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1 Ctc H. K CctTia. Chairman
IDS. SMILEY ... 'JJ ...KdUor
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Philidetphla, Turxlav, April t. Hll
WOMEN AND HOME RULE
WHEN people begin to talk in the
churches on Sunday about the need
of charter revision it is time that those
who say no one i interested in the sub
ject should" look about them.
They may say that the meeting in the
Universalist Church of the Restoration
was "only a woman's gathering." ad
dressed by women, but their memories
cannot be so short that they have for
gotten how the women of the city inter
fered in a mayoralty campaign n few
years ago with disastrous effect to the
plans of the politicians.
The address by Mis. Nichols, president
of the New Centuiy Club, was an ad
mirable summary of the arguments for
the revision plan of the citizens' com-
$ mittee. It is as difficult for a woman to
understand why a city of about two
million people should have to go tor the
state capital for permission to do things
as for her to understand why it should
be necessary for a householder in West
"iiilade!phia to ask a householder in Ger
mantown for permission to change the
heating system of his house from hot
afr to steam. Home rule is whtft every
woman believes in, both for her own
home and for her own city.
The women are dmanding an im
provement in local conditions and they
will make their influence felt before the
business is ended.
MAKING READING EASY
HUMAN eyes aie too valuable to be
mriri!pfl Thus nrpHph the advo
cates of safety first in factory and work
shop. The fact is indisputable.
IS The Evening Public Ledger has sub-
opnluifl linnrtilv Tn trlic njlrl mnnv ntllpr
E? Precepts of the newer ideas in scientific
Lfficiency. We believe in piacticmg what
H . we PBeach.
Hj All of which is prclirninaiy to an ex-
El J feaiAYt nf V.oL'e in tlio vnftnt flicrs,"n
Ev nan. n.l nlieonnt innHoic TtVirt irora
Jiind enough to congratulate us upon the
;" new type dress m which the paper ap-
,peaued'for the first time yesterdcy We
'- appreciate the quickness with which our
readers aDnreciated the chance and said
i "fi'o in pleasant messages of encouraging
fek i ;
Diraui.
The larger, clearei type in which all
sojid text will be printed hereafter was
G .adopted after careful study and experi-
&V .'l.....l. tot.. n ...:.. 1 4.1 .- :i ...:i
9f- yuiVHlt ITU aic vuin mtcu umi II will
Cfir-L-.i. : ji u.. - ..j
s4'jlicci. uiiaiiiuiwuB ujjiiutai uy UUL tt'au-
Sr ers since it will facilitate leading under
all changing conditions of lighting in
street cars, on traint, in the home or
iiow that the outdooi season is near
on, the front porch.
Somebody with a turn for figures has
declared the Amencanpeople rapidly
-are becoming a nation half-blind in the
E'STpHyslcaU sense, however far-seeing we
gfy-"Tnay be mentally, and the Evening Pub- J
OiC Ledcek intends to do it3 best in the
EjLsfuture to avoid responsibility for foster
KL 'inir eve-strain.
"
' APRIL AUGURIES
ALMOST any festivities in April can
"J I wnrlrllllf Va V4 nrlA iiiu w A .A.. . ?
ii. . lcuJ " mauc vuiuiiiciiiurative it
$-V the history book is consulted. The choice
ftfcOj the -nineteenth day of this month for
sffthV opening of the Victory Loan cam-
Sgt-iiaiBn may not, for instance, have been
Jconsciously made with regard to the one
"hundred and forty-fourth anniversary of
7j-tne Dattle ot Lexington, yet there is
rj-t, iruiuui pBinouc stimulus in the thought.
bf&' Philadelphia's picturesque mummers.
KSJ-yo will turn out in much greater force
EM thah on last New Year's Day, have an
hraex;celient opportunity .to revive Paul
tk jeyere. His resuscitation for pageant
Vat r.k-b Aan aiatialj'l n HiiblB 5 1 a
sjjjurpuses wwum uv cuwieiy in Keeping
fwjttv the spirit of the occasion.
