Temple Daily Telegram (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 34, Ed. 1 Monday, December 22, 1919 Page: 4 of 10
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;EMPLE DAILY TELEGRAM, TEMFLE, TEXAS, MONDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 22,1919.
TEMPLE DAILY TELEGRAM
MKMHkll OF TIIB ASMX'IATKO 1'IIK.HS.
Th# Awwlstod Prcu m wcluil««lx ei-
titled to tl>« uh for repiit'llcntl n of nil
Hi'«r» ttln|mlclir« rr,dit»fl to It or not othor-
vvliw credited In thin purer mid al«o th»
local ue«a published herein.
TAII.T TKI.ICOHAM Established l!>17
DAILY TKJHUNK Established lit*
(Consolidated January, 1910 )
EHKI'UTIVK STAFF,
E K. William* Managlni Editor
\VM. RTKPHENS TiUKlnrsa Mannutr
li. L. L'OUKN Advertising Mnn«*cr
Published every nrtirrlnc by the Tolraram
Publishing Co., (Inc.). E. K. Williams,
president
8iBscitn'TioN rnifE.
Delivered by Carriers Inalde City Limits of
Temple.
IiMly and Sunday, one year $T.RO
Pally and Sunday, on* month 7 j
Fly Mall Outnlde City I.lmlta of Temple.
Dally and Sunday, on* year 6 00
Dally and 8unday, all monina i 26
Dully and Sundny, three month* 1.7:.
Dally and Sunday, one month 70
Price on *treet*. on train* arid at nut*,
stands, per copy OS
Telephone (all department*) 686
The victims of unrest might find
a porfl table haven In work.
The expense of sending radicals out
Of the country is another Rood ar-
gument in favor of keeping them out.
A decline in prices In the north Is
always slower about sweeping this
section than a norther that originates
In the vicinity of the zone where the
decline takes place.
Hons by holding out on a technical
point; for the public Is in no humor
to tolerate further Inconvenience In
(his coal controversy, especially uficr
ihe miners have yielded to a tem-
porary settlement which provides fur
a thorough Investigation of ihe points
at Issue. They have a pretty good
joke on the attorney general, all rimht;
but if they know their business and
the mind of Ihe public they will not
try to go very far with their fun.
The public is beginning to realize Its
strength when it cornea to adjusting
controversies between capital and la-
bor, and since the public la Inclined to
sympathize with labor, capital would
better go slowly in assuming any sort
of arrogant attitude. This is more es-
pecially the case when capital ia>
standing upon nothing more than a
technically.
EDITORIAL OF THE DAY
Men who have their eyes on Heav-
en appreciate fully the value of truth.
This, however. Is not true with the
men who have Iheir eyes on the heav-
ens. Attention is directed to the as-
tronomer who hinted that the world
Was going to come to an end on De-
cember 17.
THE MINE OWNERS.
News dispatches Indicate that the
controversy between the mine workers
and the mine owners is only half set-
tled. The operators deny that they
have either accepted or rejected the
memorandum prepared by the presi-
dent and which was made the basis of
the agreement entered into with the
mine workers' leaders. They go n
step further and state that they have
never seen such a memorandum—that
It has never been submitted to them.
They have seen by the papers, how-
ever, that some such memorandum
Was prepared, read to the miners and
accepted by the latter. But so far as
their approval or disapproval Is con-
cerned the attorney general went off
half-cocked in proclaiming the strike
at an And.
It Is hard to Imagine Just what the
operators are up to.
Also, It is hard to figure out why
the attorney general should neglect to
hog-lle the operators with the same
ropes that he used on the mine work-
ers: for, although the strike of the
miners was extremely unpopular, yet
no one ever suspected the operators
of being angels, or above reproach.
The attorney general defends his
course on the ground that when the
president's memorandum was publish-
ed In the newspapers it made a strong
appeal to the operators. He read the
statement to the lawyer representing
the owners, but he never thought to
Inquire whether the lawyer was pre-
pared to say yes or no—although 1he
lawyer volunteered hearty approval of
the plan.
The attorney general is a poor law-
yer and Is sadly lacking in a knowl-
edge of the value of technical points
In any controversy if he attempts to
hold the operators to their comment
upon the published reports of the
strike settlement plan. Not that those
reports were erroneous, for the news-
pcrs carried the official statement . er-
batlm; hut there is an air of dignity
about the way cabinet members await
"official texts" and refuse to comment
upon authoritative press dispatches
that should have persuaded the attor-
ney general not to have overlooked
the point that perhaps the mine own-
ers would want to see an "official
text" of the plan which they were
accepting.
