Literary Fame Came
Slowly to Johnson
Samuel Johnson gained little money
when he compiled an English diction
ary, but the work served to make Ills
reputation secura He had been in
London ten years, living obscurely us
a hack writer and slowly winning a
reputation when he was given a
chance to prepare the dictionary, for
which he was to receive $4,500.
It took him seven years to complete
tlie tremendous work and he had to
pay several assistants. The work Is
remembered not because of its merits,
but largely because of Johnson’s letter
to the end of Chesterfield, who hud
rebuffed the editor until he heard the
dictionary was nearing completion and
then hoped to be regarded as one of
the benefactors of the scholar.
Upon the publication of the diction
ary, Johnson was given recognition as
the greatest living figure in English
literature. Fielding was dead, Rich
unison was living in retirement. Gilt
bon was in Switzerland, Gray and
Cowper were publishing little. John
son was hailed as England’s greatest
scholar. The honor had been slow in
coming, for 18 years had passed since
he had left Lichfield to make hjs for
tune In London.—Kansas City Star.
Famous “Last” Names
on Pages of History
“Last of the lathers" was a title
given by the Latin church to St.
Bernard, who lived from 1001 to 1153.
“Last of the Goths’’ was the title given
to Roderick, the thirty-fourth and last
of the Vlsigothlc line of kings, who
tilled the throne of Spain from 414 to
711. To Phillipoemen, who lived from
353 to 183 B C., a native of Arcadia,
was given the appellation “Last of the
Greeks”; and he was the lust really
great and successful commander of
the ancient Greeks. “Last of the Mo
hicans” is the title of Cooper's novel
of the same name, under which title
the Indian chief Cneas is personated.
The general Aetius has been culled the
“Last of the Romans.” He checked
the first Invasion of Attila by the re
lief of Orleans in Gaul, modern France,
in the year 450 A. D. With his death,
which occurred in 454, the last support
of the western empire fell.
Sesquipedalian Words
Mark Twain was not the only per
son to find amusement in the Gerumu
language. A foreigner thus accounts
for the deliberation with which the
negotiations held at Locarno were
carried on.
“Our interlocutors cannot end their
explanations,” said this foreigner.
“With the best will in the world they
cannot pronounce rapidly such words
as this: Antialkoholcongressmltgied
e r v e r z e t chnissesdruckkostenvoran
schlagprufungseom missions versa mm
lungelnladungskarten."
This little word means “Invitation
cards for the meeting of the controls
sion for verifying the accounts of the
expenses of printing the list of mem
hers of the anti-alcoholic congress.”
Moslem Pilgrim Kites
Pious Moslems who make the pil
grimage to Mecca go seven times
round the Kaaba. or tomb of the
prophet, reciting prayers and rever
ently kissing the P>iack Stone. They
then proceed to the sacred spring of
Zein-Zem, which is said to be the foun
tain Jehovah opened in the desert for
Hagar and Ishmael. There each pil
grim dips Into tlie water two white
shirts held together by strings (no
pins are permitted for that purpose).
These garments must be dried in the
court of the mosque, and afterward
are laid aside as the burial clothes of
their owners. According to tradition
a shroutl that lias been soaked in the
water of Zein-Zem will protect its
wearer against the fiery heat of the
Last Judgment.
To End Church Debt
Amos Skinner had never done any
real work; instead, he had tried to In
vent something that would bring him
a fortune.
Meeting an old friend, he rushed up
to him. greatly excited.
“I’ve got it at last!" he shrieked
•Made ni.v fortune, sure as eggs!"
“What is it tills time?" asked his
friend.
“Just a little device," said Skinner,
"hut it will bring me millions. Every
church it) th country'll buy one. You
see. It’s a collecting box with differ
ent slots for different coins. All sil
ver money falls on velvet, while cop
tiers drop on a big bell!”
Chinese Legend
The legend of the Chinese willow
filate design is the love story of U
Chi, the only daughter of a mandarin,
and Chang, her father’s secretary,
who lived In an inland cottage at the
top of the plate. When the mandarin
forbade the match the lovers eloped
and lay concealed for a time in the
gardener's cottage, from there escap
ing to the lover's home. The father,
pursuing them witli a whip, would
have beaten them to death had not
the gods changed them into turtle
doves. At the time of the elopement,
the willow shed its leaves.
Birds’ Food Important
Choice of food by a bird usually is
I he most important factor in its re
lation to man. one of the reasons
for importing the sparrow was to have
It eat dropworm. a shade-tree pest
which spun down Its silken threads
among pedestrians. The dropworm Is
no longer a pest in cities, and ento
mologists give sparrows the credit.
