From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 2, 1915:

• “In the much abused moving picture show, which has been accused of having strangled the possibility of a high grade legitimate drama, Professor Shostac, a new instructor in English literature at the University, sees, instead of an enemy of the legitimate drama, a possible saviour. In a lecture before the Quill club, a writers’ organization at the University, last night Professor Shostac declared that the moving picture show had reached heights which people five years ago believed impossible and that the film pictures were able to show some character delineation of the finest. ‘Send the mob to the movies,’ the speaker advised, ‘and then we’ll have a few small theaters where we can give the drama in its highest form for the select few who have culture and appreciate art.’ In the film productions of of Vanity Fair, Cabiria and The Birth of a Nation, Mr. Shostac says that the movie drama has reached its highest stage, but he believes that it still lacks much that is necessary to make a real drama, which he considers the highest form of art…. Mr. Shostac has little belief in the ability of the average man to appreciate the really artistic drama. ‘We can’t expect them to,’ he said, ‘for they aren’t educated well enough to know the beautiful in art when they see it. We don’t expect the average man to read Keats, to know astronomy, or to care for the music of Beethoven. We know that he isn’t trained, that his faculties are not acute enough to appreciate the lightning quickness of the artist. Then why should we expect him to appreciate the artistic drama?’… Most of the contemporary American drama is unworthy of criticism, he believes, for it is entirely lacking in art.”
• “A want ad in the Journal-World, an Indian boy gathering walnuts, and the County Sheriff all got together last night and as a result $40 worth of tools stolen last summer by Joe Stephens from a farmer named Kennedy, who lives near Vinland, were recovered this morning, and are awaiting their owner at the County Jail. Last summer Stephens was arrested for stealing tools from Kennedy and part of them were recovered from a second hand store in Lawrence. The rest of the tools could not be found and the Sheriff at that time declared that he was confident that the thief had concealed them intending to sell them at another place at a different time. However, when he was caught he denied any knowledge of their whereabouts. And now the want ad comes in. An Indian boy from Haskell Institute was gathering walnuts when he came on a sackful of tools in a brush patch. He notified the farmer, who advertised in The Journal-World. Now Sheriff Cummings reads the papers carefully and he noticed the advertisement. The telephone did the rest and this morning the officers brought the tools to town. They will be returned to their owner.”
• “The weather in this part of the southwest during November was the most unusual in the history of the weather bureau, it was announced today. The month produced the hottest November day in 28 years. In only two months since the government records begun here has less moisture fallen. The heat record was shattered on the 6th of the month when the mercury mounted to 83 degrees. The wind maximum velocity was reached on the 19th, when 49 miles an hour was maintained for five minutes. The total precipitation was only .87 inches. The tornadoes in Kansas were an absolutely new development for the month.”
• “Glen Hupp, the 19-year-old boy who stole four dozen wienies and a fountain pen from the Schleifer meat market night before last, because he was hungry, pleaded guilty before District Judge Smart yesterday and was sentenced to an indefinite term in the Hutchinson reformatory. Hupp was caught by Officer Patchen as he was crossing the bridge into North Lawrence at 3 o’clock yesterday morning.”