The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1902-03-20
THE WEB OF LIFE.

R. II. Faxon, the Washington cor
respondent of the Wichita Eagle re-
lates a little circumstance, which to
him, leads to the belief that the world
is not so large as we imagine, and
that anywhere in the United States
"we may find somebody who knows
somebody who knows u.s." AS most
Of the actors in bis little play are
Oskaloosa people the incidents will
be read with local relish. He says:
"Things happen occasionally in
this life to make one realize that
after all, this world is not so large.
Here is case in point: Last Sunday,
I went over to Annapolis, Maryland,
with Andy Richards Of Wellington,
to visit his son Clarence, who is a
third-year cadet in the naval academy
and incidentally to look over the old
town and academy grounds.
AS Richards and were registering
at the Hotel Maryland, a bright-look-
ing, well-dressed young man, also
registered. AS we turned to leave
the hotel and went toward the acad-
emy grounds, the young man was
right behind us. He inquired the
way to the academy, and as we told
him, we invited him to go with US.
As we approached the grounds, we
fell to talking, and incidentally in
troduced ourselves to the young man
His name was Beeson. He halls from
Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he is engaged
in the clothing business, He had
been east to buy stock, and had run
up to Annapolis from Washington to
see young prouege of his, a cadet
at the academy from his district aud
town.
Now here is where the coincidence
begins-the things which serve to
make one feel that he is not a
stranger, even though in strange
place and among strangers
l remarked that the name Beeson
was familiar one with me, specially
the Iowa Beeson. AS the young man
inquired why, 1 told him often ha6
heard my father mention an army
associate-a member of his regiment
the Second Iowa cavalry; who bore
the name of Beeson, and I gave his
full name-Byron A. Beeson. l said
1 believed he had been quite prom
inent in Iowa politics. "Yes," said
the young man, byron A. Beeson
is my uncle"
Chatting along, he recalled that he
had relative in Kansas, and further
inquiry developed that he referred
to Chalk Beeson of Dodge City,
cattleman, good fellow and Republi-
can worker. Richards and l said we
knew him very we'll.
Still pursuing the conversation,
young Beeson remarked that young
lady, who had recently married a
lawyer of his town, and with whom
he had become very well acquainted,
was from-he believed, Wichita. A
Miss Lewelling, she was! OF course
he referred to Miss Pauline Lewelling,
daughter of the former governor, and
then the relation of coincidental
things was up to Richards, who told
that the young lady in question had
been his son, Clarence's favorite
teacher in the Wellington High
school.
But this was not all. When we
finally ran into the cadets at the
academy, we found Beeson's protege
and Richards SON Clarence, to-
gether, and that they were the
chummiest of chums.
Well, we spent the afternoon to.
gether, dined &, gether, rode back to
Washington together, etc. Further,
it might be said that this young
Beeson was an Iowa volunteer in the
Philippine campaign; that he knew
General Funston and General Metcali
and the Twentieth Kansas boys very
well; that he was proud of their
achievements, that he was with
Funston's Brigade when the latter
was wounded in the never to- be- for
gotten Philippine campaign.
So after all, this is not very big
world.n