"tii'Other anniversaries abound. The
$ fJfepiEh War began in April and the
' 'Amencan civil conflict opened and closer!
j that month. Shakespeare was born
9SXpril 23 and he and his great con-
purijr, vniauwa, men till me Same
in 1616. The United States en-
4 Via ti(&nin MrtTi-l mrm11 I- ,. A i
p-e is nothing sluggish about April,
i the weather, with its assortment of
tufetfttne and rain, is apt to be lively.
THere is, then, full precedent for ani
mkm in the loan drive. It is histori
e3fw seasonable. So also would be a
vfcatHv. decisive neace drive in Paris. Tn
Xtiidat of alarms th calendar at least
f Vwt?Ma optfrnist. (
k:, ' ' -' . , ,
kONEU,L0SES AN AUDIENCE
3f t ' . ... ...
Tenement ot enryif, yvat.ier.
fwatn' mu L4eonnctmn w( the
Crifr4urml wMirtty
iAf;
-fm
management concerning tho league of
nations. "Marse 'Henry's" pen is still
brilliant, but it is old. It writes phrases
that are as archaic today as would bo
any brief in support of the exploded
southern doctrine of state rights.
The situation is illuminating not so
much for its exhibition of the truism that
wise men grow old as for its emphasis on
the heartening that the vital spirit of
any period is ever young. Ideas march
when even distinguished men stand still.
The real reason why Colonel Watterson
will not continue to write for the paper
in which for more than half a century he
addressed thousands of persons is that
the majority of his readers do not enre
to hear him when he opposes a world
league covenant.
Objections to details of the pact
abound, but antipathy to its general
principle is exceedingly faint.
THE GREAT AMERICAN SNOB,
AND U. S. PEACE POLICIES
Misunderstanding of This Country's
Aims Unusually Conoplcuous Among
"Unfinished Americans"
SNOBBERY isn't peculiar to any coun
try. But unquestionably it is a
mental habit that recently has been le
vealing disagreeable aspects in the
United States.
Among snob, nothing, whether it be
an accent of speech or a parf of trousers
or a theory of art or politics, is consid
ered fib unless it happens to be imported.
The snob of old could be comeniently
disregarded. He or ':he. for women
snobs are the most hopeless usually
evolved as an overdressed globe trotter
with u habit of servilit in the presence
of foreigners.
The snob in America has expanded his
field. He has become a critic of govern
ment since the war ended and a voice in
the affairs of nations. He is doing a
great deal to confuso public opinion in a
time when clear thinking is a funda
mental obligation of decent citizenship.
It is questionable whether a stieak of
the snob may not be laigely responsible
for the incredible abuse which certain
erudite gentlemen who like to pose as
publicists have been heaping Upon the
President. Certainly they would not
think of speaking in a similar tone of
Premier Lloyd George or M. Clemen
ccau. But as critics of our foreign policy
in the present crisis they ae less'
astounding in view of the piesent atti
tude of mind of the rank and file of
Unfinished Americans.
"What?" cries your snob. "Say un
kind things about our dear France?
Question the motives of our brave
Allies? America was saved by the
British fleet! What man can be so un
gracious as to utter an ungenerous word
about England?"
There aie few men in journalism or
in politics who, being essentially pro
Ameiican in their utterances and their
point of view, have not had outraged in
quiries such as these hur'ed at them fre
quently. So long as valor and sacrifice are hqn
oi ed and so long as men esteem limit
less courage and devotion no one in
America will ever ay unkind things oi
question the moties of the French and
the British and the other peoples who
fought with us.
But definitions should be clear at a
time like this. Most Americans when
they think affectionately of Fiance think
of the French of the Somme and the
Marne, of the patient millions in the
background. Similaily they think of
the British of the North Sea and the
fighting aimies; of the men and women
who stayed at home and carried on
through years of unutterable stress with
an unconquerable spirit.
