Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 31 May 1938 — Page 9
' Vagabond
From Indiana = Ernie Pyle
Arizona Farewell: Seven Years Is A Long Time for a Man and Woman To Seek a Living in the Desert.
Editor's Note—Ernie Pyle, after three years of traveling, is taking a vacation. Hence we are taking this opportunity to reprint some of his readers’ favorite columns, as indicated in their letters to him and to the editor. The third of these follows:
VV ASHINGTON, May 31.—The news of
their leaving has just come to me in a | They mailed it at Tucson, on their Their last night must |
letter. way out of the hills. have been sad for them. There wasn’t much packing to do, for they had sold out lock, stock and barrel, and practically everything they had went with the ranch.
It was getting on toward 9 o'clock. Twilight had
come and gone, and the little valley below the house was full of the dark desert stillness. There is no silence, anywhere, like the silence of an Arizona night. They had finished supper, and sat in the swing placed on the bare ground out under the thatched porch, as they always did You couldn't see Antelope Peak from where they sat, for it was on the ! other side of the house, and it was dark. Everything around them was just as it had been for years— everything except a few things: The car down by the pigeon house was packed full of stuff, for they were leaving at daylight . and you couldn't hear the pigeons cooing down there, for
Mr. Pyle
there weren't any pigeons any more, they had eaten
the last two for supper . . . and old Nap, the great, kind German police dog who was stone deaf but who could smell a coyote for a mile and who was slow and old and lovable, old Nap wasn’t rousing up from his sleep every now and then to come and put his head in their laps, for he had gone to live with a cowboy over the hill. And the two horses that he never could find when he wanted them. They were out there on the range somewhere, and the new owner knew their brand, so that was enough. They went with the deal too. And so did the calves, and the few steers. They sat in the swing, and he rolled brown paper cigarets and lit them with big matches, and smoked them one after another. Finally she said: “We better go to bed.” He smoked a couple more cigarets and they went in. She blew out the light and lay down. He went out onto the little earthen ledge they had built on the other side of the house for a porch.
He Had Built the House
Seven years. A long time for a man and a woman to live on the desert. Homesteaders who had stuck 1t out. Cactus and cat's claw and sand. Miles of it, as far as you could see. And cattle. He had built his house there. A board house, right down on the ground. Could walk around it in 30 steps. One room and kitchen. But it was nice inside. Sometimes it had been lonesome. with only Mexicans and cowpeople within riding distance, and not many of them. And town 40 miles away, and not much of a town when you got there. But they had been happy too. Seven vears. It's a good country to live in, but it's a hard country too. Only the cactus survive, eventually. There was much rain this summer. The country was flooded. Cattle didn't need water out of a well. Just couldn't make it any longer. They got a fair price for their square-mile. . . . Tomorrow at daylight. He went back into his house and went to bed. The dark, watchful shadows down by the water tanks moved. and spoke. Yip, yip, vipeeeeeee . . . tonight and forever, the song of the desert. Covotes. They'll be hearing them in their dreams, for a long time, in the city.
My Diary
By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
First Lady Is Enthusiastic Over , Growth of Her Plants and Bushes.
YDE PARK, Monday.—I know nothing more exH citing than coming back to the country after having been away for two or three weeks, and finding all of vour plants and bushes growing so fast that you hardly recognize them. We have five new climbing rose bushes planted around the house and they have shot up a couple of feet since I was here
last.
Yesterday I the
rode all through upper
and this morning we have been through our lower |
woods and along the river back through a neighbor's place. I hope to ride again this afternoon. There is no doubt about it, a certain amount of eccentricity in people adds to their interest as they older. Mr. Poultney Bigelow stood on our doorstep vesterday afternoon with his long hooded cape and a jaunty little Tyrolian-looking beret on his head. In anvone else vou would have thought it an affectation. but in him you knew he was wearing them for comfort and anyone meeting him anywhere would know he is a distinguished and interesting person. Watches Progress on Postoffice
The outstanding thing about him, from my point of view, is the wav ne has trained his enthusiasms. He does not happen to like Napoleon and if you menflattering manner, you are likely to lose your head, figuratively speaking. One would reallv think that Napoleon was alive, active, and either a friend or an enemy of the people conducting the discussion. To keep such enthusiasm is a truly marvelous achievement, for most of us grow weary and care too little to become fiery on any subject, past or present. I never knew anyone to take as much interest in the public buildings of the neighborhood as my husband. He has watched every step of the Poughkeepsie postoffice building and now that they are Sarine a postoffice building in Rhinebeck, he is off this
“smorning to discuss that.
