Snowzilla, the caucus monster & other stuff

I'm giving Harry Hemphill, aka "Huntress," the day off --- or rather myself the day off, and will come back to finish that multi-day saga tomorrow. It takes a good deal of time to feed this Blogspot beast, you know, and I was otherwise occupied much of yesterday.

Besides, my feet hurt. That's a factor of wearing my favorite pair of shoes in the whole world ---  worn out after many years of use and beyond repair --- while helping move mountains of stuff around Thursday and Friday at the museum. We're emptying one of the biggest galleries, the library and a storeroom so that walls can be painted and new carpet installed. More about that next week, too.

Today, I'll have to buy bread and milk in anticipation of Snowzilla --- this morning's National Weather Service map shows a sickly green "blizzard watch" over all but the southeast corner of Iowa. If current predictions hold, we might receive 4-6 inches here on Tuesday, much more or much less, on what for the time being is the edge of the beast. Everything could change, however --- one reason why we spend so much time talking about the weather here.

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This is also a good time to acknowledge the unexpected passing a week ago today in Des Moines of Kirk Blunck, a mere child at age 62, highly talented architect and giant in the Iowa preservation field. He was a pioneer in revitalization of Des Moines' East Village neighborhood and had hand a hand in many signature preservation efforts elsewhere in the state, including Chariton's Hotel Charitone, the pheonix-like rise from the ashes of Burlington's spectacular First United Methodist Church and creative renewal and repurposing of Stuart's fire-devastated All Saints Church.

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The caucus monster also will breathe its last (for this election cycle at least) across Iowa Monday night --- just ahead (hopefully) of the big snowstorm. I'll be caucusing for Hillary, of course --- and can't imagine why anyone would caucus for someone else. Highly qualified, strong, experienced, creative and besides, I'm looking forward to having Bill Clinton as "first lady."

After that, all the politicians and their campaign staffers will move hurriedly to the next stop on the campaign trail and we'll have a little peace here in the heartland --- for a time.

Actually, I like the caucus season. You can't believe anything any of the candidates say, of course, but you do get a good idea of their characters, and that's useful.

Huntress 5: Harry and George Down Under

This is the fifth in a series of six posts about Chariton's Harry Hemphill, a star of the vaudeville stage who performed from 1894 until 1916-17 as "Huntress," musician, dancer and female impersonator extraordinaire. When the last post ended, Harry --- whose full act now required a rail car to transport related paraphernalia --- had remodeled the stage of Chariton's National Guard armory so that it could accommodate his full act and had entertained the hometown crowd during a two-day benefit for the Eagles Lodge during late May, 1912. He then headed for Chicago to resume his performance schedule. The photo at left was taken during 1907, when Harry was near the midpoint of his career.

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Harry returned to Chariton for a brief visit during March of 1913 after concluding a Midwest tour, then headed for the West Coast. Early in the year, he signed a contract for a 20-week tour of Australia and New Zealand (with a 16-week extension option) that was to commence when his Pacific Coast tour ended in San Francisco during July.

As it turned out, the option was exercised and Harry spent nine months traveling and performing, accompanied by his costumes, a few props and a companion identified only as George. Extras and technicians were hired along the way.

We know quite a bit about this trip because Harry documented it in a series of letters sent home during those months to his friends at the Herald-Patriot in Chariton and they were duly published. There was quite a time lag, of course, between the dates the letters were written and arrival in Chariton. Mail traveled by ship from Australia to California in those days, then by train to the nation's heartland --- a matter of weeks rather than days.

The letters seem to have been hugely popular, and the land down under probably was discussed more in Lucas County during those months than ever before, or since. They became program topics for women's clubs and other organizations and appear to have been anticipated anxiously. So in effect, Harry took his hometown along for the ride.

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Harry and George sailed from San Francisco on Tuesday, July 29, 1913, aboard the legendary steamship Sonoma. In his first letter home, datelined Sydney, Harry reported that his sister, Maude, now living in Los Angeles with her barber husband, James Sullivan, had traveled up to San Francisco to see them off. She was accompanied dockside, according to Harry, by a "host" of his San Francisco friends and many tears were shed before the Sonoma passed through the golden gates near sunset.

"The sea was calm and beautful, and as the shades of evening came we lost sight of land and the dear old country we love, to see no more land until we reached the Hawaiian Islands," Harry wrote.