But vour snob isn't discriminating. If
he were he wouldn't be a snob. And he
is the last man alive able to realize that
the financial and imperialistic cliques
who have done -most to confuse the
affairs of the Paris conference and in
vite the ci iticism of honest observer? are
seldom representative of the masses who
won the war.
&
If there is onej duty which presses
more heavily than any other upon Mr.
Wilson and the American delegates and
every American at home whose desire is
to see a permanent peace, it is tb recog
nize' invariably the point at which the
just lnieresLa ui mc uunuua o.c aban
doned and sinister intrigue begins at
Paris. Snobs are usually ignorant of
history and its lessons. They do not
know, for example, that the tiiades of
criticism aimed at the Americans in
Paris and read with avidity through
cable dispatches to this country emanate
as a usual thing from a newspaper
frankly edited in the interests of a group
which wishes to upset the republic and
establish a king in Paris.
Nor can they be aware that the one
newspaper in London which has most
consistently opposed the American pcape
policy is the cherished organ of the
sleety toryism that is doing its utmost
blindly to run the British empire on the
rocks. They reaJ these criticisms and
take new heai t.
The incurable snob, who persists in
drawing rooms and smokers, and now
and then in journalism and letters and
m i--. aF 41s nriflrtlirj rkinfnVkn!
politics in the. United States, will always
find one unforgivable fault in Mr. Wil
son as a statesman and diplomatist. The
President happens to be an American.
Snobdom in America endured its
greatest agony when the President first
sailed for Paris. There were editors
without number who blushed violently
in print for their naive President and
their native land and prayed (in ink)
that we should.not be made'to appear too
ridiculous by a stubborn novice with a
headlong diplomatic method.
What would they say in England?
What would the "French1" think?
Hero' Jndeed was a lamentable side of
traditional Americol
Ladies and gentlemen who are jio't. vet
reconfitP thkp country, taJjcwiH
EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER PHILADELPHIA,
dctci mined to endure the catastrophe
and live it down in the lone; years ahead.
When Mr. Wilson and tho other dele
gates firmly crowded some of the
shiftier statesmen of Europe and con
tinued to crowd them in order that they
might not violate solemn pledges made
to this nation and to the rest of civilized
mankind in the most perilous days of
the war, all snobdom in the United
States endured actual pain.
How crude it all was! How law and
unconventional!
When the plain people of Europe rose
and did homage and applauded the sort
of Americanism which our peace delega
tion represents the snobs on this side of
the world didn't understand the phe
nomenon. They never will understand
it. They do not understand the sort of
peace that America is endeavoring to
make, and they wouldn't like it if they
did understand it. The American theory
piovides justice and consideration for
inferior and helpless people. The snob
can find no world complete that isn't
filled with people whom ho can patronize
and offend for his own pleasure.
Arts and letters, politics and literature
and even the pulpits of the United States
have their sprinkling of snobs. These
are the Americans who have come
through the last few years without per
ceiving the light. The magnificence of
our nims means nothing to them. They
do not know that we have done our ut
most not only to win the war but to
save the world from the "utter ruin in
vited by the men and women of their
worship. They do not know that we
have actually supported rational phi
losophy as a novelty in tho science of
government.
Perhaps the snob is himself helpless.
He inherits his mind. He is made as he
is and in the final analysis may be
blameless, and even pitiful. In heaven,
doubtless, he will lift a nimble eycbiow
and assume a cool and superior manner,
and do his utmost to make it appear that
he doesn't reside there that he has just
diopped in for a short stay during his
travels.
THE COMMONEST LANGUAGE
"CWERY indolent American will indorse
-'-J the proposition of Arthur Elliot
Sproul, made befoie the Poor Richard
Club, that English be adopted as the in
ternational language.
