Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'

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Title: Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'

Author: Andrew E. Durham. Compiled by J. Frank Durham, Edited by

Douglas Hay. Copyright 1997. Permission granted to Project

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JFD. Guild Press of Indiana, Carmel, Indiana, 1997.

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Title: Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'

Author: Andrew E. Durham. Compiled by J. Frank Durham, Edited by

Douglas Hay. Copyright 1997. Permission granted to Project

Gutenberg to publish as a copyrighted etext April 10, 2000 by

JFD. Guild Press of Indiana, Carmel, Indiana, 1997.

January, 1999 [Etext #2677]

[Date last updated: October 10, 2005]

Epistles from Pap:

Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana

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Title: Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'

Author: Andrew E. Durham. Compiled by J. Frank Durham, Edited by

Douglas Hay. Copyright 1997. Permission granted to Project

Gutenberg to publish as a copyrighted etext April 10, 2000 by

JFD. Guild Press of Indiana, Carmel, Indiana, 1997.

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Title: Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'

Author: Andrew E. Durham. Compiled by J. Frank Durham, Edited by

Douglas Hay. Copyright 1997. Permission granted to Project

Gutenberg to publish as a copyrighted etext April 10, 2000 by

JFD. Guild Press of Indiana, Carmel, Indiana, 1997.

**This is a COPYRIGHTED Project Gutenberg Etext, Details Above**

Scanned by Dianne Bean.

Title: Epistles from Pap: Letters from the man known as 'The Will Rogers of Indiana'

Author: Andrew E. Durham. Compiled by J. Frank Durham, Edited by

Douglas Hay. Copyright 1997. Permission granted to Project

Gutenberg to publish as a copyrighted etext April 10, 2000 by

JFD. Guild Press of Indiana, Carmel, Indiana, 1997.

EPISTLES FROM PAP: LETTERS FROM THE MAN KNOWN AS 'THE WILL ROGERS OF INDIANA'

by Andrew E. Durham. Compiled by J. Frank Durham, edited by Douglas Hay

Andrew Durham was a Hoosier attorney and state senator during the twenties, Often covered in the papers, he was one of Indiana's leading denmocratic politicians who served as minority leader in the Indiana Senate in 1927. During 1925 he was instigator of the famous Runaway Democrats episode in the Senate. Later, in the thirties and forties, he continued his political career as a lobbyist for the railroad industry. Most of all, he was a fascinating and sought-after speaker and raconteur—a man both newspapers and appreciative listeners to his speeches called The Will Rogers of Indiana for his wit and incisive commentaries on the passing scene. Durham left over five hundred letters which reflect this interesting wit and commentary. Pap's son, Frank, compiled them and they are presented here as a tribute to the man—and an era which encouraged the writing of literate, meaningful letters.

DEDICATION

To Munny—Aura May Sawyer—and Pap—Andrew Everett Durham— small-time lawyer, farmer, Hoosier politician and father extraordinaire of son J. Frank and daughters Mary Joanna, Sarah Jane, Margaret, Ann Drew and Aura May.

INTRODUCTION

The writer of these letters, Andrew Everett Durham (1882-1954), was a well-known figure in his day—an Indiana State Legislator, railroad lobbyist, small town lawyer and banker, part-time farmer and livestock-raiser, public orator, occasional newspaper correspondent—and prolific writer of letters.

Andrew's son, J. Frank, still lives in Greencastle, Indiana, the place where Andrew made his mark. For years Frank had wanted to do something with Pap's letters in the way of publication, but, as a practicing attorney and busy man in his own right, felt he needed some help. He tried to enlist his sister, Joanna, once an Associated Press feature writer, New York Bureau, who now resides in Milford, Pennsylvania. She was one of my columnists when I was editor of the weekly Pike County Dispatch, in Milford. However, Joanna felt she could not take time from her own obligations to assist on Frank's project, and asked me to help.

Frankly, I wondered at first whether Andrew E. Durham's letters would arouse much interest in these days of globalization, the Internet and a pop culture centered around sensational audio/video special effects, but I agreed to at least look at a few. Soon an Express Mail packet arrived with the first of hundreds of pages of yellowed onion-skin copies of typewritten correspondence, most of it dating from 1913 through 1954.

It wasn't long before I cracked my first smile over a clever turn of phrase used to describe a domestic scene. The first good laugh followed not long after that, upon reading how a former governor colluded with a livestock speculator to run up the price of breeding bulls. An account of a disastrous summer theater production was downright hilarious. Then I found myself nodding soberly in agreement over witty but forceful arguments about the need to balance the budget and restore fiscal responsibility to government an argument that could have keen made yesterday, except that the deficits quoted were only in the millions, not the billions. Finally, there was a story about an ill-fated love affair of an old bachelor brother that produced a lump in my throat.

