Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 March 1938 — Page 15

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yL' My Diary

From Indiana=Ernie Pyle Ernie's Half Day on the Set With

Norma Shearer Convinces Him She Is Lovelier Than He Had Dreamed.

HOLLYWOOD, March 4.—For many years Norma Shearer has been to me the First Lady of the Screen. There are many others I like, but she is-the one I have always loved. Ard now I have seen her in person. She is lovelier than I had dreamed. friendly and gracious and attentive. Yet T was struck nearly dumb in her presence.

And I don’t know exactly why. She is not regal. She is not austere. She even has the graciousness to carry .you in conversation when you get stuck. But somehow she is so lovely, so ethereal in a way, that I could not achieve complete case with her. It had been the plan for me to spend half a day with her en the set of “Marie Antoinette,” her first picture since the death of her husband, Irving Thalberg. So I spent the half day. Miss Shearer and, 550 actors and 100 . work.«#®h and I. Everybody in the Mr. Pyle place talked to her, including me, but I least of all. She is tco popular. Every time I'd make a dash for her dressing room affer a scene, I'd find myself taking mud from ‘the heels of Reginald Gardner, or from Adrian, the costumer. But once I did have about 10 minutes alone with her, and then we talked. She loves the movies above cverything else. After Irving Thalberg’s death the mush magazines were full -of stories saying Miss Shearer would never again act before the camera. It seems to me that anyone who had known her five minutes would have known better. “IL had to have something to do,” she said. “I don’t mean I had to have a job to fill up my time, for there ar2 so many things I'd like to do. I want to play tennis well, and learn to speak two or three languages, .and learn more about people, and how we live. “Bui the movies have been my life, and I'm happiest wien I'm here. Mr. Thalberg and I often spoke about hgw fortunate we were to be in such a business. It’s the greatest thing in the world.” She uses Mr. Thalberg’s name frequently. She seems happy and gay, although a couple of times when she was standing alone there seemed to be distress and decn preoccupation in her face. But that vanishes in anyone’s presence.

Daily Expenses Set at $25,000

~The picture she is making now is one that Mr. Thalbers had planned for her before he died. It is very elzhorate and expensive. The scene I watched was the throne room in Versailles Palace, with all the nobility of old France packed in to see Marie Antoinette enter. : It vas a sight to knock you over. The expenses for that day alone must have run to-$25,000. There were 525 people in the scene, everyone in authentic, brilliant!y colored 18th Century French couri dress. Ten thousand mice could hide in Miss Shearer's dress, it is so flouncy. She gets out of her costume for the lunch hour. When she came from the dressing room she was in a pure white, Turkish-towelish lounge dress. Now you could see how she actually looks. She is really beautiful. And how tiny she is! She is only 5 foot 3, and very delicate and slim. She is the only woman star in Hollywood, I'm told, who doesn’t wear brown greasepaint before the camera. Her skin is so perfect she doesn’t need it. And T might as well speak of her eyes. For years I'd heard she had a slight cast, which they fixed up with the camera. I don’t know how rumors like that get started. If there's anything wrong with her eyes, then I'm totally blind.

By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt First Lady Impressed by Success Of Whimsical Play in New York.

JY Amero, Thursday—Here I am back in Washington, very fortunate in having been able to fly ous of New York City this morning before rain and fog seemed about to descend. ’ First of all, I must tell you that three plays I have seen while in New York interested me greatly. First, “Shadow and Substance,” a whimsical, charming play well casi and acted with distinction. I like to sit and think of Julie Haydon as “Brigid.” There was a purity about her face which, as I came out, made me feel I had lived through a really beautiful experience. During the intermission I kept saying to myself: “How marvelous that here in New York City, onc of the most materialistic and sophisticated places in the world, this play should draw crowds day after da.” . ° The next play, “On Borrowed Time” was even more Wwhimsical—Mr. Brink, who represents death held cantive up in a tree, the old man’s desire to care for his grandson—all of it so imaginative, so

perfectly impossible, and yet so perfectly human .

