A Merry Drabble: #2

I woke to a radio report that the Zeppelins were on the move again. Bewildered, I rose to look outside. My breath caught at seeing shadows move across the grass.

“Get dressed,” my wife ordered. “They’re leaving.”

I did and then we ran down restless streets. I caught dreadful glimpses of them between buildings until the sky opened up and there they were, hovering with terrible efficiency.

“Zeppelins were never supposed to be used again.” I turned to my wife in confusion. “Why didn’t they tell us?”

Her expression pushed me back.

“How could they have been any more obvious?”

A Merry Drabble: #1

There had been countless days and nights of flinging himself against the arguments of futility. Finally, this thing born in the hollow spaces of his mind had become fact. Now, just in time, at the right time, he could agree that spending so much time in the grip of the abyss had been worth it. He led the mechanism into the King’s presence. Within his gestures of presentation was the careful push of a secret lever. The mechanism’s first startled, and then delighted, the court.
“Well done,” said the King, “on winning the day. I may yet spare your life.”

Italian Philosopher-Martyr

The Mediator

Omaha, Nebraska, August 22, 1919

February 17 is the anniversary of the burning in Rome, in 1600, of the Italian philosopher, Giordano Bruno. He was subjected to continual and terrible persecution for seven years prior to his death, in the hope that he would recant. In 1889 a monument was erected to him under papal protest at the place where he perished at the stake.

Poor Picker

The Mediator

Omaha, Nebraska, August 22, 1919

They were discussing the raising of children at the chamber of commerce show recently and Dr. Maude Wiley, in charge of the Welfare league, told an amusing story. Seems the little girl had been spanked by her father for disobeying. With tears running down her cheeks she ran to her mother, crying, “I think papa’s perfectly horrid. Was he the only man you could get?”

You Win!

The Mediator

Omaha, Nebraska, August 22, 1919

The man who is riding sixty miles per hour in a big machine is no happier than the man who is riding thirty miles per hour in the flivver, because the man in the flivver thinks he is going sixty. – Cincinnati Enquirer

Happy Hunting Ground

The Mediator

Omaha, Nebraska, August 22, 1919

Sign on farm in Kansas – “Hunters Take Notice: Hunt all you durn please, and when you hear the horn blow come to the house for dinner. If the quail are scarce kill a chicken or two, and if you can’t get any squirrels kill a hog.” – Boston Transcript

Ancient Needlework

The Mediator

Omaha, Nebraska, August 22, 1919

The early Britons were expert in needlework, and the earliest (British) Church of England before the fifth century won fame from its “handmaids of the church,” who made linens and altar frontals for numberless churches in Europe. Tapestry, the work of queens like Matilda and noble ladies in olden times was largely needlework.

Old Actors Discuss Changes In Times

The Mediator

Omaha, Nebraska, August 22, 1919

Many old time actors and actresses, who have in recent years joined the “movies,” held a reunion in New York the other day to talk over old times and new creations. It was a time for reminiscence and they enjoyed the occasion to the fullest extent.

Actors who trod the boards ten and fifteen years ago together in a play that thrilled New York, had a reunion last week. They talked over the olden days when movies knew their place and left the drama in peace.

The players were members of the cast that supported Amelia Bingham in “The Climbers.” The place of their reunion was nothing more or less than the Vitagarph Brooklyn studio.

The films had finally reached out and gathered these artists. They will reproduce on celluloid the play that made them famous.

Frank Loomis, casting director for the Vitagraph, believes he has accomplished a notable feat in mobilizing the principal players of “The Climbers” to appear in Vitagraph’s reproduction of that state success.

Miss Corinne Griffith will play the star’s role. Tom Terriss is director. James Spottswood, who played the role of Trotter in the state version, with Miss Bingham, repeats that performance in the film. Percy Marmont, also a member of the earlier cast, is in the film. Miss Emily Fitzroy, a well known state favorite, has an important part.

Observations

The Mediator

Omaha, Nebraska, August 22, 1919

Senator Hitchcock’s newspaper is getting worried about who Omaha will offer as a gubernatorial candidate next year. It is a safe bet our mayor will be side-stepped at the convention.

__________

The fact that the entire country has gone “dry” does not appear to interfere with the little game known as “bootlegging.” Fifteen bootleggers were on hand Monday morning in police court.

__________

After awhile Omaha people will begin to appreciate what the Woodmen of the World is doing for our city. Also what  great, big man is W. A. Fraser.

__________

Mr. Shotwell says he can find no way to punish food profiteers in Douglas county. He is about the only county attorney in the country that feels that way.

__________

Some large department stores attempted to corner up the stock of government stores in Omaha, but did not get away with it. One big concern had to return a big consignment of blankets.

__________

The policemen have organized to secure an increase in pay. It is about time. The firemen got away with theirs – why not the police?

__________

The attempt of landlords to squeeze the tenant is being looked into. It is about time. A lot of these vicious landlords were preparing to inaugurate a system worse than that in vogue in England.

__________

There appears to be no lack of rottenness in Omaha, despite the worthy effort of Police Commissioner Elmer Thomas.

__________

Mr. Ringer will return to the city next week to assist Superintendent Thomas of the police department.

Time For Action In Mexico

The Mediator

Omaha, Nebraska, August 22, 1919

The time has just about arrived for Uncle Sam to take the bull by the horns in Mexico and settle that vexatious question once and for all. The continued depredations by itinerant Mexican desperadoes on American people has become so exasperating that it cannot be overlooked for a great length of time.

The exploitation of Mexico by Americans in recent years has had a bad effect in some instances, but as a general proposition it has been a good thing for the country. Mexico covers a very wide area and has not had a responsible head for a decade. The natural result has been that the machinery of government has decayed and become almost useless as power to police the various states.

What is required in Mexico is a power similar to the power that civilized the Hawaiian and Philippine groups and brought to them stable government. Sooner or later that power will have to be furnished by some substantial nation that can enforce its dictates for good and stable government in Mexico.

Our people have taken much from Mexico and tried to get along with the people of that country. Mexico has not progressed like other new countries, either in education or the art of government. On the other hand, it has decayed. Far-seeing men, with an eye to developing the natural resources of that country, have invested great sums of money. It is too late to stop the advance in that development.

When the Mexican is educated to decent living, to the value of thrift and to the necessity for advancing instead of declining, then and not until then will that country progress. It has just about come to the point where Uncle Sam will be forced to take a hand in bringing about a stable government, even if it takes an army to do it.