Whatever the mine owners have up
their sleeves— arid they are Justified
In turning down the settlement plan
on technical grounds if they want to—
they must realize as well as anybody
else that they cannot afford to back
out entirely and bring the strike Into
force again. The victory at Indiana-
polis was won, not by the attorney
general or the president, but by publi
sentiment.
The mine workers' leaders realized
that they could not longer go up
Bgalnst the stinging criticism that was
coming from every corner of the coun-
try while men, women and children
were suffraging from the cold, while
Industries were being demoralized
through a lack of fuel, while iho.i-
«ands of union men were being thrown
out of work a» a result, ar.d * lilc
tome families were being forced to
burn furniture, fences and outbuild-
ings In a battle for life itself.
It would be disastrous for the mine
•perators, therefore, if they should
About ft return «uch condl-
Rup|tn«<> runner* Strike?
l>abnr radicals m the Industrial
centers speak and act as If the world
depended entirely upon them and
those they misrepresent, while they
are independent of everything and ev-
erybody. If such men cannot be
reached through their brains perhaps
they can be through their stomachs.
Here is an eultorial from a western
paper-—"Successful Farming"—which
should appeal to that latter organ, and
convince even the most unthinking
radical that he and his are dependent
upon society as a whole, and without
It he would starve, freeze or go naked.
Tlie editorial, In part, follows:
"We ask city workers to ponder a
moment what might happen If the
farmers should do what the workers
are doing—demanding shorter hours
and higher pay. The farmers are
their own bosses, so they would not
have to quarrel with anybody. They
could hold out on stiike until they got
rood and ready, for they can feed
themselves.
"You working city fellows, suppose
for a moment that the farmers adopt-
ed the eight-hour day. It would cut
down production at least half. Sup-
pose they also set a price on their la-
bor and their products based on an
eight-hour basic scale. Where would
you get your food? Only the rich
could buy It at nil, for the price would
be prohibitive to men on strike. If
the coBt of living is too high now,
how will lessened production affect it
How will increased cost of production
bring prices down?
"If you city workers expect the
farmers to go on feeding you at the
old price you have got to get hack
to work at the old wage and make It
possible for the farmer to buy cheaper
so he can produce cheaper. This Is
not a one-sided game. It takes two to
play it and If you city fellows quit,
don't get sore if you go hungry soon.
Either the farmers* must do as you
are doing, shorten the hours and de-
mand higher pay, or else you must
lengthen the hours and produce more
without more pay.
"The farmers have been patient
with you. When they lose their pati-
ence, look out. If they quit, who is
going to feed you What city work-
ers have in common with farmers Is
not so much political as economic
What are you going to do about it?"
In many countries of Europe food
production this year was half the
usual amount, because farmers could
not plant the average crops, ltelief
societies are now trying to save the
children from starvation and tuher-
culosis. In the radical's heaven—Rus-
sia— fnrmcrs have gone on strike and
refused to produce more than suffi-
cient for their own needs. Possession
of a piece of bread is now something
to fight for. How would these condi-
tions suit the well-fed laboring peo-
ple of the Vnlted States?—The Wall
Street Journal.
ing at th« mast on hi* wagon—the
mast on a farm wagon being some-
where in the neighborhood of the
sprlngseat. Bed banners also were
swung upon tho harness on his mules,
just to emphasize the fact that the
whole outfit was bolshevik.
It may have been a Joke or It may
have been an Impulsive plunge Into
communism and a grouch against the
country, but at any rate the district
attorney gave the color scheme the
once over, ordered the flags lowered
and hailed the dissatisfied farmer
Into yourt, where a fine of $1 and
costs was levied as an antidote for
a possible outbreak In the direction1
of terrorism.
The farmer In question Is said to
be at the head of a very fine family,
he has been a citizen of Brown coun-
ty for a long time and has never
before been suspected of radicalism.
But from all the evidence in the case
It appears that he was in earnest
about Ills red flags, harboring the
hope if not the belief that when he
drove into town with the red flags
hoisted, and whistling, perhaps, the
'Internationale," the grain buyers
would approach with checkbooks In
hand while the officers of the law t
would come forward with truce pro-
posals.
But that is not the way they deal
with bolshevlkl in this country. The
farmer may thank Ills stars that he
got off as lightly as he did.