and “everyday.” WPA Flay Is Improved. I am glad it ended on a happy note, and that if

. the people had known in advance how they would

feel when they met Mr. Brink, they would have met him mora joyfully at an earlier period. The casting and acting in this play, too, are very good. The =ppreciation of the audience for this imaginative bit of whimsy is truly amazing. It makes me feel betier about New York City to discover that a sufficient number of people enjoy these two plays to keep them going week after week with full houses. Finally, I saw the WPA play, “A Third of the “Nation.” It is a marvelous piece of stage setting and acting. The script and the whole performance have greatly improved since I saw the first performance in Poughkeepsie. ‘

t. New Books Today } -

ORD S OF SPEECH, by Edgar DeWitt Jones (Willet, Clark) should find a place on your book shelves because of the 15 brilliant stars selected from the con: ellation of American authors and because of its literary value. The 15 snapshots of orators include: Patrick Henry, Webster, Clay, Phillips, Lincoln, Beecher, Bryan, Beveridge and Wilson. "For a quarter of a century Dr. Jones has lectured in America, has been a student of biography and himself an observer of the later orators he portrays. For Iioosiers major interest centers in the chapter on Albert J. Beveridge. Into it is crowded an amazing amount of biographical material. It begins with the picture of an Indiana plowboy reciting to his team of horses. It follows him through DePauw, where he ‘drew atiention as “the oratorical fledgling.” It pictures the swank young man as an usher in the Meryidian Street Episcopal Church, attended by such men as Meredith Nicholson and James W. Noel. He, was the center of social and literary clubs and .always awas the “brilliant Beveridge” on the platform. BY 1898 he was in the U. S. Senate. Unlike Bryan and Clay, he seldom spoke without ample preparation. He ranks with the “small and elect group of powerful orators of his generation and there is no record of a single platform failure.”—By W. F. R.

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Public Library Presents—

AS the Soviet Government in Russia solved all of its problems—of the schools, of the work--ers, of ihe churches? Has anything been gained by ‘the two five-year plans? Has Stalin's foreign policy been a success? The answer is “No,” atcording to Victor Serge in his book RUSSIA TWENTY YEARS AFTER (Hillman-Curl). Serge, an exiled Russian, who has seen most of his friends and family either executed, imprisoned or deported, thinks that Stalin-

ism slowly is destroying itself through its destruc-.

tion of leaders and through the fear with which it inspires its people. Nothing, he’ beliéves, will save

She is

Plan for Settlement of § New Territory Drawn Up \ At Putnam's Home in 1786

To commemorate the trek of a band of pioneers in 1788 into the newly established Northwest Territory, the Government this year is sponsoring another “pilgrimage,” which is duplicating the original journey. The second pilgrimage will arrive in Indiana in May and, after touring Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, will come to Indian-

apolis for a week in September.

% This is the second in a series o * articles on the first journey and its modern counterpart. i

VV EST NEWTON, Pa. March 4.—Before the crackling log fire of a Massachusetts home two lifelong friends

talked earnestly.

The time was Jan. 9, 1786. The place, home of Gen. Rufus Putnam. The men, Gen. Putnam and his stanch companion in fhe dark days of the Revolution, Gen. Ben-

jamin Tupper.

_Their conference, destined to shape the mold for

a plastic nation, lasted long

into the night and the

dawn of Jan. 10 found the

two warriors still huddled before the glowing hearth of the colonial kitchen. It was not idle talk that fell from their lips that night. 1t was a practical plan for realizing the hopes of their fellow colonists — settlement of the great Northwest. Substituting for his friend, Gen. Tupper had

surveyed the “seven ranges” in eastern Ohio at the request of Congress. He was so impressed with the territory and its possibilities that he hurried to tell Gen. Putnam of his discovery and

devise some plan of settlement.

