Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1925)
1- i f I r if RIVER LIFE BEFORE 1850 TOLD IN GRAPHIC STEAMBOAT STORY Way Back When FifrureVin Brought by Tears On Tuesday, March 18, my new found home started up the Wil lamette for; Harrisburg and re turned Friday.lhe 21st with a full load of wheat and ; a "small toy with an exalted Idea of himself. A few of the crew whose names 1 remember were: Captain Charles Hotman, Chief Engineer George Marshall, First Assistant John Marshall, First Pilot Aaron Vick ers. Second Pilot Charles Kellogg, Steward Joe Harrison and .Tom Washington as chef. , Of these named all haTe passed into the mystic beyond. - In those days the master of the steamer was virtually in charge of the vessel he commanded. . . i J. The owners entrusted the boat and business In his care and look ed to him to manage the steamer in such a way so as to earn a profit on the Investment, which except in very rare cases, was secured. ' He was consulted when changes in time, destination, route or the making of rates were agreed upon and the selection, retention or dis charging of any employee on board was left to him as a divine right. In fact he was monarch of all he 'surveyed. It was probably owing to the latter rule that I managed to serve out the initial season of my indnction Into river service. Being a callow youth 6f twelve seasons and not of a robust phy sique, my earning powers from a financial standpoint were at a low ebb and If it had not been that I was a protege of the captain's fav orite chef and sponsored by the worthy "skipper to boot, the riv er steamers and I would soon have become strangers to each other. Old Tom watched over .me as zealously as a mother with her first, born and I was never called upon to assist in a regular way unless my conduct . did not meet with his entire approval and: I j must confess that at regular stat ed, intervals my conduct-was not conducive of much approbation. When detected in any conduct thai he considered unworthy of a grandson of a Mississippi master, I was introduced to a bushel tub of potatoes and a paring knife with an Injunction to"skIn 'em close." T The deck hands' soon saw the protectorate that I was , working by and under and to tease me would call me Niggah Jim" and chase me back to the galley when 1 would become too insistent in my quest for river lore and vocab ulary. Having been taught from my infancy not to use the terms "Nig gah but to refer, to that race as colored people, this appellation would cause a small sized insur rection before the brawny .men who worked on deck succeeded, in their sham battles to drive me Watch Your CfiildV Health Is Warning Sent by Expert Tragic Evidence of Failure to Safeguard Hearth bf Young People" "J A Found; Regulate Play and Study Load "v - "Trying" to repair, the damage -that, in some cases seems to be the direct result of the terrific speed i at which we are driving these hu- I . VI -. t . , 1 1L. wau macmues oi van, is lue un derlying thought in an ' article .by f Grace Holmes, R. K., in a recent t Issue of Health First. , First, in a 40 bed -sanatorium, f she had under her case 6 - high f school boys and girls 15 oer cent j of ' the" total capacity of the sana- tV torium'. Later, in a Wisconsin were 5 beds . In" a " row; each, oc cupied by, a, young college man, .one of whom ''failed to come back.. Again In Wisconsin, a clinic was held this year, at which 434 high school 'boys and girls were examined. Among thisln um ber 2 cases of tuberculosis were found, according to The Crusader, the monthly publication, of the Wisconsin Anti-Tuberculosis asso- : ciattOB. ;;: , t'.:;:7-;-''"'(-if This, last year in OregonV a visit was made to the state sanatorium which; has a capacity of 132 beds. Fifteen beds were - occupied by conese stuaenis, ty hign school J students and 18 by grade school pupus. Here .again, 9 -per cent of the entire patient-body were high school or college students "Tragic ..evidence of our failure to. safe guard the health nf theca winner 'vpeole!" : Observes the writer. JO Whose responsibility is.it to; prer i f - vent these tragedies ?,The,schoobJt Yes, partially; but, as pointed put in tne article it rests Jointly wltn several other groups, notably with the home. : : " . ; , : - s t we are, an raminar wun ine Ps work ot school medical inspection - so