Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 October 1938 — Page 17

agabond From Indiana =Ernie Pyle

The Spell of the Yukon, Coming Completely Out of Season, Has At Last Overtaken Our Wanderer.

HILADELPHIA, Oct. 13.—It is an old saying in Alaska that once you have been in the North every spring thereafter will bring you a gnawing anguish to return. They say the spell of the Yukon is real. They say that whether you liked it or not your first trip, you will want to come again when the leaves come out and the salmon run. Well, I have been through that hypothesis, and it didn’t work with me. Last spring came and went, and my only homesickness was an almost pathetic longing for Hawaii! But now a strange thing has happened. The Alaskan impulse has at last overtaken me, and completely out of season. Here in the fall, when Jack Frost is already telegraphing .a winter warning, I've got the Alaska bug. . It’s all the fault of Jack London. 5 Ba Alaska and the Yukon do indeed have a strange and compelling perMr. Pyle sonality. It is ething that only . those who have en there could ever understand. Jack London put that pull onto paper, and I have read it, and remembered. I would like to go back and know what winter is like around the Arctic Circle. I'd like to get my muscles tough and my wind in shape. . And then have Johnny Palm take me with him on a run behind the dogs from Fairbanks to Circle City.

Or I'd like to go to Mrs. Berglund’s winter cabin above the Arctic Circle, and run the trap lines with . her or one of her three daughters. Jack London’s books have brought these people back to me—and given me a feeling of humbleness at even calling them my friends. I want to go back, and learn some of the things they know. I'm sure I wouldn't enjoy it at the time. But I'd like my life to be full by just that much more experience. In London, it was an almost animal vitality and lust for life that drove him to doing such things. In me, it would be merely a shameful little ego, that makes me want knowledge and emotional experiences that most other men don’t have. So the Yukon has started to pull me back. But I won't, I suppose, ever go.

What He Thinks of London's Stories

A few weeks ago we mentioned here something of the recent biography of Jack London in the Saturday Evening Post. I said I was going to read more of London’s stuff, and people wrote and asked me to say what I thought of it.

Well, I've read two London collections—“The Call of the Wild” and “The Son of the Wolf.” And do you _ know what I thought? It was a selfish reaction, of course. It made me feel better about the terrible columns I write. » A fellow hits a little peak once in a while. Jack London did. And a fellow has long intervals in literary swamps. Jack London did that, too. So if Jack London could write stuff that was completely unworthy, then why cannot I? The answer is “I do. And how!” I noticed the other day that the New Yorker magazine referred to London as a “mediocre” writer. Maybe he was, on the whole. But the one story, “Call of the Wild,” is certainly powerful enough to suit any critic. There was another one that seemed to me terribly human and acute. That was “To Build a Fire.” It is the intimate description of a man freezing to death. There were 13 stories in these two volumes. Those two were masterful. They are the ones that tock me back to Alaska. Some of the others I enjoyed. But many of them seemed to me not worth the trouble it -took to write them. My little journey into London literature has convinced me of two things. That if I could read only 10 more books before I die; I would not choose another London book. But since I don’t have any forebodings of death within any 10-book limit, I expect some day to read a good deal more of Jack London, and enjoy it.

My Diary By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady Puts Her Secretary To Work Early While Traveling.

OANOKE, Va. Wednesday. —I was so busy with my mail on the train this morning that I hardly looked oyt the window. I was surprised to find the morning gone and that we were nearing Roanoke, Va. Miss Thompson and I breakfasted this morning

at 7 o'clock and after\boarding the train we read the newspapers hurriedly. Then I immediately started to dictate and did not even give her time to get a pencil and notebook out of the bag. She looked at me firmly and said: “It is only 8:30 and I don’t start work until 9.” However, by 9 o'clock we had already finished a goodly pile of letters. As you must know by now, the arrival of the “Connecticut Nutmeg” is always of interest to us. When I opened the copy for Oct. 6 this morning, I was greeted by a new first page. I am a creature of habit. I have no doubt that this is much better, but I really miss not knowing what the editors thought were the most important events for the week. Sometimes I agreed with some of them, and sometimes I didn’t, but it was amusing to see how true to form they ran in their choices. However, on the front page, I did find an article by Stanley High on: “My Children Go to Public School.” It makes a point which I think well worth considering. One sentence stands out: “I am inclined to believe that the surest way to make it hard for our children is to make it soft for them.” That is certainly stated in a way which sticks in your mind. The author is right. I never thought that one reason for sending children to public school is that they shouldn’t have the best of everything. They shoud have to make the best of whatever they can have.

