§
b
Se
I have just seen the movie version of Abe Lincoln in Illinois and if
you haven't seen it you are in for a rare treat.
do the same play in the stage but I was not as impressed as I was with
It was the same play, the same words were
there, the same sequence of events, and the same man acting the leading
part but something happened to Raymond Massey on the screen.
individuality as Raymond Massey, a distinguished and honored actor of
the stage, completely disappeared and before the eyes of the small audi-
ence in the theatre where I saw the pieture, Abraham Lincoln came to life
and not for a single moment did one member of that audience doubt that
Honest Abe lived and breathed. As we sat in the darkened theatre, even
though most of us have been raised on stories of Lincoln, and I wouldn’t
doubt if more has been written about him than any other man in our
history, we seemed to meet Lincoln for the first time when he came to
the moving picture version.
New Salem on a flat boat filled with
pigs. We looked into that homely
face and realized that there was a
man we had been hearing a lot
about and reading about for some
time, but a man we had never really
known. Before our eyes was a long-
legged, bashful young man who pos-
sessed above all a warm heart and
a courage very few men are capable
of. We watched him in the village
of New Salem. We saw him become
postmaster and could readily under-
stand why the people became so at-
tached to him, and we could under-
stand why Ann Rutledge must have
learned to love a man she said
“could fill any woman’s heart.”
We witnessed his growth as a pol-
© itician and it wasn’t difficult to see
why the people of New Salem want-
ed a backwoodsman to represent
them in the Legislature. He wasn’t
the usual politician, and he certainly
wasn’t very comfortable in his
“store clothes”, and he didn’t carry
himself with the assured air of a
man of the government. But the
people believed in him. They liked
him for the truth he spoke and they
liked him because he was a man’s
man. They liked him for his gentle
ways and his dry and salty humor.
Slowly we saw the gangling young
man become an adult and Abraham
Lincoln of the stove pipe hat and
the ill fitting frock coat becomes a
lawyer in Springfield, Illinois. We
see him with Billy Herndon, the boy
who became Lincoln’s law partner
and his best friend. Billy Herndon
know that Lincoln was a great man
and he tried to help steer his
course. He had been in Lincoln’s
office as a very young man and he
realized what a rare person this
long-legged, sad-eyed man really
was.
Herndon didn’t want Lincoln to
marry Mary Todd. He knew what
she would do to such a simple man.
He knew she was of a different
class and that she was overly am-
bitious and that there was no real
love between them. Lincoln knew
that Herndon was right, and he did
try to get out of marrying Mary
Todd, but he couldn’t forget what
a fool he had made of her by re-
fusing to appear at the first wed-
ding, so he came back from a trip
through the West and married the
woman who was to make his life
so miserable.
The picture goes on and we learn
about the man Lincoln. . We see
him as a father, and as the husband
of the woman who gave him three
sons but very little comfort or | Lewis G. Hines announces the in-
peace. He understood her and was | stallation of a recently developed
tolerant with her, and he submit- | photographic system of record main-
ted humbly to her nagging ways. tenance which will save untold
Only once did he really cross her
and that was on the night he was
running for the Presidency and the
votes were being counted and ev-
erything was in a state of feverish
excitement. She was sick of his
THE SENTIMENTAL SIDE
By EDITH BIEZ——————————
I saw Raymond Massey
His
|
indifference, and his general atti- |
tude. She didn’t understand that
her husband was to have added
worries and responsibilities if the
people decided he was to be Pres-
ident. She thought only of herself
and her small warped soul cried out
in .despair. Lincoln turned to her,
after his friends had left the room, !
and told her it was excusable for
her to worry and fuss in the priv-
acy of their own home but he would
not have her make a fool of him in
public. She looked at him in ut-
ter amazement and told him it was
the first time he had ever taken
such a tone with her. She went
home, on the eve of her husband’s
triumph, home to sit and weep be-
cause she felt sorry for herself and
still could not realize what a great
and simple soul she had married.
