Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 149, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 June 1913 — NUMBER REDUCED BUT. OH! SUCH FUN [ARTICLE]

NUMBER REDUCED BUT. OH! SUCH FUN

Indiana Society of Chicago Revels in Day of Amusement at Cedar Lake and Hammond. n ' - _____ t About four hundred members of the Indiana Society of Chicago and their wives attended the annual June outing at Cedar Lake .and Hammond last Saturday. Some two hundred more, who were afraid to risk their reputations in an Indiana rain storm remained in sweltering Chicago and worried because ’the others would damage their good clothes. The Indiana Society is composed of the “lits,” “wits” and dollar chasers of the big windy city, who started life in Indiana and were chased out of the state because they were able to get away with the things in Hoosierdoin that Chicago people have been anxious to pay for. The annual picnic 'has several motives.. One is to give Chicago an annual day of rest by taking the from the city; another is to get a glimpse of Indiana and then to picture in their mind’s eyes how much greater it would have been if they had never left. A third is to dodge Chicago beaneries an<j get a whiff of Indiana razor-back bacon, a glimpse of the fertile fields and a write-up in the newspapers, without whife such men as George Ade, John McCutCheon, Dr. Harvey Wiley, Wilbur D. Nesbit and Meredith Nicholson would not be known to nine-tenths of the common people. The rain upset the program to a considerable extent and some stunts with the Indiana Society brand of originality and humor were omitted from the day’s itinerary. There was sufficient left, however, to make every one of the big crowd glad they were born in Indiana and had moved away before the Nicholson law went into effect. A feast that would make a full meal at the Blackstone look like a jitney luneh was served at Cedar Lake and it may have been fortunate the rain prevented the auto trip back to Hammond, as it is quite sure there would have been a lot of over-loaded machines. At Hammond the hospitality fairly ran wild: Dr. Harry Shearer, formerly of Delphi, who wanted to get as near Chicago as he could without being a part of it, and who has been one of the Hammond live wires for several years, had helped to arrange a program that did not permit a moment’s rest, and if a fellow stopped to take a drink he had to hire a taxi cab to catch up. Moving picture men, anxious to get a sensational picture of the convention of freaks, followed the moving throng and shot them right and left. If not tabooed by the national board of censorship these pictures may some day be exhibited in houses that deal with cheap literature and light drama. Our own former townsman, William B. Austin, was busy on the job all the time, and shared in the pleasures, the compliments for the success of the outing and the praise of the newspapers. Doc. Wiley gave a new recipe for circus lemonade, which his service with the pure food movement was not altogether in vain. There were a lot of funny things said that will never get into print, all the reporters being on friendly terms with the joke makers. The hearty laughs that radiated from the banks of Cedar Lake are said to have been taken up by the live stock in that neighborhood and it is feared there will be an epidemic of lockjaw among the equines of northwestern Indiana. As this society pays as it goes, however, we feel certain that any quadrupeds that laugh themselves to death because of any jokes sprung during this outing can be collected for by filing a claim with the secretary of the society. Tired, full of the fat of the fertile soils, with sides paining from laughter and increased pride for the state of their nativity, the “exiles” returned to Chicago Saturday night .a happy bunch fully appreciative ol the fact that in Indiana hospitality there is real welcome and great joy.