davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22
MR.. NUGENTs REPLY
TO Mr.. GAMSBY

Editor Star: | do not remember
ever to have heard of Mr.. Gamsby be-
fore he was hired by the commission
ers to look after roads, buy mule feed,
ETC., and when the gentleman was
fired. or lost his job, naturally lost
sight of him. 1t therefore, never oc-
Cured to me to secure the permission
of our ex-road general utility man,
when, as county auditor / had some
thing to say to the people of this
county that was of certain and sure
interest to them. / never gave the
gentleman a thought any more than
would some stray cat on a back lot
fence in Chattanooga, or elsewhere
that / did not even know of. Mr.,
Gamsby has not questioned a single
figure that have given. As | under
stood him to desire the figures on the
expenditures for the first part of 1914
gave those figures, and showed
plainly that this county had spent
more than its revenues in 1914 in both
the road and county proper funds, the
GamSby now says that / have lodged
his letters. He is mistaken. There
was nothing to dodge or to answer.
did not think it necessary to pay any
attention to the personal note in his
letter, which is always in poor taste
in newspaper articles, but if Mr.
Gamsby insists or it it affords me
pleasure to say that his intimation
that any part of my statement is not
honest is simply an untruth, and the
rest of his talk hot air.
Respectfully, P. H. Nugent.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

"You, Marie" screamed Aunt Deb
by, 'you say you don't know meT'
go on about your business" or
dered the big policeman.
81 don't leave this spot without that
girl" declared Aunt Debby, planting
her fists on her hips and spreading
her feet apart. Then the outraged
majesty OF the law asserted itself.
Hey, Billy! Call the wagon?' IT
yelled.
please don't arrest herw begged
Marie.
She was too late; the wagon had
been called
Sorry, miss" said the officer who
had first interfered. "but this party
went too far" And he turned TO helr
toss the cuIprit in.
"Oh, Mr.. Dowdr' The voice of Ma
rie was suddenly bright and care free.
The three policemen who had been
assisting Aunt Debby turned quickly
as officer Dowd pushed smilingly
through the crowd to the side Of Ma.
rie.
whats the troubIe?' he inquired.
Let the smoke go, boys" requested
officer Dowd careIessly. ITS all 8
mistake"
'"Now you hike!'' ordered the police
man and gave Aunt Debby a poke ir
the ribs.
Slowly she waddled to the chicken
market, where she found her basket
intact in the stall of the poultryman
and slowly she walked up block tc
the adjacent avenue. where stood the
Moore Limousine.
Jerry" she called as she climbed
breathlessly to her seat by the driver
81 done seed Marie! And whah sht
goes Miss Junie isr'
"WhereT' asked Jerry, all quiverins
eagerness.
Aunt Debby's eyes rolled She could
talk no more, but she made circular
motion with her hand. and Jerry un
derstood.
There seemed to be small profit In CIR
culating, and after q few minutes Of
this tedious process Aunt Debby, who
seemed to be tremendously prolific oi
ideas today. said:
"Mistah NedP'
To Ned's they drove, and within f1v'
minutes after Aunt Debby's excited re
| port Ned Warner and John Moore ant
three long and lanky detectives wer'
! headed for the market, with Jerry anC
| Aunt Debby up In front. At that poin
| they scattered. and it was Ned who's
inquiries after Marie led all the wa!
to Officer Dowd.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

sne would nave dIed rather Tnan TO
have brushed clothes with the object.
when the creature. catching sight of
her. Immediately stepped far over into
the mud. jerked of his battered cap
and with il made a courtesy so sweep
ing that he was unable to rise mp for
FIVE minutes afterward
That was enough for one day. and
June ran down the street, past the lit
tie fountain. into the sanctuary Of the
Widow O'Keefe's house, up the two
fights Of stairs and dropped into the
wicker chair.
slippers was all she said
Marie was on her knees in an in.
slant. showing every gum.
Aunt Debbyr' she cried, and from
then on until long after the wonder
full chicken potpie had been consumed
the conversation flowed with never an
ebb.
1t was good to have found a refuge
like this. 1t seemed far. far away from
the New York which these two knew,
ard it was as if no one could ever find
them here. They were safe. Safe.
Is one ever safe? As Ned Warner
stood trying vainly to extract informa-
ton from Officer Dowd June's car
flashed by him and he caught glimpse
Of her.
Officer Dowd was astonished TO have
his particularly insisteHt questioDer
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