As Abraham Lincoln stood on the
platform of the train which was to
take him to Washington, and away
from his friends and neighbors in
Springfield, he was asked to speak
a few words of farewell. I don’t
know just how moved the “other
people in the audience were but I
know I felt that I was part of that
great crowd at the station and as
I looked up into that careworn face
1, too, believed in Abraham Lin-
coln! I believed that there above
me was a friend, a man of the peo-
ple, a man who understood the
people, and on his face was written
his sympathy and understanding. I
was not conscious of the words he
spoke but I felt the strength of
that tall, homely man, and as the
train pulled out of the station, I
felt that I had seen and heard a
great man and that my life had be-
come richer by contact with him,
and I am telling you I was quite
surprised to find myself on Chest-
nut Street in Philadelphia in 1940.
FREEDOM
The columnists and con-
tributors on this page are
allowed great latitude in
expressing their own opin-
ions, even when their
opinions are at variance
with those of The Post.
Fos
THE LOW DOWN FROM
HICKORY GROVE
If I was starting out to
fool somebody and trying
to put over a quick deal,
like maybe selling a horse
with the heaves or some-
thing, I would steer clear
of old Yankeeland. And
the reason I am thinking
of the Yanks is on account
of this Mr. Tobey. Those
old boys with the whang
in the wvoice, there be-
tween the Penobscot and
the Connecticut, they
don’t buy wooden nut-
megs, they sell em.
And this new idea of
asking exerybody 83 ques-
tions, and looking down
our gullet, and under the
house when they are tak-
ing the census and just
supposed to count us, has
riled up Mr. Tobey.
His forefathers dodged
tomahawks down around
Plymouth Rock, so a few
palefaces circling him
now, there on the Poto-
mac, don’t curdle his
blood. Cal Coolidge would
be proud of him.
Peekin’ around im bath-
rooms to see who washes
his feet or meck, and how
about behind our ears and
we prove it, 1s a bit nosey.
Myr. Tobey say so.
With 95 per cent of all
the bathtubs in the world
in the U. S., that old boy
could be our mext Presi-
dent
Yours, with the low down,
JO SERRA.
HARRISBURG |
WHIRLICIC
Secretary of Labor and Industry
thousands of feet of storage space.
Approximately 3,000,000 workers
are covered by the State Unemploy-
ment Compensation Law, for
which records must be maintained.
Original records are photographed
on reels of film and when reference
is necessary are projected on a
screen. One million ledger pages,
requiring 1,500 square feet of floor
space are now filed in film form in
an ordinary letter-size filing cabi-
net three feet in height.
Application has been made to the
Federal Works Projects Administra-
tion by Governor Arthur H, James
for an emergency appropriation of
$2,000,000 for use in the borough
of Shenandoah and the surrounding
region, to avert the danger to life,
property or health and to facilitate
the resumption of normal commun-
ity activities which have been dis-
rupted by the recent surface subsi-
dence caused by mining operations
under the borough.
In the first two and one-half
months of 1940, the State Highway
Department awarded contracts call-
ing for the improvement of 59.22
miles of highway at a cost of $4,-
259,926.
THE SAFETY
VALVE
This column is open to
everyone. Letters should be
plainly written and signed.
Editor:
I wonder just what Wilkes-Barre
and Wyoming Valley looked like on
All Fools’ Day. Wyoming Valley
needs a flood of dollars, not water.
I suppose I should need one of
the planes we are now building to.
get to Dallas if I decided to go home
and keep my feet dry.
The census enumerator asked me
“Where do you live?” 1 said “I
am like a chain store—all over.”
Chesapeake Bay is well confined,
but the Wyoming Valley flood seems
endless. :
ww
NON
NN SS
NS
RY
\ \ NN
uh
\ R
ay
7
\
\ 4 os N
> : 7 Z \ a
\\
2
ES
NS
17.
al Wy -
— <Q a .
= —— —
ee -
We LE
UNE ~ No a
x
Copyright 1987. Lincoln Newspaper Features, Ine.
ere Meee AN TET
eo
0
WASHINGTON
SNAPSHOTS
—By James Preston—
Down along the Tidal Basin,
around the Washington Monument
and the new shrine dedicated to the
memory of Thomas Jefferson, the
cherry blossoms will soon be in
bloom. Thousands of Americans
from every section of this broad land
will make the pilgrimage to Wash-
ington at this time of the year,
anxious to see the city that symbo-
lizes government in the greatest
representative democracy ever de-
signed by free men. These average
citizens will stay for a few days, see
the sights, and return to their
homes with many cherished mem-
ories.
