The Washington herald., 1914-09-13
tCoTyriEht, lH4)
tcOTyneht. IHLl
r HE little Maine village of Aspin-
i quid was in a furore of excite
rnent and this time there was

real reason for It.
The movies had come to town!
Yes, actually Not the movies, eth
er, in the commonplace sense that the
hreman's hall had been leased to a
Thrillograph company for the purpose
of speeding adventurous romance
sskhwart the cinema canvas daily and
mighty for the edihcation of the public
lst ten cents a head, children half price;
but in the larger, nobler, more soul
stirring sense that Aspinquid, because
of its rocky coast line, with its head
lands, and its promontories, with its
hoves and its caves, had been chosen as
Ehe scene whereon one of these photo
Graphic dramas was to be enacted. And
q should perhaps explain here that this
selection by the promoters of the enter
prise was not altogether unnatural, for
Aspinquid has ever been famed as one
of the many, and possibly hkelest.
spots along the New England coast
where Captain Kidd is confidently be-
1ieSed at one time or another in the
course of his nefariouS career to have
secrebed his iIl-gotten gains.
Wherefore, as l have intimated, It
was not surprising that the promoters
of a certain meIo-dramatic moving-pic-
fure scenario devised in New York
wherein a band of pirates were to be
shown in the act Of capturing and
transferring their booty to safe haven
upon the rock-bound coast, to be at
tackled and put to flight later by local
company of colonial militia, should
91ave chosen Aspinquid, % rich in prop
critics of the precise kind needed, as the
scenic setting of their edifying produc-
don.
In addition to the thrill of the thing
.Aspinquid was further excited by the
gratifying fact that as a measure of
economy local talent was to be en-
sployed to impersonste the victorious
lnolonial militia, and what was most un-
usual, most delightful, most overwhelm-
ingly surprising, not to say amazing, it
was to be on a professional basis
hspinquid, like many other rural COM
munitieS, was full OF dramatic talent
.Histrionism seethed there. If Aspin-
Squid had had a middle name it doubt
Hess would have been Thespis. During
the long winter nights, when the activi-
ties of the snowbound community in
Smore useful occupations were necessar-
Sly at standstill, rival dramatic shows
sWere constantly being got up by its cit
sizens, partly to while away the time,
partly to give vent and expression to
s1hose dormant talents which surged
within, demanding an outlet OF some
sort or other.
The recruiting Office was at the vii
1age postofice, and the enlistments
were so Overwhelmingly numerous that
It became a matter of selection as to
who would make the fttest and most
valiant soldiers, for which the man
agerial mind had so little taste that it
decided to settle the affair by the time
honored process of drawing twenty
names from a hat and letting it 60 at
that.
81 amt got the time to try you feI-
lers out. SO we'll just do the hat trick, &"
said Hinkley, as the manager of the
enterprise was known After I've
read the s'nario over to you, and you
know what you're expected TO do, all
gotta ask of you is that you exercise
a little horse sense and don't offer to
do nothin' you know you can't do"
Billie Rawson happened to be spend
ing a few days with me at my bunga-
low at Aspinquid, and was full of in
terest in the proceedings. Together we
attended the meeting at the freman's
hall where Hinkley read the scenario
and explained to the gathered throng
just what he wanted of il, and from the
moment the man began to tell the story
Rawson watched him like a hawk. but
with twinkle of amused contempt in
his eye which indicated to my mind that
what interest he had in the matter was
not quite as serious as that of the native
clement conclusion which subse-
quent developments compelled me to
modify materially.
Now, m'friends," said the manager,
as in response to his bulletin in the
postofice notifying the public of his
need for help, the multitudes gathered
in the spacious hall, 81 have ast YOU
here tonight to help me out in the
maxim of what l think l can call the
finest set o movin' thrills that's ever
come down tAe pike. The storys
based on hist'ry, and we paid the feller
that wrote it for US seven thousand dol
lars for the movin' picture rights alone.
amt permitted to tell you his name,
but he's one o the leadin' perfessers of
hist'ry IN one of our best-known Amer
ican colleges, and what he knows he
knows thoroughlike He's as I'D on
histry as Theodore Roseyvelt is on
goVment or Jack Johnson on prize
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