I quickly discovered that Andrew Durham had a great wit, an irrepressible sense of humor and untiring interest in his surroundings—the people, the politics, the commerce of everyday life—all of it studied thoroughly and recounted energetically with a homespun irony akin to that of other humorists of his era, such as George Ade, Mark Twain and Will Rogers.

In his day, Andrew was much in demand as a public speaker. A brittle newspaper clipping included with the letters revealed that at a reunion of his college fraternity, in 1929, he shared the podium with legendary baseball manager Branch Rickey and prominent Chicago attorney Roy O. West.

As demonstrated by his letters, Andrew was an irrepressible storyteller who could not resist a jest even when ordering parts for a stove. When writing in pursuit of a payment on an overdue note at the bank, he would ease the bite by asking the debtor's help in paying for a daughter's wedding. Andrew wrote incessantly. I suppose everyone wrote more back then, when telephone connections were often poor and always expensive, but stamps cost only 2 cents. Letters were also a form of entertainment in those pre-TV days.

Much of his correspondence was business-related, and Andrew was evidently a very busy man. But he could still find time to type out a five-page, single-spaced letter of advice to the son of an old friend who had landed in jail. He had never even met the young miscreant. In that and other instances, Andrew's prose took on new energy, stressing the therapeutic value of character and principles, as well as a good laugh.

Long before I stopped reading that first day, I was hooked. This stuff is priceless. Some of it might appear exotic or dated, particularly to nonagrarian folks who do not know what it is like to live off the land or reside in small towns where everybody knows everybody else—but even satisfied urbanites may be interested in reading about a different way of life. And they surely will see similarities to their own situations in the many stories about eccentric relatives, surly waitresses, guileful politicians, child-rearing and money woes. Far from being outdated, I decided, much of Andrew's material has a timeless quality—it addresses standards and values, family and community foibles, human dignity and folly—universal themes that still exist, even in our electronic age.

Editing the letters was the easy part. Frank and I never did decide how to organize them for publication. His Pap had corresponded with hundreds of people about a multitude of personal and professional topics; several diverse activities and interests would often be recounted in the same letter, sometimes as they occurred but often in retrospect several years later. We finally decided to present the correspondence in chronological order, so as to best reflect the flow of Pap's life, including his memories as well as his latest observations. I found it great reading, and hope you do also.

Douglas N. Hay

Mill Rift, PA

April 22, 1997

SOME BACKGROUND ON 'PAP'

Pap—Andrew Everett Durham—was born May 3, 1882, the youngest son of James V. Durham and Sarah A. (Black) Durham, of Russellville, Indiana. His paternal grandfather, Jacob, had emigrated from Kentucky to become one of the early settlers of Russell Township—a farmer, store-keeper, state legislator and mover and shaker in his own right, as described in one of Pap's papers.

Pap's father was also active in local affairs, and supplemented his farm income by starting a private bank in Russellville along with Pap's older brother, Ernest. The Russellville Bank stayed in family hands for about 70 years. Pap was fond of recounting how, as a youth, he got his start in business there—as janitor, for $2 a week. He eventually worked his way up to chairman of the board. The bank survived the Depression in fine order and declined to join the FDIC, which Pap publicly denounced as a sham designed to subsidize poorly-run banks at the expense of well-run ones, with the public footing the bill.

While maintaining their Russellville interests, Pap's parents moved to nearby Greencastle in his youth. After graduating from high school, he was sent to Western Military Academy, Alton, Illinois, to straighten out after his strict Kentucky-bred mother discovered that he had been hanging around the local pool parlor. He graduated from the academy in 1899 with high honors, and continued his education graduating from Indiana University in 1903 and from Indiana School of Law in 1906.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1910, he married Aura May Sawyer, of Muscatine, Iowa. The wedding took place at the retirement home of the bride's parents, in Milford, Pennsylvania. The union eventually produced five daughters and one son.

Pap began his political career with election to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1913, following in the footsteps of his grandfather. His politics emphasized conservatism, low taxes and self-reliance. He was re-elected to the House in 1915, and then elected to the State Senate in 1917 and 1923. It is noteworthy that all of his victories came as a Democrat, although most of his constituents were registered Republican.

Pap was not only good at wooing Republican voters. He was also generally effective in gaining bipartisan support for his legislative undertakings. But he was not loath to take resolute action, if required. When it appeared that a Republican gerrymandering bill would succeed, Pap, as Minority Leader, had his Democratic delegation go into hiding across the state line, preventing action on the reapportionment bill by removing a quorum. It also froze all other legislative activities. The Republicans finally agreed to withdraw the objectionable bill, and the runaway Democrats returned.

His growing family necessitated a larger income and after a gubernatorial run failed to materialize, Pap retired from the Senate, in 1929. He devoted more time to his law practice and became a lobbyist for the Indiana Railroad Lobby Assn. In such capacity, he continued to monitor his former peers, and had the reputation of having attended every Legislative Session from 1913 to 1951.