That, however, is not so Interest-
ing or important as the question. Why
did he do it?
What reason wag there for hltn to
believe that he could gain anything
by going back on Old Glory?
What impulse persuaded him to
hoist the crimson colors?
What has he been reading?
Brown county authorities may be
on the Job, and they probably are;
but It would not be' a bad Idea for
them to investigate the sort of liter-
ature that finds Its way into tills
farmer's rural mall box or get an
accurate line on the origin of the seed
of discontent that found fertile fields
In his brain, and which was nourished
into bloom by a bit of real hard luck
—hard luck over which neither he
nor the government has any control.
We hope this little fling In bol-
sheviam will teach him a Jessein, and
it is understood that he admits it has.
We hope fut,. r that tho Brown
county authorities will be able to
trace to their very origin the influ-
ences which impelled hltn to do what
he did so that other farmers and
other victims of hard luck will not
be led astray by these forces of social
and political evil.
There aro scores of malcontents In
this country trying to spread the be-
lief that the only way to remedy a
bad situation Is to start a revolution
or go bolshevik. Thoso agitators
ought to bo on the sarno boat with
Emma Goldman and Alexander Berk
man, which is now heading straight
for an unnamed port in soviet Russia.
kind. He la an honest man and works
for the Hall & Donahue Undertaking
Company.
I,aw Firms Is IjBW Finns.
Hogg & Hogg, Attorneys, Sullivan,
Ind.
Ham & Ham, Attorncya, Wauseon,
Ind.
Ho, Hum!
J. H. H. wants to know what has
become of the female of the species
who need to sting the male of the spe-
cies for u dinner at a hotel after the
theatre.
Wow I
"I understand the carpenters are
going to strike next."
"What do they want?"
"Twenty-fire cents a pound."—T.
H. M.
Another I'salni.
Lives of Jokrsmlths all remind us
Wc can waste a lot of time,
For two little words thnt rhyme.
Verses that perhaps a brother,
In a transient lucid spell,
Reading, may contract another
Sojourn In the padded cell.
—Sprinkle.
IJITS OF BYPLAY
(Ily Luke Mcl.uke.)
lloora}!
I.ast night the man was peeved and
sore,
Tonight we see him dance and
luugh;
The reason's this: The folks next
door
Have broke their doggone phono-
graph.
Oh I
He gave up smoking, lie tells me,
This Oswald Dow;
Oh, no, he isn't joking. He
Is married now.
-—Luke McLuke.
He Isn't drinking any more,
And this is why,
He couldn't stock his cellar, when
The town went dry.
—Detroit Free I'ress.
He isn't swearing any more.
And this is why:
He swore at his wee wifey, and
She blacked hla eye.
— Hastings (Neb.) Tribune.
Our Daily Special.
There's A Difference Between Hav-
ing Mobile Features And Having An
Automobile Face.
day,' he said. 'Tomorrow we will
shoot It. Savage began with ft grin.
But when six men try their best to
hit you wherever It will hurt, even
the most even tempered man Is apt to
lose complete control, Before two
minutes had passed Savage waa fight-
ing with nil his might. At three min-
utes he had a black eye and a badly
swollen lip. At four minutes he be-
gan to roar and throw furniture at
the six. When the camera finally
ceased clicking, two of the six were
completely 'out' and another was on
the floor unable to get up. It took
all the strength of the stage hands to
pull the now thoroughly angered men
apart.
"'So that was a reharsal, was It?'
asked Savage thickly.. 'When do we
have the fight?'
"'It Is all over.* said the director
complacently."
Some Ambition.
Husband—"I've got only one am-
bition In life now." Wife—"What is
It, dear?" Husband—"To see a wo-
man take a cork out of a bottle with-
out pushing It In."—Houston Post,
Noxiousness.
"What do you think of this idea of
suppressing tobacco as well as alco-
hol?" "1 believe it's making head-
way," answered I'ncle Bill Bottletop,
"I've got hold of some tobacco today
that tasted as if It had been more or
less denatured."—Washington Star.
No Exis'nsp.
Lawyer—"What was the Judge's
charge to the Jury?" Ex-Jui*yman—
"Not a cent. In fact, we got paid
by the day for our work."—Boston
Transcript.
Conversation.
"Oh, Fie! Don't you know you
should forgive your enemies?" "Be-
fore I forgive him, lady. I'm goln'
to fix him so he won't never have
to be forgiven a second time."—Life.
