The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 7

SALINA JOURNAL vji'eat Plains SUfvJDAV, MAY lb, iiOOb AlJ WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE House shows how 'Sage of Emporia' lived Home that welcomed presidents now a state historic site By CARL MANNING VVic Associiilcil I'lvss EMPORIA William Allen White's house was more than just a place for his family to eat and sleep. It was a think tank of its day, where movers and shakers gathered to exchange ideas and hear The Emporia Gazette editor and publisher's wit and wisdom on a multitude of issues. From 1895, when he bought the newspaper for $3,000, until his death in 1944, White wrote countless editorials. Many received a wide national audience, including "To an Anxious Friend" in 1922, which won a Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote some 30 books.

Seven presidents, from William McKinley to Herbert Hoover, came calling as guests at White's home. Politicians, authors and artists sought advice and companionship. Despite his fame, White didn't forget his Kansas roots at Red Rocks, the three-story, red sandstone and brick Tudor on a spacious corner lot. And, with Saturday's dedication of the home as a state historic site, folks got a glimpse of how the house looked in White's day. "Hopefully, the house will let people know how he played a role in American history," said Chris Walker, Wliite's great- grandson and editor and publisher of The Gazette, still a family-owned newspaper.

It walls could talk The Kansas State Historical Society and volunteers worked foi- months to make the grounds and house look much as it did from the 1920s after a fire forced the family to remodel it until White's death. His story is told with much of the original furniture, furnishings, books and memorabilia. The work was financed by a $700,000 federal grant after the family donated the house to the state in 2001, The William Allen White Community Partnership will run the site and raise funds. The first and second floors, the ground.s and a visitors center will be open from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

on weekends. The living room walls arc white plaster and dark wood paneling with a large stone The room includes ADVENTURE William Allen White's great-grandson looks over a display in his famous great-grandfather's study at Red Rocks Photos by The Associated Press Workers prepare the grounds at the William Allen White home in Emporia on Tuesday. Kansas State Historical Society museum curator Rebecca Martin ropes off the dining room. On the Net William Allen White: www.journalism. ku.

and www.emporia.com/ Kansas State Historical Society: www.kshs.org furniture used by the White family, bookcases filled with his books and a secretary- bookcase with dinner plates from czarist Russia and glassware from Pompeii. The master bedroom and White's study are on the second floor. At the top of the stairs is a large portrait 6f White's wife, Sallie, from 1902. The bedroom now has a bed in which five presidents slept, including Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. There's a rug fashioned from a jaguar that Roosevelt shot in 1910 and sent to White's son, William Lindsay White.

A steamer trunk and suitcases the Whites used when traveling are stacked in a corner. Down a hall, past walls covered with photos including one of Albert Einstein is the study White's old desk, where he did much of his writing, faces a lai'ge fireplace as it did when he used it. The furniture is new so the room can be used for gatherings. Walker hopes the house will be more than a monument to a memory. "They have their job of preserving the history and we have a vision of keeping it an active place," he said.

It could be a venue for research, conferences and discussion groups, and there's talk about working with Emporia State University on a speaker's program. Walker said. 'Style that transcends time' Many editorials by the man known as the Sage of Emporia remain relevant, Walker said. "He wrote with a style that transcends time. You can put in one of his editorials and think it was written today," he said.

People still drop by the newspaper office to see where White worked, and hardly a day goes by that Walker doesn't get an email request for copies of the old editorials. The most requested is "Mary White," a loving portrait of White's 16-year-old daughter, written shortly after she died in a horseback riding accident in 1921. Barbara White Walker has fond childhood memories of the house and her grandfather playing the piano in the living room. Among guests she met were Hoover, actress Joan Fontaine and writer John Dos Passos. "It was an inviting house and a lot of interesting people came.

It was a house where you always felt something was going on," she said. "Mainly I remember him as a very jolly man. I thought of him as a Santa Claus." As for White's legacy, she said, "He was able to show the world that a man, not only a journalist, but a man from a small town in the Midwest, could make a difference in the world. I really think it's a great encouragement for young people." After the house was donated, she was going through it and found a few surprises. There Kansans head to Alaska to catch a dream The potential payoff Is huge but so are the dangers By RHIANNON ROSS Tlic OtUiwa lUmihl OTTAWA Two Ottawa men are literally fishing for their dreams.