The Sonoma docked in Honolulu on Monday, Aug. 4, and a few hours were allowed for sight-seeing. Among the sights was Waikiki Beach, where Harry was quite impressed when he saw surfers for the first time --- "Native boys swim away out with a flat board and get on a big wave and come in, standing up on the board."

On Aug. 11, the Sonoma sailed into Pago Pago, American Samoa, and native dancers and vendors descended upon the tourists. Harry was so impressed that he declared that he was going to add the "hula" to his dance repertoire upon return to the United States. He bought a dress made of native grasses, beads, armlets and anklets --- everything he would need ---  from the dockside vendors.

The Sonoma pulled into Sydney Harbor on Monday, Aug. 18, and Harry and George disembarked as evening settled in and headed for their hotel in one of the "funniest looking cabs, two-wheeled things with the driver up on top in the back, English style." They had arrived!

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The next letters, written in mid-September, reached Chariton in time to be published during early November. On Sept. 11, Harry reported that he had opened at the Sydney's National Amphitheater on August 23 and had been performing there ever since. He was to close his three-week stand the next evening, but the National would remain his permanent address during those months down under.

Austrailians liked "the Charitonian," Harry wrote. "I am doing fine, and I change my act every week. When I come back here for my next stand, I will put on the 'Pantomime o Cleopatra." The theaters, he reported, were not up to American standards, but the money was good. On the coming Saturday, he and George were scheduled to depart for Adelaide, South Australia, by ship.

The second letter published in The Herald Patriot on Nov. 6 was written on Sept. 18 aboard the Steamship Indarra. The boys had spent two days and two nights in Melbourne, where an American friend, Martyune the fire dancer, was performing at the Tivoli, and had a "great visit." They were due to arrive in Adelaide on Sept. 19 for a four-week engagement.

In a letter datelined Adelaide and dated Sept. 23, Harry reported that he had opened at the King's Theater the preceding Saturday to a "tremendous big house and the Charitonian scored big." When not performing, Harry and George were being entertained royally by an Australian gentleman Harry had met in the United States a couple of years previously.

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During early October, Harry and George were on board a steamship again, sailing through the Great Australian Bight en route to Perth, on Australia's western coast. There were no trains into Perth, so the sea was the only practical transportation route, and it was in the Australian Bight that Harry experienced his first bout of seasickness --- sidelining him a couple of days.

But he had pleasant memories of Adelaide to look back on, reporting that he had not only been a "big hit," but that he and George had been royally entertained.

"In all I like Adelaide far better than Sydney, although it is not so large a place," he wrote. "Everybody is very hospitable and always ready to entertain a stranger. They are more hospitable than our people in America." 

While aboard ship, a wireless message had arrived informing Harry that "our American boy," lightweight boxer Pal Brown --- who weighed in at all of 130 pounds --- had won an exhibition prize fight against Australian favorite Hughey Meaghen.

"I'm so glad," Harry wrote "They never gave it a thought over here but that Meaghen would whip "Pal." You see, Pal came over with us on the Sonoma, and after we got to Sydney Pal and his sparring partner gave a sparring exhibition, and the papers came out and roasted the life out of him; called him the pretty boy from America, and because he wore silk tights, called him a "sissy," and said he'd have to take a few lessons; and say, to think he comes out and wallops the tar out of the champion of Australia tickles me to death."

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Harry's next letters, dated early November, reached Chariton for publication during early December. The first was written Nov. 4 aboard the steamship Katoomba, then sailing back through the Great Australian Bight en route to Adelaide from Perth.

After closing his engagement in Adelaide, Harry reported that he had been "quite a favorite" during his three-week engagement in Perth, a lovely city he said he hated to leave. But duty called. After alighting in Adelaide, the boys planned to take a train to Melbourne for another engagement.

The next letter was written Nov. 7 in Melbourne, where Harry was about ready to open, but the train trip from Adelaide had not been a pleasant one. "It was a most terrible ride on the poorest train I ever rode on," Harry wrote. He declared that he and George had nearly frozen to death. Unable to secure a sleeper, they'd been forced to sleep in a carriage without heat --- or blankets --- and even though it was summer, nights were "overcoat weather," Harry wrote.

It was "for all the world like riding in a caboose on a freight train and the fire gone out, and it's Christmas time," Harry continued. "When we tell them they are not up to date here, they tell us the country is young yet."

