Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 August 1938 — Page 9

From Indiana = Ernie Pyle

Even it the: Boat Never Left the Bock, Capt. La Sha's Sightseeing Trips Would Be Worth the Money. ’ (GANANOQUE, Ontario, Aug. 16.—Capt.

Danny La Sha is the Fred Allen of the

Thousand Islands. He isn’t on the radio, but

if you shut your eyes and listen, you'd swear

you were tuned in on “Town Hall.” Capt. La Sha (pronounced .La Shay) runs. tourists around the Thousand Islands in his big - speed-boat. The trip would be worth. the money if Here's how Capt. La

you never even left the dock. mat EB He runs out into

Sha operates.

the river a little ways, then throt-,

tles down his motor, turns around, and says: = _ “See that lighthouse over there on that island? And see that rock shoal about hundred yards away, with a pole on it? ‘A lot of people ask what the cage on top ‘of - the pole is for. * © - «well, up in this north country in November it’ gets to snowin’ and, blowin’ :.and rainin’ so bad the £ mariners calr; See one Jghihouse at night. So they bring a boy ou © Mr Pyle . oom Gananoque and put him in ‘that: cage on top: of that pole. And he sets there ll night and holds up a lighted candle to guide the mariners. In the daytime he sells the Ladies Home Journal, which tells all about light house keeping.’ “ fThat’s the way it goes all through the trip with Capt. La Sha. I asked him when we got back if he used the same jokes all the time, and he said that some trips he didn’t use any. i It seems sometimes you get a whole boatload - of sour-pusses who wouldn’t laugh at anything. One of %he preliminary feeling-out jokes is when you get %o a string of tiny islands, connected by small rustic footbridges. : i whe house on the island farthest away from the big house” says Danny, “was built by this Montrea] man for his mother-in-law. That island has a idraw-bridge on'it.> If they laugh ab that, Danny ‘goes ahead. “a £ Capt. La Sha has been a river man all his life. fe says the biggest bbat: day this little river town ‘ever had was the day of the Armistice. At that %ime Ontario was dry but New York State, across Xhe river, was wet.

‘Everybody Headed for New York { As soon. as word of the Armistice came, half the %own made a rush for the river front. Within a few minutes every boat in town was on its way across Sthe river. They went out so fast and in such droves Shey ran all over each other. One boat ran smack

nto the side of a big freighter out in midstream, {and sank itself. !

Everybody got tanked up good, and one big fat |

guy tried to row a whole barrel of ale the 10 miles iback to Canada in a rowboat. He had it covered up ¥with hay, as a disguise." He got within yelling disStance of shore, at which point he stood up, fell foverboard, turned the boat over, Jost the ale, and very nearly drowned. ; : f Our boat’ goes through a narrow channel, all grown up with reeds along the shore. You see ia little unpainted shack, and a sign which says “Bait :—5 cents” And Danny will say: : : «On the left you now see the home of Popeye ithe Sailor. He catches bait for the fishermen. Notice ‘all’ the spinach -he has growing ‘along the banks there.” £. alr ny, _ % In the wintertime when there aren't any tourists, " “Capt. La Sha hunts foxes and traps muskrats for a 3living. He is so tender-hearted he can’ hardly kill tenything. sad uh El |] §. He says that Sometimes he'll chtolr/a: fox asleep 2in the snow, and he'll stand and look at it a little “while with his gun all ready, and finally he'll go “shoo” so the fox will wake up and have a chance “to run. 1 Our boat passes a string of little islands with wellkept lawns and houses on them. The captain turns “and says: | “Those are owned by a couple of men from * Brooklyn who are interested in dentistry. Notice all 4the bridgework between the islands!”

My Diary ‘By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt .

1 First Lady Makes Preparations for i Husband's Arrival at Hyde Park.

3 H™ PARK, Monday—The heat has returned to

us today and I am afraid that Mr. Gray, who ~has gone to New York City, will find it very un- # comfortable. Mrs. Gray and I took him to an 8:30 i train, then we returned to a leisurely breakfast. I “ went over to the big house a little after 10 o'clock “to get my horse and give the necessary orders in : preparation for my husband's arrival.