The all-night conference resulted. Several days later Massachusetts newspapers published an invitation to officers and others interested in the settlement of the West to meet in their respective counties. They were instructed to appoint delegates to convene at Boston March 1. : » » »

LTHOUGH the call of organization came three years from the time soldiers and officers first talked of such a move in the “Army Plan” the prompt response to the call indicated there was no decline in interest. From the gathering March 1, 1786, grew the “Ohio Company of Associates.” This organization is not to be confused with the earlier “Ohio Company’ existing in the 1750’s and which had been one of the earlier land schemes.

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It had operated south of the Ohio River and no members of the “associates” had heen a part of the former company. Historians point out there was no relation between the two companies.

After months of preparation, organization and lobbying in Congress the vanguard of the company started the westward jour=ney. It is in commemoration of this trek and the passage of the Ordinance of 1787 which authorized the journey that a band of college youths, re-creating the hazardous journey, is making another westward trek this year.

.The pilgrimage has halted here

to build boats for its journey

down the river. wy

Behind this counterpart and the original trek made more than 150

“years ago are the records of the

Ohio Co. of Associates which gave America its great Northwest. 8 =n =n : HEN delegates from various New England counties met in Boston March 1, 1786, they appointed a committee to draft a plan of association. This committee consisted of Gen. Putnam, the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, Col. John Brooks, Maj. Winthrop Sargent; and Capt. Thomas Cush-

g. Among other points they reported, that “the stock company should be formed with capital of one million dollars of Continental certificates, that this fund should

-be devoted to the purchase of

lands northwest of the Ohio River, that each share should consist of $1000 of certificates and $10 of gold or silver to defray expenses; that directors and agents be appointed to carry out the purpose of the company.” “Subscription books were opened at different places and at the end of the year (1786) a sufficient number of shares had been subscribed to justify proceedings,” writes E. M. Hawes, executive di-

- their 22 “assistants.”

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Their eagerness to settle in the great Northwest Territory, first of the colonial “promised lands,” led the hardy band of pioneers who set out from Ipswich, Mass., into many difficulties. As the settlers moved slowly across the Tuscarora Mountains in eastern Pennsylvania they were caught in a fierce blizzard. Pbdwerful ox teams were unable to pull the heavy Conestoga wagons through the deep snow so the resourceful pioneers removed the wagon wheels and substituted sled runners, The artist has sketched his impression of the blizzard.

rector of the Northwest Territory Celebration Commission. On the eighth of March, 1787, another meeting was held in Boston and Gen. Holdern Parsons, Gen. Putnam, Gen. Cutler and Gen. James Varnum were appointed directors and were ordered to make proposals to Congress for the purchase of lands in accordance with the plans of the company. Later the directors employed Gen. Cutler to

act as their agent and make con-

tact with Congress for a body of land in the “Great Northwest Territory of the Union.”

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HE land purchase assured the -

Ohio Co. lost no time in making preparations for the actual trip to the unsettled land beyond the Ohio. Plans were drawn for a city of some 4000 acres at the mouth of the Muskingum River. The city was to contain about 100 houses surrounded by spacious lawns and commons. Gen. Putnam was elected superintendent of the expedition. Fortyeight men were chosen for the frip and divided into two parties. Classified in trades the group included four surveyors, 22 assistants, six boat builders, four house carpenters, one blacksmith and nine laborers. Each man to furnish himself with a rifle, bayonet, six flints, powder horn and buckshot. Old records of the Ohio company drawn up at Brackets Tavern in Boston, Nov. 23, 1787, disclose that “their tools and one ax and one lioe to each man and 30 pounds of weight of baggage shall be carried in the company’s wagon; and that the subsistence rf the men on the journey will be furnished by the company,

“That upon arrival at the places .

of destination and entering upon business of their employment the men shall be subsisted by the company and allowed wages at the rate of four dollars per month until discharged.”