None-the-less, they survived, and Harry was delighted to be in Melbourne and assigned a good dressing room. He described it as the most "American" to date of Australia's cities. As should be obvious by now, Harry was something of a chauvinist when it came to his homeland.

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Harry's next letter, published in The Herald-Patriot on Feb. 5, 1914, was datelined "at sea" and dated December 27th, 1913 --- Harry and George were sailing from Sydney to New Zealand.

He wrote that after performing in Melbourne, Victoria, he had traveled to Brisbane in Queensland for an engagement --- and Brisbane had been very hot --- 108 in the shade and humid. But Queensland was the home of those famous black opals, Harry wrote, and he had taken his mind off the heat by purchasing a few "beautiful specimens."

From Brisbane, the boys had traveled back to Sydney to await passage to New Zealand, setting sail on Christmas Eve for a journey of 1,300 miles to Aukland. It had been a "bum Christmas," he reported, confined to his bunk most of the day, "too sick to even think of all the lovely snow and the Christmas spirit in dear old U.S.A. and I will say it was the most miserable Christmas I ever put in."

In a letter dated Dec. 31, datelined Aukland, Harry reported a safe landing and seemed to have recovered from his shipboard blues. "I do like this little city better than any of the Australian towns," he wrote. "It is more like our cities, more up to date."

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Harry's next letters, published a little later in February in the Herald-Patriot, all were datelined New Zealand. Harry loved everything about New Zealand --- except the trains. But the scenery, the people and the crowds at his performances all were described in glowing terms.

After performing in Aukland, Harry and George traveled by rail through spectacular scenery to Wellington for another gig, then prepared to sail from Wellington to Christchurch.

Harry had by now fulfilled his 20 week obligation and had been scheduled to sail for home January 30. But he was enjoying himself, the money was good --- and he was now in his 16-week extension with no immediate plans to return home.

One high point of the trip to New Zealand had been a deep-sea fishing expedition on a launch with 16 companions. George hand landed three big ones. "All I got was sunburn," Harry reported.

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Harry's final series of letters commenced with one datelined "at sea" and dated "April 5"

After returning to Australia from New Zealand, the boys had played Broken Hill, New South Wales, for a week. Broken Hill was a mining town "up near the opal fields, and it was a very monotonous week; very warm and positively nothing to do but sit around; no parks or anything as it is out in the desert. Caravans of camels come in every few days and bring provisions back and forth from the opal fields. Several of the boys went down in the mines, but I did not as it was too hot. We had a very bad train trip as the train service is very bad through here and the road is an independent one; it is on the order of our cattle trains, probably a little worse."

After brushing off the Broken Hill dust, Harry and George returned to Sydney for a final egagement prior to sailing. He reported that that he had been offered a tour through India, but declined. It was time to head home.

Harry and George had sailed from Sydney on April 4, again on the Sonoma. They passed the Fiji Islands, but didn't stop, and on Friday, April 10, arrived at Pago Pago. Unfortunately, the ship was under quarantine because of a smallpox case in Sydney, so passengers were not allowed to go ashore. Harry commissioned the purser to pick up a few things for him.

There was to be a big dance aboard ship on April 15 and since there were 12 vaudeville performers on board, Harry decided to make the ball "one grand success."

"So the 'Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon' was put on in all its grandeur. With a bit of help from the non-professionals it was a grand success. The principal parts were all played by the performers, using the non-professionals as wives of King Solomon, twelve in number, and others for slaves, attendants, etc. All of my wardrobe that was the least bit oriental was used. Miss Cordona, a Spanish dancer, and Miss Brown, a chorus girl, were attendants to the queen (Harry, of course) and wore a couple of my dancing dresses, and they did well in their parts. One of the performers took the part of the king and was fine. I, in all my dazzling glitter and glare of the Orient was Queen of Sheba. Beads from Samoa, shells, coral, jewels, etc., were presented to the king as precious gifts from the queen. When the royal procession entered the hurricane deck, we were greeted with rounds and rounds of applause and the whole thing was a grand success."

The Sonoma docked at Honolulu on April 14th and a full day was allowed for sight-seeing. This time, Harry and George took a swim at Waikiki beach --- and Harry got sunburned again.

The Sonoma finally docked at San Francisco near sunset on April 23, and Harry's adventure abroad concluded. His final letter home to Chariton was written just before disembarking.