* mother-in-law went to Maine, but on Thursday it _iwill really have to be in running order, for food “enough for a big household must be on hand. When : 1 am over here at the cottage, I almost forget what : it means to start a really big house going. But with ‘ such able people to do all of the work it is only a 4 question of remembering what needs to be done. ‘After making out various necessary lists and giv.ing a few directions, I came back to find Mrs. Gray anf Miss Dow very anxious to find their way into < the swimming pool, for that is the one really com- “ fortable spot on this hot day. Miss Dow is an ex- . cellent swimmer and, what is even more rare, she is ‘an excellent teacher and has helped all of us im‘prove our swimming since she has been here. In { addition, last evening after supper with us, she played “the piano at Mrs. Gray’s request very beautifully for : over an hour. She and I insisted on ending up the 1 evening with hymns but I i popular with the rest of the party, who felt that

i the singing was not as good as the playing had been.

: Brother's Article None Too Simple |

§ My brother has written an article on one phase jof education which appeared in this week's the # Connecticut Nutmeg. I am sure he could write 4 many articles on various angles of this subject. I £ gather from him that he does not think either i geometry or algebra are of much use to us, at least £ to most of us, because of the way in which we have .f been taught these subjects. I was never much of a + mathematician. I can keep four checking accounts # moderately straight, but that is about as far as I can 3 go and it is neither my geometry, which I studied £ briefly, nor my algebra, which I studied for a longer i period, that helps me. : ; In a few short sentences my brother suggests the % one thing which we really should know about each 7 of these difficult subjects. When I finished reading, # I went back and reread and found that I understood " him just about as well as though he had been exi plaining Greek! So if algebra and geometry are ever =" going to be of real use to me, somebody will have to “explain them to me rather more simply than he does.

* »

Bob Burns Says—

Hk xWoon, Aug. 16.—I jest read where it takes : 65 calories of energy jest for a human bein’ to { lie in bed and sleep and. if you snore it takes 12 { calories more. I don’t know what a calorie is but it { kinda scares me when I think how many I've been - wastin® all my life when it wasn’t necessary. Maybe my Uncle Vag ain't lazy after all. Maybe i he's jest found out the scientific way to save them j ¥ calories. : . Rt i One day when he was lyin’ out.under a tree, ¢ the wind blew his hat off and when he didn’t budge, i IT.says, “Ain’t you gonna chase your. hat?” -And i he says, “No, I'm gonna wait. , the

4M aR ETN

4 oa

: We have had-a caretaker in the house since my

don’t think we were entirely:

eet

1 i

}

By Daniel M. Kidney

Times Staff Writer

'16.—“The last of the Barons” is the way Wash- | ington cliff dwellers some-

Bowman after visiting Sunset Hills, his 4000-acre feudal-style estate in nearby Virginia. A ~ And when Mr." Bowman rides to the hounds in his pink coat, accompanied by his two stalwart sons, A. Smith Jr. and DeLong, on some of the finest mounts in George Washington's hunting country . today, everything is in the best “Virginia gentleman” tradition. . ro vs

Yet is was a modern vehicle that made this setting a reality. For the fortune with which this vast estate’ was purchased by Mr. Bowman came from pioneering in Indianapolis bus lines.

Seated on the wide veranda of the ancient mansion of the estate and .sipping mint-juleps made from whisky which he now manufactures on.the place, Mr. Bowman doesn’t mind a bit ‘telling of his Indiana adventure. ) His eyes twinkle as he relates the story of how he instituted the first city-wide, co-ordinated bus system in the country in Indianapolis in 1920 and of the “sevenyears war” with the street railway company, which finally netted him a half million in cash.

; 8 ” ” HE original Bowman investment in the busses was $65,000, he says. Parts played in this little drama

by street railway company officials now dead; members of the Indiana Public Service Commission, and the late Mayor Shank all are recalled in detail. “Back in 1920 you couldn't go into the market and buy busses as you can today,” Mr. Bowman explained. : “So I had to have mine made to order. Mayor Shank thought it was a good idea to have some new transportation in the city and his City Aftorney, James Ogden, pointed out that there was no law - either for or against them. “Both agreed to keep quiet while I ordered .35 or 40 busses made and then, without any advance notice, they . appeared on the streets. Finally five or six of the principal highways were getting 15-minute service and 4minute service during the rush hours. : “That Circle in the heart of the city was made to order for my dus operation. People liked to ride them and always knew they could pick them up there. So I

from the very day we started operation. :

“At first the streetcar company

Indianapolis Bus Pioneer

Here is a scene on the 4000-acre feudal-sty |. of‘ Indianapolis’ bus system. In the background is the Bowman. distillery.