Not only this pest but almost every
injurious insect we have is eaten at
times by this ubiquitous alien.
Displaying the Flag
The Shenandoah method of display
ing the American Hag Is as follows:
A hole Is placed In the curb and
plugged when not In use. A flagstaff
Is erected 14 feet 0 inches and the
diameter at the base Is 1 Inches. A
weatherproof American flag size 4
by 0 feet, Is put up. These flagstaff*
are always placed near the curb line
near the pavement and the gutter
and are ITJ feet it.
FORTY PER CENT OF
THE MONTHLY INCOME
GOES TO LANDLORD
One-Half of Families Living in Har
lem Spend Nearly Half of
Their Earnings for
Rent
New York, N. Y.—Of the 2,326
families in Harlem, approximately
12,501 persons, 1,044 families, are
paying more than 40 per cent of their
total monthly earnings for rent, a
rental payment far in excess of what
the majority can afford to pay.
This interesting fact is disclosed by
a survey of social conditions in Har
lem recently concluded by the New
York Urban league, the purpose of
which was to find out the factors af
fecting the Negro. The survey paid
attention to composition of house
holds, size of families, housing, the
length of residence, condition of the
apartments, relations of rent and in
come, rentals per room, average earn
ings of families, occupations of men
and women workers, and the prob
lems of working mothers.
Facts brought out by the investiga
tion show that every fifth person in
the families was under 16 years of
age; that there were 3,314 lodgers,
averaging more than one to a house
hold ; that more than one-half of the
families had from one to ten persons,
and that more than a fourth of the
homes were overcrowded.
NEGRO BOY RUNAWAY
“A small colored boy, about 14
years old, ran away from his home
near Stapleton, January 4th. Any
one seeing him will please notify me
and hold him until I arrive. I will
pay reward. I object to anyone else
using him. Roy Haines, Stapleton,
Ga., Route 1, Box 16.”
The interesting little advertisement
printed above was not, devoted read
er, taken from the Richmond Enquir
re of, say May 2, 1840, or even the
Charleston Courier of possibly April
16, 1855. One of those worthy pa
pers has long since gone to its re
ward, and the other has changed its
name. But on January 27, 1927,
which, if we are not taking leave of
our senses, is the current year, the
Jefferson Reporter, a weekly, pub
lished at Wrens (population about
1,500), Georgia, carried, without
comment, the item we reproduce. It
has been suggested that it was the
plea of an irate father for his son,
and as such faintly justifiable. We
doubt it. It may have been the re
quest of some one who never heard
of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments to the Constitution of
the United States. We doubt that,
too. In Georgia, as in other parts of
the South, these amendments are not
unknown. But systematically, re
peatedly, in the most diverse and in
genious ways, and with a persistence
that would do credit to a far better
cause, they are ignored.—The Na
tion, June 22, 1927.
STANDARDS OF LIVING
(From Opportunity Magazine)
The mischievous myth persists
among industrial managers and many
social workers, that Negroes can live
on smaller wages than other races,
because their wants are less. This
is the “lower standard of living" fa
miliar to students of social problems.
Class by class, living costs for them
are probably greater than for any
other race, and it might reasonably
enough be argued that this is so,
mainly because they want things
which others feel that they should
not have. The cost of food is not
reduced in Negro communities. They
pay the same, and, if the testimony
of shop keepers means anything, they
are most generous in their expendi
tures for this commodity. The cost of
clothing is no cheaper for them, and
the exigencies of their rough work,
on the one hand, and a greater group
social life than the corresponding
class for whites, on the other, require
that their purchases be more fre
quent. Rental costs are actually
higher for them; they pay from 20
to 50 per cent more for the same
houses occupied by a white family,
and in spite of the acceptance of
lodgers they never are guilty of the
astonishing limits of overcrowding
reached by some immigrant fimilies.
They pay more for their insurance,
because of their death rate (which
no doubt, better wages could re
duce) ; they maintain more churches
at a greater per capita cost than any
other laboring population.
Because of the narrow margin on
which they live, they are instalment
buyers, and thus pay an exorbitant
interest which this method of petty
commerce exacts. Even amusements
are more expensive. Shut out from
so many of the public accommoda
itons, they must create their own
apart from the advantage of those in
direct subsidies to the poor from the
taxation of larger individual incomes. |
To these excess costs may be added ;
the significant fact that they do not
request aid from relief organizations
as readily as many other groups; they
give relief in kind freely among
themselves, and have larger families
than native American whites.
If custom will not permit them
fairfly to get more than those who
can disregard the item of race in
their accounting, certainly they
should get as much. Actually to ar
gue that they should want less, which
is, in a strict sense, aside from the
point.
