12 



THE HARDWOOD RECORD, 



eight years will be determined largely by 

 the success or failure of that party. 



We do not say that we are opposed to 

 any of these measures. An income tax 

 seems a just tax and for the government 

 to own the railroad is better than for the 

 railroads to own the government, as they 

 are making good headway at doing. Only 

 the agitation and adoption of any of the 

 above reforms would tend to unsettle bus- 

 iness for the time being. All of this sec- 

 tion of the party is being muzzled more 

 or less at present, but it is still hanging 

 ou to its cherished beliefs, and let the 

 party once get into power and you will 

 hear from them. The American people 

 have twice pronounced against such meas- 

 ures, and it has been determined that no 

 party can win that boldly advocates or 

 enunciates such doctrines. They have 

 consented to remain quiet for the time 

 being. 



The whole matter is up to the Ameri- 

 can people, where it can safely be left. 

 They have not gone wrong heretofore, and 

 they will not go wrong this time. 



Here's to the new President, and for 

 a good business administration and for 

 a good business, no matter who he 

 may be! 



THE PKECIOUS GIFP OF HUMOR. 



Of all the precious gifts bestowed upon 

 man by the gods, none exceeds that of the 

 sense of humor. If a man can, in written 

 or spoken speech, force the American peo- 

 ple to laugh, it is so much more preciou.s 

 than anything he can bestow, that it is but 

 natural that the people should refuse to 

 listen to his serious utterances. They can 

 get a speech any time full of dry facts 

 and figures, but only once in a while they 

 can get a speech full of wit and humor. 



A person may have the sense of humor 

 in two ways. The perceptive, which is 

 very common, and the creative, which is 

 very rare. A man says too much or too 

 little, or doesn't give the proper inflection 

 to his words. Once in a while you meet 

 with a man who knows when to stop and 

 can make you laugh in spite of yourself. 

 And you come in a short time to want 

 that he shall do nothing else. You can 

 hear a dry, logical speech at any time full 

 of as good logic as anything he can pos- 

 sibly produce, so that a logical speech 

 from such a man possesses no merit what- 

 ever, but you can very rarely hear genuine 

 wit and humor and you insist on his giving 

 you wit and humor whenever he addresses 

 you. 



The humorous man is pretty nearly al- 

 ways a wise man, and he is often angry 

 that people will not take him seriously. 

 Nothing is funnier to a person possessed 

 of a genuine sense of humor than to see 

 Mark Twain trying to get the people to 

 listen to his pronouncements on politics, 

 foreign policy, etc. Of course, he knows 

 as much ab. ut that as the average man; 

 he may know a good deal more, hut he ia 



so far ahead of the average man in the 

 matter of humor that there is no second, 

 and the American people demand that he 

 shall make them laugh, and leave politics 

 alone to the care of the dull and stupid of 

 the world. His essays on politics might 

 have been written by any one of a thou- 

 sand politicians, but there is only one man 

 in the world can make the people laugh as 

 he can, and the people insist that he do it. 



We have, indeed, a case much nearer 

 home in the hardwood lumber trade. Max 

 Sondheimer is as genuine a humorist as 

 Mark Twain or anybody else. He is also 

 a very clear-headed business man. one of 

 the best in the hardwood business, and at 

 the head of one of the largest concerns in 

 the United States. He cannot help it that 

 the ludicrous always appeals to him and 

 the people don't want to hear Max's views 

 on the hardwood situation, etc.. although 

 they may be very good views. Every- 

 body in the hardwood trade has views on 

 the situation, but there is only one Max 

 Sondheimer, and whenever he appears in 

 public the public insists on being enter- 

 tained. He might have been president of 

 the National Hardwood Lumber Associa- 

 tion had it not been for his sense of hu- 

 mor, but in making him president, the 

 trade would have lost something intinitely 

 better. Anyone may be president of the 

 National Hardwood Lumber Association, 

 but there is only one Max Sondheimer. 

 Everyone recognizes his ability as a busi- 

 ness man and a man of large affairs, but 

 they recognize also his gifts as a humorist. 