ASHINGTON, Aug.

times refer to A. Smith

never lost a cent on any line.

Shown here is the staff of the Fairfax Hunt. From left to right are Capt. C. R. P. Rodgers and John Finerty, joint masters; Claude Hatcher, huntsman;

visit to Kentucky after-the Révo- | lutionary War. Ccl. Bowman Was

. 7 was inclined to laugh at this competition, but the busses finally became so popular that the company took the matter of permits up with the Public Service Commission. : “It was decided that our busses

- were not a public .utility. We

were permitted to continue operation, but not to expand. Mean= while the streetcar company began running busses on our routes also, but the fight had been such that the people seemed to stick with us and wait for Bowman busses.” ” » 8

HEN the streetcar company bought him out for a half million in cash in 1927, it also assumed about another half million of obligations, Mr. Bowman said. His son, DeLong, then about 12, was a great lover of horses and farm animals and agreed at once with his father that what the family needed was a farm, Mr. Bowman declared. To help the cause along the boy found the

Sunset Hills estate advertised in’

a Chicago newspaper and soon the family moved there from Indianapolis. oth the wife are Kentuckians from the Lexington Blue Grass country. Looking into the history of his

- newly acquired estate, Mr. Bow- .

man found that if originally belonged to Lord Fairfax and that one of his own great, great ancestors was a nearby neighbor. Four Bowmans were officers under George Washington and all came from Virginia. One of them was the only officer killed at the capture of Vincennes by George Rogers Clark. : Col. Abraham Bowman founded the Kentucky branch of the family and much of the family furniture, handed down through the generations, came from his Blue Grass country estate. = ~~ Included is an ancient settee upon which General Lafayette sat and talked to Col. Bowman on-a

le estate of A. Smith Bowman, organizer

elder Bowman and his

on Lafayette’s staff during the war and his picture now hangs in the Corcoran Art Gallery. : After reciting some of this

" family history, Mr. Bowman ‘re=

turns to his own latest ‘venture

sand points ‘out that it too has:

historical precedent. 3

“Abraham Bowman had a still | :

‘on his. Kentucky estate, but George Washington had the first commercial still in- America right here in Virginia,” he says. - ; PR LTHOUGH - the thought that ‘prohibition was here to stay when they came to Sunset Hills, they now own and operate the only private distillery

legally licensed in: Virginia and °

perhaps the only one thus owned and operated in the entire United States. Their production is commercial. ; Sunset Hills produces most of the corn from which this bourbon whisky is made and the dairy herds and vast numbers of cattle .and hogs: consume the mash byproduct. : Originally the herds were the principal business of Sunset: Hills. But with five or six warehouses filled with nearly a million gallons of liquor: they have been relegated to a poor second place as a revenue producer, Mr. Bowman admits. Ett? However he is now stocking the

- place with 1000 hogs and expects

to produce his own brand of hams from a formula which also is a family heirloom. : Family tradition in such crafts-

manship counts heavily with the

Bowmans and that is why Casey J. Wilken, scion of a famous distilling family of Kentucky, was. put in charge of the distilling operation, they explain. Entrance to Sunset Hills is

. along a three-mile private wood-

land road. About 25 acres ‘of dogwood in season borders ' one

including a

* the mansion.

? : He AC Td re re " gr CR » : avi Judadtiat oR ¥ : ne LR ik 5 shy or 03 § v 5 iS § Ay go F- nt PE Sie : oe ats + LT Enis £0 S = 4 BO. ices ore | "Orns 4 ' a . “A. Bed « REOAE FT hh + 5

Now Owns Vast Feudal-Style Estate in Virgin

DeLong Bowman, whip, and A) Smith Bowman, president. Mr. Bowman helped organize the Fairfax Hunt, his estate being ideal for fox hunting.

