Epistles from Pap | Page 3

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 Everatt 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