effectively carried" out in some " , of bur larger centres of population f , particularly in the grades; : Valso with tbe excellent work c sghoo Dramatic Panorama of Changes on Valley Station - baclc to the cook's quarters. My appearance at the galley door with disheveled hair and streaming eyes would eventually bring a hunk of ginger bread from the faithful old Tom and he would tell me that he surely would "Pi zen" their coffee on the next watch off and send me to the pilot house with my tale; of wee to Captain Charlie. -. Captain Holman was a boy once and took In the situation chiding me for not cleaning out the crew and offering his services to assist In their entire demolition. While he was diligent in per forming his duty looking after the offspring of a brother captain he believed that boys would be boys and In his kindness to me gave what I now can see was a great latitude to roam in. . During my stay with him on this steamer, there was but once that he gave me an unkind word and this was done for my benefit and it had a lasting impression up on me, one that I retained for many years. In those days all well-appointed steamboats were supplied with a bar for the bibulously inclined passenger and was generally placed in the forward cabin oppo site the office of the clerk or pur ser with a swinging half door that served as a bar when the upper half was open. While this was tended by a regular bar keeper it was the duty of the steward's de partment to keep it in order. One day the steward asked me to sweep, this room out for him and while being thus engaged Cap tain Holman happened to pass through the cabin and espied me behind the bar. - Without herald ing his advance he grabbed me by my puny shoulders, and lifted me clear of the half door and used me as a pile driver on the boiler deck, each slam -accompanied ; by a"per oration regarding the impropriety of a boy of my years and position in life, being found behind a liquor counter. ..... . j Imagine, if you can, the disaster that had befallen me. I was ashamed to tell Tom and was fearful lest the gang on deck Would learn of my discomfiture and I resolved then and there to deserj the boat at the first wood yard. Noticing the abject and humil iated look on my face the captain appeared to relent, although he was smiling, at the ' bar-keeper when I could not observe him and soon matters were adjusted and with an admonition always to steer clear, of both sides' of a bar of this description, the past was forgotten and the whole-souled genial captain and I were com rades again. and public health nurses, and the work of the modern health crus ade. ' i- . In- all this excellent health work the lower grade students' are the chief beneficiaries. "The problem of the, physical care of high school students is almost an untouched field." How jnany of these young people, growing up like young colts., are, In, their unrestrained ambition, trying to. carry amounts of classroom work out of all pro portion to their -physical,, endur ance? , In addition to the work of the classroom, every present-day high school boy or girl desires, or should desire, to take some part In athletics or other extra-curriculum -activities. Add to this the late; hours, auto rides, jazz parties, etc.i constituting the end of the perfect day for "Flaming Youth" and what is the result? "So long as they do not fail in their classes, nq one interferes'. Finally, espe cially as the school term draws toward its close in the spring, fond parents begin to notice symptoms of irritability, loss of weight and appetite, lack-lustre' eyes,: loss of that "school-girl complexion,' which no amount of cosmetics ean bring back- Finally, with increasing-signs of weakness, the tell-tale hacking cough and afternoon tem perature all too often develop. In somccases, the result is complete collapse, involving months of sana toria ai care, followed by many more, months of struggle 'to' got back to rugged health ; and for some it , Is that :.. long journey whence no traveler returns. . "The responsibility for many of these tragedies rests," .continues Mis Holmes; "upon the 'SBouTdrefi of us grown-ups, parents and teachers alike, who are supposed .