"When you read this you will know I have landed, as it will not be mailed till we get ashore," he wrote. "Goodbye to all until I see you this summer. Respectfully, Harry Hemphill."

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Huntress 4: A murder in the family

This is the fourth in a series of six posts about Chariton's Harry Hemphill, a star of the vaudeville stage who performed from 1894 until 1916-17 as "Huntress," musician, dancer and female impersonator extraordinaire. When the last post ended, Harry was nearing the end of a 1911 summer break in Chariton that had included a five-day engagement at the Temple Theatre and extensive remodeling of the family cottage on West Braden Avenue. The photo at left was taken during 1907, when Harry was at the mid-point of his dancing career.

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Harry was packing his trunks and preparing to head for Chicago to begin a new vaudeville season during early August of 1911 when a family tragedy delayed his departure.

A telegram arrived at the Hemphill bungalow on Saturday, Aug. 5, informing Harry and his mother, Elizabeth, that Willard A. Rush, Harry's uncle and Elizabeth's baby brother --- at 32 actually three years younger than Harry --- had been shot to death the previous day by his wife in the depot at Sheffield in northern Iowa. 

The remains were to be shipped to Chariton for funeral services at the Methodist Church and burial in the Chariton Cemetery beside his mother, Rebecca (Scott) Rush-Croft. Harry and Elizabeth agreed to open their newly renovated bungalow on West Braden to receive the remains and serve as site for a wake --- hardly the type of joyous occasion that Harry preferred.

Elizabeth Hemphill and Willard Rush were the eldest and youngest children, respectively, of Artemus and Rebecca Rush, who arrived in Chariton with their older children during 1865. Elizabeth was some 20 years older than Willard, born in Chariton.

Willard had grown up in Chariton and Leon, where the Rush family was living when Artemus and Rebecca divorced, and he had gone to work as a station agent for the Rock Island Railroad, supervising operations in Leroy and then in Cambria, where he had by most accounts been a very popular young man. During 1902, he married Aletha Clay, of New Virginia. The couple moved to Sheffield during 1909, when Willard took charge of the Rock Island depot there. 

There were no witnesses to the shooting death, but testimony during Aletha's murder trail in October of 1911 confirmed that she had purchased a pistol during the week preceding after becoming convinced that her husband was carrying on with another woman, Miss Lulu Warner, an employee of the Sheffield telephone exchange.

When Willard's body was discovered, it was found to be lying across a stove poker on the floor of the depot and Aletha entered a plea of self-defense, alleging that he had threatened her with the poker during an argument. The prosecution argued that, unless the poker had been placed there after his death, he was using it to defend himself against Aletha and her pistol.

Newspaper reports suggest that public sentiment in the south of Iowa favored Willard, but the Methodist Church in Sheffield --- which posted Aletha's bond --- and others were solidly in her camp. A surprise witness testified late during the trial that Willard had threatened Aletha previously, but prosecution witnesses countered that Willard had feared for his life, alleging that his wife had become unstable, during the weeks preceding his death. Miss Warner stoutly denied that her relationship with Willard had involved anything other than flirting.

Whatever the case may have been, a Franklin County jury found Aletha "not guilty" during October --- although her attempts to collect life insurance due her under circumstances of ordinary death were fruitless. One of Harry's brother did collect the proceeds from a smaller policy, but none of it was used to buy Willard a tombstone and so his grave in Chariton remains unmarked.

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Once this family crisis had settled down, Harry departed Chariton for Chicago during late August to begin a new season and spent the balance of the year and the opening months of 1912 touring larger cities of the upper Midwest. He did, however, return to Chariton for a brief visit during November of 1911 to spend Thanksgiving with his mother.

Harry returned to Chariton during May of 1912 --- this time bringing all of his sets, scenery, costumes, props and equipment along. By now, all of this filled an entire rail car.

A grand benefit performance, this one for the Fraternal Order of Eagles, was scheduled for Thursday evening, May 30, at the Armory. Because no stage in Chariton was large enough to hold his full act, the Armory stage was enlarged to 40 by 26 feet for the occasion. Here's a brief review of the performance, from The Herald-Patriot:

Chariton was pleased to greet one of her young men, Harry Hemphill, in his role as "Huntress," at the head of his own concert company at the Armory Theatre last Thursday evening. Harry has been gradually advancing in his profession, that of feminine interprersonation and interpretive dancing until now he stands among the foremost in the profession. His work Thursday evening was the first time he has ever given his full production in Chariton, he having fitted up an enlarged stage at the Armory to accommodate all of his car-load of scenery and fixtures, and the effect was at once pleasing and thrilling to his large audience.