(CoatlnuMt Fross I'nse J.)
V
QUILLEX'S QI'IPS
If we can't protect our consular
representatives in Mexico, why not in-
struct them to pose as Englishmen?
We can deport the reds, and tho
spraying will kill of the cooties, but
there is no way to rid the country of
fool ideas.
When a mag gets mad all the way
through about his income tax, he can
ease his feelings by cussing the work-
man who'demands higher wages.
Altruism Is a noble word. You will
find it in the dictionary. But you will
never find a demonstration of its
meaning.
CENTRAL TEXAS PRESS
RED FLAGS.
Because he could not sell a load of
damaged wheat at top prices, or
couldn't get a bid on It at all, a Brown
county farmer drove Into Brownwood
one day last week with a red flag fly-
Fooej I
"An onion eaten raw will clear the
In ad," remarked the Scientist.
"Yea," replied the Rounder. "And
it will also clear the space your friends
occupied when you came around."
To » Friejul.
You are a real good hearted mutt,
You'd let me have your'sock and
collar;
You'd share your last buck with me,
but
You never seem to have a dollar.
Haw. llawl
"Do you know that a man can live
on nuts?" asked the Vegetarian,
"Sure I do," replied the'Mere Man.
"Just look at the leaders of the Bol-
shevlkl and the leaders of the I.
W. W."
Wuff!
I love old Undertaker Drear,
He is a square pal, bless his soul;
But if 1 follow him, 1 fear
That he will put me in a hole.
Ltike Mcl.uke Says
You can ruin any good thing by
overdoing it. The wife who frisks her
husband's clothes every night never
finds anything.
This is the kind of weather that
raises goose pimples on chickens who
wear low-cut waists
This is a great country. But once
in a while a state elects a Governor
who can't govern himself.
We can't sec where a stingy man
saves anything by remaining single.
A married man receives the services
of a housekeeper, a cook, n chumlier-
maid, a valet and a trained nurse free.
A man's Idea of an ideal currency
system would be one that would en-
ible him to spend his coin and have
it, too.
It takes a man with a lot of Will
Power to keep from bragging about
his Will Power.
Tell some fellow that It is a nice
day, and they will hunt up the maxi-
mum and minimum temperatures, the
humidity and the precipitation 1" fore
they will agree with you.
Even though a man doesn't know
the last name of the married woman
he is trying to flirt with, he should
have sense enough to know that her
middle name is Trouble.
When you see a skinny girl frown-
ing as she reads a fashion publication
it is a sign that she has discovered
that the skirts are to be shorter next
year.
No doctor has nerve enough to pre-
scribe a little whiskey before each
meal these days. If he did the patient
would eat about 12 meals a day.
Your friends may look prosperous.
But if you want to listen to harrow-
ing tales of privation and poverty, try
to borrow a ten spot from one of
them.
The Bookkeeper's Viewpoint.
Bookkeeper—"What guy was it thnt
wrote, Billing and cooing and little
else doing?" Assistant—"I don't re-
member, but if he had the job of get-
ting the bills out on the first of the
month, he would find there was
mighty little time for cooing."—Judge.
Told the Truth.
"Ethel, can't you tell us the shape
of the world?" asked the teacher en-
couragingly. "Yessum; It's in a pret-
ty bad shape, Just now." replied the
precocious child, who had heard her
daddy say a few things at home.—
Florida Times Union.
According to Precedent.
"Soup, soft-boiled eggs—and what
else?" briskly inquired Heloise, of the
rapid-fire restaurant. "Hold on!" re-
turned the gent with the flowing mus-
tache. "What's the matter with you?
I don't want any soup or soft-boiled
eggs. I " "Gwan!" interrupted
the young lady. "A guy with a lip
lambrequin like yours always wants
soup and soft-boiled eggs."—Judge.
QUESTION ItOX
The Wise Fool.
"Rome was saved by the cackling
of geese," observed the Sage.
"Yes," replied the Fool. "And Con-
gress thinks it can make history re-
peat Itself."
Something Like That.
His wife is a strong suffragette;
She lends her husband round, you
bet;
To all her whims he gives assent;
I think he is a suffra-geiit.
Notice!
If you have any property you want
to sell for a song, go and A. Singer,
the Louisville (Ky.) real estate dealer.
Well, Well!
You can't tell anything about a
name. For Instance. A. Swlndoll of
Knoxville, Tenn., isn't anything of the
TARLOID TALES
Some "Inside" Amusement# of llie
Movies.