(vntiuuod fa J,- iMliflll C1SMWICT1 Professor W. F. G, Thacher Would Not Select One Modern Story Professor W. F. G. Thatcher, University of Oregon, lover of fiction, teacher of fiction, writer of fiction, would not select a single volume of modern fiction if he were shipwrecked with only time to select twelve 'volumes from a complete library with which to occupy the leisure mo ments of til life. Nor would he choose altogether books which he has already read. Rather he would take that time to pour over a list of books which in his busy life as a professor of journalism in the University of Oregon he has never had time to read. "I would select books which I could read again and again," said the professor, seemingly enjoying the imaginative setting of being shipwrecked. "There is no work of fiction which I could read more than twice, a fact which would bar -fiction completely." There was not a moment's hesi tation in Professor Thatcher's selection of the first book. "I would start with the Bible, if for. no other reason than be cause of the important part piayed in the development of the human race," - he asserted, and then turned to Shakespeare. "I would want the plays of Wil liam Shakespeare for their inex haustible source of human inter est and poetry. I would choose him rather as a poet than a dra matist. "Next I would choose the Greek dramatists Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides- because I have always wanted time to study them more. thoroughly. I think I would take the poems of Robert Browning for the, same reason. ' "Then I" would want the 'Ox ford Book of Verses probably the greatest collection of English po etry." Professor Thatcher made it clear that many of his selections were made for the sole purpose that he would have plenty of time to read books which he has, al ways wanted to read thoroughly. "I'd select Boswell's 'Life of Johnson,' for the reason that I have; never read it, but I know that there is a wealth of know ledge in it. I should - take the works of Voltaire for the same reason." After a little' cognition. Profes sor Thatcher brought his swivel chair upright with a Jolt and a light came into his eyes out ot the mist of book dreams. "Put it down at the-end that I should like a book of blank pages, which I want to fill myself," he said,! before he named the re maining volumes. -; The books of Rabelais, the great humorist, would be next on the list, because they have a rare WHEN YOUR ' HORN GOT SHORT- CIRCUITED WHILE YOU WERE WAITING SEOUT SUNDAY NEWS SECTION ' Written by the Boys Themselves; Copy Should Reach Scout Head quarters Not Later Than Friday Editorial Note: Because . the principles underlying the Boy Scout movement are among the finest at work in boya life. The" Oregon Statesman has offered a department in the Sunday paper for the organization's exclusive use. Scout news, furnished by the boys themselves, will be found regularly in the Sunday issue. Blazed Trail On Friday, December 4th, the Scouts of Troop No. 1, Corvallis, held their annual Blazed Trail. Parents and friends of the Scouts were present and enjoyed an ex ceptionally fine proram. The Chintimini Camp Fire Girls co-operated with the Scouts this year which added greatly to the pro- The pageant of Guardian of the Trail was presented by the Scouts. The pageant was attractively set and costumed. The pageant was symbolic of the life of a Scout, the leading part was played by Edgar Batchellor. A two-reel moving picture, "The Days of Real Sport" was shown. This is a Boy Scout picture and was fascinating to the adults as well as to the Scouts. In addition to this a scenic picture was shown depicting 'some of the most beautiful regions of Ameri ca's outdoors. Patrols Busy Each patrol was in charge of some project at the Blazed Trail. The Flying Eagle patrol operated the popular hot dog stand. The Otters had a fish pond and booth at which craftsman work suitable for gifts were sold. The Pine tree patrol sold cider, sinkers and pre sented a very fine vaudeville act. Alumni Meets The Alumni of Corvallis Troop No. 1, held their annual get-together at a breakfast on the morn ing of Sunday, November 1. The arrangements were made by Life Scout Ernest Poore, president and Secretary Philip Newton. New officers elected were Eagle Scout . John Logan as . president and Forrest Woods, secretary. Membership in Troop 1, Alumni includes only First Class Scouts, as follows: those who have become Senior Patrol leader or Troop In