 Why spoil a good humr)rist to produce — 

 well, a very good president? There are 

 plenty of presidents who answer the pur- 

 pose, but you don't run across a Max 

 Sondheimer more than once in a lifetime. 



The sense of humor, however, frequently 

 stands in the way of the advancement of 

 public men. The people know what they 

 want and are inclined to be somewhat 

 !-elfish. and if they do not wish to see a 

 humorist become involved in extraneous 

 matters for fear they may lose his humor, 

 we cannot blame them, for ihe sense of 

 creative humor is one of the rarest and 

 noblest gifts to man, and it was not given 

 him that he may enjoy it alone. If a man 

 can make people laugh he ought to do it. 



THE GLORY OF AUTUMN. 



Modern writers have latterly invented 

 the phrase, "the air was like wine." li 

 seems a little stretched to the critical 

 reader at first glance. But let that reader 

 go out into the full, bracing glory of an 

 autumn afternoon and then scoff if he 

 dare. 



There is something particularly intoxi- 

 cating in the autumn air. The spring is 

 beautiful in its freshnes.s, its clearness of 

 tone and smell and color. The summer 

 is beautiful, with a certain solemn rich- 

 ness, a maturity of warmth and foliage 

 uf growth and of color. But the autumn 

 — there Is the dash and swing o£ the whole 



list of seasons. There is at once the 

 clearness of the spring air, the warmth 

 of the summer sun, the refreshing nip of 

 the winter breezes, all mixed together 

 with a glory of color that defies pictures, 

 whether of paint or pen. 



People like to go to the country in the 

 spring. It's a relief after the shut-in days 

 of winter. They fly there of actual physi- 

 cal necessity in the summer. But very 

 few realize the beautiy of October days 

 in the woods and fifelds and by the water. 

 There really is not a more interesting 

 time of year, from the viewpoint of those 

 who go for the beauty, those who want 

 to tramp, to ride or drive or watch the 

 drama of country life. 



The tints are wonderful, from the first 

 flash of red that comes on tiny vines, run- 

 ning here and there on the trunks of 

 trees or over an old rail fence, to the full 

 glory of the morning after Jack Frost has 

 done his prettiest and the maples put on 

 their scarlet, the oak leaves their crimson 

 and gold, and the beeches their delicate 

 yellow. The very earth is covered with 

 a carpet of royal richness. The asters 

 gleam out blue and purple and the plumes 

 of sumac are everywhere. 



Then there are the fruits of the frost. 

 The wild grapes, draped in profusion 

 throu.gh the woods, spreading huge, mot- 

 tled leaves, yellow and green, from tree 

 to tree, behind which hide the sour little 

 frost grapes whose twang is so delightful 

 to their lovers. And there are the nuts, 

 chestnuts, hickory nuts, walnuts and but- 

 ternuts, shaking down in profusion all 

 over the moss and leaves of the autumn 

 forests. 



The chestnuts are the best of all. The 

 other nuts are not so prettily housed and 

 not nearly so accessible for immediate 

 use. But take out the most level-headed 

 business man, the most conventional so- 

 cial y woman, set them beneath a chestnut 

 trie, and see what happens. There is a 

 charm about the pretty, smooth, brown 

 nuts, still nestling in their velvety beds 

 or lying out on the ground, in plump, 

 tempting array, that brings the stiftest 

 knees down and makes the most unwill- 

 ing hands reach out in eagerness. 



Chestnut groves are besieged on Sun- 

 days, to be sure, by city folks. But what 

 chance have they, after all the country 

 dwellers have been there all the week, and 

 the children, in especial, have had their 

 Saturday and improved their time? No 

 wonder there are more go back empty- 

 handed than not. 



.•\part from the charms of the woods, 

 there are those of the farms. There are 

 trees where late apples still linger, glow- 

 ing red against the trees. There is noth- 

 ing prettier than a field of shocks of corn, 

 with pointed banners rustling dryly in (he 

 wind, while around them are pumpkins, 

 groat heaps of gold, all ready to be made 

 into the gay jock-o'-lantern on Hallowe'en. 

 There can be coru roasts In the early 