Throughout his life, Russellville was a continuing source of gratification to Pap, and also provided a wealth of material for anecdotes of small-town life, which were incorporated into his public-speaking and his voluminous correspondence.

The family farm just outside the village was also a valued source of income, as well as sustenance, and Pap took a personal hand in its operation, spending more and more time there as he grew older.

Andrew E. Durham passed away at home in Greencastle, July 23, 1954.

GLOSSARY

Pap was an inveterate inventor of nicknames, applied mostly to his family. Some of the letters in the collection contain the following references:

Annabelle Lee (Mrs. Ralph Weinrichter of Menlo Park,

California) has a daughter, Kathryn, and a son, Ralph Weinrichter

II, also of Menlo Park.

Deceased daughter Sarah Jane (Mrs. Robert Anderson) had five

children: Heather (deceased) Scott, Roderick, Jennifer (now Mrs.

William Amon of Fairfax, Virginia) and Cathy (Mrs. Richard

Sandler, also of Fairfax.)

Joan's four include William McGaughey, Jr., and Andrew D. of

Minneapolis, Minnesota, David P. of Rochester, New York and

Margaret Durham McGaughey Isaacson of Brunswick, Maine.

In addition to the two sons mentioned by Frank (George and

Andrew) he has two daughters, Stephanie (Mrs. Stephanie D.

Burton, of Winter Haven, Florida) and Madeleine (Mrs. Keith

Thomas of Shelbyville, Indiana.)

Aunt Margaret — sister, Margaret D. (married name, Bridges)

Franklin Pierce, a.k.a. Frankfurter — son J. Frank

Francisco — daughter-in-law Frances (nee Haberkorn)

Ira — Ira Flauer, hired hand on the family's Russellville farm

Jane — daughter Sarah Jane (married name, Anderson, now deceased)

Joan, a.k.a. Jonie Bonie — daughter Mary Joanna (married name,

McGaughey)

Margaretta — daughter Margaret (deceased)

Munny, a.k.a. Munny-Bun — wife Aura May (nee Sawyer)

The Old Brakeman — Walter J. Behmer, retired Gen. Supt., The

Pennsylvania Railroad

Red Purnell — Fred Purnell, Congressman from Indiana

Sugar Foot, a.k.a. Footser — daughter Aura May

Uncle Ernest — brother J. Ernest Durham

ABOUT THE CO-AUTHOR

J. Frank Durham, who compiled this anthology of his father's letters, was born in Greencastle, Indiana, October 3, 1915. He went to work early, as a newsboy carrying the Indianapolis News and local paper, and then began his education at the legendary Dan Beard's Boy Scout Camp, in Pike County, Pennsylvania. He was subsequently a member of the Phillips Exeter Academy Class of 1934, obtained an AB degree from hometown DePauw University in 1937 and LLB from Indiana University in 1941.

Frank's budding law practice was interrupted by World War Two. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve, graduating from bomb disposal school and serving on Guadalcanal, where he received a field promotion to the rank of ensign. After being released from active duty, Frank chaired a committee that secured the only captured German V-1 Rocket ever put on public display in the United States. A unique war memorial, this Buzz Bomb rests atop a solid limestone V-shaped base at the southwest corner of the Putnam County Courthouse, in Greencastle.

In 1944, Frank married Frances M. Haberkorn of Detroit, Michigan. They had four children, Andrew H., George B., Stephanie and Madeleine. During a 1975 tour of the Pacific, Frances suffered a fatal aneurysm. In 1979, Frank married Elaine Eide Moe, of Sacramento, California, who is not only a gourmet cook but an active jazz band pianist.

Although he never developed his father's intense interest in politics, there are similarities. Frank was elected Prosecuting Attorney of the 64th Judicial Circuit for two terms, and then Greencastle City Judge for two more terms. He still practices probate law; was a trust officer of the Russellville Bank for 25 years, and a former bank vice president.

For recreation, Frank runs a bulldozer and backhoe on the family farm near Russellville, continuing to actively participate in its management, like his Pap before him. The farm also has the hangar and airstrip for Frank's Cessna, which he enjoys flying when not engaged in his law practice or farming. He first soloed in 1935. In 1971, he was a guest of the Canadian Government, helping celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Northwest Territory by flying with a small group down the Mackenzie River. He has flown a small plane to Alaska and back seven times, and was a guest writer in a published book by Loren McDonald, A Very Private Pilot. On another occasion, Frank and a friend took his young sons on a float trip down Alaska's Porcupine River, using kayaks they built themselves from kits in an Eskimo village.

At age 82, J. Frank Durham is a worthy scion of his very active lineage.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Acknowledgments and thanks are long overdue to Elaine, my lovely spouse, who is largely responsible for the success of our marriage; my sister Aura May Durham, for all the proof-reading and telephone-answering; my sister Ann (Mrs. Ralph Weinrichter of Menlo Park, CA), for her research and help; my sister Joan