structor, Veteran " Scouts, those who have either graduated from high school or reached their eighteenth birthday. Use Scout Staff Mr. Rex Sanfof d, scoutmaster of Troop No. 2, Salem, announced quality which draw from age to age. The censored book "Ulyss es" by James Joyce would be found on Mr. Thatcher's shelf. "Ulysses" fs a work of extreme modernism in which every feeling, precept and thought of a man for 4 hours are set down. "The greatest novel ever writ ten a3 big as time, as big as the world 'War and Peace by Tols toi ' would certainly go into that library. And then the poems of Walt Whitman, the most original and natural voice America has produced. h traffic A'r-y-' ;ry that enough Scout Staves - have been ordered to supply each mem ber. The Scout Staves are also used by Troop No. 4. At a recent meeting the Scouts of Troop No. 2, adopted as their official neck erchief one composed of the fol lowing colors, purple with orange border. This takes the place of the orange neckerchiefs used by them up to this time. Presented Camp Site Mr. W. B. Smith of McMinnville who Is a member of the McMinn ville District Scout committee has presented the local Scouts with 160 acres of land, thirteen miles northwest of McMinnville on the Meadow Lake road. This land will be improved and used as a week end camp site for the -Scouts of the McMinnville district. It Is probable that a suitable cabin will be erected to supply the needs ot the Scouts. Court of Honor Last Wednesday night the Scout executive went to Dallas to visit their Local Court of Honor, which was held at the city hall. There were two Scouts present for the rank of second class and three were awarded their first class badges. The following Scouta were awarded merit badges: Rob ert Hayter, first aid, safety first and first aid to animals. Delbert Hunter, electricity; Englebert Ger linger, swimming; Richard Webb, cylcling; Olvin Bowe, cycling, and Paul Bollnran, swimming. ' Salem and Corvallis Courts of Honor to meet this week. The Corvallis Court of Honor will meet Monday night, 7:00 o'clock at the First Congregational church, Cor vallis and the Salem Court of Honor will meet Thursday night, 7:00 o'clock at the Marion Coun ty Court house. Troop News Wanted Most of the troops news this week comes from Troop No. 1, Corvallis, and they promise to send more. We want to have -more news from the Salem troops, this news should be written by the troop scribe or troop reporter and turned in to the Scout Headquar ters. Troop 1 of Corvallis is to be congratulated upon their splen did activities: All their troop of ficers realize that they have a def inite responsibility and duties to perform and you will note the re sult SOMETHING CONSTRUC TIVE ALL THE TIME." DR. WARREN D. SMITH WRITES OREGON PAPER A description . of the physical and economic geography of Ore gon by Dr. Warren D. Smith, head of the department of geology, Uni versity of Oregon, will be pub lished in the next issue of the Commonwealth. The paper Is writ ten in ten chapters, each covering a particular section of the state. This is the first time a complete survey of fnis kind has been writ ten, Dr. Smith said. STATESMAN'S OWN LIST FOR BOYS AND GIRLS Aesop's Fables Arabian Nights Alice in Wonderland Ben Hur, Wallace. Black Beauty, Sewell -CalLof the Wild, London Huckleberry Finn, Tom Saw yer, Mark Twain f Jungle Book, Just So Stories, - Kipling - Kidnapped, Master of Ballan trae. Stevensou Kenilwdrth. Lady, of the Lake, Tvanhoe, Rob Roy, Scott Legends of King Arthur, Greene j Life at West Point, Hancock Man Without a Country, Hale Oxford Book of EnglisU Verso ' Oregon Trail, Parkman The Pilot Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Robinson Crusoe The Spy, Cooper Swiss Family Robinson, Wyss Winning of The West, Roose velt Two Years Before The Mast. Dana -; ; ; .Treasure fetandfitevenson Twice Tld Tales; Hawthorne Westward Ho.V Kingsley. Stories of Three Selections Are Printed Every Sunday Here To A Wild Rose MacDowell was above all else a poet in music. Each of the short numbers In the "Woodland Sketches" Is full of poesy, in spired by the charm and beauty of the wild flower, in the wood land glade. The very unobtrusive little flower, the wild rose, .ex quisite in .coloring, yet simple and unassuming, could not have been described better in volumes of print than