Topeka Daily Capital
March 12, 1961

Some small thoughts from a mind of approximately the same size. …

And this should prove it: a psychiatrist, says the line of the roof of a man’s house gives you a pretty good line on the man himself. My roof is flat and covered with rocks. …

And what about this? A lady who likes to write letters, telling other people what to do, says this column appeals to people “who pride themselves on never reading a book which requires thought, and who, night after night, revel in the shoot-em-up vulgarities, or the inanities, of the whodunits.” You’re going to let her say that about you? If she keeps this up, I’m going to steal her copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. ..

Know what some viewers are calling the Untouchables? The Italian hour. …

Another sign of a wasted life: I never have used the word “denigration” because I don’t know what it means. … Could that be what happened to E 29th St?…

Once Upon a time, a man studied a type of government known as a democracy and concluded that it could not survive. As soon as people learn, he said, that they can vote themselves total security, they will tax democracy right out of existence. In a couple of years, we should know. If this man was right after all. …

I think the old library on the Statehouse grounds is an eyesore. Its architecture is early Britton, Okla., Santa Fe Station, and when it comes to paying proper respect to it, the pigeons are right. …

Everybody says President Kennedy is doing a great job, both as president and father. But personally, I’m reserving judgment until his kids are a little older and I see what he does about PTA and Cub Scout meetings. They’re the acid test. …

For example, If I were president right now, I’d have to be worrying about whether or not the next summit meeting would interfere with the Cub’s father-son kite-flying contest. …

In the production of the musical spectacular, “The Kansas Story,” which will depict the history of the state, the intermission, in which nothing happens, will be dedicated to our present city Commission. …

When the state decided not to permit exhibitors at the World Food Fair to show the beverages of their countries, It was a far-reaching decision. It also was narrow-minded, short-sighted, provincial, insulting and outright stupid. …

That decision, coupled with our governors wholehearted approval of a secret committee meeting in which a bill was killed, proves that government of the people can still be pretty much of a myth. …

There is a calendar on my desk and in fine print, under my birthday, March 20, it says, “Spring begins.” I’m just old enough to say that at, at my age, that’s a joke. …

How old would I like to be? Probably at an age when, on my birthday, my mother would give me a shirt she made herself, my aunt would give me a new dollar bill and a fancy bank envelope, and my dad would call me to the back room of the drug store, open the old Rich-Con hardware catalog, and tell me to order any baseball glove in it. …

The day after my birthday is the city primary election, which makes it pretty much of an anticlimax, if I say so myself. …

Happy returns to you, too – both days. …