It is much easier to ask foreigners to
learn to speak English than for Ameri
cans to get a speaking knowledge of a
foieign language. Mr. Sproul has been
in Russia, where he discovered that
Americans equipped with only one lan
guage had difficulty in making them
selves understood.
Every American soldier in Fiance
would have been delighted if he could
have talked to the French in English,
and now that our soldiers arc in Ger
many they are regretting that the Ger
mans speak German.
The way to solve the language prob
lem is for "Americans to learn other
languages. Even our diplomatists go
abroad without a. knowledge of the coun
try to which they are accredited.
The late Curtis Guild, that distin
guished linguist of Boston, apologized to
the Czar for his inability to speak Rus
sian when he was sent to St. Petersburg
as the "'"lican ambassador, but he
offered to talk with Nicholas in French
or Spanish or Italian or German. The
Czar, however, solved the problem by
remarking, "Let's talk in English."
President Wilson himself knows so
little French that he has to speak to the
Frenchmen through an interpreter at the
Peace Conference. But the Chinese,
Japanese, French, German and Italian
diplomatic representatives to this coun
try and to England speak English with
fluency.
Yet, after all, English is the prevailing
language of the western world and is
spoken by more than 150,000,000 people.
German comes next with 120,000,000. It
is followed in this order by Russian,
French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
Persons who can understand English can
be found in every corner of the globe, so
that even the indolent Americans, who
will not take the trouble to learn an
other language, can find some one who
can understand them.
NATIONAL RIVALRY AT ITS BEST
AN ECHO from a distant era lever
" berates through the current rumor
that the Olympic games will be revived
next year. -Few more cheerful sounds
have been heard since the whistles blew
on November 11.
A revival of the great international
contests would mean that the world had
really returned to civilization and it was
fit once more to express national rival
ries in terms neither military nor naval.
Fears that a league of nations will make
patriotism obsolete would quickly van
ish if the series of brilliant athletic car
nivals is resumed.
There was a time, be it remembered,
when Italy thought more of Dorando
than she did of Fiume and when Greece
exulted almost as pioudly over her vic
tory in the Marathon race as she did
more than two millenniums ago over the
original battle.
A sane and normal reconstruction of
affairs on this planet wilj be appreciably
stimulated by the revival of competi
tions involving skill and brawn by the
sort of clean and wholesome contests on
Whicn leuiiy iicuiuiy civilization
thrives.
Another lively race for the America's
cup should contribute to the tecovery of
tho world's sense of proportion, so
maimed and distorted by the war. The
Olympic glumes would be an additional
notent factor. Antwerp is said to be
most favorably considered as the seat of
the carnival in 1920. There could be
genuine pride in a peace pointing to such
a reassuring accomplishment.
Xo, Erniyntrude, dry wines are not per
missible under tho "dry" law.
A fivo-year'Old boy found a loaded re
volver in bis house and 'killed lib seven.
jeai-old brother with iu And yet parents
iher with u And yist parents
Wwcapoiufwiiwe' children tta
yRVJU Ktff IWW!
THE SCHUYLKILL PLAN
CONDEMNED BY PENNELL
The Artist Says In a Peppery Letter
That Broad Street and the Parkway
Now Serve All Practical Purposes
To the L'ditor of the Evening VubUo Ledger":
.Sir I am glrnl jou find mo still sprightly.
I fear niuuy wish in this town 1 was or
would be less so. It would bo to their ad
vantage. It would benefit their scliomcs
auil games which it lias been my pleasuro
to expose siuec my return to my native city.
Now for a concrete example. I do not
imagine for it moment there would be any
engineering difficulties involved in making a
parkway or embankment on both banks of
the Schuylkill from League Island flud Fort
Mifflin to Kairmoiint Park. But have these
art-park people cer tried to wulk it Is
the only waj on either side of the rit;r
from its mouth to the Park? v
Have they oven studied a map of tho
river? I advise jour readers to invest fif
teen cents in the Itand-McXally map, iib
the art people ehould havo done before they
brought forth their scheme. Have they
ever been to Chicago and navigated t'ie river
of that name?
