“Hasn’t he the most lovely hair?” one of them exclaimed in a whisper that was halfway between awestruck and tender. “It couldn’t be Nicholas Longworth, surely. No, I know it isn’t, for Longworth is baldheaded. He must be some great actor—or—politician,” said another. “Oh, he is just my ideal,” put in a third. “For twen—no, I mean three long years I have sought just such a one, for such a one alone could I love and trust.” Young and innocent Jennie was evidently studying for the stage, and she continued: “He must be some great musician. What if he were Pa—” But just here the car stopped, and as the patient-looking passenger prepared to get off, a frowzly head popped out the door of a tumbledown dwelling close by the track. The head was quickly followed by a red Mother Hubbard, and a shrill voice called in far from pleasant tones: “Git off o’ that car, and come on here an’ git a few o’ these kids still. You’ve loafed roun’ in them good clothes an’ flirted with girls on street cars enough for one day.” And as the sad-faced passenger wearily left the car, a sigh escaped all the girls at once. Alas! the course of true love never did run smooth. The Modern Grandmother (1915) The Boy: I stopped in to tell you that my grandmother— The Boss: Well, I suppose your grandmother has passed away and is to be buried this afternoon about time for the game. The Boy: Oh, no, sir! My grandmother is coming by to take me to the game, and I want to know if I can get off to go with her. The Opportunity and Peril of the Writer (1918) We have grown accustomed to consider history as being made by the decrees of kings or by the power of invading and defending armies. These things are, however, only the instruments of the one really compelling social force. That force is the power of public opinion. History is made by those who direct and control it. This is the reason for the power of the pulpit, the platform, and the press. Of these three, the power of the press touches the largest number of people. The writer sends out an influence which reaches to the ends of the earth. This fact points the way to a conception of both his opportunity and his peril. His opportunity is the direction of a power which not even kings can long dare to defy. His peril is that he may fail to direct it into the right channels. He may guide it in such a way that it can carry the race steadily toward a day of complete justice for all. On the other hand, he may listen to some lesser voice than that of truth, or seek some lower aim than that of right, and thus lead the thinking of the world astray. The opportunity is glorious and the peril is serious, because men will become what they think, and the world will conform to what they become. Thought life is fundamental.