New Books Today
Public Library Presents—
HE tale of the dash of the Arctic ship Jeannette for the North Pole in 1879, of her imprisonment and final crushing destruction, and of the hardships of lrer survivors marooned on the great ice-pack in the Polar Sea, makes a saga of adventure as told by Commander Edward Ellsberg. a. Employing an unusual method of exposition, using material from journals, and Naval and Congressional records, Commander Ellsberg identifies himself with G. W. Melville, Chief Engineer on the voyage, and tells this dramatic story as that intrepid seaman might it. sr Gordon Bennett, owner of the New York Herald, who had made history by sending Stanley into the wilds of Africa in search of Livingstone, sponsored the expedition which left San Francisco Bay on July 8, choosing a route through the Bering Sea, only vo find itself by September frozen solidly in the A suhling subzero temperatures and disease, Aiding out the scourging of great floes, enduring hunger and thirst during dark years of suspense and exposure, the harassed crew had finally to see their sturdy ship sink at last in dark waters some 500 miles off northern Siberia. The trek toward that doubtful haven, the men limping on frozen feet or fighting
grow
tion him In a
storms in the Jeannetie's three tiny boats makes the !
adventures described in HELL ON ICE (Dodd), the chronicle of George Washington De Long's heroic effort to stand first at the Pole, an “early failure more «brilliant than later successes.”
woods |
Side Glanc
The Indianapolis
TUESDAY, MAY 31, 1938
Numerous Vacation Oppo
By Tom Ochiltree F visits to historic spots, swims in crystal clear lakes and pools and moonlight walks along forest trails strike your fancv— remember, Indiana has these things and more. The sound of birds singing at dawn, the smell of bacon frying over a wood fire and the tug of a game fish at a line—all these lure the Hoosier vacationists. Members of the State Conservation Department and private resort operators can talk endlessly of vacation opportunities in all sections of this State. Their claims are backed up by pictures, folders and letters from satisfied holiday
seekers.
Sixteen parks and memorials located from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River are State property. Last year they attracted 1,064,700 people, as compared with 907,734 in 1936. Belief in Indiana's resort attraction is not confined to Hoosiers. Surveys show that 47 per cent of the vehicles entering these parks come from other states. Pointing to improvements made to State Parks during winter months, Conservation Department officials predict attendance records will be broken again this year. ” n on
CASUAL check of private vacation spots shows that Hoosier resortland truly includes the whole state. Lakes James, Wawasee, Webster, Ridinger, Tippecanoe. Barbee, Winona, Silver, Manitou, Maxinkuckee Bass, Shafer, Freeman and Nyona are located in the north. Lake McCoy is in the southeast. Hills, waterfalls and beautiful streams form the chief attractions in southern Indiana, which contains an internationally famous resort, French Lick Springs. An important asset in the vacation competition which this state conducts with its neighbors is the 9000-mile modern highway system. The State's parks, memorials, forests, factories, cities. farms and scenic areas are all threaded together by good roads. At present. the State Highway Commission is planning construction and improvement work for nearly 2000 miles of roads. These projects will represent the expenditure of more than $12,000,000 in State and Federal funds. What particular attractions draw people to the State parks? Picnicking, camping, hiking, horseback riding, swimming, archery and wild life study bring many to the Brown County State Park. Located on Roads 46 and 135, this park is 48 miles south of Indianapolis. It was established in 1930 and has an area of 3821.57
acres, 2 ” o
EFORE the days of the automobile and the improved road, this area had a rustic, provincial quality which is still being preserved to some extent. The shifting panorama of the seasons, marked by the foliage of tree-covered hills, has proved an inspiration to artists and nature lovers. The park has a distinctive quality of beauty for each season of the year. Bass Lake Beach, on Road 10 just off Road 29, and Muscatatuck State Park, on Roads 3 and 7, appeal to hikers, swimmers, fishermen and campers. The Bass Lake fish hatchery, where bass, bluegills and other game fish are propagated, is open to visitors at all times. Students of history will find their interests lead them to “the birthplace of Indiana,” the old Corydon State Capitol. Designed in 1812 as a court house for Harrison County, the building became the seat of the territorial government upon its completion in 1816.
