Amazingly Prescient

THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

On October 14, 1933, publication of "Dynamite Is Like A Mil Pond." The New Yorker.

I could not believe this. In the fall of 1933 a man named Foster, sitting in his club drinking beer, shares some thoughts about the future with fellow members. Some excerpts:

   We sit here in a comfortable club . . . what we're sitting on, and believe my friends, dynamite is like a mill pond compared to what we're sitting on right now. . .
   . . . what the Germans are going to do is this: they're going to attack France. Everybody knows that, of course . . .
   . . . of course our sympathies will be with England. We and the limeys, I guess we'll always stick together when it comes to a showdown. So we'll help the English with munitions and supplies and so on . . . and we'll stay out of it as long as we can . . . do you know who's going to help us win the next war? . . . Russia. The Communists. . . . The Russians hate the Germans a damn sight worse than they hate us . . . in fact they don't hate us so much any more. We're going to recognize Russia any day now.
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On October 14, Ten North Frederick, Joseph B. Chapin and Edith Stokes were married:

   It was a six o'clock wedding and the chimes of Trinity and the long striped canopy down the terrace and across the sidewalk had given notice to the uninvited that something was up - and there were few who were unaware of what was up. A wedding in Trinity was always a favorite free show for the poor, who arrived early and stood against the inside of the canopy walls, defying the routine efforts of the two constables to chase them away . . .
   Joe was as pale as his tie, but his responses were audible in the good acoustics of Trinity, and when the now married pair turned their back to the altar and commenced the recessional they walked briskly and smiling. It had gone of well, without the breaking of a bridesmaid's garter, a fainting, a coughing spell, a flatulent report, an apopleptic stroke, a child's vomiting, an upset candelabrum, a bass gaffe by the organist, a popping of an usher's shirtfront, a case of hiccoughs, a dropped walking-stick in the aisle, a weeping spell, a Socialist's protest. It was as nice a wedding as anyone could have hoped for . . .