Secretary Bryan's comment on Ad-
miral Peary's speech at the republi-
can banquet in New York some weeks
ago, is timely, and will suit most Am
ericans. The United States does not
and should not try to impose its
"Kultur" on the remainder of Amer
lea. To live and let live will be not
only the most comfortable but the
most lasting in benefit, Every en-
pire builded in might has crumbled
sooner or later-let America refrain
from trying to construct one.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22
PRESIDENT WILSON'S
LATEST GREAT SPEECH

The Star is sorry it hasn't space
for the full text of President Will
sons speech at the annual luncheon
of the Associated Press in New York
Tuesday, and advises every citizen,
and also every citizeness, to hunt it
up and read it. Tt was an exposition
of neutrality and set the case forth
in that lucid language that no man
knows better how to employ than the
president.
The neutrality of the United States,
Mr.. Wilson said, had higher basis
than petty desire to keep out of
trouble.
"There is something so much great
er to do than fight" he said.
This remark of the president is un-
consciously the motto and precept of
all the men and women who have
been striving to make the world bet
ter, and who can only make progress
in time of peace. They are needed in
war, needed more than anybody else,
but all they can do TO try and keep
the very bad from becoming the very
worst-to repair as much as possible
of the damage and TO save all they
can from ruin in hope that it may be
put to good use when peace returns.
Another utterance of Mr.. Wilson's
is specially worthy of note, and will
be needed by other peoples more than
our own. He said:
"My interest in the neutrality OF
the United States is not the petty de-
sire to keep out of trouble. / have
never looked for it, but have always
found it. / don't want to walk
around trouble. If any man wants a
scrap, that is an interesting scrap
and worth while, / am his man.
warn him that he is not going tc
draw me into the scrap for his ad.
vertisement, but if he is looking fol
| trouble, that is, the trouble of mer
in general and I can help a little, why
then am in for it."
Mr.. Wilson specially warned the
press against sensational reports, cit.
/ ing the instance of the recent story
about Japanese establishing a nava
base at Turtle Bay. He said of this
Il have known some things to gt
out on the wires as true when there
was only one man or one group o.
men who could have told the orig
inators of the report whether it wa
true or not, and they were not asked
whether it was true or not, for fea,
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22
HENDERSON ON AN
IMPORTANT COMMITTEE

A special to the Jacksonville Me-
tropolis from Tallahassee says:
Speaker Hardee has appointed Rep
resentative Millinor, of Madison coun-
ty, and Representative Henderson, of
Marion county, as House members of
the committee to investigate the state
prison farm at Raiford, Bradford
county, and also the grounds and
camp which the state leased at Ocala
This is held to be one of the most
important committees to be appoint
ed during the session. 1t is ordered
to report back in twelve days, and its
report is expected largely to deter
mine the fate of the convicts of the
state. There is a bill before the
House which broadens the scope OF
convict labor on the public roads and
on the state farms and gradually re-
duces the lease system. The bill is
being guided through the House BY
representative Harrison of Duval. II
provides for the total abolition of the
ACcOC SyoIG1A OAl IiAS llISt Ody u jail
uary, 1917.
The committee will review the re.
suits obtained during the past few
months on the state prison farm al
Raiford. Many of the convicts which
had been leased out to turpentine op.
orators were returned because of the
lack of demand brought about by the
British ban on naval stores exports
and were placed to work on the farms
The farm was originally intended fol-
only the feeble convicts and female
convicts. It is the purpose of many
of the legislators to lease out the
convicts to the counties desiring then
and to have those not taken up in thi.
way worked at one or the other O.
the farms. 1t is probable that tn,
committee will leave here tomorrow
and go to Raiford first and then t.
Ocala.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

w. Livingston Larned of the st. Au-
gustine Record, tells in his semi-funny
way of his useless attempts to find
out the schedule of the Oklawaha riv-
er boats. 1t must be bad to live in
such an out-of-the-way place as St
Augustine. In the past two seasons
Ocala has been visited by several
thousand people from all parts of the
north, who had no trouble in finding
the Daylight Line schedule on the
Oklawaha, between Silver Springs and
Palatka.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

it might not be true. That sort of
report ought not to go out over the
wires. There is generally, if not al
ways, somebody who knows whether
that thing is so or not, and in these
days above all other days, we ought
to take particular pains to resort to
the one small group of men or to the
one man, if there be but one, who
knows whether those things are true
or not"
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