LE
x
Most popular of Indiana's State Parks with out-of-state visitors
is the Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan. With an area of more
Less than 50 miles south of Indianapolis is the Brown County State Park, which attracts artists and nature lovers throughout the year. This photo shows a group picnicking at one of the shelter houses
in the park.
The 44 delegates to the constitutional convention assembled here in June of that year, and it was here that officers of the new State took their oaths when Indiana was admitted to the Union on Dec. 11, 1816. Corydon remained the seat of government until late in 1824, when the capital was moved to Indianapolis. The old capitol building has been restored. It is located of Roads 62 and 135. ” on on VERLOOKING the Ohio River and Madison is Clifty Falls State Park with its deep ravines and high wooded plateau. It is a haven for vacationists and geologists, who say that at one time the Clifty Creek Falls were on the banks of the Ohio River. This resort is reached on Roads 7, 107, 56 and 62. At the opposite end of the state, Lake Michigan beats against small mountains of white sand. This is the location of the Indiana Dunes State Park, which attracts the largest number of out-of-state visitors of any of the Hoosier resorts. Lecated in Porter County on Roads 12 and 49. this park has an area of 2220.62 acres. Its camping and bathing facilities are ideal. McCormick's Creek State Park, on Road 46 just off Road 67, was established in 1916, the first of Indiana’s State parks. White River, which borders the park, provides some of the state's finest fishing. A beech waods, pine forest, the abandoned quarry from which foundation stone was taken for the present Capitol Building, and a natural history museum invite exploration by visitors. This park is in Owen County near Spencer. On neighboring hilltops in
Spencer County are the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln and the site of the cabin to which Thomas Lincoln brought his family from Kentucky in 1816. Here Abraham Lincoln spent 14 years. These memorials are on Road 162 just off Road 45 near Lincoln City. ” o a
EMORIES of the grandeur of antebellum days, of gracious ladies and courtly gentlemen fill the Lanier Memorial at Madison. Even the dolls and toys in the nursery give a picture of life in the middle of the Nineteenth Century.
The Ohio River with its gaudy packet boats was the main highway of that period, and the Louse faces the river instead of the street. It was designed by Francis Costigan, leading architect of the period, and has been furnished with the original possessions of the James Franklin Dougherty Lanier family. Best routes are Roads, 7. 29, 56 and 62. Pokagon State Park, on the shores of Lake James and Snow Lake, is the scene of winter sports, which have become increasingly popular in recent years. In the summer it offers vacationists all types of recreation. It is on Road 27, just off Road 20, in Steuben County. The handiwork of a lost race of people who probably inhabited this area before the coming of the Indians is located in Mounds State Park, Madison County. Here. is a great earthen mound, encircled by an earthen wall 1200 feet. in circumference and rine feet high. It is probably the best preserved example of the mound builders art. With an area of 251.83 acres, this nark is near Anderson on Roads 67 and 32.
Where to Go in Indiana
riunities Offered at Sta
.
roy gin : BAY SS NNR Gd 1 BTW RG SE BE es im— A
te and Private Resorts
than 2000 acres this vacation spot has ideal facilities for camping and bathing. Here is a typical summer scene on the beach.
Here a nature study group is observing the vegetation and wildlife in the Dunes Park. This park is one of 16 which are the property of the State. Last year they attracted 1,064,700 visitors, as compared
with 907,734 in 1936.
IGEON ROOST MEMORIAL, on Road 31 in Scott County,
and Tippecanoe Battlefield on Road 43 in Tippecanoe County, commemmorate the struggles between Indians and the white settlers. At Pigeon Roost, occurred one of the last massacres of pioneer settlers. Scene of an early settlement, the town took its name from the great flocks of now extinct passenger pigeons which roosted in the surrounding forests.
On Sept. 3, 1812, two settlers were Killed by an Indian war party. That night, the Indians who formerly had been friendly with the white residents, killed a man, five women and 16 children.
