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I Want the Nice Priest
by Katharyn Machan Aal
As the bus passed the road sign for Cortland, Sister Ann Marie told about Father Murray:
Our Father Murray of Cathedral Syracuse was from Cortland. On the day he was ordained he said, “Now I have what I want. God can take me any time.” One day – he was very young, he’d been ordained less than five years – one day he was driving on a country road near here and a little boy dashed out in front of the car, chasing a ball.
Well, Father Murray didn’t hit him, he stopped the car in time. But he pulled over and got out to see if the little boy was all right, anyway. He asked him where his mother was, and the boy pointed to a white house. And then he asked Father Murray where his mother was. And Father Murray said, “In Heaven.” And he told the little boy he was from Cortland, and would someday take him there if he liked, and if his mother said that was all right. Even though the boy and his mother were Protestants.
Well – it wasn’t too long after that Father Murray fell sick with scarlet fever. He was so young! And his family said that to watch him in that hospital, fighting to breathe in the oxygen tent, was the awfullest thing. And he died, only ordained for five years!
Father Taglione took his place. And it was almost a year later he received a phone call from a woman who said her little boy was awful sick, and wanted to see Father Murray. He kept calling for him.
Well – Father Taglione said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but Father Murray isn’t here any more. He’s dead. But I’ll come down and see if I can help.”
So he drove all those many miles. And when he was in the woman’s home he saw just how sick that boy was; near to death with fever. And heard him say, “No! I don’t want him. I want the nice priest.”
And Father Taglione went into the room and said, “May I baptize this boy?”
And his poor mother said, “Anything! Anything!”
So Father Taglione asked for a bowl of water, and he made the blessing, and baptized that child. As soon as he finished, the boy threw his arms up toward the ceiling, and cried out, “Father Murray!” And he died on the spot.
And some say as how Father Murray had come to get that boy at last. And all of this is true, all true.
Use Your Brakes
In stories about driving or riding horses I never see the command, “Yate!” in print. Makes me wonder if that usage was somewhat localized. It meant “steady” and “slow down.” For example, when a heavy load on a wagon pushed a team faster and faster down a steep hill, “Yate!” was a caution to “brace yourselves, keep control.” Or if a spirited buggy pony broke into a gallop, it was quieted to a trot with, “Yate, yate, yate, now!”
On a roping horse it was the warning to “get ready, get set.” Some horsemen started saying “Whoa, whoa, whoa, there!” when they wanted to merely slow down. This was confusing for the horses. We commanded “Whoa!” only when we expected an immediate stop.
Discount Housing
In the Terrible Twenties you could mail order a new house from Sears for a couple thousand dollars, with monthly installments of $25 to $40. Every board was precut and numbered so you knew where to put it. According to the 1927 catalog:
Six rooms and bath, all on one floor $1,041.
Five rooms and bath, story and a half $1,614.
Six rooms and bath, two stories $2,025.
Five rooms and bath, story and a half $2,436. Two extra rooms in attic $347.
Seven rooms and bath, two stories $2,504.
Prices include: lumber, lath, millwork, doors, windows, shingles, roofing, molding, flooring, medicine case, porch material, building paper, hardware, nails, eave troughs, down spouts, paint, varnish
Perfect Count
I do not understand how any one can calculate an average scheme of the ratio of letters in a font of handset letterpress type. I keep in separate typecases this 10 point Century Schoolbook that I bought new. This month, the lowercase a compartment was emptied first. Last month I ran out of small t. Other issues it has been shortages of g or p or l or cap B.
Criminal Offense
Drivers who leave their cars sitting across the painted lines on any public parking lot deserve to get parking ticket summons to pay fines for traffic violation. I recently drove around and around on a huge parking lot without finding any spot to put my car because all open spaces were too narrow between autos left at wrong angles.
Mutual Causes
The annual Youth and Aging conferences held at West High School certainly prove that the majority of teen agers are sensible and considerate, and that senior citizens are still alert to current trends. Sitting in small intimate circles, young and old frankly discuss philosophies and ethical standards.
I’ve Been There
by Dottie Owens
Anyone touching love
With fear of losing
The sanity of reality
Remains in a dream
Shattered and lost
In the fog of fear
Of whence it came.
Cute Beauts
Some recent polls of television viewers agree with what I have long contended: that the touted blonde sex symbols gain prominence only by promotion, not because they are the public favorites. I never could understand all the fuss over Farrah Fawcett when she first appeared on the Charlie’s Angels series. I told a local young woman who copied the hair style that she is better looking than Farrah, and certainly has a much more pleasing personality. Farrah overestimated her value to the program, and soon lost her role.
I liked Joyce Dewitt better than Suzanne Sommers on the Three’s Company comedy. Like Farrah, Suzanne demanded too much money. She has disappeared. Joyce is near the top in popularity polls.
I do not see Morgan Fairchild in Flamingo Road as the star attraction. To me, Christina Raines is much more real. Loni Anderson transformed in WKRP. She was given depth of character by being more intelligent than her employer and sometimes his advisor. I have rooted for supporting actress, spectacled Jan Smithers since the first episode. Her popularity has gained Jan more important parts in the weekly stories.
Chiffon Skirts
by Lenore Hughes
Light green palm fronds
Shining satiny in the sun
Gently finger the passing air –
Daintily, with delicacy
Reminding me of a beautiful girl
Waving chiffon skirts
As she walks majestically
Down marble stairs –
Days of Summer
by Martha E. Shivvers
Fluffy white clouds scamper through skies
Of clear and azure hues;
Forming mountains, faces, trees or such
As they skip through the shades of blues.
The songbirds blend their melodies
From the meadows and the bowers.
Warm rainfalls bring needed relief
To fields, gardens and flowers.
The ripples of water sparkling in brooks
Reflect the bright sun’s rays…
That bright sun, that fiercely hot sun,
Cheers or stymies our days.
The fish lazily swim in the ponds,
Escaping the fisherman’s lure.
Children’s laughter merrily at play,
While mothers’ gently demur.
All too soon the summer ease fades,
And nature shortens each day.
The free repose of the few short months,
Flits swiftly far away.
Balance
by Irma Bachman
The happiest times that I’ve known
Come to me when I am alone.
Then my thoughts and I commune;
It helps to keep my life in tune.
But I have a love of people in my heart.
If I’m always with them – never go apart –
I have nothing left in me to give.
This, to me, is no way to live.
The danger if I’m alone too much
With mankind I’m soon out of touch.
Happy is the one who finds the balance between these two.
If it happened to me – it can happen to you.
Uncaring
by Paul Burns
Crumpled paper that’s floored
Cause most folks to be bored;
To too few does it say, “Here I am!”
It knows most folks just don’t give a damn.
People Watcher
Amateur Journal
2,500 Circulation
Subscription price membership in an ajay organization:
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Lauren R. ‘gehry’ Geringer
Iowa City, Iowa 52240
Colophon
Type: 10 point Century Schoolbook
Headings:
24 point Kennerley Italic
18, 14 Century Expanded
18, 14, 12 Century Expanded Italic
Paper: 20 pound Wausau Exact bond
Ink: Von Son rubber base
Press: 1890s Jones Gordon 10×15