I have done both. No, there would lfe
no engineering difficulties whatever. But
tho Schuylkill river, like the Chicago river,
is n winding river of nooks. From the
mouth of the Schuylkill to Callow hill street
bridge have been built during the last fifty
j ears endlej-s plants of endless sorts oil,
paint, bteel, steam, gas, two ruilroads, one
on each bank they can easily by capable
engineers be wiped out and the Uartram
Garden and part of the University demol
ished to carry out the plans by intelligent
engineers or eten uncmplojed, and with
thjj accomplishment of such a srheme half
the prosperity, half the commerce ot the
city, would vanish too, and the unenrned
increment of some members of the Fair
mount Park Association, their families and
relations would disappear also. I am not
sine the latter would be a mm-Ioub loss to
the city, as I have no doubt they have
canned enough to survive. But the city
would perish.
There is now, though these art people
don't know it. an nvenue called Broad
street which leads from League Island
straight to the Paikwaj, and that leads to
the Park.
If they studied the map, as they have not,
it is evident, done, ihej would discover that
even though endless bridges were built to
cut off cuives, even though the river were
turned round, the distance would be twice
at least as long ns coming up Broad street
or coming to it by the numerous arteries
that now lead to it. AVould any one of our
wideawake citizens use such a method of
getting anywhere that would compel them
to go half a hquare out of their way?
And what would they sec if the roads
were built? The bock yards of Philadel
phia all the way on the east side and on
the west the ruined Bartrams and the
Botanic Garden and the bock side of the
Commctcial Museum. This is the kind of
rot Philadelphia is fed up on. This is the
kind of rot one has to listen to day after
da v from art business men.
Wo have a splendid nvenue in Broad
street. We tan have a splendid Parkway.
If it is wanted it tan be lined with splen
did memorials a part of a splendid
memorial, in which wc shall have our part,
stretching from l'oitland, Me.,to Portland,
Ore., over which the rommrice and the
pleasure of the world will pass a highway
which would bring millions annually to the
citv. That is possible, practical.
TIip Fairmount Park Art Association's
scheme is lidiculous, imbecilic, and would
tost the city the price, in order to buy out
the owners on cacji side and their rights,
about as much as the war debt or the in
come tax and n'o one would use it. And
vet this icport of business men, art men and
lawjers in the association issued and edi
torially discussed is a verdict on the men
and women who run this citj or want to.
Mr. Vnrc is quite right. Wc want prac
tical people.
And arc the waterworks to be ruined, too
one of the last memorials of the once
beautiful Philadelphia? What a town,
what a people! Yours. J. PENNELL.
Philadelphia, April 5.
I'. S. Valley Forge! Oh, shades of
George Washington! He would have pre
ferred Conshohocken and Ivy Rock. They
are rcul and vital. Vnlley Forge is a
whitened sepulchre, a desecrated shrine,
and even now the highway leading to it. yet
Philadelphia don't know it! J. P.
The only amendment
The Trifle Needed to needed to make thnt
Make Perfection sedition bill perfect is
one which wquld pro
hibit under penalties any utterance or
writing tending to arouse discontent with
the city government. It already foibids ut
terances tendingx to create dissatisfaction
w ith the state or national government. With
the fhnngo suggested the measuic would
be perfectly ridiculous.
Congress managed to
worry ulong with the
President in France,
Essentials Versus
Nonessentials
nut tnc Ktatc Legisla
ture is taking a recess becaube the Gov
ernor has hud to leave Han isburg for his
health. Which shows how ninth more
uearl.v essential Mr. Sproul is thought to be
than Mr. Wilson. Or doesn't it?
