Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 April 1939 — Page 9
From Indiana —Ernie Pyle
Shorty = Miller, the Showman, Is On Relief Now, but Recalls the Time When He Had $20,000 in Cash.
]AWTON, Okla., April 18.—Shorty Miller _is a “boomer.” Which means he came to Oklahoma before the wild land-opening of 50 years ago. He is now 66 and was in every Oklahoma land opening but one.
But Shorty Miller never bothered much with the land. Grubbing a living with. plow and hoe was never for him. He stayed in town and thought up ways to get the boomer’s money. “I always kinda thought I'd let the other fellows do the work,” he says. He is a born country showman, and can't be anything else. He's the kind they used to put in plays and books. He started out with a dog-and-pony show, and went down the line to carting a “gigantic” turtle around the prairies at 10 cents a look. He is a “spieler” by nature. Probably his silver tongue was his undoing. He could make a dollar too easily. He never had to work for it. The oldsters of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and north Texas remember him when and how. Sometimes he exhibited animals or trumped-up freaks. Sometimes
Mr. Pyle
~ Second Section
he bought slow-selling soap from a grocer, cut it in threes and sold each piece for a quarter, whereas the grocer couldn't get a nickel for the whole bar.
Shorty always gave the customers something for | their money. He says he never worked pea-ball | games or any kind of gambling. Shorty has been married for 39 years, and he and his wife are still together. “I told her when we got married I'd give her a 40-year trial,” Shorty says. “She's just got a year to go now.” But I guess Shorty will keep her, for she’s sewing at the relief room, since Shorty hurt his hip and can’t work on WPA any more. One of Shorty’s prizes was “Congo,” a giant black savage “captured on the banks of the Congo River in darkest Africa.” “I captured him in a cornfield behind a plow down in southwest Oklahoma,” Shorty savs. “His name was John Montgomery. He was 8 foot 2. We painted up his face and put rings in his nose. I paid him $25 a month, but he got to wanting so much money I had to let him go.”
They Have No Regrets
Shorty’s greatest find was “Mr. Itt.” It was a’ strange black-and-white monkey-looking animal which a farm woman captured over in the panhandle. Shorty paid the woman $50 for it, and before the weird, little creature died it made him $21,500. He had “Mr. Itt” stuffed, and still grieves over him, because he loved him. The °29 depression put an end to Shorty’s show business. Mrs. Miller was frying potatoes on a portable oil | stove when 1 went out to see them. She is a nice | woman. She has followed Shorty for nearly 40 vears, | and would like to start out again right now if it were | possible. | The Millers own a small lot on the edge of town. | Their two old show trucks are placed side by side, and they live in them. They've lived in a house only once in 40 years. Always in a wagon or a truck. They | like it better that wav. “What was the most money you ever had at once?” | 1 asked Shorty. “About $20.000,” he said. “What became of it?” { “Oh, it just slipped away. I thought a railroad | was going through a certain strip of country, so I | bought lots in every town along the way. The road didn't go through.” But there are no despairs in Shorty’s life. “I'm flat broke and getting old.” he says, “but if I had my life to live over I'd do it exactly the same | way. I've got something the rest of em haven't got. | All those 40 years of memories. I'm a showman. | There’s something fascinating about making your living with your wits. I had a good time.”
My Day
By Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
Waits Anxiously for Reply of Hitler And Duce to Husband's Peace Note.
EATTLE, Wash.,, Monday—I am waiting anxiously, like evervbodyv else, for the answer from the German and Italian heads of state to the plea for peace made by the President of the United States. | One cannot blame European countries if they are somewhat suspicious, but it seems to me there is | more hope-of a just consideration of the real diffi- | culties facing various nations if people will sit down and discuss them before a war takes place. The bitterness of war colors whatever peace comes after it. | 1 think the very best passenger on our night flight | across the continent was a three-menths-old baby. Nothing seemed to disturb the infant, who either slept. or lay placidly smiling at everybody as they went by. During the night, we changed planes at Billings, Mont., and the wind was blowing very hard. It may ! have been a little offshoot of the tornado in Oklahoma and. the Southwest. Plenty of sand seemed to have been blown into the airport during the day. for I | noticed windows, tables and counters all covered with dust. The plane had been dark, so it was not until we | were in the Billings Airport, waiting to board the other plane, that I noticed a familiar face. Here, by strange coincidence, was the same gentleman who had traveled up with me when last I came to Seattle from Oakland, Cal. We had little time to talk, but | he told me that he would be East in June to see his | son graduate from M. I. T sc. perhaps, we will have | an opportunity of seeing both of them at that time.