Children Play Important Role

In a little pamphlet which was sent me by Junior Hadassah, there are some pictures of a home where underprivileged children and the children of refugees are being brought up. It is on a hillside in ancient Samaria near Mt. Ephriam. The children, with the guidance of a director and instructors, carry on the entire life of the village. They have to have their ups and downs, for ‘we know that even in well regulated villages the unexpected will happen. They have to deal with the vagaries of the other children and the elders in the community; with the creatures of the animal world and with dame nature. These children are certainly receiving a training and preparation Ior real life which is superior to that given by most schools. In fact, as I looked over this little report, I though that the young Jewish people in this country who are contributing to this work, which embraces not only this village for children, but also assistance to young people of more mature age, must themselves gain a tremendous amount from the opportunity of being acquainted with conditions in this faraway land.

Bob Burns Says—

OLLYWOOD, Oct. 13.—The best way to appreciate our country is to compare it with some of the others. Those military countries take every available young man and put him in the army and teach him to fight.

They almost have’ta have a war because the men are not trained to do anything else. This country has an army too but it’s an army of workers. ; ‘ I know one fella over here who applied for a job as an artist model. The artist said, “This is a gruelin’ job. You have’ta stand in one position for hours. Do you think you can do it?” The man says, “That’ll be a cinch for me—I've been workin’ on a Government job for 16 months!”

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1938

7

" Entered as Second-Class Matter - Indianapolis, Ind.

Our Town

at Postoffice,

Where Handicaps Are Overcome

Goodwill Industries, Inc., Is Supported by Community Fund

T 8:30 a. m. they come down the wooden steps in the cavernous depths of an old building on Fletcher Place to work—some of them thumping on crippled legs, some painfully ridden with paralysis, some without an arm. This is Goodwill Industries, Inc., one of the Community Fund-supported agencies for the rehabilitation of Indianapolis citizens who cannot meet open labor competition today. -The little fellow with a cane over there in the corner was proprietor of a wood working business in Indianapolis for years, and later a foreman.

In 1919, infantile paralysis crippled him, but he had a further.

comfortable savings that kept him well. lost that. his craft he ever had, but about half the strength. But he earns his way.

A

But in 1929 he He works as he can, with all the knowledge of

® ” #

HE electrician, who spends his days repairing toasters and bridge lamps for others, has but one arm. When

he was a boy and was working for a magazine distributing company at the Union Station, he fell under a train. He lost his arm and his spine was injured. The spinal injury, years later, returned to cripple him

Today he partly earns his way. :

Times Photos. The young fellow learning the woodworking business is orphaned, but he is too old to qualify for aid on that ground. Nevertheless, he is partially paralyzed—psychia« trists call it functional paralysis—and he now is earning enough to pay his way and learning a trade. Upstairs, women sew. One woman told a hospital nurse she had prayed that she might live if there would be a job for her when she got well, or die if there would not be. Her first job, part-time, was with Goodwill Industries, Inc., and she was paid $10 the first month. She returned $1 which she said she had promised God for her recovery and her job.

Side Glances—By Clark

AN LL R= A

"I guess | got a coffee grinder, somewh

i

‘Wortman

TEST YOUR

Everyday Movies—By

window," -

“Start tryin’ me on a suit quick, Joe, there's a

KNOWLEDGE

1—What is a censer? 2—What animal produces Hudson Seal? 3—Where was the world’s land speed record established? 4—Are Chinese admitted to the U. S. as immigrants? 5—What is the nickpame for the State of Maryland? 6—What position in the Czechoslovak Cabinet did Kamil Krofta occupy when the Anglo-French terms were accepted? : : 7—1Is it necessary to send a gift when one receives an announcement of a marriage? 2 8 =

Answers

1—A vessel for perfumes, especially one to burn incense in. 2—1t is the dyed fur of muskrat and nutria. 3—Bonneville Salt Plats, Utah. 4—No. 5—"Old Line State”; also “Free State.” 5 6—Foreign Minister. 7—No.

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9

customer by the

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PAGE 17!

By Anton Scherrer

The Courtroom Had a Big Surprise When the South Side German Lady Testified About Her Sitting Hen.

THIS is a story, a classic in its way, deal ing with the facts of life. More specifi* cally, it is the tale of two South Side women —the one, a hired girl; the other, a lady, with a sitting hen. And if everything goes well and I don’t get sidetracked, John W, Holtzman and Henry M. Spaan will turn up, too. As mear as I recall, it happened sometime around the beginning of the Nineties. At any rate, it was during the period when George F. Borst ran the drug store at the corner of Meridian St. and Russell Ave. where the two streets come to a point: The hired girl, a German in the employ of a South Side businessman, was charged with the murder of her employer’s father. Mr. Holtzman, prosecuting attorney at the time, had it figured out that the motive for the murder was the hired girl’s desire to become the second wife of the murdered man’s Mr Scherrer son. Seems that the first wife had died but a few months before. The old man was violently opposed to his son's marriage after which, of course, there wasn’t anything for the hired girl to do but get the old man out of the way. To get the old man out of the way, the hired girl used “Rough on Rats,” a versatile poison much in demand when I was a boy. At any rate, that was the State’s theory.