‘side of the road, while on the

other are no.less than 100 acres of holly. : White-washed wooden fences ring ‘the pastures where the thoroughbred - cattle and horses

«There are. about 40 buildings 1 hout - the - estate,

small village with a postoffice, station, express office, telegraph office,

house. . The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad runs along one

side of the.estate for four miles and is used for shipping by the

various Bowman enterprises... ee SH :

A BOUT 250 persons are em-

L ployed and most of them live on the estate. Besides . the corn, alfalfa and other ordinary farm products, 50 acres is devoted to production of Kentucky bluegrass and Mr. Bowman. boasts that it is better than

that produced down at Lexington.

At any rate, it was good enough to have beeh selected for resodding the White House grounds. The mansion itself was built 70 or 80 years ago from brick made on the estate, as were most of the other buildings. It has 22-inch walls with an air-space in the middle, which makes it ideal both for winter and summer. Located on the highest hill, the gregt house is surrounded by ancient trees and for two and

" one-half miles back of the house

is a prirneval forest. Springs provide clear cold water used for the

_ swimming pool as well as the still

house. Se A second large house, built of wood, is but a short distance from It is used as a guest house, when large parties are held at ‘the estate, and contains a huge ballroom. This place also was headquar-

"ters of the Fairfax Hunt when Mr. Bowman was Master of.

Hounds. He helped organize the

telegr a church and formerly a one-room school-

section.

Center of the ‘vast Bowinan estate in this impressive. brick mansion.” One of Mr. Bowman's sons, A. Smith Bowman Jr, is shown with his dog. nti Nw

A. Smith Bowman

Fairfax Hunt and the estate itself: has miles of bridlé paths through the woods; with excellent jumps, which make it one of the best for fox hunting in this fox hunting

" » =

WETme of the Bowmans in ‘Ythe Virginia magazine Down Country, James L. Lucas said: “Hunt breakfasts were held at Sunset Hills to which the pinkcoated hunters would return from the chase to be joined by hundreds of local gentry and official,

diplomatic anc residential Wash-

ington. “On Sunday .afternons one might find a goodly portion of the smart officialdom of Washington. Since a slight injury of a few hunt seasons ago, Mr. Bowman’s two sons have taken over in large part the management of the estate. And Mr. Bowman will tell you with some pride and with a smile at himself that they manage it better than he did.” Both sons are Princeton Univer sity graduates. = His successful bus: line -promotion in Indianapolis has not changed Mr. Bowman's partiality for land as the best long-term investment. ST “I have owned farms in five or six states and in Canada and always made money on them,” he

says. : : faye in the country is a good life.” £ sit,

4 ta SRRWCE WE. R

“Be very careful,

Lola

Side Glances—By. Clark

Everyday Movies—By

Wortman

AGEs 520 85 | cap Bie PPO? vo Nema 4% 5 | ts

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

i— Name the city in ‘Florida with the largest population. 2—Is a resident of the United ~ States, who has only his first papers, an alien? 3—Name the capital of Madagascar. 4—What is the feminine form of toastmaster?

of the motion picture try in the United States? 6—Did President Franklin D. Roosevelt ever hold a high

Public Library Presents— Ey

By Raymond Clapper Social Security System Perhaps + sls Largest Unfinished Monument + That Will Be Left by Roosevelt. (Anton Scherrer. Is on Vacation)

7 ASHINGTON, Aug. 16.—Roosevelt will ¥''Jeave many monuments. He will leave

nglon

| public works all over the land, monuments

like the Triborough Bridge in New York, the two gigantic bridges in San: Francisco, and literally thousand of other public improvements much needed, but which would not have been built ‘without the help of the Roosevelt relief and recovery programs. Roosevelt will will also leave the largest public debt'in history, not ~*~ ~~ A {0 mention the most ‘enormous assortment of book, magazine and newspaper denunciation that has .ever been devoted to any human being. rE ET _ He will leave some : other things, unfinished monuments, still to be improved—stock market control, - Federal protection of wages and hours, and perhaps the largest monument of all, the social security system which. is itis im y s social security organization has .spread its Mr. Clapper monumental files and equipment over acres of office building space in Washington and Baltimore, handling records of more than 40,000,000 persons, the biggest bookkeeping job in all history. : In the case of social security, more than any other item in thé Roosevelt program, there has been strong support of the objective and intense controversy about the method. Had Roosevelt waited to find some plan acceptable to all, nothing would have been done yet. He insisted upon a start of some kind—and it is this success in getting things started that is the mark of Roosevelt's achievement, rather than th€ perfection of details. If you wait until every last detail is perfected and until every last critic is satisfied, you never act. : $

