The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1916-01-06
The Rural District.
sy MICHAEL WHITE.


~ MICHAEL WHITE.
Copyright, Paget Newspaper Service.
The story must b told in George
Charles Fenton-Roltthois own words.
because otherwise Justice cannot be
done to him. At Ill times the hyphen
between Tenton and Bolitho must be
remembered for the reason that It is
important ho should not be confused
with other Bolithos who dwell in sun.
dry parts Of England. Fenton-B olitho
hailed from Upton Grange within
what might now be appropriately
termed . mainly from London, and
was encountered on . steamer with
her bow turned toward Europe and
the shore Of tho United States fading
In the distance. He was what the
reporters would call typically English,
wore q check tweed suit, and q man
ner Of injury sustained that was beau
tiful in it's innocence.
II have reason to agree with you."
said Fenton-Bolithio, that the United
States is an extraordinary large coun.
try. In that respect l have had a real
ly remarkable experience. Quite as
tonishing when you come to think of
It! My doctor, you know. considered
that my health would be benefited by
ar ocean voyage. so I thought l would
visit our cousins across the Atlantic.
Please do not misunderstood me for
a moment that I was otherwise than
most gratified with the conditions
I found prevailing in your country!
but-ah- I feel sure you will agree
with me when l say l encountered an
inexplicably annoying experience.
Il had spent a few days very en-
joyably in New York, when it oc-
Cured to me that my friends at the
club would naturally wish to know my
Impressions of the rural districts, the
-er-the conditions Of your agricul-
tural population, which is such a mat
ter Of grave concern to Is in British
Isles. So with that object I made in.
Quiries and was recommended to one
VI IAOoO POOPAC you S0AA q IlNhOI d6OASs
I found him a very agreeable young
man, willing to do almost anything
to oblige me. l explained to him my
desire to see a little of the country,
particularly what we understood as
the rural districts-our midland and
southern counties, you know. But
when he asked where precisely I
wished to go, l naturally replied that
I must leave that to his discretion,
being a stranger merely wishing to
see something of the rural districts.
HE then suggested a trip to San
Diego. AS l had never even heard of
the place, I remarked that, provided
it was a pleasant and salubrious spot,
I was prepared to follow his advice
in going to San Diego. He was really
SO attentive in pointing out the ad-
vantages of booking Immediately, that
I promised to recommend him to any
members of my GLIB who should con-
template visiting your country. l fear
I formed a too hasty judgment of that
young mans ability. l regret to say
/ shall not recommend him to any of
my friends after my experience.
"The young man charged me what
I thought at the time was a rather
large sum to see something of the
rural districts, but n must be pre-
pared for such things in visiting
strange and distant countries. He al
SO gave me a most remarkably long
ticket, and told me / was to start that
evening on q train he called the Linn.
tied. AS a significant illustration Of
the young mans singular lack Of ft-
ness for his position, he was utterly
unable to explain why the train was
called the Limited. Really. he seemed
to regard my insistence on this point
Al q piece of humorous pleasantly, I
assure you. quite out of place.
But I, of course, took the Limited,
and upon my word there was appar-
emily very little limitation to the dis
lance 1t travelled. I was astonished
Il may say dumbfounded-when I
discovered l was actually to travel
for five days through the rural dis
tricts. I give you my word / had new.
er contemplated such a journey. Five
days, you know, going through the
rural districts. OF course l would
never have undertaken it had I been
aware of the extraordinary distance
to San Diego.
"But the point is, I cannot under
stand why the young man-the ticket
agent-should have been SO remarka-
bly, stupid as to advise me to go to
San Diego. When l Yeached that place
I found 1t is not in the rural districts
1T all. As you may be aware, San
Diego IL a seaport on the Pacific. I
found myself, therefore. looking at
the water-the ocean-which l think
any intelligent ticket agent should
have known was not my objective.
because / had seen quite enough Of
the-ah-water coming across, don't
you know?
II was positively indignant and at
once retraced my steps to New York
for al explanation of the ticket
agents conduct. But you will hardly