Verhovayak Lapja, 1941. július-december (24. évfolyam, 27-52. szám)
1941-09-25 / 39. szám
Fage 2 1941 Szeptember 25 VerJiovavcili Lahia Westward to Beautiful California By Albert Jozik (Jóczik Albert) IV MANCI Aboard the “El Capitan,” I could not appreciate this streamlined de luxe all-chair-car train of the Santa Fe Railway, going from Los Angeles to Chicago, a distance of 2227 miles, in 39 hours, as I did the “City of Portland,’’ because each increasing mile homeward reminded me that my lovely vacation was soon to end and that I would be back at the old routine. For this same reason, the natural beauties of the Southwest thrilled me much less than the scenes of the Northwest. The gods kept on doing things against me, for my chair partner was neither an heiress nor young, but a middle-aged woman. I had very little to say to her during the whole trip for she appeared to be a “snooty” type, and I never did relish people who think themselves better than their fellow man. Strange thing was that it was not until we were but a few miles outside Chicago that I found out that she was going to McKeesport, my home town! She had been living in Los Angeles for about two and a half years and was going to McKeesport, her for mer residence, for a visit of about three months, and to near by Duquesne w'here her mother lives. Maybe it’s a small world after all. Soon orange and lemon trees were visible from the broad windows of the stainless steel cars. To an Easterner like myself this provided a real delight and helped me forget for a while the fact that I was reluctantly leaving California. The orange and lemon trees are usually no more than about fifteen feet in height, their foliage being very thick and the trees weighed down with an abundance of fruit. Somewhere near the mountains of California the train stopped for a reasonable length of time—I meat: för streamliners, w'hich is a few minutes. When I got out to breathe the holy and wholesome air I had difficulty in restraining myself from catching the next train back and accepting the job which Albert Steinmetz can have secured for me. Up the steep mountain grades we were on severa! occasions given the assistance of giant mountain steam locomotives, which are employed as helper engines. The streamlined diesel-electric locomotives could hardly do the job without additional pulling power—a consolation and victory for you steam engine lovers. The vast views in the California mountains are truly inspiring and leave one gaping in wonderment, and one almost cries A-C-E-S (A Verhovay Member) Your rambling reports con tinue to trickle ^in ironscattered points. Today, while carrying the mail through downtowr Pittsburgh, I happened tc spot this sign on a chan drug store: “AthEletic equip ment of All Kinds.” Albert Jozik again reports seeing misspellings of common words. Recently, in a moving picture theater, he saw the word “RecIEved” on the screen, and just a few days ago again came upon that frequent orthographical error: wEIner, this time in an Isaly’s store. Humorously calling the matter to the attention of the waitress serving him, he said, “I see wiener is misspelled w-e-i-ne-r. on your menu list. Obviously the one who set the letters of this list has little or no knowledge of German.” To which the silly little thing replied, “I didn’t do it”! If space would permit, I should like to revive an old laughter catcher of the now defunct “Literary Digest,” known as “SLIPS THAT PASS IN THE TYPE.” (Editorial Note: Here’s the green light, A-C-E-S, go to it!) While in a small town about thirty minutes drive from Pittsburgh, I was treated to a bit of the most viciously contemptible speech I have ever heard. A healthy looking man (?), standing in a doorway, trying to give the impression of talking to himself, was denouncing the falsity of free speech in America. His words were to the effect that if you got up on a platform and praised England and the Allies you were a hero, but if you praised the other side you were tarred and feathered. The contemptibility was not in the thought of the speech, but the underhand method of using the very thing he was denouncing. Some of these travel experts who write for the paper should make a trip through Homestead some cloudy night and see the vari-hued smokes pouring from the chimneys, the lights that are so bright you can almost hear and feel them, the thunder of the huge presses and rollers, the seemingly endless procession of cars that remind you of ants alongside the behemoths of steel. Then, for a final thriller, have your stomach do the loop-the-loop as a beam of light shoots out of an opening, searching the heavens as if for some marauder. The West is for those who love Nature in the raw, the South for those that live indolently, but the East is for those who want to see the advance of civilization. How many