. In social security other countries had acted long before and the need here had been recognized for years. It remained for Roosevelt to act. But in this instance he did not resort to quick-baked rubberstamp legislation. He assembled a committee of experts for preliminary study which lasted for months, House and Senate committees held hearings running for weeks and listened to everyone who had anything worth-while to suggest. Finally out of all this mass of material a law was drafted, thrashed over in both houses thoroughly and sent to Roosevelt, who signed

it Aug. 14, 1935. © ul 8 Described as ‘Cornerstone’ Even after this exhaustive care, Roosevelt knew the. legislation was not perfect, nor complete. In signing the act he described it.as a “cornerstone in a structure which is being built, but is by no means complete.” : : "Thus far he has resisted Republican attempts to drastically change the act. He insists some time must elapse before the operation of the law will make ‘clear just how it should be changed. Congress has created an advisory committee representing emplayers, employees and the public,-and this committee is en gaged in a continuing study of the operation of the

1t is preparing recommendations which probably will be considered by Congress next winter. These would extend old-age insurance coverage to agricul. tural labor, domestic and other groups now excluded and extend benefits to aged wives and widows of cov-

1 ered workers and to the young children of those who

die before reaching 65 years. In the offing is the possibility of some kind of health insurance, after the pattern of the present unemployment compensation. "Nobody knows what will develop. But it is a safe guess that social security machinery will expand rather than contract. : : :

Jane Jordan— Wife Must Learn Adolescent Love Is Curable Malady, Jane Declares.

FAR JANE JORDAN—I am a married woman 21 years old and I have a baby 1 year old. I have been married five years to a man whom I thought I loved. Although I thought I was happily married, ¥ know I never can be again, for I met a young man three months ago whom I really do love. He told a friend of mine that he loved me, too. also has ‘hinted to me that he loved me. I at least know that I can never be happy where my husband is when I love this other man. I just can’t make up my mind what to do. Shall I go to my husband and tell him about this man or what? Tr, HEARTBROKEN.

Answer—Give yourself a chance to get over it and don’t take yourself so seriously. Many married women have been attracted to other men at some time or other during their marriages but most of them have less faith in the durability of these attractions than you have. Ba The trouble with you is that you married before “you had lived through several spells of lovesickness. Most girls of 21 have been in love a half a dozen times and lived to tell the tale. They know from experience that adolescent love is a curable malady. For heaven's sake don’t tell your husband and get him all upset. Besides you don’t know that this other man's feeling for you is any more than skin deep. . Stick with your husband and child. ‘That's where youre needed and wanted, ro : . 2 = : EAR JANE JORDAN—A few weeks ago I was ab my. girl friend’s house. A boy friend of mine ‘stopped nearby and tried to get a date with a neighbor ‘girl, but she had a date. Xe asked if any more girls ‘lived near there and she told him about my girl friend but said that she, too, had a date. Nevertheless, he "stopped by anyway and in a few minutes they were ‘gone. They had never met before. I do not understand these actions ‘and I wonder what you think of

. INEXPERIENCED.

' Answer—Well, I think that was pretty fast work but I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, nor would I show my feelings. I'm sure you would not want to go - out with a boy whom-you had never met before, but | if she can wave the formalities, don't fret about ity

Stick to your own standards. : : JANE JORDAN. |

Put your problems in a letter to Jane Jordan, whe will | answer your questions in this column daily, nad

‘New Books Today

E gripping tale of THE LOST BATTALION . bs-Merrill)—of its heroic part in the World told by T. M. Johnson and Fletcher Pratt— correspondent: who reported the historian. x >

“- | their ‘trapped in the Argonne, skilfully * {oft by Germans. Without food or water, ‘with no

there they held out. against ate