A frontier army led by William Henry Harrison, territorial governor, fought the decisive battle of Tippecanoe on Nov. 7, 1811. It marked the last united stand by the Indians to drive the settlers back across the Ohio River. Shakamak State Park on Roads 48 and 159, is near Jasonville and is located in Clay, Greene and Sullivan Counties. It bears the name given by the Indians to a nearby stream, “the river of long fish.” Lake Shakamak with its five-mile wooded shore line is a central feature of the park. A re-created pioneer village is a feature of Spring Mill State Park in Lawrence County on Road 60. George Donaldson, a native of Scotland, acquired much of the land now in the park about 1860, preserving the forest bearing his name. Grouped around a waterpowered saw and gri:t mill, the village contains many early Hoosier antiques.
Tang
es—By Clark
"Of course | don't know your wife, Mr. Clixby, but | do know that you're a gentleman and she shouldn't talk io you like that,"
J
Jasper—By Frank Owen
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La NN AN Naa ANE
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NE of the most scenic of all Indiana resorts is Turkey Run State Park on Road 47, just off of Road 41. Located amid a virgin forest and a tangle of rocky gorges and twisted canyons, the park is particularly attractive to nature lovers. Most of this territory was once owned by Cap. Salmon Lusk, who acquired it in 1821 as a reward for military service. Both he and his son, John Lusk, appreciated its natural beauty and refused to permit removal of the forest, which remains one of the park's chief attractions. While many of the visitors stay only for hours or a few days, the Conservation Department has established group camps which are available to various organizations. There are three of these at McCormick's Creek, one at the Dunes and one at Pokagon. Improvements always are being made in the parks. New shelter houses have been completed in many places, and picnic areas, bridle paths and hiking trails have been extended. New riding stables are being constructed at Pokagon and Clifty Falls. Fishing, a sport with a neverending appeal for Hoosiers, has received the attention of the Conservation Department. A total of 50 million game fish were produced and put out in various streams and lakes by the department last year. While most of the crowds come in the summer months. Conservation Department officials point out that Indiana's parks have veararound charm:, Numerous recreational facilities exist throughout the winter, and many parks reach their greatest scenic beauty in the fall.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
1—Name the tallest of all mammals. 2—Who is chairman of Steel Workers Committee? 3—Which is larger, Alaska or Texas? 4—Give the adjective used to describe the ability to use both the hands with equal ease. 5—Name the acid in sauerkraut. 6—Of which state is Philip PF. La Follette the Governor? 7—What is the name of the craft of making cloth on a loom? 8—Which large city in the U. S. has a district called the “loop”? ” ” »
Answers
1—The giraffe. 2—Philip Murray. 3—Alaska. 4—Ambidextrous. S5—Lactic acid. 6—Wisconsin. T—Weaving. 8—Chicago.
ASK THE TIMES
Inclose a 3-cent stamp for reply when addressing any question of fact or information to The Indianapolis Times Washington Service Bureau, 1013 13th St, N. W., Washington, D. C. Legal and medical advice cannot be given nor can extended research be under- , taken.
the Organizing
SR NEY Bate
Second Section
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PAGE 9!
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Our Town
By Anton Scherrer
Southern Influence Is to Blame For the Hoosier Humor Situation, But We Can't Do a Lot About It.
HAT passes for humor around here is really the result of something we inherited. To save our lives we can’t help it. And come to think of it, it’s the only way, left to account for the language we speak.
The prevailing dialect of early Indiana was that of the South. The majority of the first settlers came from Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas through the older portions of the State, or from Ohio like as not by direct immigration. The Eastern immigration was mostly modified into a Western tone by a preceding residence in some part of the West. Thus little of the Yankee got here in so decided a form as to stay or affect the conditions around it. That's probably why we never, or very seldom, make use of the art of understatement the way a New Englander does when he wants to crack a joke. And by the same token, it's probably the reason why our humor, or what passes for it, depends on exaggeration for its effect. There's nothing to be done about it, As I said in the beginning, it's something we inherited. As for the language we speak, it, too. is something we got from the South. Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to explain why we butcher the ends of our words the way we do. To hear a Hoosier pronounce the word “evening” (or “morning,” for that matter),
Mr. Scherrer
you'd never suspect that it ends with a letter “g.” AS a matter of fact, the word “evening” on the tongue | of a Hoosier is not unlike the word “shibboleth™ which, if I remember my Sunday school lessons, was the criterion used to distinguish the Ephraimites from the Gileadites, the former not being able to pronounce digraph “sh.” (Judges: XII, 4-6, if you want to know more about it.)