A. E. Sproul suggests
Would American Be the selcttion of Eug
L'nderstood? llsh as a world lan-
guuge and a key to
peace, and right away he sows the powerful
seeds of dispute. Would ho have folk say
ing "train" for "street car," "sweetmeats"
for "candy," "lift" for "elevator"?
For ways that arc dark and tricks that
are vain the importers of Chinese labor are
peculiar.
Judging by the government in Moscow,
the real champion prohibitionists are the
Bolshevists.
Speaking 'of intct national languages,
money talks iu a tongue that every one
understands.
Luckily for the boys fretting to come
home, hope springs eternal through the
gloom in Hrest.
Ifrazil denies that there wa a volcanic
eruption -at Peruambuco. Pet haps it was a
misprint for Paris.
. i i I. ..
The warm weather yesterday and the
baseball scores in the afternoon papers made
one believe that spring is already here.
The neutral rone proposed by General
Smuts to uow mollified Hungary seems to
have been the temperate zone as well.
Lloyd George says iu effect that' the
buz? saw of tho Pcaco Conference is run
ning so fast that the careless observer
thinks it hasn't any teeth.
The proposed conversion of the OYaylor
uhlpytd at0 ,n road-machirfery plant sujr..
gpatB UlUl, miuuuij .jiiuencun DlSGimwyi
MMUW' vlBJ'fTO
TUESDAY, APRIL
8,
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rpJpy. jfiS
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THE CHAFFING DISH
A Printer's Love Song
THE first time that 1 met my wife
I simply could not keep from hinting
I had not seen in all my life !
Such an example of line printing.
Her tjpe is not some bold-face font,
Set solid. Nay! Aud I will soy nut
That no typographer could want
To see a better-balanced lay-out.
A nice proportion of white space
There is for brown eyes to look laifa in:
And not a feature on her face
Comes anywhere too near the margin.
Her nose, in line ITALIC GAPS,
Too lovely to describe by penpoint:
Her mouth is set in Wri perhaps,
Her chin is comely Caslon ten-point.
Each ear, a pink parenthesis.
Makes my heart come to heel and stay so :
-For such tjpography as this
Is easy reading: well, I'll say so:
Of all tvpefoundcrs I have met
.Her father's best, in my opinion :
She is my NONPAREIL, you bet,
And I, in lower case, her minion!
Walt Whitman Gossip
WE HAD the pleasure of a till from
David H. Wright, the lawyer, who knew
Walt Whitman and is thoroughly in nccord
with our hope that Philadelphia will do
something to telcbrate the centennial of its
greatest poet.
Mr. Wright was a schoolboy when he
first met AValt, in 1870. They happened to
be standing side by hide at the gate of the
Camden ferry, waiting for a boat. Young
David, who was on his way home to River
ton, had his books under his arm and the
bearded poet asked him, vwtb a twinkle,
"What is a noun?" "The name of a per
son, place or thing," replied the boy
promptly. They had a friendly chat on tho
ferry and David was much impressed by
the dignified bearing of the philosopher.
When lie got home he told his. parents iu
excitement that he had met on immensely
...ooiii.v innii. who would nrobubly leave him
a million dollars in his will. "Instead of
which," savs Mr. Wright, "ho left me a
number of ideas which are always interest
ing." ,
A LITTLE later the boy and the poet met
again on the ferry. Wait had burnt his
hand poaching an egg and the boy expressed
polite sjmpathy. He told Walt about a lit
tle play that had been given out in Rlverton
in ywhieh ,four of Shakespeare's heroines
were represented Juliet, Ophelia, Rosalind
and Katherine. Walt was much Interested
and a cordial friendship grew Up between
them. Young Wright used to visit the lit
tle house on Mickle street where Walt lived
in placid simplicity, surrouuded by his
papers and books. They used to have tea
together under the wisteria vine in the back
yard "Walt vva3 ulwavs calm, dignified
and clean," says Mr. Wright. "I never
beard him swear or use a word thaf might
not have been uttered in Friends' meeting.