Air Travel Increasing
At 6:40 Sunday morning, we all sat at a counter in the Spokane airport, eating our breakfast. Orange juice is decidedly the most popular early morning drink. Only one of us ordered tomato juice. While I was waiting for my coffee, a gentleman came and sat on the stool beside me. His order was simple. Rlack coffee, nothing else. He drank two cups and asked me about the weather. He was bound for Portland and wasn't quite sure whether he trusted the size of the ship. It was a little smaller than the one we | were traveling in to Seattle. I told him I hoped that the good weather we had had all the way across would hold for the rest of our journey. in which case I was sure he would find his quite comfortable. Air travel is certainly increasing in volume. The | officials of the airlines tell me they have been carrying | a full complement of passengers on nearly all of their trips.
Day-by-Day Science
By Science Service ABY clinics and pamphlets on infant care have reduced the toll in child lives. Perhaps it has | had another far-reaching effect never dreamed of by the physicians and nurses who have contributed so greatly to child health. Personality is formed in the nursery. Feeding schedules, rocking, cleanliness and cuddling, all have their effects in the making of the future man. The baby who is fed by the clock rather than in answer to his own hunger pangs, who is trained to be clean, to do without sucking his thumb, to go to sleep alone in his crib instead of in the comfort of mother’s arms will turn out to be a very different individual from the baby who is never forced into a schedule, never nagged nor neglected. Typical of the middle and upper classes is the careful book-training of infants, points out Lawrence K. Frank, of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation in the journal, Psychiatry. Typical of the poor is the easygoing feed-him-when-he-cries, let-him-suck-his-thumb method. Frustration leads {0 aggression. Children of the middle class, emerging from an infancy of nagging | and “training,” have conflicting emotions about | authority. Thev have been taught to submit to rules, | vet have learned to resent them. They are likely to | grow up self-seeking, ambitious, perhaps rebellious. ! Children of the easy-going parents are themselves likely to be submissive, content, unaggressiye.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 18,
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Pe i
Times-Acme Photos. 1. These light Polish tanks are part of the strong war machine Poland is marshalling for use in event of an attack. 2. One of a line of six-inch howitzers belches its fessage of Great Britain's defense prepareaness. :
3. Batteries of new antiplane guns in action during Polish Army.
maneuvers near Warsaw. 4. Testing a camouflaged British antitank gun. 5. Heavy Polish artillery passing through Warsaiv en route to the border.
Side Glances
COPE YSN WY NEA SERVICE. INC. T. W. REG. U. §_ PAT. OFF, "What can you do in a small town but play bridge? Here we could go-to the opera—if any of us liked opera,”
Entered as Second-Class Matter at Postoffice, Indianapolis, Ind.
orm
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
1—Where is the island of Sardinia? 2—Which is the leading cattle raising State in the U. S.? 3—With what sport is the name of Jean Bauer associated? 4—_Name the traditional resting place of Noah's Ark after the flood. 5—What are the primary colors? 6—What is the correct pronunciation of the word attacked? T—Who wrote the Southern plantation “Old Folks at Home”? = 2 = >
Answers
1—In the Mediterranean Sea, south of the island of Corsica. 2—Texas. 3—Golf. 4—Mt. Ararat in Armenia. 5-—Yellow, blue and red. 6—At-takt’; not at-tak’-ted. T—Stephen C. Foster.
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Everyday Movies—By Wortman
PAGE 9
ur Town
By Anton Scherrer
Henry M. Saunders, a Briton, Did Some Fine Sculpturing Around Here, English Hotel Heads for Example.
N case the question ever comes up—and it’s bound to—you might as well know that the sculpturedheads on the Hotel English were carved by Henry M. Saunders, a born and bred Briton who came to Indian-
apolis in the late Seventies and stayed long enough to do the statuary on top of the Indiana National Bank and the cute little figures over the doors of the Maennerchor Building. In his native land he is represented by work on Prince Albert's Memorial (London). I'll bet you never knew that. While I'm at it, I might as well dig up the names of the other sculptors responsible for statues around here. Eventually, somebody has to do it. I know you've always wondered who handled the statue of Governor Hendricks in the State House yard. Well, it was Richard Henry Parks. The Governor Morton statue in the same yard was the work of Rudolph Schwarz. Frances Goodwin did the bust of Robert Dale Owen facing the south ene trance. As for the inside of the State House, the eight allegorical figures in the rotunda were the work of Alexander Doyle. Belle Kinney did the bust of Col. Richard Dale Owen, and Lorado Taft designed the tablet portraying the features of Frances Willard. The four figures outside the Postoffice, representing Justice, Literature, Mechanics and Agriculture—-some-thing I'll bet you never knew until today—were the work of J. Massey Rhinde. The five heads in the frieze of the Herron Art Institute, portraying Rubens, da Vinci, Duerer, Michelangelo and Velasquez. were modeled by Rudolph Schwarz. The group on top of the old Library Building, now the Business Branch of Luther Dickerson’s chain, was the work of Richard W. Bock. It represents Literature, Science and Art, John Mahoney did the Benjamin Franklin now in the N. Meridian St. lawn of the Typographical Union, Originally it was part and parcel of the Franklin Insurance Building which was tern down to make way for the Circle Tower. Andrew O'Connor was
he Souter of the Gen. Lawton statue in Garfield ark.
