Vagabond Editorials

Bv Jack Dionne

Oh, call me up for ridicule, And fill my soul with shame, Reproach, abuse, and obloguy, But don't misspell my name.

:fr**

Most folks hate to have their names misspelled, particularly in print. An old journalistic friend of mine used to always threaten-when I was on some speaking program -fs "giyg you three lines and deliberately misspell your name." He knew human nature, and knew that was a real threat.

{( ,i( ,k

Before those Canadian Dionnes came along with their gang of girls that arrived all at one time, I had continual trouble with my name. No one ever would spell or pronounce it correctly. They used to call me everything except apples and oranges. But the ,.quints" ended all that. Now, when f sign my name to a hotel register, the clerk usually looks, smills, and says, ,.any relation?"

Doctor Dafoe rr"rp"a, lool l" *"" on the air many times, and as good luck would have it he pronounced the name the same way I do, Dee-on, and that helped. Good thing he didn't use some other pronunciation. I would have had to change my method in self defense.

:trf* i<,|* rrere's a new nor"" ti"".";r. swell human nature story, illustrating a frame of mind. Fellow on the way to the race track is heard to remark: ,.Gee! I hope I BREAK EVEN today! f sure could use the money." AII he hoped and asked for, was his own money back.

Will Rogers said at the time the ,,quints" were born, that it was lucky for them they were born in Canada and not in the United States, because over here we would have made them plow half of them under.

And if Doctor Dafoe hadn't gotten them under the wing of the Canadian Government, it is a hundred-to-one bet and no takers not one of them would be alive today. As it is they are world-renowned, rich, and their parents are better ofr than they had ever dreamed of being. yet the old man kicks about losing his children. Worst case of ingratitude on record.

*:t*

A man in that frame of mind might do well. The getrich-quick frame of mind is the bad one. An old friend of mine used to philosophize about farming. He said if a man went on a farm to make a home for himself and his family, he usually found a home, a living, and perhaps made some money besides. But if he went on a farm just to make money, he seldom made a living or any money, either.

Ran into a piece * ntr*.nj, .n" other day that hit me right between the eyes. "Nature," said the writer, "is taking the world away from the intellectuals and giving it back to the apes." When I read that it stopped me dead in my mental tracks. I read it over and over again. "Nature is taking the world away from the intellectuals, and giving it back to the apes." And the more I thought, the more it impressed me. Because I'm horribly afraid there's a lot of truth in the statement. Look the world over, and see if there isn't. ,k:t*

"There is a tide in the affairs of men." said Mr. Shakespeare, that is today running heavily and definitely to the LEFT. Everywhere. It's going to require a lot of straight thinking, and a lot of brave acting, to switch it the other way. Don't you doubt it. A friend of mine, a gentle, kindly, studious, thoughtful man, puts it even more tersely. He says: "The way the world is wagging today, the pigs will soon be eating the people."

"Thy will be done" seems to be lacking in human thinking. My will be done, is the harm doer. Arrogance, intolerance are everywhere. The Christliness of the Carpenter seems sadlY missing'

Let's switch to a pleasanter thought. Here's a little stanza that Douglas Malloch wrote. Douglas died the other day, leaving behind him an imperishable monument of beautiful and kindly thoughts in the form of poems. This little one goes: If I could make a friend tonight, I did not have at this day's dawn, One hand that held my fingers tight, One breast that I could lean upon; It would not matter what reward The hours have brought me on the way, If I could say "I thank thee, Lord f know I've made a friend today."