WHITE MANUFACTURER SAYS
NEGRO LABOR IS GOOD AS
WHITE IF CHANCE GIVEN
(Extracts from a letter sent to T.
Arnold Hill of the National Urban
League by the general superintend
ent of a Chicago plant of a large
corporation.)
“Many of the manufacturers have
an idea that the only place Negro
labor can be used is as porters,
housemen and janitors. My experi
ence with Negro labor is that they
can do anything a white man can do
when given the same consideration
and the same opportunities.
“I have handled all classes of men
and find the Negro laborer both skill
ed and unskilled, will give a firm the
same co-operation that the white man
does. I find them just as observing
and just as quick to learn and will
work for a firm’s interest equally as
well as a white man.
“I am using Negro labor as fire
men in the power house, coal passers,
assistant electrician and also as op-,
erators on machines, and also have
two as foremen. These two men who
are foremen are just as good organiz
ers and can get the maximum work
at minimum cost from their men as
the white foreman does. In fact, in
the packing and binding rooms I dis
missed a white man and replaced him
with a Negro foreman and am get
ting much better results from the
Negro foreman than I did from the
white foreman.
“Quite frequently I call my men to
gether at a get-together meeting, and
in addressing them I find the colored
man will pay more attention to what
I have to say than the white man
does, and goes back to his duties
with a determined idea to carry out
my plans as I have outlined to them
in my address.
‘‘Another thing I have observed in
Negro labor, when you grant them
favors as a rule it is appreciated more
and they try to reciprocate quicker
than the white man.
“There isn’t a manufacturing
plant, barring none, with the proper
supervision, that Negro labor cannot
be used in and the plants operated
efficiently. Seventy-five per cent of
my help is colored labor. Competi
tors in our same lines visit this plant
and tell me that I have one of the
best organizations they have ever
seen. Everyone is working in har
mony, production is rolling along
smoothly and no confusion in any de
partment.
“I can truthfully say that 1 have
no( a Negro worker who is not sup
porting me 100 per cent. When I
was appointed executive of this plant
there were approximately 25 per
cent Negro labor, and the plant a
losing proposition. Today, with 75
per cent Negro help, it is a paying
proposition and one of the best pay
ing plants in this division. I think
this is an answer to Negro labor.
From the bottom of the list, with 26
per cent Negro help, to the head of
the list, with 75 per cent Negro help.
"It is the men themselves that have
put this plant where it is, and not
the management, as without co-oper
ation of these men, it would have
been impossible for the writer to have
made first base. That is what Negro
labor will do with the right treatment
and given an even chance with the
white man.
“I may be optimistic in making this •
statement, but my opinion is Negro
labor if given the opportunity in the
next ten years will replace many of
the white men’s jobs.
“In regards to Negro labor with
foreign, I’d rather have one Negro
than two foreigners, as a Negro un
derstands what you are telling him.
You do not have to waste half your
time trying to make him understand
what you want done. If it is a small
job the Negro will have the job done
while you are trying to make the for
eigner understand what you want
done.”
ROBINSON’S SKIN WHITENER
and Freckle-Remover improves your |
complexion while you are asleep. For
sale by
LIBERTY DRUG CO.
1904 North 24th St. Wob. 0386
SHOE REPAIRING
BENJAMIN * THOMAS always give
satisfaction. Best material, reason
able prices. All work guaranteed.
1415 North 24th St., Webster 5084
FOR RENT—Modern seven-room
house, PI9 North Twenty-sixth street.
Near car line. $20. Call We. 0919
mornings.
Classified
FOR RENT—Furnished room is
strictly modern homo. Ons block
from Dodge earline. Call during
business hours, WS. 7116, even
ings, Wl. 2480. tf-12-10-16.
FOR RENT—Neatly furnished room.
Modern home. With kitchen priv
ilege. Call Web. 6498. —tf.
FOR RENT—Furnished rooms. Web
ster 2180. 2516 Patrick avenue.
WANTED—Working girl to take a
room in my cosy apartment. Web.
1186.
FOR RENT—Six rooms, 1148 North
20th street; five rooms, 1162%
North 20th. Modern except heat.
Webster 6299.
FOR RENT—Furnished room in mod
ern home, with kitchen privileges.
Man and wife preferred. Call WE.
0919 mornings.
FOR RENT—Furnished rooms. 2616
Patrick avenue. Tel. WE. 2180.
NICELY furnished rooms. All mod
em. WE. 3960.
FOR RENT—Nearly furnished room
in modern home, kitchen privileges.
WE. 3308. 4-T.
UNDERTAKERS
JONES & COMPANY, Undertakers
24th and Grant Sts. WEbcter 1106
Satisfactory service always.