For seven' years I had charge of the Quakr
Aiioalnn at Beach and Fairmount; and
-Walt used to 'enjoy, hearing tho details of
my work there nipong the drunks. I re
member his giving me his stage 'ticket to
hear Sir Edwin Arnold speak in Camden.
I was over at Mickle street just after Vic
tor Hugo's death, when Walt had Hugo's
picture pasted up iu the window with a
little wreath around it. Walt was a great
admirer ot Hugo. "He was huge like his
name," ho said. "Huge Hkc tho ocean."
The other evening I heard Ilya Tolstoi
speak, and it seems to me that lie and
llishop Leighfbn Coleman, of Delaware, and
Walt were tbrcd of n kind big, elemental
men. "
(((TvNn of my dreams," says Mr. Wright,
U"1b of a little twentyfivo-cent volume
of 'Leaves of Grass that could be used
iu the public tcliools. It's tf great pity that
the editions of Walt's poems cost so much,
Ninety cents or fl.25 is too much for a
v.nV nf nnrtrv. anyway. Over in Knclnnit
' I havo seen nice ".Ittle pper'bound editions
merlcan mohiryUfttiour Awe? U&n Twits ".! on the news,.
1919
"SOMETHING NO FROST CAN TOUCH!" V
--5H.-. j. -.-.' V."
'tiA'yp
rrf
better than wc do. Those to whom Walt's
poems would mean most very often can't
afford to pay a dollar for a book."
IVFab
WRIGHT is happy in having been
able to he of considerable service to tho
voting French ncwspapciman who trans
lated the French edition of "Leaves of
Grass." He met him iu Paris some years
ago when the Frenchman was working on
tho translation and was able to explain many
of Walt's colloquial Americanisms which
puzzled the foteigncr greatly in his search
for the corresponding French word.
Mr. AVright's own plan for celebrating
the centennial of his boyhood friend, sbowsi
how well he has absoibed Walt's kiudly, all
embracing philosophj. He has just written
to Waideu McKcuty, nt the Eastern Peni
tentiary, offering to give a reading 'of Walt's
poems to the prisoners on May ill, Walt's
100th birthday. It soems to us that this
would have pleased Walt more than any plan
we have heard.
W suggested n jear ngo that a pleasant
memorial for Walt Whitman would be to
havo one of'the Camden fery boats named
after him. Another idea has occurred to
us. Name a hotel for him. This is a
practice that is already begun. The leading
hotel at Hannibal, Mo., is the Mark Twain
and Greensboro, X. C, is now erecting the
Hotel O. Henry.
Our Military Correspondence
We need not iiNSimic that all the Ameri
can soldiers still abroad arc perishing of
nostalgia, grinding their treth in hapless
yearning to get home. U Johnny Hansom,
the author of "Poems About God," which
you may have noticed recently at the book
shops (some of the 'poems were first printed
in this department), is any criterion, many
of our warriors aie having an exceedingly
satisfactory time as students atVrench uni
versities. Lieutenant ltausom has returned from
duty with the army of occupation and writes
thus from the University of Xancy :
"I'm in cloyer now. I'm a student iu a
good French university, dabbling in letteis,
.reading and writing anil doing nothing of a
military complexion. Today, for example,
-it was too snowy for mj idea of n March
day and I've staved by the fire in an ex
ceptionally easy chair, what time I was not
discussing a particularly fine French menu
for my luncheon. This is almost my normal
life again if the geography of the case could
be shifted a little."
John incloses in his letter n poem so
enigmatic thnt wc cannot resist printing it.
He gives it no title, but we have called it
Why Veal Is Expensive
Minerva bad no pride of pedigree.
And so they shot her, bent of a broken leg,
Without a grief; then they looked butcber
inglyr On the unprovided babe she left to beg.
But who came coursing, like the tall corn
slanting,
Beautiful, proud and furious vyith auger?
