Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1908-12-03
THE LAND OF
s'-N'ORA
4 country That Has Long Since
Passed Away

Hal hal" cried the first ancient
mariner.
I'll bet ye," said the second, that
ye're thinkin' of Fedora"
Fedora" said the first, was
South American country, but you
needn't look for it on the map because
it amt there"
And this is why" said the second.
"And this is why" said the first
The ruler of Fedora was an uneasy
kind of potentate. always wanting
do this under penalty, and they
mustn't do that under penalty, and
with one thing and another it went
| from bad to worse until he had a
law passed that the people must al
ways stick to the literal truth under
penalty of imprisonment without the
option of fine"
And that's how 1t began" said the
second ancient mariner.
well, sir, Bill and me landed In
Fedora the next day, filled with inno-
cence about the passage of incriminat-
| ing regulations, and we made a few
remarks, promiscuous, about sea
serpent or two, days run we made,
a tidal wave we saw and few odd
| things like that
| Thinking no harm"
And first thing we knew we were
| in Jail, tight. But we hadn't been in
long when another string Of prison
ers We're conducted to the dungeons.
Six. What are you in forg' said we.
First man said: I was telling GER
tain senorita that she was the most
beautiful in all Fedora and they seized
me- Second man said was telling
a friend about the wisdom Of my in
FAINT child and they seized me- Third
man said: 1 wns relating my expert
ence on a recent fishing expedition
and they seized me-. Fourth man
said: I was telling an old fogy that
4 was glad too see him and they
seized me- Fifth man said: 7 was
telling the boys that my wife didn't
care how late stayed out at night
and they seized me- Sixth man said:
1 was telling stranger how fast my
horse could trot, and here am.
1 "'Senors,' said |, as they all began
to groan, rest easy, for | feel an ap-
prehension that We shall soon have
company"
u "a lot Of company" corrected the
first.
"Muy muchendos," said the second.
And while / was still making the OBJ
servation about the propinquity Of
company the doors swung open again
and a dozen more prisoners were east
into the cells. Three were merchants,
three were lawyers, one was the
weather man, one was huckster who
had been crying fresh fish, one was
> a real estate agent who had been
caught saying that the plumbing was
in good order, one was a painless
dentist and the other two had been
caught signing business letters Yours
truly"
This is outragiosos,' said one.
'Mally! But some one shall suffer
for this!' said another, and the rest
began to gnaw their nails and hiss be-
tween their teeth.
Senors,' said I, fear not, for I'M
: less l greatly mistake the signs and
portents, Fedora is in for larks.'"
Whereupon the two ancient mari
ners made merry and were glad.
"By eight o'clock that night we
were six in CELL" said the first.
"By nine o'clock we were ten in a
CELL said the second.
by ten o'clock they were stuffing
them into the courtyard" said the
first.
"And still they came. In the morn
ing the court had to sign an order en-
larging the confines of the Jail to in
clude the market place and the grand
: opera house and before noon the or
der was amended to include the regi-
: mental barracks, the racetrack and
all the public parks. Feeding the pris-
when a cool got tired all he had to
do was to tell about Storm he had
seen once where the haiistones were
as big as hens eggs and Immediately
he was placed under arrest, and in
stead Of feeding others somebody had
: to feed him.
2 Well, sir, the prisoners came in by
the shoals and droves and the court
had to pass another order still further
enlarging the limits of the jail to
include all that territory lying within
the boundaries of Fedora. Next morn
! ing there was no breakfast and yor
I ought to have heard the way the pris
oners howled, insisting on their consti