——. I
PAINTERS AND
PAPER HANGERS
A. F. PEOPLES. Painting and decor
ating, wall paper and glass. Plas
tering, cement and general work.
Sherwin-Williams paints. 2419
Lake St. Phone Webster 6366.
t T,1 J„r-TT, ■ im, ■ -
| EMERSON’S LAUNDRY |
■> 1 he Laundry That Suita All Y
| 13*1 No. 24th St. Wah. MM %
LAWYHM
W. B. BRYANT. AM«Mf aad Oua
eeler-at-Law. Praatfees in all
eeurU. MU 19, PstUnm Black,
17th and Farnam Sts. AT. 9844
ar Kaa. 40Tt.
W. G. MORGAN—Phones ATIantta
9.344 and JAakaon 0216.
H. J PINKETT, Attemey and Ceua
selor-at-Law. Twenty years’ ex
perience. Practice* in all court*
Suite 19, Patterson Block, 17th and
Farnam* St*. AT. 9344 or WE. 8180.
HOTEI^S
PATTON HOTEL, 1014, 1016, 1018
South 11th St. Known from coast
to coast. Terms reasonable. N. P.
Patton, proprietor.
THE HOTEL CUMMINGS, 1916 Cum
ing St. Under new management.
Terms reasonable. D. G. Russell,
proprietor.
BAGGAGE AND HAULING
J A. GARDNER’S TRANSFER. Bag
gage, express, moving, light aad
heavy hauling. Reliable and ceae
petent. Six years in Omaha. MM
Maple Street. Phone WEbstar 4120.
C. H HALL, stand, 1406 No. 24tk.
Baggage and express hauling te all
parts of the city. Phoaea, stand,
WE. 7100; Res., WE. 10M.
Harry Brown, Express aad Traaadsr.
Dunkr and Ba(*.igs ehseked. Try m far
tour moving and hauling. Also, cool sad
ice (or sole at all tiaxea. Phono WohoMs
2973. 2013 Grace street.
DRUG STORES
!OSS DRUG STORK, 2306 North 24tk
Street. Two phones, WBbater 2770
and 2771. Well equipped to supply
your needs. Prompt service.
THE PEOPLES' DRUG STORK, 24th
and F.rskine Street*. We earry a
full Hne. Prescription# promptly
filled. WEbetcr 8022.
BEAUTY PARLORS
HA DAM Z. C. SNOWDEN. Scientific
scalp treatment. Hair dressing and
manufacturing. 1164 No. 20th St.
WEbeter 6194
Truth at Any Price
Each man should learn what Is
within him, that he may strij.v? to
mend; he must he taught what Is
without him, that he may be kind to
others. It can never be wrong to tell
him the truth: for, In his disputable
stale, weaving as he goes his theory
of life, steering himself, cheering or
reproving others, all facts are of the
first Importance to his conduct; atid
even If a fact shall discourage or
corrupt him it is sti/l best that he
should know it, for it is in this world
as it is, and not In a world made easy
by educational suppression, that he
must win his way to shame or glory
—Itohert Louis Stevenson.
Well Foretells Weather
In eastern Oregon is an interesting
well thut not only gives supplies of
good water but acts as a sort of ba
rometer to tell the approach of storms
or changes in the weather. From 12
to 24 hours before a storm, it “ex
hales” a current of air. The draft in
creases as the storm approaches,
sometimes reaching the intensity of a
whistling, roaring jet and shooting up
a mist of water with It.—Popular Me
chanics Magazine.
The Kiss in History
Kisses between men were common
in England until the Seventeenth cen
tury. Medieval knights used to kiss
each other before they begun Jousting,
as modern heavyweights shake hands
Pages in France used to kiss articles
they were given to deliver, both when
they received them from the hands of
senders and Just before tiiey delivered
them to recipients, as a sign of honor
Geological Wonder
Juniper mountain. 30 miles west of
Craig. Colo., Is a geological wonder.
The United States survey says that it
la the deepest mountain on the west
ern hemisphere. This means that the
bottom of Juniper is buried In the
earth deeper than any other on this
continent. It Is walled with rock,
and is one of the outstanding sights
In the region reached from Craig.
Plea for Brotherhood
What a great and glorious world
this might be if we alwnys kept the
attitude toward one another which
prevails In the hour of flood and fire
and earthquake. Oh! The pity of It
that we wait for some colossal dis
aster to awake us to the real spirit
of universal love. Ella Wheeler Wil
cox.
v
» 4 ►
N. W. WARE
{ ATTORNEY AT LAW ' ’
l * it
% ::
1208 Dodge Street, Omaha, Nebraska
• ..
Phones Webster 6613-Atlantic 8192. V,
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