MacDowell pictures it in this short tone poem. Everyone knows and loves this poetic mas terpiece. Pilgrims' Chorus The "Pilgrims' Chorus appears several times during the opera. It Is heard at the very beginning and also at the ,end, as well as during the third act. During the Opera it is penitential in spirit, but at the end it becomes a mag nificent triumphal chant. This is one of the world's greatest choral numbers in four part harmony. The chant begins at first slowly and In the distance as with digni fied step, the pilgrims go on their way to Rome. The middle part becomes more impassioned as the thememoves by octaves against the ever-changing harmonies ot the -accompaniment. The first theme returns ;this time sung in unison and the son? grows grad ually softer as the pilgrims d'ssa- f (Continued a page 6.) mm of music J;C. NELSONlHIGH LIBRARIAN, ASKED TQ PICK 10 Going Into the .African Jungles, Theodore Roosevelt ' Included , World's Best to Famous' Pigskin 'Mbrary- . ,It all the books in the world were In a blazet which would you snatch from the flames? Which would you take to a desert Island. " Would they be fiction? , . Biography? -'-. Poetry?'- :- :';'-",":'yC:;t : Drama?; - , ; , Oregon pioneers, moving into a frontier country could take only ' a few of those written. - You, to day, have time to read only a few of those written How did : they choose? .How do you chooso? . "True books have been written in all ages by their greatest men; by great leaders, great statesmen and great thinkers These are all at your choice," wrote John Jtus kln, "and life is short. - Will you jostle with the common crowd, for entree here, and andience " there, when 'all; the while this eternal court is open to you. with its" so ciety as the world, multitudinous as its days, the chosen, and the mighty, ofVeery place and time?" Were you about to start on a protracted journey into a frontier country, what books would you put in your pack? . Theodore, tloosevelt, when pack ing his kit , for his- now famous African expedition, faced a prob lem not different, from that faced by all . readers. - Roosevelt's limit was'st by the weight pt the books he could carry. Your limit is set by the time you can devote to reading. What are the volumes you would select ? ; E'oosevelt crammed these into his "pigskin Library," to be taken . into the jungles: Bible, Apocrypha; Barrow, Bible In Spain, Zingall, Lavengro, Wild Wales, -The Romany Rye; Shakes peare; Spencer, The Faerie Queen; Marlowe; Mahan, Sea " Fever; Macaulay, History. Essays, Poems; Homer, Iliad, Odysey; Lowell, Literary Essays, Bigelo w Papers ; Emerson, Poems; Longfellow; Tennyson; Poe, Tales, poems; Keats; Milton, Paradise Lost; Dante, Inferno; .Holmes,-Autocrat, Over 'the Teacups;0 Bret , Harte, Poems, Tales of the. Argonauts. Luck of Roaring Camp; Brown ing; Crothers, Gentle Reader; Mark Twain, Huckleberry - Finn, Tom Sawyer; Buhyan's Pilgrim's Progress; Euripides; The Federal ist; Gregorious, Rome; Scott, Legend of Montrose, Guy Menner ing, Waverley, Rob Roy, , Anti quary; Cooper, Pilot, Two Ad mirals; Fro issart, Percyi's " RelJ ques; Thackery's Vanity Fair, Rendennis; and Dicken's Mutual and Pickwick. J. C Nelson, , principal of the high Bchool, says he would take the following. ten. How many of them have you read? The Bible, -Homer, Euripides, Horace, Rpbinson Crusoe, Shakes peare, Walt Whitman, Browning, George Eliot, .The Mill on the GOVERNOR PIERCE ADDRESSES PORTLAND BUSINESS -MEETING Prison Activities Prom a Practical Man's Viewpoint la Theme! upanaea nita Following Is the speech deliv ered by Governor Walter N. Pierce before the Business Men's club, in Portland, on December 10. It. is printed t here for , the perspective it gives of state and prison acti vities.