Show ia M i 5 T to I 1 S a III jr i b M M M M M 1 in the portland oregon journal ot of sunday july under the caption of R ragged edges in absence of sam do n jr the columnist substituting for sa sam m jr had the following paragraphs referring to the batters lat vacation once upon a time in the city of 0 portland lived a human interest column writer named sam sam was a patient soul always looking for the silver lining and as often as not getting caught in the rain but the rain did not seem to wet him at all just a ducks back sort of chap he used to catch the arrows ot of outrageous fortune in midair mid air and make them over into pens with which he wrote cheer up paragraphs now all this meant effort which sorely sapped his souls vitality although you would never notice it when time came for his annual respite from toll sam just picked up and snuck away leaving everything just as it was nobody blames him because the courageous fellow Is certainly entitled to a rest without worry about his column and where do you suppose sam went into faraway far away utah the site of his boyhood he gathered with the dear ones at park city onetime one time seat of the mormon hierarchy and the center from which went forth the waves of colonization into arid places which later blossomed and bore fruit maybe he Is back by this time undoubtedly he ls Is but no significance must be attached to the big tire fire that swept park city the day after he started home none whatever just a coincidence all when another column writer mont nt away on his vacation just before sam did the good old journal family spirit went into action and almost before the printers knew it that column was written by effervescent associates who managed incidentally und and at the same time to get even tor for a lot of accumulated grievances this effort Is not a s similar miar 1 1 case at all because nobody ever wants tol to get even with sam but we cant help wondering how the big tree in the back yard la is getting along without that dally daily observation how the neat flower beds are standing the warm weather without sam at the nozzle end of the hose b how ow betty and the littlest 0 one n a are faring sam has been carrying on a sort ot of symposium about the little red schoolhouse ho ot of a departed era and although we re t risk going through his mall doubtless several other old timers have written in their recollections of ink stained desks and cannonball cannon ball stoves and the dog eared red McGuff ys readers As for our observation however during a 2600 2500 mlle mile motor trip apparently an all the old schoolhouses have fallen to ruin many a sprightly one story brambl ing building stands at a crossroads cross roads where modern childhood is being developed into honorable and intelligent maturity the union high school has pretty generally solved the higher education problem ot of the country districts and even the junior college idea has become a vital factor actor but as tor for that seat of learning so often longed tor for the raven perches on its lintell lintels and croaks nevermore no longer can it be said still sits the schoolhouse by the road a ragged beggar sunning even when those thos lines line were a r written nearly half a ce century t ago th the one room country schoolhouse was on its last way out it if you ask us we would say heartily from experience good riddance and so it goes traditions of yesterday become the mockery of today why each generation has to writ work out its own destiny casting back into grandpas false teeth the things he held practically sacred sacral it Is this discard of past fe that spells progress Tess no matter what the dle hards claim in discarding however one should be sure something better Is in hand or else feel a jolt like driving over a hole in the pavement nevertheless it is fellows like sam who help tido over from one phase 0 of f life to another cheerful souls w who he still love their wives and children still believe everything works out tor for the best still cherish the little house with its little garden around it still feel that good comes come from within and from above find plenty like him in thie ehlt world good old sams who manage to brighten their corners and greet adversity with will a chuckle 0 T H |