An Early Lorado Taft
And believe it or not, the Schuyler Colfax in University Park was the work of Lorado Taft. prohably one of his very earliest efforts. He improved a lot after that. The Benjamin Harrison monument in the same park was done by Charles H. Niehaus, and the seated Lincoln was designed by Rudolph Hering, the same man who did “Pro Patria," the naked boy in front of the War Memorial. Sterling Calder did the scantily dressed children dancing around the Depew Fountain, ;
The statue of Victory (not Indiana) on top of the Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument was the work of George T. Brewster. I'm glad 1 cleared that up because most people around here credit Rudolph Schwarz with it. It's a pretty good guess because with the exception of the two high reliefs, “Peace” and “War,” the work of Herman N. Matzen, there is hardly a thing on the Monument that Mr. Schwarz didn't have something to do with.
The four free-standing statues on the outer rim of the Circle represent Governor Morton, Governor James Whitcomb, Gen. William Henry Harrison and Gen. George Rogers Clark. John Mahoney did thres of them. The only one he didn’t have something to do with was Governor Morton, which was the work of Franklin Simmons. Which brings me to Gen. Harrison's cloak. When Mr. Mahoney submitted his first model to the Monus= ment Commissioners, with whom rested its accepte ance, Gen. Harrison was without a cloak. The model was accepted, but not unanimously, which annoyed Mr. Mahoney no end. While thinking of a way to improve the statue, his wife suggested wrapping the General in a cloak. He tried it, making the figure as it now stands. Sure, this time he got the unanimous approval of the Commissioners. Class is dismissed.
Jane Jordan—
Wife Right in Refusing to Return To Mate Who Lacks Responsibility,
EAR JANE JORDAN—I am writing on behalf of a friend. She is 26, intelligent, and holds a good job. She was married three years ago to an extremely likeable fellow with a fairly responsible position. His best quality is his generosity with her and everyone else. For the last two years he has behaved in a peculiar fashion. Never an “apron-tied” husband, he was out practically every evening. He persisted in going to an objectionable place for his drinking, buying drinks for many, including the loose type of women who hang around bars unescorted. My friend tried to stop it, but he doesn’t want te accept any responsibilities. About two months ago she left him, since which time she has at least had some peace and seems fairly well satisfied. He se>ms sorry and wants a recone ciliation but he is stilligoing to the same places night after, night. My frieng still cares for him, but doubts that he ever will really change. She wonders if she should risk the heart-break of going through all this
again. They say women are enigmas, but what gets into men? P.T.S:
Mr. Scherrer '
» » ”® 2 Answer—Your friend probably is right in conclude ing that no change has taken place in her husband, Doubtless she would return to the same old set of problems. You and I are in no position to decide
"I want the heaviest book you've got—it's for a gift."
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whether or not she would find these problems less | difficult than the problems of living alone. ‘Some | women rather would have a second-rate husband than | no husband at all. Only she can decide which situae | tion she prefers. This man isn’t an enigma. An irresponsible adult is no novelty. Drink is the solace of those who shirk responsibility, for it gives them a deceptive feeling of ease. It well may be that the man would like his wife to return to him, for his irresponsibility has nothing to do with his need for affection. The trouble with him is that he has never outgrown the wish for a childish setup with a mother or mother-substitute at home to take loving care of him and condone his faults. Now if your friend craves a more mature relation ship in marriage than her husband is able to give, it is her privilege to break away in order to find it elsewhere. I do not say_that her husband is hopeless, for it is in his favor that he is able to hold down a responsible position in business. Her chances of suce cess with him depend upoh his ability to see his dee ficiencies and co-operate with her in a life based on sharing. JANE JORDAN.
Put vour problems in a letter to Jane Jordan who will answer your guestions in this column daily.
New Books Today
Public Library Presents—
THE START OF THE ROAD (Stokes). An image inary episode in the life of Walt Whitman, in which John Erskine attributes the development of his demo= cratic philosophy and strong political sympathies to the influence of a cultured young Creole girl whom he met during his stay in New Orleans. a 8 8
MY MEMOIRS (Bobbs-Merrill). An affectionate and personal picture of Woodrow Wilson and her life with him, by Edith Bolling Wilson, revealing, she says, “the truth coffcerning personal matters which has
often been distorted by the misinformed,’
. —t