Some of his impersonations had been given by him here before but his drapery dances had never been seen in full, and the effects of his scenery and elaborate stage draperies, in combination with the work of his spot light artist, gave effects more beautiful than anything of the kind ever before seen or even attempted in Chariton. The interpretive dances from the Peer Gynt suite were something new here, and proved not only very pretty, but instructive as well.

Huntress was ably assisted in his concert by two of the finest artists who have ever played in Chariton, Carl Jacobson on the violin and C.H. Little on the piano. Both are but young men yet are virtuosos in their work.

The entertainment proved so pleasing that it was repeated on Friday evening for the benfit of many who were unable to be present on Thursday evening on account of other social engagements.

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A few days later, Harry departed Chariton to resume his season --- his last in the Midwest for a few years. The year 1913 would see him performing primarily on the West Coast, then in Australia and New Zealand.

Next time, Australia, New Zealand 

Huntress 3: Harry goes coastal, creates a bungalow

Harry's innovative bungalow today, more than a century after its reincarnation.

This is the third of several posts about Chariton's Harry Hemphill, a star of the vaudeville stage who performed from 1894 until 1916-17 as "Huntress," musician, dancer and female impersonator extraordinaire. When the last post ended, Harry, now 32, had just given a triumphant benefit performance in cooperation with another Chariton-based vaudeville act, the Martins, at the Armory during June of 1908, then joined his troupe in Alton, Illinois, for a new season. The photo at left was taken during 1907, when he was at the mid-point of his dancing career.

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By 1909, Harry was well established on the vaudeville circuits of both the upper Midwest and the West Coast and during March of that year, after concluding the winter season in Minneapolis, he departed for San Francisco to begin a 40-week tour of the Pacific states.

He returned to Chariton during early December with, according to the Patriot, several new acts and a fine new wardrobe. By this time, the dashing young man in a dress had begun to go bald --- not noticeable on stage of course because elaborate wigs also were elements of his costumes --- and had acquired a small dog that accompanied him.

"What's the use of Doc Anderson bragging about his dog costing $100?" the Herald-Patriot asked. "Harry Hemphill has a little pet dog with him this trip, not as big as one lung of Doc Anderson's dog, and it cost $125."

Harry also was booked at the Temple Theatre for a five-day run that concluded on Christmas day, 1910, his first official booking in a Chariton theater. Although the south-side Temple was Chariton's newest and largest vaudeville venue, its stage still was not large enough to contain all the elements of his act, but he was able to improvise. Here's how The Leader's Henry Gittinger --- who could be a trifle cranky about someone so exotic as Harry --- promoted the performance:

Imagine if you can a man --- a bald-headed one at that --- transforming himself in full view of the audience from a genuine representative of the male sex into a French soubrette or a typical Gibson girl. That is what will happen 5 days next week, commencing Tuesday, Dec. 21st, at the Temple Theatre when Huntress, the celebrated impersonator and male drapery dancer, will appear on the local vaudeville stage for the first time in this city. It will be especially interesting to the feminine part of the public to see how this man looks when transformed as if by magic into a true representative of their sex and it must be said if the advance reports that have preceded him are to be relied upon that so clever is the deception that few if any women, if they did not see the process of transformation, would know the difference. In his manner, walk and voice, Huntress gives all the attributes of one of the gentler sex and the effect is startling in the extreme. In connection with these impersonations, which include that of Anna Held and Edna May, Huntress presents his drapery and fire dances and the color and lighting effects are marvelous creations of the electrical and scenic art. The act carries a wealth of gorgeous scenery. The price for the five days will be 10 and 15 cents.

The Herald-Patriot's promotional story was more ornate --- the Herald-Patriot staff had known him since the 1890s and had attended several of his performances in Chariton and elsewhere --- and noted that Harry's act is "the most pretentious ever seen here in the history of Temple vaudeville" and that "he carries plush draperies and two full settings of the most gorgeous and beautiful scenery."