The Tampa Times, criticising Gov
ernor Trammell for suspending Sher-
ifs Spencer of Hillsborough and Bak-
er of Palm Beach, sets forth that the
complaint against the Hillsborough
officer is that he doesn't break up
bolito and such games among the
Latin-Americans in Tampa. There is
some merit in the excuse. These peo-
pie regard bolito pretty much as an
American regards baseball, and sup
pressing it is about as difficult to do
as suppressing matching for drinks
But the Palm Beach official has no
such excuse. The gambling house at
Palm Beach is run in open, fragrant
defiance of law by people who think
the possession of money gives them
the right to do anything. 1t couldn't
be carried on if the sheriff did his
duty, and if the governor didn't sus.
pend him he would be surrenderinq
to the element that seems to have in.
trenched itself in insolent ownership
of a Florida county.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

any other one man in the state, made
argument before the Senate commit
tee on taxation and finance yesterday
evening against Senator Farris' cor
poration franchise bill now pending
in the Senate. Mr.. Knight said the
railroads are paying one-seventh of
the taxes paid in the state, whereas
they do not own one-ffteenth of the
total property valuation.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

Governor Trammell may not have
the nerve to call for the resignation
Of Mr.. w. Fl. Milton, chairman of the
board of managers of the state re-
form school, but the next time Mr..
Milton runs for Office the people will
hand him resignation on the point
of pitchfork. The reform school
Scandal isn't helping the governors
future political prospects, either.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pa
cifc is the biggest railroad yet to go
into the hands of receivers. H.. u.
Nudge, president of the road, and
Jacob NJ. Dickinson, former secretary
of war, have been appointed receivers.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

A special to the Tampa Times from
Tallahassee says: Declaring that the
railroads and street car companies of
the state are paying already more
than their proportionate share of the
burden of taxation as the taxes are
now levied in this state, Peter O.
Knight, lawyer, of Tampa, represent
ing more corporations perhaps than
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

There is a full train crew bill be-
fore the legislature, and the railroads
are fighting it-of course. The bill is
needed by the overworked men who
handle the trains and by the people
who have to travel
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

Representative Hurtenbach of Es-
Gambia county has introduced into the
legislature a bill to provide free
school books for children of INDECENT
parents.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

The Savannah News suggests a
Sapphira club for female politicians
when women have the vote all over
the country.
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22
CHAPTER m.

HEAVY jawed. firm mouthed,
square headed and level eyed
man stopped at the door of 4e
Kingsley court and rang the
The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-22

Continued on Fourth Page)
Evening star., 1915-03-21

cats attentions likely to be general or if not CEN
tered wholly upon his or her toilet-washng her
face manicuring her ears pursuing her tail,but the
dog too frequently takes direct personal interest in the
chief performer of the occasion. And while should
never think of attrbuting critical faculties to any kind
of dog, they sometimes have way of expressing what
might pass for opinions worthy unworthy concern
ing the work in hand, in uncertain tones.
As evidence of this recall afternoon devoted not
long since to the reading of of Brownings exceed
ngy difficult masterpieces, in the presence of number
of ladies and highly intelligent Irish terrier. The
poem Browning's "Christmas Eve and Easter Day."
full of beauty and of inspired thought, but not easy
reading, and requiring unusual concentration of mind
to get out the full measure of its charm My small
audience most appreciative, and as approached
the climacterc was feeling toeraby well satisfied with
the results when this keenly critical terrier suddenly
from his resting place, stationed himself deber-
atcy before me- stretched himself until it almost seemed
that could hear his bones crack and forth upon
the mystery-laden atmosphere about as expressive
whining yawn might expect from the Seven
Sleepers themselves, all rolled into one and too early
awakened from their slumbers-and there the "climac-
teric" rests to this day.
l never finished the reading and what had been an
hour of highly concentrated mysticism reached its SIX
tieth second in wild roar of hilarious relief
A LESS comfortable moment involving canine in
truder occurred at Binghamton, New York, back
in 1898, when suffered the double intrusion of secret
society initiation going overhead which may may
not have been made interesting to the initiates by
the presence of the proverba goat and the sudden ap
pearance upon the stage of huge bulldog of terrifying
aspect
Above every indication in sound at least, of
wild creature "abounng and abuttng" upon the whole
length of the superimposed floor, accompanied by
Evening star., 1915-03-21