It is said that movie lions are fed
on milk so they will not be ferocious
and take a bite out of the other actors
in the film company. But when the
lovely heroine comes upon one of the
big cats crouching in the movie jun-
gle, the latter always is inveigled into
putting on a deal of real snarling and
other unmistakable signs of blood-
thirstiness so the l.h. may appropri-
ately "register" fear, and the brave
hero may with equal propriety rush
in with a pitchfork or other deadly
weapon and shoo the lion away. If
the lion acted in a kittenish and milk-
fed manner, the picture would never
get across with the fans, and so he
has to be nurde to act fierce. On the
same principle, it appears, mollon-
plcture fights are not make believe,
but so real that not infrequently, ac-
cording to Herbert Corey in "Every-
body's Magazine," "when the director
orders the action stopped the stage
hands are compelled to pull the inter-
ested fighters apart." lie cites an in-
stance'in which Jim Savage, former
pugilist, was the principal figure. We
read:
"it was suspected that he would
rely upon his ring knowledge and
try to avoid injuring his assailants.
The director determined to force
Savage to lose his temper and fight
in earnest:
" 'We will rehearse the scene to-
Q What I* the rtreet nddrewt of Presi-
dent Wilson?—8.
A. The White House la at 1M0 Pennsyl-
vanla avenue, Washington.
Q What Is the nver.iire snlnry of all the
wave earner* In America?—One.
A, It has been stated thnt the average
yearly earning* <>f a nian In America raiiKO
from $1,000 to fl,&00 and probably should
be set at 11,200.
71. C,—If your mother and the police de-
partment eluli't care, »( ilun't.
DAILY HOROSCOPE
Monday, Deo. 22, 1919.
(Copyrighted.)
Uranus <ru!f>* utrongly fop good
cording to nstroloKy- The «way limit en fat
fair luck U> those who have vision und pa-
tient, e.
All the planetary Influences appear 1 «f
combine toward the harmonising of differ-
ences in families and amorijr nation*, hut
surprising: events are to disturb the United
States within a few weeks.
This should be a favorable day for In-
ventors and all who profit by original ideas.
The new year will upset more than one old
time process of manufacture and substitute
novel products for evtryday Use.
Uranus is read as presaging a new per-
ception regarding the value of time and re-
forms will include one that takes severest
account of wasted minutes.
There is a forecast of marvelous achieve-
ments in the school where the minds of
children will be tralred according to scien-
tific methods that insure the best devlop-
nuit.
Poets again will be much honored and
new singers wil be recognizee among Amer-
ican ■writer* as never before.
Government affairs are likely suddenly to
focus public attention and vacancies in high
places will be numerous.
Persons who seek employment are not to
be lucky today, if the stars are read aright.
Labor leaders should be cautious during
this sway which seems to pres.*ge loss of
power and increase In responsibilities.
It is prophesied that 19110 will bring to
the front many hitherto unknown men and
women, for tlins will be fulfilled the pre-
dictions that all who have led and ruled
must give way to those who belong to the
new era that has dawned over blood stained
battlefields.
The evening of this day la not a luclcv
time for lovers as Venus is held to ha\
power to disturb the judgment and deceive
all who are susceptible to romance.
Persons whose blrthdate it is may export
an active year In which there are many
changes. Those who are employed will
benefit.
Children born on this day are likely to '>©
extremely gifted. These subjects of Capri-
corn are often inventors or promoters. Bat-
urn is their principal ruling planet.
trust. When I saw him I wanted the
Beance to be genuine.
He chose a woman and a man—
Alexander of Toronto—for -what he
called a "battery." and the three sat
in a row Just in front of that curtain
across one corner of the room. He
announced that he would hold the
woman's left arm with both of hi*
hands, throughout the seance, to
prove that Ills hands did not affect
the phenomena. The woman's right
hand held Alexander's left, and Alex-
ander's right was visible throughout.
Don't stop to get those rights and
left* straight. The point of It is that
oil hands were accounted for! The
battery waa covered with a long drub
cloth, and left with only their heads
and Alexander's right hand in sight—
Irresistibly like three people In bar-
ber'a chairs.
The lights were not yet turned
down. All the world knows that the
reason for dark seances isn't to con-
ceal anything, but because the spirits
are too sensitive to light-waves. How-
ever, Mr. Keeler's guide, Christy,
wasn't sensitive to light waves dur-
ing the early part of Ihe seance, any
more than he is during the daylight
slate writing.