After his impersonations, The Herald-Patriot reported, "the velvet draperies are drawn away on a beautiful dragon setting in the full stage, and after a very quick change Huntress appears in his dance, "La Revene des Sorciere," or the dream of the witch, which is done in a sort of Salome costume, but it is not the Salome dance, but done with huge draperies extended on long bamboo poles, and an abundance of electrical effects are used to illuminate the dancer while he manipulates the draperies. The dancer alights and a large globe is rolled in and on this he does his dance. Georgeous electrical effects follow the dancer as he rolls over the stage on the globe manipulating the huge white draperies which hang in graceful billows from his shoulders. This dance is called "L'esprit du Nord," or the Spirit of the North. These dances are on the order of the fire dances, made famous by La Loie Fuller and the far famed Papinta and the entire act is gorgeous in the extreme.

Harry's act had been brought to Chariton by the Temple Theatre management, The Herald-Patriot reported, "at a big expense." According to follow-up reports, the investment paid off --- crowds at the Temple were the largest of the year.

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1909 also was the year Harry's mother, Elizabeth, finally decided to divorce her husband and Harry's father, William H. Hemphill, citing desertion as the cause. Their relationship had broken down several years earlier and by early in the new 20th century, he had moved on first to Creston, then to Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Elizabeth was living in the cottage at 1219 West Braden Avenue, two and a half blocks west of the square, that Harry had purchased for her during 1898.

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During early January, 1910, Harry departed for Minneapolis to rejoin his company and continued an upper Midwest tour, including Chicago, for much of the year. During late 1910, he returned to the Pacific Coast for another season, not making it home to Chariton again until May of 1911 --- with plans to spend the summer.

His major project during the summer of 1911 was a total renovation of the family cottage on West Braden Avenue, which also was the only permanent home Harry had during those years spent on the road.

That project had been completed by July and on the 11th of that month, The Herald-Patriot published the following "review" of his innovative renovation:

HARRY HEMPHILL'S BUNGALOW

For years Harry Hemphill, Chariton's talented young impersonator, whose stage name is "Huntress," has been gathering ideas in house building as he traveled from one end of the country to the other, and this summer, while he is home with his mother on a well earned vacation, he gave vent to all his pent-up ideas by having her cottage west of the square rebuilt in true bungalow style.

To those who knew the house before, the transformation is simply wonderful. A low sloping roof in front, with a sleeping porch and pergola, is the only hint of the interior beauties. The parlor is as pretty and artistic a room as there is in all Chariton. Finished with panel work of Harry's own designing, and with comfortable looking lounging seats that by a twist of the wrist can be transformed into downy beds, which in turn can disappear into the walls and re-appear on the other side as the front of a roomy dresser --- these are some of the wonders that Harry has worked in the little cottage.

A dainty corner for his new baby grand piano, a massive oak chandelier, a china closet of original design, a neat little bath room with handy arrangements for running water from a cistern nearby --- these and many other new ideas in bungalow building are some of the things that Harry has worked into his mother's house. It only shows what can be done when one has a taste for pretty things and is not afraid to break away from the old conventions.

Coming next: Harry's Egyptian phase

Huntress 2: Bright lights and baseball, too

This is the second of several posts about Chariton's Harry Hemphill, a star of the vaudeville stage who performed from 1894 until 1916-17 as "Huntress," a musician, dancer and female impersonator. When the last post ended, Harry, age 18, had just given notice at The Chariton Patriot and set out to join his first vaudeville company. The photo at left was taken during 1907, when he was at the mid-point of his dancing career.

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Harry's first engagement as a vaudeville musician, dancer and female impersonator was with the Goodenough Indian Medicine Company, based in La Crosse, Wisconsin. That 10-month gig lasted from January of 1895 until late October, when the company closed its season and he returned to Chariton to take a break.

Information is scarce about most of the hundreds if not thousands of traveling shows and their itinerant vaudeville performers who blanketed the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but most likely the Goodenough company performed in rented halls during the winter and traveled with its own tents during warmer months. The outfit's success or failure depended primarily upon sales of Dr. Goodenough's Tonic, a patent medicine with no medicinal value whatsoever.

Back in Chariton during November of 1895, Iseminger Post No. 18, Grand Army of the Republic, and Co. H., Iowa National Guard, brought the Harry Kimmel Company to town for benefit performances. The centerpiece was a production of the popular Civil War drama, "The Confederate Spy," but there were other acts as well, including Harry. "The dancing and female impersonations of our young friend, Mr. Harry Hemphill, were particularly good and won for him the praise of the entire house," the Patriot reported in its edition of Nov. 21.