- . " '. - - "I am especially gratified . to have this opportunity of present ing to you, as business men f of Oregon, a brief statement of pri son activities from the business man'ft viewpoint . j ? i - : i "There is practically "no "other subject - of general interest' on which the public has so little first hand information as on the Indus- trial part of the . state 1 prison. Only a very small percentage of our citizens; ever visit the prison and owing to the nature of such an institution It is hot always practical to admit-visitors to the inside of the yard itself." - ' i"Som; one has wel said, 'The things we are most down on are apt to be the things we are least up on," and this applies well to the average, man's ideas of prison management. So; in : presenting thia-juhject, let; me ask you la fairness to disabuse , your . minds of pro-judgmehts which is the real ; meaning -or prejudice and look with ine for aJ few minutes upon r this Institution as one of Oregon's industrial plants-ln fact as one of your own Institu tions, And really, an institution in - which th state 'has invested for over a period of some fifty odd yers many,-niany thousands of the taxpayers moneysand which houses on th average some 450 inmates is wtll worth taking stock of occasionally froiri a pure ly business, view point- 1 -- "Ask yourself Whot - Is the prime purpose of sucli an Instltu tioa? jho answer 5 Hi yjry with SCHOOL HEAD; Floss; and Mrs. CaskelL Crantord. rarian.; declares I the iollOwiog her choice: "'..' k , Buried Alive, Arnold Cinnet;' Memoirs, Benvuneto; Cjliini; Lord .Maud E . Covington, Sateni lt JJmt ; Joseph Conrad; Jobn" . Hail fax, Gentleman, D. M. '. Cralk; Divine ; Corned y,. Allghierl ; D&nte ; Robinson Crusoe, Daniel UDefoe; Pickwick Paper?; Charles Dickens; Golden Treasury.4;?!, Palgrave, JWusensg tintfclojjy; r lyn pfc4qdiWt hater dictionary. Press-Radio Service to Fur nish -Daily Selections With a ; CINCINNATI, 6. (AP.)4-Th Press-Radio - Bible Service U to furnish the. complete story of the Bible free .' to . more -.than .0 0 0 daily c newspapers in . the .'United States and Canada. . t... :- ..: - The first copy is ready for mail ing in December. It is a quarter ly edition and rlM cover January, February and March, j with daily Bible selections and a brief pray er of about 50 to 75 words WlU this service goes an appeal to the newspaper, editors, to use the ap pointed selection, datty ' Four years ago when the news papers of this section were cam paigning against profiteers, Addi son Y. Reid of Cincinnati, one ot those: who takes his Bible with his a breakfast, scanned Proverbs and stumbled across this declaration of Solomon: - "He that withholdeth the corn the people shall curse 'him; but. blessing shall be on the head' ot him that sellethlt." r ' - Mr. Reifl, a short, chubby man of advancing years, envisioned the . possibility of extracting from the Scriptures an abridged selection of verse for every day In the yeal and for every man of the millions who have no church connection at all. . ' ". -: V, ; . He Interpreted the, declaration of Solomon as a warning to profi teers and thought this whole story of the Bible could be - told from day to day in an appropriately trimmed verse that would carry a message. - It will require two years and a Coniimae4 a par 8) . , , F, ueuiu and FacH th' amount of though yod have given the subject. The Eighteenth -Ceptnry idea was, a place whers criminals ot all classes and kinds were .shut .up to be : tortnred-r-to often to, rot, away : their Ibresi In living deaths.r The ' Twentieth Centurv idea ia Terv different.. First pf ail a prison is a, place to shut away from the rest of or-", eaniaed society these : members f.' Jli all: i' ..t wao rB uaogerous iQ 11. secona- iy, it is a place of . punishment, wher "th inmatn shonlf hnrria penitent, hence the nameVpenlten-. wary.- -, ; , . . ! "Thirdly: since the rreater number of Its . inmates must be sooner or later returned to society it i a: matter of .much Importance what kind, of inen they will be and what their attitude then wilt be to wards society-l-whether, they will be valued members or a menace. I "Herein Ilea the - reformatory phase of such an Institution. If while Incarcerated the tnmats can receive wholesome training, be usefully .employed perhaps mas ter:iome trade anl get, thf rlrlvt A a .1 VI- J At A - a , uc,u uvuus mwtra orxuK zed society,, then the real -work. of a , prison ia being accomplished. When I tell you that over two thirds of the Inmates jn.your In stitution are young men under thirty, many ot them . are mere boys -the Importance of tbls last purpose of the prison, will be. more clearly ajreciated. by: you. ' rxou.wm agree with m I am sure that hard work at : useful tasks is the best possible cure for most of society's Ills whether outside or - Inside prison ; walla. Idle brains are the devil's work shop and nothing is mora coa- BIBLE SW FE