Mr. Holtzman’s principal witness was Mr. Borst. He testified that on a certain day the hired girl came to his shop and bought a box of rat poison, He was sure of it, he said, because the law come pelled him to make a record of all sales of poison. In the cross examination—this is where Henry Spaan gets into the story—Mr. Borst stood pat and shed no more light on the subjgct except the additional fact that the hired girl wore a blue dress and a sun bonnet when she called on him.

A Parade of Witnesses

In due time Mr. Spaan got a chance to parade his string of witnesses and among the most important was a German woman who lived in our neighborhood. She said she was the woman who went to Borst's Drug Store and bought the poison, and that the date of her purchase tallied with the one recorded in Mr. Borst’s book. She was sure of the date, she said, because she’ had a sitting hen about to come off the nest and that she made a point of recording the blessed event. As for the poison, she said she

. bought it to make sure that the rats wouldn't get

her day-old chicks. And to complicate matters still more, she testified that she wore a blue dress and a sun bonnet when she called on Mr. Borst.

Mr. Holtzman realized, of course, that the testie mony was pretty damaging for the State, and proceeded with the utmost caution to cross-examine the woman. “How long before you bought the poison was it that you set the hen on the eggs?” he asked. “Four weeks,” said the woman deliberately. Henry Spaan folded up, and the jury made up mostly of farmers, looked kind of surprised, too. Apparently, Mr. Holtzman had the woman trapped, and to make sure that his next question wouldn’t miss its mark, he waited for absolute silence. “Now then, Madam,” said Mr.” Holtzman, “the record kept by the druggist shows ‘that he sold the woman in a blue dress, on a certain day, rat poison. You attempt to fix the date by the hatching of your chicken’s eggs and you miss it by a week. How do you explain that?” “Oh, mine Gott,” said the woman, “dem was duck

””

Sure, the hired girl was acquitted.

Jane Jordan—

Let the Man Take the Initiative In Reconciliation, Girl Is Told.

EAR JANE JORDAN—Last May I became ene gaged to a grand fellow who is five years older than I. During July I made the mistake of breaking a date with him and because of that we broke our

engagement. Since then I regret what I did. I'm working now but I miss him more than ever. I thought by working I could forget but it is impossible. I want to go back to him but Dad says I'd be a fool. My girl friends tell me I should go -back to him. I am afraid he’ll not want me. Should I write to him? MARY.

Answer—If the man wants you back he'll come after you. Let him take the initiative in patching things up. The chances are that you would lose value in his eyes if you took up the chase. Your father knows this and has advised you more soundly than your girl friends. Let me say again that if he misses you as much as you miss him, he will come back. Don’t risk the humiliation of being turned down by writing to him. If you meet him in passing, be as cordial as if nothing had happened. But remember, only timid men like to be chased. The aggressive do their own courting,

” 2 # EAR JANE JORDAN—I am a girl of 18 years. I met a boy this summer whom I love. He lives out of town and came to see me this week. I write

letters to him but he never answers them. Surely if he didn’t like me he wouldn't come to Indianapolis to see me. I really care for him. What do you think? ; WORRIED.

Answer—If the boy wasn’t interested in you he wouldn’t come to see you, but the chances are that you are more emotionally involved than he is. Since he doesn’t answer your letters, don’t write, and don’t wear your heart on your sleeve.

” 2 2

EAR JANE JORDAN—I am a girl 22 years old. I have been divorced four months. My husband mistreated me and wouldn’t support me. I was kind and true to him. Often he would leave me alone at night and not return until the next morning. Then he would tell me about the party he had attended. Under these conditions would it be wrong for me to marry another man. RUTH.

Answer—Not from my viewpoint. If you have § divorce you are legally free to marry again. JANE JORDAN.

Put your problems in s letter to Jane Jordan, who wil} | answer your questions in this column dafly. sd

New Books Today

Public Library Presents—

“YF I didn’t believe that all this hell would make other wars impossible I couldn’t possibly endure these things. None of us could.” These words of Elizabeth Huntington’s were on the lips of every soldier, officer, doctor and nurse in the great war across the seas. Fortunately, working day and night until they were exhausted, prevented their thinking too much of the horrors of the war. The novel THREE DAUGHTERS (Doubleday), by Ruth Eleanor McKee, gives an account of the .overe seas service of a munitions manufacturer's threes

1914 and in the American Red Cross in 1918; Candida, a Y. M. C. A, entertainer and then a member of the

and Camilla, a Red Cross lecturer

BOG LIC]

daughters; Elizabeth, a nurse in the French Army in