» » 2 IVIDED into two parties, the first section consisted of the boat builders, “machanics,” carpenters and laborers. ordered to leave Ipswich, Mass., Dec. 3, 1787. The second group included the four surveyors and They were told to “rendezvous” at Hartford,

They were

Conn., until the first of January and then leave for the kingum.Maj. Haffield White, one of the proprietors and a former officer in the company of Minute Men, was

selected as leader of the first sec- ;

tion. : From the pages of his diary, especially a passage written the morning of Dec. 3, 1787, comes the composite feeling of the colonists at the outset of their long trek. He wrote: “Dec. 3, 1787—Up early and about the last end of business before departing for the Western

country. One has queer feelings:

at the outset of such a long journey. So much last-minute business must be settled before this adventure, but there comes a strange peace of mind. : : » » ” Y, HESE dark December days seem unfavorable for the journey. It is mot easy to. leave our families, our friends and our homes of many years behind. But we must be on the Muskingum in time for spring planting. Dr. Cutler and the. party should be here within the hour and we will away.” But records show that Dr Cutler, the colonial minister, did not accompany the party that left Ipswich, Mass., Dec. 3, 1787. While Haffield White wrote in his diary two hours before daybreak several young men sat eating breakfast with Dr. Cutler. Some of the men were his parishoners and one was his son. At dawn they paraded in front of the Cutler home, listened to an address: by the famous physician, minister and statesman, fired a volley from their muskets and marched away. For eight weeks the first party plodded over stage coach roads, mountain trails and the Forbes Road until they reached the Old Glade Road so named because of its course through the beautiful glades of Somerset County. This they followed until they came to the Youghiogheny River at Simerall’s Ferry. f wo» = . ERE they started to build their boats and log huts in

preparation for the arrival of the -

second party. RY

‘Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.

Meanwhile Gen. Rufus Putnam was assembling the second party of surveyors and assistants at Hartford, Conn. On Jan. 1, 1788, they started their long tedious tramp to join the boat builders. Business at the War Office in - New York prevented Gen.Putnam from accompanying the start of the march and Col. Ebenezer Sprout was placed in charge. On Jan. 22 he overtook the caravan at a point near where Harrisburg now stands and for four days they’ battled a raging blizzard. ; On Feb. 14 Putnam records his arrival at “Sumrall’'s” Ferry. “Here we find Maj. White had trimmed for building the boat's. He had three canoes on the Yoh. Oliver Dodge, John Gardner, Amos Porter, jun Hezikiah and jun david Walles on the 13th were “inoculated” for smallpox contrary to advice of Maj. White.”

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. LTHOUGH he mentions smallpox “inoculation” he makes no records concerning an epidemic, whether any of the men died or whether the action prevented an epidemic. But with the “boss” on hand, work progressed much more rapJdly. The thick forests about Simerall’s Ferry echoed the cleave of the ax and under the direction of a Jonathan Devol, a boat builder, Putman started construction of his flotilla of boats that was to carry the pioneers down the Youghiogheny and on to the Ohio country. Few settlers had cast their lot in the Youghiogheny valley when the first caravan to the Ohio country plodded down the snowrutted Glade Road and came to rest on the banks of the frozen stream. ; John Simerall and his brother Alex probably watched the strange procession from their ferry boat mooring across: the ice-jammed Youghiogheny. Their cumbersome ferry boat, hoisted ashore, was useless in the frozen river— yet it was this old boat that gave the spot its name—Simerall’s Ferry. ? Because of the extreme cold weather and heavy snows little progress was made by Maj. White's men in boat building but work was speeded up when Gen. Rufus Putnam, superintendent of the expedition, and his party of 26 men arrived at Simerall’s Ferry on Feb. 14, 1788. In the weeks that followed the workmen built a large “galley,” a large flatboat and three “canoes.” 2 ® 8 Er HE galley was constructed of heavy timber and covered with .a roof high enough for a man to walk upright under the beams. Since the one boat would not transport the men, their horses - and tools, Gen. Putnam decided

- to build a large flat boat which

was 28 feet by eight feet. This he called Adelphia Ferry. On March 29 the boats were launched on the Yough and found to be “river worthy.” The next two days were spent in loading the boats and packing the caravan of ox teams and horses that were to proceed overland to “Buffalo” near where Wellsburg now stands, Col. Sproat was in charge of this detail with a Mr. Foster who was responsible for collecting supplies for the caravan as it proceeded west. : The overland caravan started for Buffalo March 31 and the following day, April 1, 1788, Gen. Putnam and his flotilla floated away from Simerall’s Ferry.