Tlio MyKterlinui Tape.
Alexander, then the woman beside
him, then Keeler. announced that they
felt mysterious taps on their shoul-
ders. Bells were rung behind the
curtain* and thrown out over It. He-
hind it. too, a guitar was playing, a
drum beaten, a tambourine rattled
then whirled on the end of a stick,
the top of which extended above the
curtain.
Once the audience was invited to
look over the curtain to see the guitar
playing automatically. It was dark-
ish In the corner, yet light enough to
see that the guitar was indeed play-
ing by spirit hands. Or by a music
box, or electricity.
During this vaudeville everjbody
had been cheerfully excited. L!ut a
change came over the Toom. The
lights were extinguished, and a candle
lighted In a white box with a movable
front over red paper. This box was
in another corner of the room, and
not far from the ceiling. Hands
from the spirit world—unless, alas,
they were the hands of a mortal in
tho room above—sharply raised and
lowered the movable front of the box,
and thus suddenly increased and de-
creased the amount of light showing
through the red paper. Somebody
screamed. All the circle became more
tense.
In the dimness began the really
marvelous part of the seance. Spirit
hands audibly wrote messages on slips
of paper on a small table behind the
curtain, and handed them over. Mr.
Frost received several of them, and
Mr. Alexander, and the other faithful
souls who were always so lucky at all
sorts of seances. I have told how
Alexander's messages were so exehoed
by Slater's guide at the auditorium
next day.
Several times the spirit's hand was
actually seen above the top of the
screen. The first time the hand -ap-
peared several people cried out; the
third time, a woman fainted. Several
people afterward declared that it was
a hand all of mist and spirituality; to
me it looked uncommonly like the
hand of a large, healthy, male human
being.
Now the Voices.
The voices came now; people were
called for, by name. Timorously ap-
proaching the curtain, in the low light,
they heard what they declared to be
the actual voices of the dead, though
all the voices wounded metallic, ven-
triloqulstlc, like one of the early
phonographs. Frost and Alexander
were again rewarded for their faith!
Some of the favored even shook hands
with the spirit. The hand seemed al-
ways the same to me, but various weTe
the reports as to how It felt. One
woman said it was "soft as velvet;"
her companion retorted, "Why, I
thought it was a firm man's hand
like a workman's." I wondered then
how reliable are the reports of the
believers after any seance!
And I wondered whether some of
the people -were convinced that they
were verily speaking to the departed.
They answered the supposed de.«l as
casually as one answers a telephone in
a busy office. Rut several of the
older women believed It—terribly.
One of them sobbed till I was decided-
ly shaky, as she cried to the putative
spirit of her husband, "Oh, my dear,
my dear, it's so wonderful. Oh, my
dear, X am so lonely for you. Is
Charles with you? Oh, my dear!"
Here was something sacred—not
the squeaky spirit voice, but the brok-
en human grief. The last voice spoke.
Th'e woman who had fainted ceased
her hysterical moaning. The lights
were turned up. The cover was re-
moved from the battery and there
Keeler sat with both hands tight
clasping the arm of the woman beside
him, thereby Indicating that he could
not have reached behind the curtain
and rung the bells, twirled the tam-
bourine, written messages, and shaken
hands. Doubtless It also proved (hat
a mind ventriloquism could not hav«
produced the spirit voices.
Slate Wrltlu* and Hlch.
My second Keeler observation waa
of his slate-wrlttnf, which is as pop-
ular as his seances. Though I had an
appointment. I haif to wait an hour,
till he had finished the celestial steno-
graphy for those who had come be-
fore me.
When I was admitted, Mr. Keelor
sat at u plain table covered with a
cloth which was scattered with slates,
pencils, boxes, pads of paper. 1 had
written the names of the four "spirilM" ,
with whom I wished to communicate
upon four small sparate slips of pap. t,
and these I dropped on the table. Ap-
parently Mr. Keeler never touched
them, but discovered the names con-
tained in them entirely hy spirit aid.
He bade me also write a message to
his guide, George Christy, asking
Christy to hu»tle out Into the
heavenly halls and find the de-
sired spirits for me At night Chris-
ty never has to have such a written
request!
We had, it seemed, to wait for the
spirits. Perhaps they were asleep or
playing poker, or at a Sluter seance.