The Center Was Attacked
As for me, I have to be on my way. Not content with butchering the ends of words, our ancestors went even farther and attacked the interior of words. For example, when 1 was a boy, to “set” was the right way to “sit”; a girl was not “dull,” she was “dauncy’; a widow “fended” for herself instead of “looking out” for herself, the way she does now; an Indian did not “scalp.” he “skelped”; a murderer did not “stab,” he | “stabbed”: a child did not “long” for something, he “honed” for it: and invariably, even in the newspapers 50 years ago when 1 was a kid, a gun was | “shot.” and never “fired.”
Even today, it isn't anything out of the ordinary | lo run across these words. Why, just the other cvee ning on an Irvington car I heard a woman say she “Justed honed” for one of “those dirndls,” but wags afraid to tell “him.” I haven't the least idea whem she meant by “him” but I Suspect it's an Irvington { euphemism for a husband
c——
Jane Jordan—
Jane Believes Drinking Husband May Blame Wife for Rescuing Him,
EAR JANE JORDAN-—I have been married two years. My husband once loved me and gave me every consideration. He is an habitual drunkard and I put up with quite a bit. About two weeks ago he leit me in a drunken spell and said he would never come back. But he came back, and I got him a good job. He is now doing fine and is still with me. He states that he will never love me again. He goes out often now and stays two or three days, but still gets to his work. All my friends tell me that he loves me. Should I try to forget him or put him out?
WHAT SHOULD I DO. ¥ a =a
Answer—If your husband is an alcoholic struggling to straighten up, I imagine that he is in the grip of the well-known abstinence conflict. In the habitual drinker, these periods of abstinence, brought on by fear, may last for a week, a month, or even a year, The fact that your husband is “doing fine” for the present is no indication that he is cured.
A hard drinkers periods of abstinence are filled with suffering. The continuous battle against the desire to take another drink which goes on just below the level of consciousness. interferes with his ability to think normally or to be either fair or reasonable to the people with whom he lives. The tension makes It impossible for him to function normally in his family, business or social relationships. I imagine your husband blames you for rescuing him from what to him is the blessed oblivion of alcohol. On the intelligent side of his nature Le knows you did him a kindness, but on the emotional side he regards you as the person who deprived him of the only release he knows from the strains and stresses of reality. I should not advise you to leave him now for he will only return to the degradation from which you rescued him. The oniy thing you can do is to con= sult a psychiatrist and learn from him whether or not your husband is curable or incurable. If curable you have a long hard struggle ahead in which you can do nothing without his co-operation. If incure able, you may as well leave him, now as later. JANE JORDAN,
Pul your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan. whe will answer vour questions in this column daily, i —————————————
Bob Burns Says—
AN BUREN, Ark., May 31.—The main reason why the work moves so slow on these Government projects is jest because the foreman don't undere stand the men.
When Grandpa Snazzy was foreman of a ditch diggin’ project down home, he watched the men workin’ in the ditch for several hours and finally he hollered, “All right, boys, come on out.” The men came up on the bank and Grandpa says, “All right, get back in!” As soon as they got back in the ditch, he called ‘em out again. When the men asked him what his idea was, Grandpa says, “Well boys, this job has'ta get done pretty quick and I've noticed you bring more dirt out on your shoes than you do when you're shovelin’.”
(Copyright, 1938) \
Walter O'Keefe—
EW YORK, May 31.—For the last 82 years In Washington Burchell’s grocery has been bring« ing meat and potatoes to the White House back door, and now they're going out of business. They can't stand the more abundant life. We all knew that the Government credit was shaky, but this shows you what the tradesmen think of the White House account. Of course, since 1033 the Missus has been out of town so much that they probably figured it was hardly worth while to furnish vittles for only one person most of the time. The Burchells are doubtless Republicans who have given up hope that one of their boys will ever make the grade again. Where the White House will now stock up on food is problematical, but the chances are they'll have to | trade at a cash and carry store,