And so they drifted on down the |

Ohio until they reached their destination — the mouth of the Muskingum. Here they built their dream town and named it Marietta in honor of Queen Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, the country that aided them as sol- . diers fighting for the liberty that was now at their fingertips. From Marietta the party moved onward gaining in strength until at last the Northwest Territory became the six states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

NEXT—The 1938 Caravan.

Side Glances—By Clark

Jasper—By Frank Owen

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: Ld

A WOMAN'S VIEW

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

“ ON’T cross the bridge until you come to it” is merely another way of saying “Don’t worry about the future.” All of us have read the advice countless times; we consider it sensible, yet we do worry about the future. I think we should. The future belongs to our children and it amounts to gross negligence when one generatior. ignores the fact that it is busy making a very bafl new world for the ones that are to follow. No, this isn’t going to be a lecture about war. There are plenty of other topics whicH should engage our attention; Public debts, soil erosion, the destruction of other natural resources, the fallacies in modern thinking and education, the victory of matter over mind, the apathy of the common citizen to his own welfare. The list might go on until the end of the column. If you wish to dig more deeply into the subject get Paul B, Sears’ book, “This Is Our World.” It will prove that the adult who doesn’t worry a little now and then is a madcap or

.& Tool,

There is such a thing as sensible worry, you know, which implies that

‘the individual will do something to

remove the source of concern.

Perhaps worry is the wrong word

to use here, but I believe we could

.| do with a good deal more worry

about essentials. ¥t is a mark of intelligence to worry about problems which can be solved. It is only when fear becomes the dominating

. anywhere around here.

PAGE 15

own

By Anton Scherrer If the Schwomeyer Grocery Wasn't The Biggest in Town 50 Years Ago, It Surely Was the Most Romantic,

T may be possible, of course, that Indian

apolis had other grocery stores as big as Mr. Schwomeyer’s, but I doubt it. Granted that some were as big, I'm sure that none quite had the glamour of his. The Schwomeyer grocery was at the northeast corner of Meridian and McCarty Sts., as busy a trading post, 50 years ago, as you could find One of the reasons it was so busy was’ because that part of town had five corners. It still has, for that matter. Mr. Merz, I re‘member, had his butcher shop on one corner; the Meyer saloon was on another; the Kissel saloon on still another; and at the point where Russell Ave. runs into Meridjan St., Emil Martin had his drug store. The fifth corner was, of course, the one occupied by Mr. Schwomeyer. ; 2 Of all these, the Schwomeyer grocery was the oldest business. At any rate, I ree member Mother telling me that when she came to Indianapolis, there wasn’t any Martin's drug store. In its place was a hitching yard for the use of farmers who did their trading at Schwomeyer’s. Come to think of it, I believe Mr. Schwomeyer also had some= ° thing to do with running the hitching yard. { As a matter of fact, somebody once told me that Schwomeyer’s grocery got its start as far back as 1865, and I, for one, am willing to believe it. To tell the truth, I'm sure of it, because I don’t see how any store could have had the glamour of Schwomeyer’s grocery without a mighty good start. The thing that made Mr. Schwomeyer’s grocery more romantic than the rest was the big stock he carried, and the way he displayed it. Why, the stock was so big that he had to use even the ceiling to take care of it. Anyway, he kept his supply of brooms and mops hanging from the beams, and it was up there, too, that you had to look for the dried cod and mackerel. They hung like bronzed mummies and the only way to get them down was to manipulate an intricate system of ropes and pulleys. It was worth any boy’s time to see Mr. Schwomeyer do it.