It is always an inspiring sight for
this observer to see the thousands
of men and women who come to
Washington at this season not mere-
ly because it is a city that has been
beautifully designed, but also be-
cause the spirits of Washington and
Lincoln and Jefferson and unnum-
bered other great men seem still
ative here. In Totalitaria, no one
thinks of the capital city as any-
thing but a big collection of wood
and stone buildings, the place where
the Dictator lives and rules,
Today in Washington, though, on
turning from contemplation of these
pleasant spring visitors, it is hard to
keep from remembering also the
thousands of other visitors who
have come here in recent years.
Most of them came, supposedly, to
stay for just a little while. But
very few of them have ever gone
away.
This second class of “visitors”
comprises the huge army of gov-
ernment employes who have made
their appearance to carry out the
duties and activities undertaken by
government in recent years. The
majority of them first appeared,
probably, under the impression that
their work was to be of a tempo-
rary nature. The activities in ques-
tion were commonly described at
the time of their inception as
“emergency measures.” They were,
to repeat another phrase often in
use here a few years back, “a pro-
duct of the depression.” It was in-
timated that, once business and
farming and other fields of endea-
vor began to stage a recovery and
the national income showed a real
gain, the need for these activities
would greatly diminish.
But after an extended period that
has seen the number of capital em-
ployes continue to skyrocket, the
truth of an old adage is again be-
coming apparent. The adage we
have in mind runs to this effect:
Bureaucratic powers of government,
no matter under what plea they are
obtained, are seldom—and very re-
luctantly—relinquished.
It's Funny About Hearts
By Ruth Stewart Shenley
Hearts don’t break;
Glass breaks—frail stuff.
Hearts take hard knocks,
bend,
Hearts stretch; hearts are tough.
hearts
Hearts don’t die;
Flowers die—like song.
Hearts live—eons long.
Hearts are queer.
They're deep, high, wide;
Everyday stuff, hearts. Why, look—
Mine holds heaven inside.
VV VV VV VV VV VV YY VY VY Vee YY
Upholstering @® Free Estimates
PAUL B. SMITH
Rr. 16 N. Main Street
Yours.
Tom Kinney.
Baltimore, Md.
Wilkes-Barre
——— PHONE 38-0231 ——
ntti ietineeeenioeeveeii nie clonilinieen.
Hearts thrive on love, pain, dreams;
“More than a mewspaper,
a community institution’
ESTABLISHED 1889
THE DALLAS POST
A non-partisan, liberal
progressive mewspaper
published every Friday
morning at its plant on
Lehman Avenue, Dallas,
Penna., by the Dallas
Post, Inc.
Entered as second class
matter at the post office at
Dallas, Pa., under the Act of
March 3, 1879. Subscription,
$2 a year, payable in advance.
Single copy, five cents.
Howard W. Risley... ‘Manager
Howell E. Rees........ ........ Editor
Harold J. Price......Mech. Supt.
ONLY
YESTERDAY
Items from the columns of
The Post ten years ago this
week.
From The Post of April 11, 1930:
After undergoing training for sev-
eral weeks at Paris Island, S. C.,
Russell D. Honeywell of Dallas re-
ceived his first regular assignment
in the Marine Corps when he be-
came a member of the Tenth Artil-
lery Regiment at Quantico, V., this
week.
“Big Time”, a moving picture in
which Lee Tracy, a former Shaver-
town boy and the son of Mrs. W. L.
Tracy, is the star, will be shown
Tuesday and Wednesday at the
Himmler. In commenting on the pic-
ture, Mrs. Tracy says her son’s
voice sounds just as natural as
though he were speaking to her.
Negotiations have been started by
William LaBar, manager of the Dal-
las Sunday baseball team, for the
entrance of Dallas in the Wyoming
Baseball League.
Ross, Dallas Township forward,
was high scorer in the Bi-County
League this year, accumulating 75
points.
While this is the month of April
and Spring is supposed to be here
the snow squalls Monday and Tues-
day made it look more like Winter.
In this section we can’t count on
good weather until at least May 1.
It is interesting to note that dur-
ing the entire year of 1929 no per-
son was drowned in Harvey's Lake.
