The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1906-10-09
STORM BATTERED RECORD, 4
TELLS OF MODERN DOGBERRY
BY Will r .sheehan.

!
wreckage among the pine trees back
of the Navy Yard village Of Woolsey'
i 1t was still wet with the seq water
with which 1t had been soaked ana IN
the violence of the storm the board
! covers had been torn on. In Its imme-
! diate neighborhoods there were two
parlor organs that will never sound
will never sew another stitch and a
big thermometer that will never reg
lister another degree.
| Divers other articles Of domestic
use and convenience were scattered
about and the material OF which the
houses of'woolsey had been built was
packed and jammed about the pine
trees that stood hundred yards south
of the village site.
| The village Dogberry as his record
| plainly showed has been very thor
ough and painstaking ofiicer. His du-
ties as his record indicated Included
supervision over the morals and do
nestle relations of the villagers. For
Woolsey was government reserva-
ton and the Navy Yard Commander
exercised legal and Administrative
rights Just as one Of the lordly bar
ons of medieval times exercised over
the jewellers upon his estate.
For instance the village jewellers
have to get authority to entertain
guests in their government owned
homes. The village Dogberry among
his multitudinous duties had to know
all about the visitors in Woolsey: His
battered and wrecked record shows
that he attended to business methodl-
cally and with deep respect for the
great authority with which he was
vested The o1sna Ros 90 sero snHa
or looked upon those in authority
over him with a higher respect
| There Is something strikingly SINH
lar to the Woolsey Dogberry as he re-
fleets himself on the pages OF his
record and that amusing country
constable drawn by Shakespeare, in
dogmatic authority and in lofty re-
spect for vested authority, we can
even fancy Dogberry of Woolsey in
the act Of pompously notifying a
young man that he cannot spend the
night at his fathers house and when
the young man spiritedly says.
II the law says says that hnnss 1 w Gannot
permission, then the law is an ass"
Whereupon the Woolsey Dogberry
would undoubtedly roll his eyes In
his horror at this profane disrespect,
saying as did his Sixteenth Century
prototype.
! "Oh that the law was here to write
! himself down an ass"
/
of the Dogberry of today. nor does 1T
mention whom he reports to or who
| has supervisory powers over the us
charge of his OFFICIAL duties. Tucked
away in one corner of the pencilled
record is the information that 1t COW
ers a part of the year of 1908. Dog
berry uses the "fonetick" system of
opelling. Still 1t requires no very
discerning intellect to make out what
| he means when he writes under date
| OF October %:
Peerless Sosial Club has permission
for the Club and few friends to give
entertainment in Col Shoot house. Nov.
An the way through sb the b reEora
showing that he became acquainted
/ with that worthy institution early In
| life.
| Another entry nearby indicates that
Dogberry had his eye open all the
| time and nothing got by him. He set
DOWN the fact that.
aThree and one quarter kegs of
beer went to Barrancas on the 1890
| Dummy
| Couldn't Fool Dokberry.
| The soldiers at Barrancas need not
deceive themselves into BELIEVING that
they could have a beer drinking eve
ming without Woolseys Dogberry
| knowing all about it, The Barrancas
soldiers couldn't run it over him Ell
Their For on October 26. there ap-
pears the item:
"IIereafter. if persons belonging to
| the army wish to reside on the Reser-
vation or board will not be permitted
| to do So"
The village constable. IL d slang ex-
| preston Is permissible, was onto his
Il Job" Nothing so thoroughly proves
| it as the entry made On February 1s
In this he says:
1.-TWO Dbl. of beer bottled. came down
on the o'clock train for mess of Of
fcers on gunboat Machiax AL! right.
I Knowing his business. the Woolsey
Dogberry put the endorsement of ms
i 3. k or the two barrels of bottled
beer, whenever the Leer was for the
| officers. ..
Au me entries in the volume do not
however, deal with matters so frivo!
j Gus. There are items of grave and Sc
| rious import set down with PAINS
taking care. On May "a this highly i'm
portant incident Is described
Went to G. Huey house and in
formed him to keep his children out
of Mrs. Peppers lot, If not Captain c.
will call a board of officers together to
decide on the case
| One can almost hear the querulou2
tones of the thin and undenounced JUS
tice Swallow claiming 1T is meet that
this should be a star chamber matter.
Evidently G. Huey took the warning
for there Is no record that board OF