Do I seem flippant? Then let me
quote the sardonic flippancy of Tlljah
the servant of the lord, upon a pre-
cisely similar occasion, when the
priests of flt.ial waited for the spirit of
the idol to send fire, and as they wait-
ed the prophet mocked them: "Eith-
er he is musing, or he is gone aside,
or he is on a Journey, or peradventure
he sleepeth!" Poor priests of Baal,
they had no well-trained spiritualistic
medtnm to assist Baal s coming.
While we waited we talked casually
—mostly about Keeler's work on a
small town newspaper as a boy.
Called Him "Harry."
Presently he wrote on one of the
slates thnt Alfred, one of the spirits I
sought, wished to speak to "Harry."
That was my first astonishment. I
had given my name to Keeler, for an
appointment, as "11. S. I^wls," but
nowhere at Lily Dale or any other
mediumlstlc haunt had I given of that
relic of my school days, the name
"Harry."
Keeler told iue to wash and dry two
of the slates; then took those two—
apparently those two!—dropped a tiny
piece of slate pencil between them and
placed them with the plain wooden
frames tight together, even fastening
them together with a rubber band. I
was asked to place the slip with Al-
fred's name under the rubber band,
against one of the slates. We two
held the slates, each of us holding
one end of them with both our hands
and—second and more spine-prlckling
astonishment!—I could actually hoar
writing going on, apparently in that
tiny space between the very slates we
were holding!
I was told that George wished to
speak to me, as well aa Alfred. I
placed the slip with George's nnmo
under the rubber band, also, and the
writing continued. Then the slates
were sepnrated and—third astonish-
ment!—there on those slates which I
was sure I had washed were written
messages from George and—
No, not from George and Alfred.-
First error! The guide, or Mr. Keeler,
had made a mistake. George's mes-
sage was there, but it was Herbert's
epistle, not Alfred's that accompanied
it, though the slip with Herbert's
name still lay on the table.
But the guide made up for It inime-
dlatly. On two other bound slates h®
gave notes from Arthur nnd the miss-
ing Alfred. Mr. Keeler had indicated
to me that if I wished the additional
spirit proof of writing in red—though
the only pencil-fragment between tho
slates was the ordinary gray slata
pencil—I was to write u note to that
effect to Guide Christy. I had com-
plied, and, sure enough, there was a
message in red from George W. Blood,
written ncross the messages from Ar-
thur and Alfred.
Trickery or Spirits? •
How doe# the writing rome to be
on the slates? There are many meth-
ods. One is byfche use of a flap fit-
ting into the slate, and concealing
the writing already on the slate, as a
false bottom conceals the bottom of a
trick box. Mr. Henry Kldgely Evans,
in his book. "The Spirit World T in-
masked," believes that Mr. Keeler 8
method is simpler. He just writes tha
messages in his lap, while he site the.-e
anilably'cliatting! This explains why
the spirits take so long in coming.
Then, with sleight of hand and a
charming audacity, he substitute*
these inscribed slates for the Blatea
which Hie customer has painstakingly
cleaned, and goes ahead with the
sound of writing! With several slates,
all alike, it is easy to confuse the vic-
tim as to which slate is which.
While I was going through the
mummery of writing a message to Mr.
Christy, Mr. Keeler had time to palm
one or more of the slips on which I
had written names. During the reg-
amarole of cleaning the slates and
finding a suitable bit of slate pencil,
so clever a conjuror as he could easily
substitute an inscribed slate for a
cleaned one.
The one thing not clarified is Mr,
Keeler's giving the name "Harry." But
1s it so difficult to guess? The com-
monest Christian names beginning
with H are Harry, Henry and Harold:
and Harry is a common substitution
(Continued on Fare Nlnp.)
vj
BRINGING UP FATHER
By GEORGE McMANUS
JUt)T ACJ tiOOM
THAT BOILOIN4
16 FINISHED TOO
TAKE THObE
BOARDS err
THt®> i<b "TOUR
ROOM -I5N'T
THAT A TIME
VIEW 9
It)N'T THI«b A NICE
APARTMENT I PlCKEO
OUT FOR Ot> *
r>
XES-I
KIN t»EE
THE POOR-
FROM
HERE!
-y
HELLO
THERE
JICGS!
WHERE
lb Mf
ROOM?
1
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Williams, E. K. Temple Daily Telegram (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 34, Ed. 1 Monday, December 22, 1919, newspaper, December 22, 1919; Temple, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth470207/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.