“Red” Schwartz celebrated his
ninth wedding anniversary last Fri-
day. Due to the fact that “Red”
is always chirping of this and that,
he bought Mrs. Schwartz a canary,
so she could sit and listen to the
bird instead of “Red”.
Rev. Harry Henry has been of-
fered a prohibition agent’s position
with the government, but he has de-
cided to remain here and has been
appointed for another year.
TO NEW YORK
FRIENDLY SERVICE
IDEAL LOCATION
300 ROOMS — 300 BATHS
Write for Free Guide Book
“SEEING NEW YORK"
H. H. Cummings, Mgr.
44™ ST. EAST OF BROADWAY
| FORMERLY 44™ ST. HOTEL
FOOTNOTES
By EMMONS BLAKE
Our town came very close to los-
ing its most valuable antique last
Thursday in the chimney fire at the
Teackle Mansion. I found it inter-
esting to watch the crowd’s reaction
at this particular fire. The younger
spectators went to see something
burn, and shouted loudly as the
smoke curled out from under the
dry, weather-beaten eaves. The
older people were more reserved and
quiet than at any fire where I had
ever seen them. They all looked
as if it were their own building
that was on fire. And in reality
I guess it is their building. Without
the Mansion our town wouldn't
be quite the same.
The firemen were most careful in
putting out the fire. It was the first
time that I ever. saw firemen wipe
their feet before entering a build-
ing. Their description of the wall
and of the hand-fashioned laths
held in place with hand made nails,
which they had to partially destroy,
reminded me of something I'd read
about old houses.
Back about a hundred years ago,
when the first people began to mi-
grate to the West, nails were the
most expensive part of a house. For
a long time pioneers who couldn’t
sell their houses would burn them
and retrieve the nails to build their
future homes with after being re-
tempered. The burning of houses
got to be so frequent that the gov-
ernment stepped in and put a stop
to it. They gave every departing
settler a keg of nails. The size of
the keg was, of course, determined
by the size and amount of wood in
the house. A house like the Teackle
Mansion would not bring a very big
keg because it was almost all brick
and brick was very cheap, as it
was merely ballast in sail boats cast
off when the boat got its cargo.
But I know that our town would
much rather have the Teackle Man-
sion as it mow stands than fifty
kegs of bent, charred nails, and I
imagine that old Mr. Meshack Mil-
bourne doffed his entailed hat to
the local firemen for their work in
keeping it so.
TO WHOM IT
MAY CONCERN
Those who need cash can
now obtain loans quickly,
conveniently and confiden-
tially in an approved busi-
ness-like way. A steady in-
come and established credit
make you eligible for
First Nationals
BUDGET-PLAN
LOANS
Rates are only $6.00 per
hundred per year . . . re-
payable in twelve month-
ly installments.
IRST
NATIONAL BANK of
WILKES-BARRE, PA.
59 Public Square
os
er
==
Member Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation
<
by which John Jay Butch McDevitt
his secretary, George W. Williams,
and this scribe repaired to the Wal-
dorf. And so to bed. The peace of
tired bodies and stomachs au sur-
feit settled over the hostelry, but
not for long.
A blast rang out. Another. And
then another. Williams and your
narrator rushed from an adjoining
room to the boudoir of the bump-
tious chief guest of the day. There
;was no murder. All that had hap-
pened was explained by the presence
of three press photographers, fond-
ling their huge cameras and pre-
paring fresh flashlight powders.
There were no smokeless flash bulbs
in those days. The room of McDevitt
was smothered in acrid fumes.
John Jay himself lay back on |
three pillows—in his underwear. Be-
side him on a gold tray, in a sterling
silver basket, was a bottle of ging-
er ale; in McDevitt’s hand a tumbler
clutched by silver brackets in gold
hoops. Offside, the bathroom gave
forth reports of repeated gurglings,
finally explained when three waiters
emerged with buckets of empty
champagne bottles. Off came the
underwear of the millionaire-for-a-
day and into his champagne bath
he went with the photographers
popping away for the benefit of
the press and a now avid public
waiting on every new development.
Came then the most astounding
call of all—from Hammerstein's,
world’s greatest purveyor of classic
vaudeville. Pat Casey was speak-
ing. Would McDevitt and his ad-
visory board please come over to
the Putnam building? John Jay
agreed on the visit, after breakfast.
