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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1917)
The Omaha Sunday Bee OMAHA, Comb Honey By EDWARD BLACK. The Merry Month of May. The first of May is upon us; one mipht pay it is jut arTliid the cor ner, with a bottle of grape juice in ore haml and a huufiiM (lowers i in the other band. Which reminds us of the lines of childhood: "Call ( nic early, call nir early, mother dear; : fnr I'm to be ijueen of ihc May," It' will be an eventful day in Omaha thi i year. To bfKin with, the day will mark the genesis of a berrlcss regime, with un ter men ted extract of grapes -and lacteal liquids holding first place on the mahogany as palliatives of public thirst. Tom and Jerry are to he ex patriated. Some who hae been "speaking fluidly will converse fluently. On May day morn some may niour because of the vista of bone dryness which will stretch out into the future like a sudsless Sahara, (firoh says "Sudsless-Sahara" is clever.) The merry month oi May will be with us in a few days. It will be tne open season for straw hats, pic nics, fishing and swatting the fly. Time for getting into the wildwood in quest of sweet-williams and vio lets. The iceman will re-eslablish his social status.' The garden hose will be dragged out of the basement. Visions of strawberry shortcake looni up to stimulate the imagination. Belles and beaux will stroll in the parks and whisper sweet nothings just as they did last year and the year before. Parrish Was Two Dimes Ahead. The day of the Creighton Found ers day banquet, Vic Parrish, boss of the bureau of publicity of the Com mercial club, was silting in the man ager's office of the Fontenelle, rcad ing a pamphlet, when Victor Rose water and Tom Coleman came up. "Guess we'll leave our overcoats here so we can get 'emilaler without watting in line half the night," they announced. "If you do, you'll have to pay me 10 cents each," said Parrish, seriously. "I'm check boy here now." Before he knew it two bright new dimes were laid in his palm. "There, boy," said Coleman, super ciliously, "you, have a couple of the new dimes. 'Lots of folks haven't seen the new dimes yet." Parrish looked at the dimes. "New ones sa I haven't seen the old ones yttt" He put the 20 cents in his vest and hiked to spend them before any one might claim a divvy. Puzzle Paragraph. Many Oinahans were observed last week carrying packages homeward. These packages did not contain edi bles or wearing apparel. What did they contain? Lofty Sentiments: Delivering a patriotic speech from the top of the Woodmen o( tb World building. ' Letting the Folks Know. If you have visited some historic place at home or abroad, and you wish the (oiks to know about it, it is not necessary to blurt it right out. Just back into the subject gracefully and Incidentally. Someone will mention the Pacific ocean, for in stance, and that will be your cue. You remark ingenuously. "Oh, yes, the Pacific ocean, San Francisco is on the Pacific ocean." "Have you been to 'Frisco?" someone will in quire. Answer: "Have I been to San Francisco, did you ask? Of course I have been there. Saw Chinatown. Al Hallum of the Richardson Drug company, and Ralph 11 ay ward, Bur lington freight agent, practice their hobbies as a team. They are neigh bors. The hobby of both is lo trim their lawns in a thousand ways, just so as to be tinkering at them every spare daylight moment at home, A few days ago they had pickedtup the last spear of dry grass, and had shaved their lawns down to where there was absolutely nothing left to do. So both of them marched over lo the home of "Dad" Weaver a few doors from their homes, and asked for work on the lawn. Weaver is Hay ward's dad-in-law. Weaver had nothing for them to do on the lawn, so they decided to trim the trees. They climbed the trees and worked like wasps with saw, knife, axe and hatchet. When they got down they iproposed to put Weaver's hack yard into potatoes to furnish them some hoeing to do this summer. Weaver's hack yard tract is twelve by fifty feet in dimensions. They spaded it up, and forced the dad-in-law lo fum. ih seed potatoes, agreeing to give him half the crop when it matures. When it comes to hobbies, there is none more thoroughly grounded than one possessed by L. V. Wakeley, general passenger agent of the Bur lington Railroad company. This bobby is land and Mr. Wakeley has talked it in and out of season for wire than twenty years. While L. W. Wakeley delights in luoting passenger rales and outlining lours, or eating a square meal, he will quit any oi them to talk land, 'list because land is his hobby, "trange to say. he is not the owner if any large area of land, hut he has lelped thousands of landless men to ret to the places of inanlcss land, rle talks land, dreams