particularly punctlllous and tacttully
courteous gentleman as we'll; and,
having heard stories of other Britons
coming to this country and attending
functions given in their honor in
tweeds, as if We Americans knew Moth
ing of the niceties of dress, was care
full always to avoid giving offense
himself by similar vagaries. So, rather
than seem contemptuous of the conven-
tionalities on this occasion, the doctor
pleaded headache as his excuse for
not appearing at dinner, and in the
interval of time thus gained trans
formed his blue serge travelling coat
into a perfectly good dinner jacket, or
Tuxedo, as some do call it, with
properly rolling lapels, by cutting off
the buttons and rolling the front of
his coat back into broad lapel effect;
pressing the resulting garment into
stayablc shape by putting it between
the mattresses of his bed, and lying on
Evening star., 1915-03-21
BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS

"Ladies and Gentlemen appreciate deeply your
tribute of regard; but let tell you frankly tat l
prefer flowers vegetables to bulldogs. If you
have any further ourfooted tokens of your esteem in
store for me, beg that you will send them by special
messenger to my Office in New York, by mail to my
residence in Yonkers, the address of which you may
secure from the chairman your way out of the hall
at the conclusion of my reading"
The ultimate results of this incident were far from
happy. | naturally told the story together with some
other amusing details of my visit to Bnghamton, to
friends at my club later not any in confidence
than they related here, and good-naturedy as
their divertng quality rendered appropriate; and the
fact that l had done coming to certain Bingham
tonian ears, | pacarded in one of the Bnghamton
papers as being mo gentleman, "an ungratefu guest
and so on dd b, in consequence of which Bnghamton
and no longer speak pass by
For this l am sincerely sorry but the less must
rest content. do not think should care to return
there even if were asked for fear that in pursuance
of their system of tribute they might try my courage
upon the nca descendant of that goat above stairs
possibly upon actively inclined bull, playfully
leasled in my vicinity as test of my composure.
THE minor of dress is frequently the cause of
emergency calls for help from embarrassed lyceum-
ties, and to get of prcdicaments in which mistakes
of packing under the pressure of hurry place
times taxes to the uttermost Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle told me of amusing complication
along these lines by which he confronted in New
Jersey community, whittier he had gone to dine with
and address the students of famous school,
On his arrival at the of action DR.. Doyle as he
was then known discovered to his dsnav that in the
hurried packing of his suitcase he had forgotten to put
in his evening coat. Everything else there but
his swallowta was missing. Now Sir Arthur is not
only distinguished novelist and story writer but is
Evening star., 1915-03-21
"A craving to settle lin
gering doubts as to my
right to be there"

Antonio to Houston and was Living in my suitcase"
With only twenty-five minutes to spare before was
due upon the PLATFORM found myself without shirt
studs and at the moment without anything at hand to
acceptable substitute. hurried visit to the
Main street and some of its tributaries divuged moth
ing in the nature of haberdashery jewelers. shop
that had not been closed for the night
was in a terrific quandary but the Only Muse al
ways resourceul person, reminded me OF Oliver Her
fords cxpetient many years before in using in similar
emergency set OF brass headed manuscript fasteners.
Fortunately had with several bits of manuscript
Evening star., 1915-03-21

