'Anunlo and Pueclnl are to collaborate
en the rt war opera, but the.long auXerlnr
bWHo would Hko to knew who win write
the last war hook.
r "' ! ' ij, j
Juettce Hugh; ha wHte another ittr
,e 1ft hte frlenia knew that, he le not acan.
Mate, put he ha pot yet WW himself 0pn
Vo the auapfefriB gf wnittny too much.
CUeWeJ Joe Wheeler mi m eMie r all
aiaeut wheax report of their "-minimi
U Try reenlneat wueaen am i.i.a
I when he asid that be wonld oonetder hUself
tifa4tb - - 4 i. . . .7
...., " t" w iaia, io snnrry ton
Udy with w'loui hie nam was eouneeUd.
LITERARY "HOWLERS"
AND SOME OTHERS
Misleading Titles of Books, Includ
ing the Classic Example, Ruskin's
"Sheepfolds" Signs as Sources
of Amusement
By RODERT HILDRETH
SHOP signs and signboards furnish an In
exhaustible supply of raw material for tho
Jokemaker's mill, which sometimes nssurediy
grinds exceedingly fine. Npt a few of tnem
may be classified under the head of "howl
ers." n name which covers a multitude of sins
slips of grammar, slips of Intelligence, slips
of tongue, slips of pen, slips of type, or, In
short, slips of this nnd slips of that. For In
stance, there Is tho warning posted In a
spacious private park: "No dog allowed on
these premises unless accompanied by an
older person."
Speaking of signs and Incidentally of dogs
wo tnko pleasure In retelling tho story of
a contest between two famous punsters, Tom
Hood and Theodore Hook. Ono day as they
passed down the street they laid a wngcr as
to who could spring tho best extempore pun,
leaving the decision to their companion,
Charles Mathews. The loser was to pay for
supper for the trio.
Presently they espied a signboard on a
"public." "Dear sold here," It rend.
"Oho!" said Hook, "I suppose that bear Is
his own bruin."
"Good I" cried Mathews. "You'll have hard
work, Tom, to beat that."
"I dare say he'll do It. though," said Hook.
"You know he carries two faces under one
hood."
Turning a sharp corner the trio enmo In
sight of a tumbledown house standing In a
little plot of well-trnmpled grass. A huge
board bore thc'lnscrlptlon, "Bcwaro the dog."
Hood looked all about, then picked up a
broken piece of brick and wrote beneath tho
warning:
"Ware bo the dog?"
As to tho supper It was a Dutch treat.
Those Wavy Brown Eyes
But puns are not "howlers" nnd "howlers"
are not necessarily hilarious. Tho schoolboy
who wrote In an examination paper, "E
Plurlbus Unum means In God We Trust,"
furnished only n smile, while tho novelist's
description of her heroine's "wavy brown
hair and eyes" Is positively saddening. A
definition of "howlers" will be attempted in
this place, but not at thin time. Just at
present wo must try to content ourselves
with a few examples of literary "howlers"
of a somewhat different kind from those
cited in previous articles. This species Is
the product of misinterpretation of the titles
of books. In the titles ot books lie pitfalls
for the unwary.
There's n classic examplo of everything
under tho sun. In 1861 Ruskln wrote a short
pamphlet on tho text, "There shall be ono
fold nnd one shepherd." This, which treated
of the reunion of the Protestant churches,
was published as "Notes on the Construction
of Sheepfolds" a title which, appealing
rather to tho agricultural than to the clerical
mind, Insured a brisk circulation among
farmers, thoso of the Scottish border espe
cially, many of whom ordered a copy In tho
hope that they might glean therefrom some
original hints and ideas that would be of
use to them In their- calling. Doubtless,, on
discovering their mistake, they passed tho
misleading-entitled brochure over to their
spiritual advisers.
Maria Edgcworth's little volume called "An
Essay on Irish Bulls," fell by purchase Into
tho hands of many a son of Erin, who
quoted It with delight. Although tho name
of the author was to him unknown tho con
tents would doubtless, he considered, be well
worth the few shillings he so willingly dis
bursed; but, alas! although the spirited en
graving of rampant Taurus that prefaced the
essay gave delightful promise, he had but to
read a few lines to find that he had becomo
possessed of a treatise, not on bovine rumi
nants, but on that particular "blunder which
is commonly supposed to be characteristic
of the Irish nation." Nay, more, a little re
flection brought home to him tho fact that
he himself was one of those Irishmen who. In
the words of tho essayist, "were designed by
Providence to make bulls."