land, sees land uid when he is in the country, rats land. Being so familiar with the land alone; the line of the Burlington road, Everybody lias SUNDAY MORXIXG, APRIL (Jrolis History of Omalia All flis Wit and unlrutk fliafe fit Jo know By A. R. GROH. Chapter XII George Francis Train. I 'I his gentleman tackled more big things and put more of ibein through than any other man in the early ( hir-tory of our city. , He hobnobbed with kings and queens. He thought nothing rt slap-' I ping a king on the hack so hard that t jolted the royal crown. lie ntadr a dozen fortunes and lost them again, lie was the living, breathing proof of those inspirational tditnriak that appear in Sunday pa- pcrs and say. "You CAM succeed if vou WILL succeed. I.l'Ck means PLUCK." Like all successful vnien. he was born poor. In 1841, when he was 12 years old, he secured a position in grocery store m .Vlassacnusctts. From that he went on to still greater i heights and before he was 20 years old he had organized a trans-Atlantic steamship line. N He went around the world five times. He seemed to think this was mo wonderful than all the fortunes he made and railroads he built and kings that he called by their first names. He was always bragging about his trips around the world un til it got so that men would sneak away when they saw his coming be cause they didn't want to hear any more about his trips around the world. For instance, this is what he said about one trip: "I bulldozed the mikado in Japan, frightened out of their wits the Chi nese at Hong Kong, bewildered the Malays at Singapore, ran over the Singalese in Ceylon, drove the Arabs crazy at Aden, astonished the Italians, French, Knglish and Irish in turn, in a rapid rush through F.urope and relumed to Ihc United Stales." His first trip around took him two years. Forty years later he made bis fifth trip in sixty days. This Is one of the rare cases on record where a man has moved faster when he was old than he did when he was young. He wrote many books. However, he never wrote a great history, like the present work, for example. This may have been because of his limited education which consisted of three months in a country school. He knew, no doubt, that historians must be men of towering intellect. As George traveled around he no ticed that they had sewing machines, safety matches, phonographs and all Market street, Seal Rocks, Palace hotel, Golden Gate park." Lincoln or North Platte mayibe substituted for San Francisco to suit the oc- Dictation. Careful Observer Ever notice how things go by opposites? Oldest Inhabitant How's that? C. O Well, before I married my stenographer I could dictate to her, but now she dictates to me. afe you have but to mention a locality and he will go into detail and tell you all about the land thereabouts. He knows it by counties, by townships, by sections and almost by quarter sections from Omalia to the remotest parts of Colorado and Wyoming, pro viding it is reasonably close to the Burlington lines. As a result of this expert knowledge, Mr. Wakeley has but to put his finger on the map and tell you that right there you will find such and such land, and nine times out of ten you will find it just as de scribed. City Prosecutor McGuire says he is an amateur farmer. When he closes his desk and calls it a day. he hies for home and dons habiliments be coming a tiller, of the soil. "It is only a hobby with me now, but I am hoping that some day 1 may be a regular farmer," he confided when intercepted in his acre tract somewhere in Benson. Mr. McGuire is studying seed cato lclgues, reads several agricultural pub lications, receives seeds from his con gressman and otherwise identifies himself with the soil. "It is grand to get up with the sun these spring mornings and work in the garden. It is the best hobby I can think of," cxultingly sang the city prosecutor. When other courthousers arc leis urely whiting away their noon hours reading, gossiping or whatnot, Chief Deputy County Attorney Abbott is playing handball in the gymnasium of the Young Men's Christian associa tion That's his hobby and he con tends that a more profitable one, from the standpoint of health, could not be found. The chief deputy county at torney hasn't exactly what could be classified as sylph-like form, but he contends that he isn't as rotund as v.onld he Ihr case if il were not fo his "handball noon hours." Mr. Ab 29, 1917. -mh things everywhere almost, but they didn't have street cars. So he introduced them in England. Rut they hadn't any more than started i before the Knglish declared them a nuisance and train nutty. ( I he : nrcscnt historian Slid Christopher Co-' lunibus arc two others that have been ailed "nutty" by ignorant people). lint street cars hail come to stay and are now found