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Show GRASSROOTS e Doctor Brings 'em Back From Africa in Pictures By WRIGHT A. PATTERSON A MUCH appreciated friend more than only an acquaintanceof acquaint-anceof 30 years and more is Dr. Frank P. Thompson of Chicago. Dr. Thompson's vocation is that of an eye specialist. In his profes-' sion he has an exceptionally large practice. For 18 months out of each two years he follows that vocation assiduously. The other six months of the two-year period he devotes to his avocation, his playtime, his hobby. That is photographing the wild game in the African jungles, especially elephants and hippopotamuses. hippopota-muses. FRANK Thompson is a comparatively compara-tively small man, under five feet eight inches. I ON HIS photographic expeditions Frank has, on some occasions, undertaken un-dertaken to secure specimens of such African animals as museums or other educational institutions might need to complete a collection. His one trophy, other than pictures, that he brought back from his recently re-cently completed expedition, was the long neck and head of a giraffe. It now has joined the collection of trophies covering the walls of the club rooms of the Adventurers club, of which he is an outstanding member. It was a specimen the club did not have until Frank Thompson completed its collection. It was at the Adventurers club that I have known Frank for the past 30 years and more. FRANK does not oonslder his expeditions into Africa as adventures. ad-ventures. He thinks of them as but a play time. Unless others who know Africa and Its wild denizens happen to meet across or around a club table, he does , not talk of them. When, under such conditions, he does talk It Is In low tones, and In a matter-of-fact way that displays no slightest element of boasting. 1 have heard him tell of charging elephants and hippopotamuses, when it was a case of his life or that of the enraged animal. Under such conditions Frank will shoot, and he cannot afford to miss. Should it be possible to step aside and let the animals pass, he does not attempt to st"p them. To Frank Thompson I : attiCiusai ..... Wic. . should say. His weight, I would guess, is under 130 pounds. He has, I imagine, celebrated not fewer than 60 birthdays. He does not look capable of withstanding the rigors of life in the PATTERSON African wilds, but he has done just tl at on many a six-month stretch and seems none the worse for the experience. He goes into Africa in the simplest sim-plest possible way. A small number num-ber of native carriers accompany him, enough to transport only the barest necessities, including his cameras. His purpose is not the killing of African earne but to nho- such incidents were not adventures, they were but ordinary incidents of h's picture-taking play time in Africa. Af-rica. Frank Thompson is one of the most unusual characters I have known, and it Is a privilege to be permitted to call him "friend." On the night of November 3, when the umpire called the end of the game, we patched up our bruises and scratches, assured ourselves we had had a racking time, each side promised another friendly set-to in 1952. That is the way of the republic re-public and the reason it continues to function. HAVING had a generous taste of the something-for-nothing-sweets we will continue to demand more and more until there is nothing left but the empty carton. The Republicans can console themselves with the knowledge there will be another chance in 1952 only four years to wait Pres ident Truman'i intuition proved a better political leather vane than the intricate mechanism used by Dr. Gallup. Released by WNU Features. tograph it in its native habitat, especially es-pecially the elephant and the hippopotamus, hippo-potamus, on which he is ranked as an outstanding authority. GUIDES are a non-essential, for Frank Thompson knows Africa, Af-rica, and he knows African wild life. He knows where to look for those animals of which he wants pictures, and hovt to get to such places. Once he enters the expanse of African jungle, bush and forests his friends seldom sel-dom hear from him. He is out of the reach of postal services, of telegraph or radio sending stations. While what he is doing as his avocation involves constant danger, his friends have learned to realize that Frank can take care of himself. him-self. He always has come back, though he has faced both charging elephants and hippopotamuses. On occasion he has shot the enraged beasts as a choice between his life and that of the charging animal. During World War II Frank suspended sus-pended his avocational trips into wild Africa. The war was being waged in Africa as well as throughout through-out the remainder of the world, and wild men added to wild beasts represented rep-resented more hazard than he cared to encounter. |