Times of Refreshing
"Times of Refreshing in Spain" was a title
that commended itself to a House of Com
mons Select Committee engaged upon the
question of public houses in Ireland, and,
thinking doubtless that Spanish views on
the licensing question might be adapted in
somewlso to the Irish temperament, they or
dered several copies of the work, only to
And that it was not a pamphlet on matters
spirituous, but an Evangelical treatise on
matters spiritual. An equally egregious
blunder was perpetrated by a provincial com
mittee, formed for the purpose of advocating
temperance and prison reform, when one of
their number ndvised the purchase of Dean
Plumptre's "The Spirits in Prison," under
the Impression that tho work dealt with tho
illicit trafflo of spirituous liquor in Her
Majesty's gaols. On discovering their mis
take the committee displayed an unconscious
sense of humor by directing their secretary
to write to the reverend author In terms of
strong expostulation for employing a titlo
that to the majority of people could not fall
to be misleading. Most of the people looked
askance at "The Champion of Virtue"
thinking that Its purchase would but Intro
duce them to another and Inferior "Pilgrim's
Progress." Jler mistake the authoress was
not blow to perceive, and displacing "Tho
Champion of Virtue" by "The Old English
Baron" soon secured a large circulation for
her work.
Many sailors and lovers of tho sea found
xnemseives m strange waters when, under
the Impression that they were about to peruse
a stirring sea romance of the Clark Russell
or the Captain Marryatt type, they ordered
from their library Mips Beatrice Harraden's
clever story, "Ships That Pass In the Night,"
a story Into the plot or construction of which
neither sea nor Bhlp enters, Needless to say
that tho novelist, like the art critic) and other
writers previously mentioned, was quite guilt
less of even the moat harmless attempt to
mislead.
A PERFECT DAY
When you come to the end of a perfect day
And you sit alone with your thought'
While the chimes ring out with a carol gay
For the Joy that the day has brought.
Do you think what the end of a perfect day
Can mean to a tired heart,
When tho sun go down with a flaming ray
And the dear friends have to partT
Well, thte i the end of a perfect day.
Near the end of a Journey, topi
8wt it leaves a thought that to fa! uad aton.
With wleh that I kind and true" on,
For mem'ry has pain tad thle perfect day
Wfth oailora that never fade,
And w nod, at the end of a1 perfect day,
The eonl of f rfcnd" we've made.
erri Jeci-awe4.
BUT SO
wKW ' V lit
j ?S 'THiEE'aEeSP18''"- -! 'Mb
- n 1
THE FOLKLORE OF
Children's Games That Are Passed Down From Generation to
Generation With Accompanying Rhymes for Use in Deter
mining Who Is "It" A Dispute Among Grown-ups
By WALTER PRICHARD EATON
Nc
nlng, Just after dinner, on the outer bal-.
cony of a city club. The daylight still
lingered in tho street, nnd I was idly smok
ing and watching threo Uttlo girls playing
on tho sidewalk across the way. A man I
did not know was sitting near me. After a
few moments he spoke.
"Funny thing," ho sad, "but those girls
over thero have Invented a game. I've sat
here evenings' for two weeks now and
watched Its evolution. They've got it com
pleted at last. I suppose hop-scotch and all
tho rest got Invented some time or other."
"Probably," said I. "But they seemed to
have alvays been, didn't they?"
"Sure," said he. "Funny how they get
passed down tho generations. I wonder If
this new gnme will become a tradition, too?"
I have been wondering since If other
games havo not been Invented In our con
gested modern cities, games which wo as
children know nothing about, games which
aro tho result of tho peculiar new environ
ment. Possibly somebody has Investigated
tho subject and written about It, but I
haven't chanced to seo the report. Will these
games persist In tradition, as the old ones
havo persisted? Tho field Is really a fertile
ono for somebody who loves curious and
pleasantly unimportant subjects!
Variation nnd Vexation
After tho man on tho balcony and I no
longer had tho new game to watch wo fell
to talking about games of our own child
hood, and especially about counting out
rhymes. We soon discovered that there evi
dently exists a considerable variation In
these rhymes'. Our discussion of one of
them, in fact, nearly; precipitated a quarrel.