MN@1ucK

the lists against me. This privileged creature had
lcaped into the chair Immediately behind me, and
begun massagng his face in true feline fashion, to the
intense delight of a most amiable gathering.
| suppose that if | had known what was going on
behind me- should have tried to rise to the occasion
the spur of the moment; but not knowing it l read
on blissu Inconsistencies of the fact that series
of living pictures flashing the vision of my
audience directly to the rear. The only sensation
perienced at the time by my innocent self one of
supreme pleasure and satisfaction that my audience
had at last awakened to the beauty of my DISCOURSE and
manifestng in most gratifying fashion its appreca
tion of even the subtest of my points. When at the
close of the reading the real truth revealed to me
merely smiled, and never for moment let that until
the chairman spoke of the animal had not suspected
its presence.
ave admired your composure Mr.. Bangs said the
chairman. "a good many men would have been ratified
by such intrusion that; but you went right on
without break. In fact if you don't mind my saying
So you better after the cat than you before
he came
"Oh well, said l. "we have to get used to that sort
of thing. The trained lecturer really ought to be able
to go even if young earthquake were to fall upon
him. Do you always try your lectures on a cat?"
added.
"Well, hadn't thought of it that way" he laughed
"but matter of fact most generally do. That
cat belongs to anitor, and he's pretty to turn
up somewhere during the evening. One year we had a
out here giving rectaons, and tell you old
Tom helped him out considerably. He was rolling
along through some funny speech or other, when the
jumped upon the platform, washed his face two
three times, scratched his for minute, and then
with his eye fixed the audience he walked straight
the electric ooghts to the other side of the stage
and disappeared The audience roared and the recta
ZIONIST stopped, gazed with mock indignation at the
people for second two, and then addressing me he
said Mr. Chairman, understood that this to be
monologue-not catalogue OF course it brought down
the house. and ever since then that has been about
the most popular number lecture has ever
had"
AS standard of emergency repartec am inclined to
think this incident sets the high-water mark
THE intrusion of four r-footed the line of
vision at lectures is unfortunately Lectur-
have terrors for mice and rats and just every
hall is provided with janitor, jantrcx, is every
carctaker provided with cat, as preventive of ro
dental troubles. have got used to their presence
however that no longer bother about them. As long
as they leave alone, and hold their tongues, | am
content to have them dsport themselves they please
in the public eye out Of it. But dog is another
proposition altogether.
Personally like dogs better than like cats; but for
platform purposes prefer the feline to the canine in
truson One knows pretty well in advance what cat
will do; but dog is most uncertain quantity. The
Evening star., 1915-03-21

muffled yells, presumably from
the despairing throats OF brothers
elect. But this was as nothing
in its effect upon my peace of
mind to the sudden develop
mcnt of that bulldog in our
midst. He came in through the
open door Of the hall, and walked
deliberately down thecenter aisle,
and thence up the steps to the
platform whereon | was en-
gagged in the pleasing occupa-
ton of Reading from My Own
Works. Bright as |
had fondly hoped these
works would be thought, 4
they Immediately went
dark in the face of that
undershot jaw with its cleaning
white teeth, the drooling lip, and
the eager, curious eye on each side
of the squat nose, fixed intently
upon my quaking self. Whether
| continued to read or merely
extemporized | do not now re-
call,-in fact, | really never
knew,-I simply know that l
continued to make sounds with
my vocal organs, one eye on the
pages Of my book, the other glued
to the lower jaw of the intruder
The latter, after satisfying his
visual perceptions as to my
superficial virtues and defects,
seemed to find it necessary to
satisfy also some inward nasal
craving to settle certain lingering
doubts in his mind as to my right
to be where he found me, and to
that end he proceeded to place h
against the calf of my left leg, a
By what strange mercy it was
then and there, with results that
dwell upon, | don't know. The
facts are that | did not kick him
ingly on through my work, and
from scarcely suppressed snort
too contemplate for further atte
going out as he had come, throug
and left me again in control OF
wholly of myself. When he had (
the outer darkness | paused and $:
Evening star., 1915-03-21
EMERGENCIES


thinking on and off the
platform is quite essential
to the happiness of the
man on the road. The
sniping fates are always
after him, in small ways as
well as in large, and he
must keep himself in a
state of constant readiness
either to dodge their flying
shafts, or with some sud
denly devised shield of
resourccfulness to render
himself arrow proof.
Sometimes the success
full warding off of a flying
missile sped from the bow
of some malign goddess of
mischance becomes the
making of the man, as in
a case once reported to
me by a gentleman in
Montana when after my
lecture at Billings he and |
were laughing over the
complete capture of my
audience by a big gray
tomcat that had entered
Evening star., 1915-03-21

them for an hour.
l cannot say that
| have ever found
myself master of any
such wonderful in
genuity when face to
face with a similar
predicament; but in
Austin, Texas, two
years ago | suffered
from a condition that
for the time being
seemed quite as poig-
nantly distressing.
My trunk had been
despatched from San