everywhere. Train spent a good deal of time in jail in New York, London, Dayton, ')., and Alton, Mo. Hut that didn't stop him. ile kept right on talking and writing and when lie was let out he was always twice as much trouble as hri'oc. He was the principal early pusher for the Union Pacific railroad. He pushed the bills through congress and he broke ground for the railroad in Omaha, December 2, 1863. When he got this going he organized a couple of international hanking houses to add to his string, sold 40.0(H) acres of coal land for Queen Christiania of Spain, took another trip around the world, and ran for the presidency of the United States in bis spare time. He used o sign bis name "George Francis Train, N. P. A." The letters stod for "Next President of America." Hut he wasn't. Probably he wouldn't have been satisfied with the position if he had been elected and would have left the vice president to do all the work. Mr. Train was one of those great super-minds which flash upon the horizon of this world only once in a century and sometimes not that often. QioxxvM moiT msE ymunomn He did great things. Let us take an example from him. His lips never touched liquor. Questions on Chapter XII. 1. Did people like to hear Mr. Train tell about his travels? 2. Did he ever write a history? WhV not? 3. Where did he spend a good deal of time? 4. What was his attitude toward crowned heads? Little Human Interest Stories Picked Up About the Town Walt Jardhie some times gets in a 'story-telling mood, and if you ask him he will relate his first business, venture,' which was not a success, "From 1808 to 1870 the river was lined with boats plying between St. Louis and Fort Benton and all of the freight coming by rail was brought across the river by boats," is about the way he begins his story. Con tinuing: "There were eight or ten boats used at vOmaha for transfer purposes, to say nothing of twenty to thirty boats bring unloaded or InarlrH everv dav. VThe old Missouri Yours S bott eats a light lunch in a hurry each noon and then hurries across the street to the "Y. M. gym." where he dons abbreviated garments and spends a strenuous half hour playing hand ball. - ' The dictionary says that a hobby is "a favorite pursuit, or object." This definition certainly holds good in the case of the person whose hobby is known to only a few pepple, but whose smiling face is known to prac tically every Oinaha lawyer; at least, every lawyer who has practiced long enough to be said to have a "stand ing." Miss Leone Dellone, librarian at the courthouse law library,. "goes in." as she terms it, for rare old hook bind ings. On the shelves of the law li brary are hundreds of old volumes volumes dating back to other cen turies. If the pages are encased in their original bindings. Miss Dellone can tell at a glance just what branch of the book binders' art they repre sent, and within a few years of what period they came. The law librarian's "favorite pur suit" for years has been to examine every old book, she could get access to and jot down in a note hook char acteristics of the binding, to be used for future reference. "Old bindings arc 'faked' the same as old masters in oil," explained Miss Dellone, "and sometimes it requires hours of careful scrutiny to detect the marks of the I imitation. Occasionally a book a I couple of hundred years old. will be ' found lo be in as good, condition as j a volume dating back only a half I century. Because a volume looks shelf-worn and the binding seem to j be literally in shreds, it is no sign that the book is an old one. 3'here I are many ways lo tell a real old book, i but it takes years to learn them." Mis Delhnir takes as much pleas j lire in examining old hook bindings as 1 the ordinary girl does in poring over s a Hobiy ! io Dfe loVed io Ride vuly jLos and do Learned UovU o Coztrol -die (joai ' . By A. EDWIN LONG. "The boy who couldn't swim didn't last long on, the Missouri river when 1 was a hoy," said Frank E. White, grand secretary of the Masons. "The survival of the fittest sure came into play down around riattsmouth when we kids used to splash around in that stream." That was long before White had picked Omaha as his future home. That was long before he cared Wheth er the Masons survived or perished. That was long before he thought much about anything except riding driftwood down stream when the river was high. This vfas his favorite sport as a kid. It was the favorite sport of all the boys at Plattsmouth back in the '60's. White was one of the best log rid ers on the river. The boys waited until the June rise for this sport. Of course they could have practiced it at other times, but there wasn't enough danger to make it worth while. There was no use bantering a boy to ride a river was quite a factor in the com merce