It was a matter of using the one
clean collar left in the traveling bag
of the millionaire-for-a-day, the only
clean collar and alone in the bag
excepting for a toothbrush. On the
way to the Putnam building, John
stopped at a haberdashery, bought
a collar replacement for the bag,
gave the girl behind the counter
five dollars and left her gaping and
gasping for breath by refusing to ac-
cept any change.
Pat Casey wanted to see Butch
alone. A half hour after he and
John Jay had entered the sanctum
sanctorum of ;. Hammerstein's the
same Mr. Casey returned to the ad-
visory board. No longer was he the
SECOND THOUGHTS
By javie aiche
When, as reported last week, at a temporary terminal of the safari
titlement to the role of millionaire; when, with bland composure and ad-
mirable sang froid, he refused to accept a gift motorcar and thousands of
dollars of other inducements for advertising purposes, New York was re-
lieved. Particularly relieved were the newspapers; because, if McDevitt's
name had appeared in one item of commercial solicitation of the public
the editors would have become the supreme suckers of their generation.
You could hear the sighs of approbation like the sough of a moor
wind. At some time before dawn the millionaire-for-a-day, his physician,
gained sufferance in a one- day en-
suave theatrical agent, sure of his
ground, getting what he wanted be- |
cause he had the money to buy.
“My Gawd, gentlemen,” he said,
“this man has just refused a thou-
sand dollars a week for two per-
formances a day. All I want him to
do is go out on Hammerstein's stage
for twenty minutes, telling the stor-
ies he’s been telling for nothing. Do
it twice a day for the next three
weeks here in New York and Ill
give him forty-two weeks on the
road. It's a future, gentlemen, and
he’s turning it down.”
Here was the test by ordeal.
McDevitt met it.
“Mr. Casey,” he said, “You simply
don’t understand. Let me remind
you that spending is a high art and
John McDevitt is the last man in
the world who would vulgarize it
with commercialism.” 2:3
What next? The millionaire-for-
a-day bethought himself of the ap-
propriateness of college education.
“I'd like to have it to say that I
went through Yale.” By taxicab
then to the New York, New Haven
& Hartford station. At the ticket
window he asked for a private car
for his party. Ah, railroads were
prosperous and patronized back in
early 1912. Such a thing as a pri-
vate car couldn’t be had, not under
two days’ advance notice; so, the
party had to travel by coach.
And McDevitt went through Yale
—in the door to the long main cor-
ridor at campus-center, and out the
door at the other end. And right
there stood Sylvester Z. Poli, thanks
to word from John J. Calvin back
in Wilkes-Barre. Poli, builder of
the Penn Theatre, was one of the
big five of vaudeville. He had just
erected two new theatres in New
Haven and Springfield and nothing
would satisfy him other than that
McDevitt should go over and give
them at least the baptism of his
presence before their final dedica-
tion and formal opening. i
It was almost 9 o'clock at night,
with only three hours of the mil-
lionaire’s day left, when the party
got back to New York. Of which,
more next week in the final install-
ment of these somewhat nostalgic
nubbins of memory.
But
%
5
and light frosts. It improves
increases the starch content.
cation of 800-1,000 lbs. of a
per acre. Without manure,
growth and light set, a 1:3:3
potash your soil will supply.
it costs.
AMERICAN POTA
oF INCORPOR
INVESTMENT BUILDING
ATED
WA
POTASH-FED POTATOES
Bring Profits :
OTATOES are heavy feeders on potash. A 400-
ID bushel crop uses about 200 lbs. of this plant food. |
In addition to increasing yields, potash makes potato
plants healthier and more resistant to diseases. drought,
With manure and good legume sod turned under. the
Pennsylvania Experiment Station recommends an appli-
other analyses in the 1:2:2 ratio, such as 5-10-10 and
8-16-16, in amounts to supply 160-200 lbs. of plant food
259, higher. Where there is a tendency to excessive vine
Ask your county agent or experiment station how much
dealer sells you a fertilizer containing enough to make
up the difference. You will be surprised how little extra
Write us for further information and free
literature on the profitable fertilization of
your crops.
SH INSTITUTE 1/6 LTH
the shape of potatoes and
4-8-8 fertilizer per acre or
the application should be
ratio is suggested.
Then make sure that your
>
TL
IGE GIL
SHINGTON, D. C.