Scott Dawson and Tom Middleton will spend the summer in Alaska on commercial salmon e.xpeditions in Prince William Sound. The more fish they haul, the more money they will make to pursue their shared dream filmmaking. "It's a gamble," Middleton said of the fishing trip, "but a good opportunity I want to be a filmmaker." Dawson agrees. "To pursue a passion, you have to make the sacrifice," he said. Dawson and Middleton met at The Potter's Wheel in Ottawa, where Dawson is part owner.

"We met by chance," Dawson said of Middleton. On the word "chance," he gestured quotation marks with his fingers. Middleton, who was without a job, would stop by The Potter's Wheel to sip coffee and work on his scr'eenplays. Dawson is an accomplished musician who also wants to be a filmmaker. He read some of Middleton's work and liked what he read.

"Some people say they're a screenwriter, and then you read it and kind of go but you can see his talent when you read his work," Dawson said. It wasn't long before the two began to discuss collaborating on film projects. But they needed some big bucks. Fishing for jobs Dawson learned about the potentially lucrative fishing opportunity on www.fishing johs.com. He sent for a $35 tool kit, which provided a list of 300 skippers' names and contact information.

He sent 100 letters. And received a bite. He then told Middleton, and he sent 130 letters. But it was Dawson's skipper who arranged a job for Middleton on another ship. "We can make one to two years' worth of salary in three to four months," Dawson said.

Middleton will earn 5 percent and Dawson 8 percent because he also is cooking of an anticipated catch worth $300,000 to $600,000. Room and board on the ship will be provided, but their meals will be deducted from their pay. And one more catch: They won't get paid until the expedition ends. But they're both willing to take their chances, both for the big fish story and for the tential to earn money to apply toward their filmmaking dream. Middleton thinks he has little to lose.

He worked for the Wal-Mart Distribution Center for three years but was laid off in January He sold his car to have some cash to fall back on until he receives his pay As a business owner, Dawson said he has the flexibility to travel. 'The death toll is real' The men said they will fish in protected waters performing a type of fishing called "seining." "You go where the fish are. They travel in large schools, and they're heading up river to spawn. You drop a net in a huge circle, the bottom cinches and a skiff (hydraulic) pulls up the catch." Both men readily admit that the only fishing they've done is "sitting on the dock with a pole." And both can swim. "But we watch the 'Deadliest Catch' on the Discovery Channel on Tuesdays about the Bering Sea crab fisherman," Dawson said.

"That's what it's going to be like." And they have a healthy respect for the dangers of the ocean. "The death toll is real," Dawson said. "Even in summer, the water is very, very cold. There's the danger of hypothermia, drowning, getting caught up in the line and storms." The men do not know whether or not their paths will cross this summer. In July, Dawson said he knows he will mostly be in the water.

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AmerirA was a Sinclair Lewis book with a note tlie author had written folded inside, probably placed there by White. White and Roosevelt were good friends and in one of Roosevelt's book, she found a letter he wrote to her father William Lindsay White when he was 11. "He said how he was lucky to have parents with high values and ethics," she said. nmellne Significant dates in the life of William Allen White: 1868: Born in Emporia. 1890: Became an editorial writer for the Kansas City Star.

1893: Married Sallie Lindsay of Kansas City, Mo. 1895: Purchased The Emporia Gazette for $3,000. 1896: Became nationally known writer with editorial, "What's the Matter With a scathing attack on Populists. 1900: Son William Lindsay White born. 1904: Daughter Mary White born.

1912: Went against Republican Party lines and supported Theodore Roosevelt for president, after Roosevelt formed the progressive Bull Moose Party. 1919: Chosen by President Wilson as a special envoy to Russia. 1921: Daughter Mary died. Wrote his famous editorial, "Mary White." 1923: Won Pulitzer Prize for editorial "To an Anxious Friend." 1944: Died on Jan. 29.

1946: "Autobiography of William Allen White," edited by son William L. White, is published. Source: University of Kansas. SALINA'S NAPA CAR CARE CENTER when you apply your BRAKES 2 years or 20,000 miles Include pads, turning and swirlin rotors for highest quality. Front Some vehicles slightly higher We Quality Front Lifetime Brakes Includes: Turning of Rotor Labor.

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