of the country and I believed this condition would never change and that Omaha would be a good place to engage m business. "In connection with improvements that were being made at tnat time was a plank road that had just been constructed on Tones street from Sixth street to the river. In that lo cality the traffic previously had come up Farnam street from the river to the city, and the purpose of the plank road was to take the travel off Far nam street. I was 12 years of age at the pages of the latest noval or fol lowing the adventures of the current vampire in some screen thriller. She is a daughter of the late Fred K. Dellone. . Philately is the hobby of R. C. Hoyt, clerk of the federal court. Philately means stamp collecting. He is a very ardent philatelist or stamp collector. When he secures a new or rare stamp his lace lights up like1 the welcome arch and he can talk about his find for hours. He has a large collection. lie has horizontal square stamps and vertical square "stamps and triangular stamps, blue stamps, red stamps, yellow stamps, green stamps, stamps from the United States and stamps from countries you never heard of. It be could only find an octagonal or a hexagonal stamp or a stamp that fastened on with clamps instead of with glue his joy would know no bounds. Duck hunting is the hobby of Lloyd Maguey, .ion of County Attorney Maguey, and a well known young Omalia attorney. Any barrister in Omaha who knows young Magnev will testify to the fact that his great est pleasure in life is to lie in the bottom of a row boat on a bleak No vember day, with the wind blowing forty miles an hour, and pump away rt mallards. Maguey, jr., has the reputation of -being one of the best pump gun shots in the city. Sol Bergman, the wholesale jeweler, says he knows a young man who is shiftless, lazy and fat. j "Bill." Mr. Bergman said to him j one day, 'what s the matter with you.' Y'our ambition seems lo be dead." "Yes, Mr. Bergman, there is some thing wrong with me. 1 got some kind of a diseitse, I guess. 1 can eat, and I can sleep, but I can't work." "Huh I" grunted Mr. Bergman. "That's not a disease, that's a gift." Omaha Got Hira log when the current was just sneak-1 N ffi&JS iTKZle k ing along, purring like a domesticated j M T I, AlA uV J LL El kitten, then. But when the river was roaring with rage; when the monster was rip ping acres of corn land out of the big bends; when the giant was snapping the oaken spines of big bridges, and dropping jyellow froth fronhis jaws; it was then the boldest boys leaped astride the drifting logs and battled with the writhing current. Frank White always waited for the most unruly ,log. If it had" a few stubs of branches, he would clutch at these and ride like a rough rider tug ging at the reins. If the log had no branches it was all the same for White would dig his nails into the slimy driftwood, and cling like a snail. If the log turned, rolled and performed mad contortions with eddies and undercurrents, the lad must turn as fast the other way to keep on top. It was a great feat to ride -the log to Rocky Point, three miles down the time and wanted to get into busi ness. A man who owned a peanut stand on Farnam street between Sev enth and Eighth streets seemed anx ious to help an ambitious boy like myself. He asked $25 for his stand. I offered $15 and we finally thade the bargain at $17.50 and I took posses sion at once. "Bright and early on Monday morn ing I opened up for business, wiped off the oranges and apples, dusted the peanuts and grapes, polished the water cooler and otherwise made the stand attractive. I suddenly realized there was no travel on the street and I began to think it queer tjiat none should come up for a purchase. I went over to the hotel and asked the clerk and he told me that the travel from the boats would go along the plank road and that I had been stuck. You see, I had forgotten about the plank road when I bought the stand. "It taught me a very ' important lesson, that location is a prime fac tor in any line of business. I in vited all the boys I knew to have a feed at my expense and sold the stand for $8.50. That was the first and last peanut stand I ever bought." ny boy could caliche bluff $ A , I VFZJfcW. Prize Winners and Prize' Answers In the Last Puzzle Picture Contest The Ten Prize Winner I. Floyd H. Sutton, Shelby, la. Steady, old boy, you've a wonderful curve, And many's the one that you've fanned: Your quick eye, control, and ne'er tiring nerve Has won us our fame through the land. II. E. E. Ericson, Battle Creek, Neb. Oh you team! I'm sure for you I Wind up, pitch, and shoot 'cm through! Darn politeness! Shed your coats! Jumpin' Jing, I feel my oats. x III. John E. Lake, 100 West Broadway, Council Bluffs. Atta boy! Nebraska Jim! Sure! There's no