Mr. Scherrer

‘Barrels Were Mystifying

The other thing that always mystified me was Mr, Schwomeyer’s grand collection of barrels. I don’t be lieve there was anything like it around here at the time. There were dozens of barrels filled with everything imaginable—molasses, cider, pickles, vinegar, crackers, sugar, apples, all kinds of dried fruits, and goodness knows what else. Not merely one of each kind, mind you, but. several of each kind, because if there was any one thing Mr. Schwomeyer was proud of, it was the variety of his stock. Some of the barrels were so huge—especially those containing molasses and vinegar—that, young as I was, I never could figure out how Mr. Schwomeyer ever hoped to empty them. I asked Father about it one day and he said he guessed the size of the barrels was a sign that the Schwomeyer grocery was go= ing to stay in business. * Well that’s exactly what’s happened, because if you go down to Meridian and McCarthy Sts. you'll dis=cover that the old Schwomeyer grocery is still doing business. The Rathert boys, the grandsons, run it ‘now, and do a good job, too. At that, I'll bet Grand=father Schwomeyer would be surprised to see the old grocery run without the number of barrels he had.

Jane Jordans

Father Should Not Expect Daughter Never to Remarry, Jane Believes.

EAR JANE JORDAN—I am in my middle twenties, married and separated from my husband for the last two years. I have my child with me. I am in love with a widower a few years my senior who has two boys. He wants me to get a divorce and marry him. I would like to do this, but the trouble is our relatives. ‘We were taken to court some time before his wife died and now his relatives dislike me, and my father dislikes him. I am not so

much concerned about his felatives as I think they weculd change after they see that I would make a good wife for him and a good mother for his sons, but father is my greatest problem. I keep house for him and he is the sole support of me and my child. He is very attached to the youngster and I would hate to separate them. I know father would have nothing to do with me after the marriage. I would have to live in a distant town where most of the man’s relatives live. Now remember, I love this man very much but am almost afraid to take the final step. Please tell me what to do. AN UNHAPPY READER.

” ” ” Answer—I am handicapped in answering you cause I do not know whether the man would make a good husband or not. I do not know whether you would get along with his two boys or not. I cane not tell whether your father’s objections are based in reality or whether he is prejudiced because of ; the irregularity of your love affair. Taken alone, the irregularity of your affair is not indication that you wouldn’t be happy together. But there may be other very good and sound reasons why a marriage between you wouldn't succeed.

All I can do is to urge you to consider all your father’s reasons with a mind open to conviction. You've made one failure and you do not wish to make another. Would the man make a good father for your child? Would your child get along reasone

.ably well with his children? It is so easy for a wome

an to hide from reality when blinded by romance. Your decision should rest on the answer to these questions and not on your hesitance to take your child away from your father. No matter how attached he is to the youngster, it is not fair for him to expect you to renounce marriage in order to let him be with your child. You are too young to remain single all your life. You owe your father a great deal for taking care of you after you made a fiasco of your first marriage, but you cannot spend the rest of your life in payment of the debt. I wonder if your hesitance to take the final step is caused by fear that your father may be right or by your feeling of duty toward him? You decide. JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in a letter fo Jane Jordan, whe will answer your questions in this column daily. .

Walter O'Keefe—

LBUQUERQUE, N. M.,, March 4—If Dr. Glenn Frank can keep up the pace he set in his speech to the Republicans the other night President Roosevelt finally has got an opponent worthy of his steel. ‘That phrase “government by hunch” was a honey. and Frank D. never coined a better one. 1 Dr. Frank in diagnosing the condition of the American taxpayer says that what we need is a long rest from the deal. rf Meanwhile, the happiest Republican alive is exe President Hoover, who’s over in Europe. Even 3 is quieter. eA Time may prove that in 1936 the voters of Maine and Vermont were the only ones who were right. It

"Good morning, Mr. Bagby—I'm the bond salesman who was trying

+ .the Russian nation except a complete overthrow. of ) . to see you at your office yesterday.’

. - the present go ernment.

forse behind it that we can truth-

5 begins to look as if the.other 46 wer the backs - {fully say worry gets us nowhere, : Sox e Teally 3

‘ward states, 3

: “Blessed if 1 don't think you sould talk. me into anything!”