He said:
Acker, backer, soda cracker.
Acker, backer, boo!
My father chows tobacker.
Out goes you.
"No," said I. "That Is obviously wrong.
It Isn't tho counter's father who Indulges In
the filthy habit, but the father of the person
who Is counted out. Thero 1b scorn In the
line. You havo completely missed tho sub
tlety of this rhyme. Nor Is tho chargo made
directly. Tho third line goes this way:
If your father chews' tobacker.
Out goes you.
"Not at all," said the other man. "In the
days when that rhyme came Into being there
was no shame attached to the good old cus
tom of chewing tobacco. The child, In fact,
was rather proud to proclaim his parent's
addiction to tho weed. The line went aa -I
quoted It."
"It did not," said I.
"It did," Bald he.
Unfortunately, there was no third party
to whom we could appeal. Still, I know
that I am right!
Wo wero rather amazed as our memories
got to working to find out how many counting-out
rhymes wo could recall between us.
Some we agreed on, as tho famous:
Ene, mene, mini, mo.
Catch a nigger by the toe, ,
If he hollers let him go,
Ene, mene, mini, mo.
But another pn which we differed was
this:
As I was going to Salt Lake
I met a little rattlesnake,
He'd e't so much of Jelly cake
It made his little belly ache.
The other man maintained stoutly that It
was ginger cake the poor snake ha,d eaten
or, not wisely, but too well. This I held -to
be manifestly wrong, because one of the
things most attractive about the rhyme,' be
sides, of course, the excuse It gave for using
the word "belly" In mlxod company, was the
delicious similarity of sound between "Jelly
cake" and "belly ache." Such similarities
of sound appeal to children, as a good epi
gram appeal 8 to adults or a good pun. ,
Who Made Them 'UpT
As a matter of fact, I have seen somewhere
a collection of nearly 60 countlng-out rhymes
In use In a single section, and. most of them
with variants. Of course, the children do
not learn them .from a printed' collection,
though. They are passed down through the
generations by oral tradition, How old are
they? Who made them up In the first plaoeT
Did you eyer make one up, or asWt In the
process? Obviously, the wn who wh gotn
to Salt Lake and met the rattlesnake was
an American. That one mut .have been
composed not only In thle eWntry, bt sinew
the discovery of the Great BaK Lak,.
Engine number nine,
JHIek your head In turpentine,
Turpentine make It aftlne,
JSq number nine,
alao betrays Internal eyldenee f
MANY THINGS CAN
QP r ' fe7 I
"COUNTING OUT"
not earlier than tho first quarter of tho 19th
century. Who made up theso rhymes and
why certain ones get perpetuated Is some
thing of a mystery.
Another phase of childhood folk lore Is
found In the catches wo were all so fond of
when young. Who Invents them? Who has
ever seen a new one In tho making? Who
was the author of tho most famous, perhaps,
of all? You will remember it, of course. It
was most popular at Just about tho age
when you wero learning to count. You said
to another boy or girl, "I saw a dead horso
on Chelsea Beach. I one It." (I suppose In
Philadelphia the horse was seen at some
local point.)
Tho other boy was supposed to reply, "I
two it."
Then you said, "I three It," and ad on, till
the othor fellow affirmed that he "eight it,"
and you screamed with derisive mirth, "Oh,
ho, Jimmy ate a dead horse!"
Then there was the "Just like mo" dia
logue, which ultimately caused the unsus
pecting victim to affirm that ho resembled
a monkey. Another we all recall went as
follows:
Adam and Eve and Plnchme all went out
to swim. Adam and Eve were drowned.
Who was saved?
Nobody was likely to forget that one, after
It had once been played on him.
Passing Notes in School
Clifton Johnson has somewhere recorded
the actual birth of a piece of childhood
Jlnglo which shows, probably,' how a good
many others havo originated. He says that
in Enfield, Cqnn., a boy in school wrote
something on a piece of paper and" passed It
around. The teacher saw the other pupils
laughing, got hold of the paper and read
the following couplet about herself:
Three little mice ran up the stairs
To hear Miss Blodgett Bay her prayers.
This teacher evidently had a real apprecia
tion of literature, for Instead of whipping
the boy she gave him five minutes to writo
two more lines telling what happened to tho
mice, or to Miss Blodgett, as the case might
be. Nothing daunted, the boy turned out
this sequel:
When Miss Blodgett said "Amen,"
I -The three little mice ran down again.