It was tho farmer's slender daughter, pant
ing. And pitiful to orphans in their danger.
You flew your ribbon from his yellqw head,
Managed his bottle over many a jneul,
Xow he is big and tramps the flowerbed,
And still nobody dares pronounce him veal,
But I mdkp little marvel of this calf,
Being not the whole of history, not half.
LIEUTENANT JOHN C. ItANSOM,
A- P- - 15' A E- F
Desk Mottoes t
"Have but little to do, and do it thyself."
William Pcnn.
It was also Willlum Penn, we arc per
suaded, who originated a familiar tag of
slang, remarking in his "Fruits'of Soli
tude," Tempt no tii mi : lest thou fall for U,
One of the correspondents who arc busy
describing the kaiser by hearsay (wo would
liko to. describe him by hearse) cables that
'His parchmentlike skin hangs op his
shrunken framd,"
iPM undoubtedly ,tliii to bis prolonged
,, ., -......
THE LINDENS
THE lindens step so gently up the hill, .
Like leisured, stately dames ot I0113'
' ago.
AVavliiK their fan-leaved branches to
and fio,
They gossip of the rushes and tho rill,
Whether tho breezo has paid the ios.e'8
bill.
For perfumes which he lavished on a
bee, "
And if the linnet in tho locust tree
Trills lovo songs to the pink or daffodil.
And when the sliver moon slips Mowly by
To keep he: tryst with some awaiting
cloud
Their green procession heaves An envious
sigh
And vows she Isn't maidenly or proud.
And when it grows too dark to spy or peep
The lindens softly yawn and go to sleep.
Charlotte Becker, in New Yoik Sun.
Wooden ships may not be popular, but
when the soidieis return ftom France look
out for a demand for wooden shoes.
The German lenders arc still trying to
shift responsibility for the kaiser's fall.
There is no secret about it on this side of
the ocean. Uncle Sam admits that he did it.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the
day when Greece ceased to bend her knee in
Mippliancp to the Tiuk, and the local Greeks
appropriately made merry over the inde- r
pendeuce of their native land. .
x
j. , ,
Of course the mothers and sihtprn nnii'i
fathers and brothers of the men in the Irom
Division should have places of honor in the f
grand stand when the soldiers come march
ing home.
- What Do You Knoiv?
QUIZ
1. Who was Jean Jaures?
-. Sunday was the tenth anniversary of
the most notable event jn the history
of modern exploration. What was it? .
3. What is poi?
4,HWhntis a "thunder-sheet"?
r. Where are the Society Islands? ,.
0. What is the correct pronunciation of
Saucho Panza, the celebrated comic
character in Cervautea's "Utiii
Quixote"?
,7. A native of Virginia was one of the
ablest commandeis on the Union side
during the Civil War. Who was lie?
5S Who wrote "And still the wonder gietv
that one small head could tarry all lie
knew"? f
I). HoV many prime ministcts did Grciif
Britain havo during the course of the
war?
1(1. AVIin WHft Sir Wlllinn, nruU.'J
. ""'
Answers to Yesterday's Quiz
1, The Philippine Islands were iiained
after King Philip II, of Spain. '
2, Basalt is a dink green or biowuish
lock, often In columnar strata,
it. Nescient! ignorant of, agnostic,
4. Bulwer-Lytton wrote "What Will He
Do With It?"
5. The "Three Musketeers" of Dumas's
romance weic Alhos, Porthos- and
Arumis.
0. Taoism is tho religious doctiine of Lao,
tse, the ancient Chinese philosopher,
7. Stephen Piclion is the present French"
foreign minister.
8. Comfit; sweetmeat, sugar-plum.
0. Consistory; Senate composed of pope ' A
and cardinals; Lutheiau clerical' '!
board ; court of presbyters. '
10. The largest city in Porto Ic0 after Su'VJ
' qjJHUB teNftyusuesi. The first toWmln .'i-FM
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