red rust on him! Watch him curl 'em 'round their necks. Slugs .300, runs in ten; Poles a homer,. now and then. Cop the pennant? I should gamble! We're down the home stretch in an amble! IV. M. A. Pillsbury, 2429 Fontenelle Boulevard. Go to it, boys, we're with you. Show the other teams your heels. Make the hits and steal the bases Through the whole nine reels. Use your heads and field a thousand. And the fans will all hurrah When the pennant again is floating On Pa Rourke's field at Omaha. V. L. E. Brown, 4709 Cass. Play ball! Play! Get on the job! Wagner, Collins, Johnson, Cobb! Oh, you fans upon the bleachers! Oh, you rooters! Oh. you screechers! Oh, you bill-board rubberneckers! Oh, you sporting page collectors! Season's opened Ha. ha, ha! Roslon. Frisco, Omaha, All are at it, Rah! Rah! I Rah! ! ! . VI. Mary E. Tyner, 3857 Charles. Come, athletes, list to the players' call, It's to the diamond for base ball! Let's make 1917 our very best year And at its close the victory wear, When back to Omaha we come Let's bear the laurels with us home. Watch Th Bee Erery Sunday to Tin- A . the river, without getting a ducking. White was one of the Plattsmouth boys who could do this. Then he would walk back along the sandbars, the long weary three miles to find another raw broncho log to conquer. He might have ridden logs or. t lie i River Don if his father had kept him in England, but then the Don is a j mere piker compared to the yellow j Missouri when the June rise is on. Yes, it was in England that White, now secretary of the grand lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Nebraska, was born. He was born in 1857 at Doncaster within plain sight of the classical ruins of Conis borough castle, that mighty round tower of the Norman-Saxon struggles. He was a mere infant when his parents took him in their arms and sailed for America. He was a very small boy when he freighted across the plains to Denver with his father in the '60's. He drove the oxen a good part of the way while his father kept his finger on the trig ger of the rifle watching for Indians. The lad was too small to yoke the oxen in the morning, but once he got on the seat he could make the lead ers squirm with -a pop of the bull whip. Again he hauled stone for the con- struction of the first capitol building Order of High Priesthood, secretary at Lincoln. Later he was in the nf ,he Nebraska Veteran Free Ma grain business at Plattsmouth for sons. atld secretary, of the Nebraska twenty years, and might be in that Masonic Home business yet, were it not for the fact j (X,5t wk Ml ,, ho 0mah. t Jaia that the building of railroads in Cass i A. swanoon. What r the Powell Punle Picture end the Awerdi In Preceding Week'e Ctonteet. county led the grain from his trade territory to other markets. The grain business in Plattsmouth didn't need him very badly in 1893; and about that time Grover Cleve land needed a United States marshal for Nebraska. White became the president's choice. Four years sufficed; for McKinley had another clicque of friends to re ward, and White had to, step out. Two years later a vacancy occurred in the grand secretaryship of the Ma sons of Nebraska, and White was given a tryout. He had been inter ested in Masonry twenty-two years before that, for he has been a Ma sonic booster for forty years now. For nearly four years he continued to live at Plattsmouth. and then Oma ha attracted him. He couldn't stay away any longer. He had long rec ognized it as a great city, but boy hood ties had held him to Platts mouth. In 1903 he slipped into Oma ha to stay, and to handle from here his many duties in the Masonic work. Mr. White holds seven secretary ships in Masonic orders. He is sec retary of the Grand Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, secretary of the grand chapter, Royal Arch Ma sons, secretary of the Grand Commander)-. Knight Templars, grand re corder of the Grand Council Royal and Select Masters, recorder of the the Base Ball Fan Said VII. Tiny Carlon, O'Neill, Neb. Sock it to them, good old scout, Don't act like you got the gout. Whoopee! That's the stuff! Don't let up till they holler "Nuff!" Keep 'em going and don't forget Pin with you always now and yet. ' VIII. Anna B. Dunaway, ! 19 VV. 26th. Kearney. Neb. What's the matter'with that dub? He's all right! Goodby, Cyrus, you fought a good fight; Go to it. old top, and slug like sin. You're all to the good, boy. the pennant we'll win. IX. Leslie R. Thompson. 3,?70 Siarr Street, Lincoln. Come on! Come on! Put her over! , I've been in mourning since last October, And now my long, long wait is over, So how can a fellow like me be sober? X. Charles Collms. R. F. D. No. 1, Box 43, Crescent, la. Throw the ball, kid! Right straight to him! You are the guy That will outdo him. O-Ma-Ha! j