I used to quote that poem In my boyhood
with tho name of my teacher substituted,
and It never occurred to me that the verses
were not as old as the very hills. They
seemed always to have been handed down
from generation to generation. That is the
charm of folk lore, whether adult or childish.
Its origins are unknown, and It Is per
petrated by wireless. (
A very good Illustration today Is the
spread of the latest Ford car story. We
really have In America' a genuine folk lltcra
ture of the Ford car, They say Jt Is going
to be collected, which Is a pity. All folk
literature should remain oral for at least
two generations.
THE "CARPET-BAGGER"
Discussion Aroused as to Origin of Phrase.
Remarks on the Carpet Bag Itself.
Saya the Richmond News Leader, comment
ing on a recent article in these columns:
"George W, Douglaa, In the Phlladelnhla
Evbwino Lbdoer. credits Doctor McKe way
with having originated the term 'carpet-bagger
L"n.m,ran.!nm,0I'plle1 U t0 that ravenous
horde of Northern Republicans who descended
upon the Bouth to prey upon her during recon
struction days, Mr. Douglas' story i.tw
Doctor MoKelway. who wa. noted for hi. opSl
ent and descriptive vocabulary, put in the
term one night over a telegram from Washing
ton announcing that the Administration had sent
a number of Northern Republican, into the
fh-lS th0t Mant?n Marb,e- th"n editor of
orou.ly debouncing the policy. ' nd v,e
"Mr. Douglas" etory la interesting .
one will qu.tjon that th. nefdent ''occurred"
But we are not so certain about hla attributlS?'
At any rate, our impres.lon 1. that ....'
newspaper u.e of the term or phra?. im.'
nattng the harple. referred to wai ' nt , "K
Richmond Enquirer, ana from that Uanaro?h0,d
adopted it. The originator, howevP . thT"
Captain Parr, a Olpuce.ter Courlty 'auln?."
member of the black and tan Und.Sin ",mn
tltutlonal convention, which a. t if d. con'
wa. a hMeou. and con.c encele i'n'nmaJor1lr
U?." "". clw9,ndCNe7ronSl0m"a-
, the board WMtappad with fi ftp c1Tr
fUier he solemnly waVnadti! i,n"r ,n
Sataet the frtiow thu J?..&. invention
wHn nothing Vt&Sl
HAPPEN
said, there was 'a snake in that bag;' uid
was that speech which started tho use of tti
pnrnse in mo newspapers.
"The late Dr. Joseph Brock, convention J
porter for tho Enquirer and Richmond com!
spondent for several outside papers, was quiet
to catch the suggestl6n. Thereafter In many'e;
his reports ho differentiated the member, nr
attaching to their names, respectively, the I;
ters -u. u. m a., -in. ana "v. Tnat If
to say, he designated them severally as 'carpH.'
bag men (aliens), scalawags (renegade Vlr-' j
glnlans), negroes nnd 'whites,' or loyal VlfS
glnlans." -m
The editor of the Springfield Republican rlHtl
to remark: m
"Discussions by more or less elderly peoeW
as to the origin of the phrase 'carpet-bagfw.'i
or 'carpet-bag government,' In the Unftetl
States, doubtless would be still more enllghtaejj
Ing to tho younger generation if they told whetl1
tho old-time carnet bag was made for. Then)
are very young persons who never saw a carpey
bag and who haven't tho remotest Idea hOwTf
was used. tJ
"Carpet bags are not manufactured nowaiaytl
Only In the garrets of our oldest families, poig
slbly, can they be found poked away hopelnaej
Into' dark corners. It Is now amusing to recw
them, for they must have antedated the llnenj
duster as a necessary article of travel. To bet
as educational as possible, ono may say that if
wuiiuk im( naa jubi u. va& muuu Ul Uiuinaf7i
carpeting which was used 60 years aeo Dreclaetr'
aa a leather valise or sultcasn la todav. It war
the simplest of receptacles, with an abnormal
wide mouth. And Its capacity for shirts, cd
larc, stockings, underclothes and cold vlctote
was enormous. iw
"Not lone before the Civil War Kdwtn H.