of these listed typewriters are you familiar with?: L. C. Smith, Remington, Royal, Underwood, Woodstock, Oliver, Rex, Demountable, Multiplex, Varitype, Electromatic, Barr- Morse, Burroughs, Blickensderfer, Manicopy, Century, Elliot-Fisher, Roberts, Shilling Bros., Victor, Xcel, Corona, National, Allen, Dayton (the last four named are portables). aloud “There is a Great God!” “There is a Great God!” "There is a Great God!” Then followed the vast painted deserts and Indian country of Arizona and New Mexico, Arizona taking the lead in deserts. At times, as our train clipped off about a hundred miles an hour, there was little or no visibility because of the avalanche of sand thrown up against the windows by the tremendous suction of the flying train. Barren is the word for Arizona. It is almost as awesome as Wyoming. But New Mexico from my observation is rather verdant and mountainous, and there is less natural monotony. In this state we made an important stop in Albuquerque. New Mexico is a very good example of how scantily populated the Western states are. The state has an area of 122,634 square miles, with a population of only 423,000, and its largest city, Albuquerque, has a population of only 27,000 (compare Ohio which has an area of 41,040 square miles, with a population of 6,647,000, and its largest city, Cleveland, has a population of 900,000)! Col<frado is mountainous too, and our train again required the benefit of helper mountain engines. To me the state is less appealing than New Mexico but more attractive than Arizona. Most of the towns we went through did not amount to much more than villages, with' their dirt streets and ramshackle houses. Came the flat country of Kansas, the plains of Kansas, where I saw almost as much corn as I did in Iowa, We must have been going through the state at a terrific speed for, following a highway, the automobiles we passed seemingly were standing still. We stopped in Dodge City, famous in Western lore, of which a moving picture, “Dodge City,” was recently made. Dodge City is a very well laid out Western town. I don’t think I’d mind living there. Leaving Kansas, our first important stop was Kansas City, Missouri, one of the twin cities, just opposite Kansas City, Kansas. We were now heading for the fertile farm lands in Missouri, a bit of Iowa, and Illinois. By : this time California seemed very far away—it was physi- f cally and geographically—but not in my heart and mind. Here I may take these three states together by saying that they are very similar in the wealth of their luxur- 1 iant vegetation. Farms here are really farms and not just ' a few measly acres plus a cow and some poultry. As I told you previous, my trip back home did not give me the pleasure my trip Westward did, for the simple reason that my carefree days would soon be terminated and I was leaving a most beautiful part of our country. In all sincerity and truthfulness, my spirits were not revived until reaching Chicago, where my Verhovay brethren and friends were again awaiting me. On Sunday, July 20th, at 7:15 A. M. (Central Standard Time), the “El Capitan” pulled into the Dearborn Station in Chicago. I hurriedly alighted from the train and walked briskly toward the waiting room, there to meet again my Chicago friends and enjoy another program of entertainment they had mapped out for me. True to their word, that fellow of fellows, Stephen Huzianyi, and that new friend of new friends, George Pozsgay (who has since joined Chicago Branch 503), were waiting for me, and with them were lovely little Anne M. Talaber and Anne’s attractive blonde cousin, Helen Bartevis, whom I didn’t know at the time. The meeting was a real enthusiastic one, with fralernalisrA of the first degree predominating. I was introduced to Helen but did not have the pleasure of her company long bacapse in an hour or so sh» was to entrain for Tennessee for her vacation. Helen kindly went out of her way to meet me, and I am grateful for I now' have another Chicago friend, a definite asset indeed, for the Chicago Hungarians are very friendly and hospitable. The short six hour and fifteen minutes stopover that I had this time made us all very conscious of the fleeting time, and so we wished Helen a pleasant vacation and bade her good-by, then speeded away in George’s car for the Talabers, w'here I was to be honored with a very delicious breakfast. We arrived at the Talaber residence just as Frank Balogh, that hard-w'orking and energetic secretary of Branch 503, in arrangement to meet us there, was entering the house. Anne introduced George and me to her mother and to her cousin, Margaret Bartevis, sister of Helen Bartevis. It certainly was a pleasure meeting more Verhovays and gaining new friends. Having quite a growth of beard, I was somewhat ashamed of my appearance and insisted upon getting a