Stanton saw Abraham Lincoln on a hot dT
enter the lobby of a hotel In Cincinnati. Tfc
perspiring Lincoln wore a long linen dustr.
and, a. Stanton afterward described his a.
turesaue appearance, there was a big 'w'
splotch on the back of the duster that loekel
like tho map of Africa. Of course, Lincoln caK
rled in his hand a carpet bag, although Etantaa
did not think It worth while to add that fsot
to his description. For every lawyer and poH;
tlctan when traveling In those days carried bh
carpet bag as personal luggage. M
"Whether the late Editor McKclway, of tea
Brooklyn Eagle, was the first man to coln-4
historic political phrase out of 'carpet bag h)
Immaterial. It Is likely that this, literary
rlchment of Southern politics waB made almwt
simultaneously by different political writer.'
Office-seeking Northerners going South to nets;
govern that section In the period of reconstruc
tion were naturally called carpet-baggers by
the Southern people, because about alt tntf,
took South was easily contained in their carpat
bags. Although the original article Is no lonmr
to.be bought and no longer figures in commcro.'
the phrases 'carpet-bagger and 'carpet-bid
government' will doubtless last as long a.
English language Is spoken."
ON WITH THE SKATES
To the Editor of the Evening Ledger:
Sir I really don't know whether It Is thf
proper thing or not to tharik a newspaper for J
Its editorials, but rlghf or wrong, I want t"s
,Bay that we feel deeply grateful for your "w
"come to the Ice Palace."
Wo have worked hard for a number '
months to tret this nronosltlon- down to Ur
that Phllftnelnlilann will accent, and vour klnd-1
ly and favorable comment acts as a balm an4U
a stimulant. We wish further to thank yeej
for that perfectly fine and accurate announce
ment you made, together with "picture. In
edition of the 17th InBt. Z. U. DODQEVi
Philadelphia, August 20.
GOVERNOR HARRIS' OPPORTUNITY
To the Editor of the Evening Ledger.
Sir A crood many years aan a. sturdy Gov
ernor of Wisconsin not possessed of much "boekl
larnln' " was asked what led him to tawa
very courageous stand on a certnln Imnortart
issue. He replied: "I seen my duty and I d6M
it." xnat remark of Jeremiah M. Rusk amuaei
the nation as much as his act had won
applause. Today, Nathaniel E. Harris, Goy-J
ernor of Qeorgla, confronts fa treat opportunity.
We do not care how badly he may outrftg
me ruies or syntax, we do expect him to oe
man. If he fears to obey the solemn oath fcej
took less than two months aro. then tbl
torches carried by the murderers of Leo Frank
win ngm mm aown in dishonor to tho tef
generation. If he shall admit by Inaction thatl
inai greai commonwealth cannot punua &
dastardly an affront to its honor and dignity
he Will do his State a prratxr inlnrv than dl
ine cowaruiy moD. wnat would Aiexanaer n
Stevens, Vice President of the Confederacy and!
a REAL Governor of Georsla. have done'
Philadelphia, August 19. S. 0. M,1
NATIONAL POINT OF VIEW
Cotton as contraband will at least fare
worse In the war area than It does now. N
xorK world.
The first woman Jitney driver has appeared
in Washington, Before long they'll carry
gre.sr-New York Evening Sun.
'"Turku TYAfnntiirA Van W.... .Ua nuaalalll.
In preparation for the moving season wW
is near? New Tork Evening Post.
Being an old man and having now
accustomed to a state of war. Carrnnsa
ally objects to anvthlne which m'aht con
him to change hla settled habits. Chle
Herald,
There 1. ample room for partisanship 1
political campaign of the country, and
indium tjuicna oi au parties inauigo i
selves as partisans to the limit durlna-
A ...J . 1.1 .. .. .. . ' . a .1.
campalgns. but there la nnt flMil. one (D
In which they positively nrohlhlt nartisan
and that is the sphere of defenses for our
tire country, Cincinnati Enquirer,
ine Washington (lnvarnn.nt la WO
with the utmort sincerity to ameliorate
conuuions esiauijahed by the Informal W
Of Qermany It will contlnu A nmlut a
a. poHcy which Is both unprecedented and
Justifiable. But in thla tmluvn. If wilt SCM
ly be either spurred or deterred by the atteitwihj
v. nmun nnd nis associates m "
olnate national policies to the desires ot 9
1
"nn jrowers, CtayeUrd Tic In J ;!'
H