Also during November, to bridge the income gap between engagements, Harry launched a dancing school for children younger than 12. He rented rooms upstairs in the east-side Hickman Building and commenced teaching a class of 22 youngsters. A second term of classes opened during late December, and on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 1896, he rented the Armory and invited the public (for a fee) to attend a "fancy dress ball" that featured his students. There were plenty of local musicians, including Harry, to provide music.

He also held regular social dances in his rented rooms, including one on New Years Day 1896, and performed as a musical soloist at social gatherings around Chariton. He had more down time between engagements during his early career and continued to use these ways to supplement his income.

During late February, 1896, Harry closed his dancing school, ended his break and headed for Sidney in far southwest Iowa to join another traveling theatrical troupe, but this engagement didn't go well and by late April he was home in Chariton again, telling his friends at The Patriot that he was done with life on the road. He re-opened his dancing school, but soon had found a job with another troupe and was off again.

Harry joined the Star Specialty Co. during February of 1898, but was able to come home for his sister, Maude's, high school graduation in May before rejoining the company later that month in Burlington. That September, he came down with typhoid while performing in Bonaparte and was forced to return to Chariton to recuperate. Fortunately, he recovered from what at the time was a very dangerous illness.

Harry lost his position while recuperating, but quickly found another with old friends and by mid-October he was well enough to travel to La Crosse to join the Goodenough Entertainers, formerly the Goodenough Indian Medicine Company, with whom he signed on for two more years. When he returned home for a break during December of 1900, the Patriot reported, "Harry is quite a successful lady impersonator and has been playing the role of leading 'lady' for this company for more than two years."

While in Chariton for Christmas 1900, the Hemphills enjoyed a visit from one of Harry's friends, Vernon Bestor, "a lady impersonator with the Darymple Comedy Co." Then during early January, he was off to Des Moines to join the Nelson Combination Company, again as a "lady impersonator."

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If anyone had the patience to wade through it, I could go on and one here about the details of Harry's career during the next few years, but I'm going to jump ahead to 1908. During the intervening years, Harry continued to perform with various companies, including H. C. Conrad's Comedy Company, the Great Bunker Comedy Company, the Haley Vaudeville Company and the Fitzgerald German Medicine Company. Most of his performances were in the Midwest, but he traveled to other parts of the country to perform, too, and was especially taken with California.

During April of 1904 he was in Chariton briefly to serve as best man during his sister, Maude's, marriage to James D. Sullivan, an Iowa City barber who had gotten his start in Chariton. He was too  busy by now to conduct dancing schools, but did find time occasionally to conduct classes in La Crosse, Chariton, Leon and elsewhere in his other passion --- "high art embroidery and modern lace making."

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Harry frequently organized benefit performances for local causes while spending his breaks in Chariton and during June of 1908, when his vacation coincided with that of another act also home-based in Chariton --- the Martins, the Chariton baseball team benefitted. Harry and Dave Martin and Dave's wife, Percie Martin, rented the Armory and organized a big show on the evening of Friday, June 26. The advertisement for it at the beginning of this post appeared in The Patriot of June 25.

Here's the story that accompanied the advertisement:

There is a treat in store for all who go to the armory tomorrow (Friday) night. They will be entertained in a delightful way and one that is novel and unusual in Chariton.

Chariton has produced several professional stage people who have won for themselves notable recognition throughout the United States. Among these are Harry Hemphill, son of Mrs. E.A. Hemphill, and Dave Martin, son of Thos. H. Martin. These people, together with Mrs. Dave Martin, are home for a vacation from their labors and on tomorrow night they will give an entertainment in the armory.

Mr. Hemphill is known on the stage as "Huntress." His specialty is female impersonations and fancy stage dancing. In this line of work he ranks among the best in the country, appearing throughout the United States in all of the better grades of vaudeville theatres. He wears beautiful and costly costumes and draperies, all of which are his own handiwork. His stage settings, curtains and the like are magnificent. He gives imitations of leading actresses and dancers, does the serpentine and other fancy dances, one of which he does on a large revolving ball. In each of the different numbers on the program he wears a different gown. Calcium lights, with beautiful colored slides, are used in some of the dances to add to the effect of the yards of flowing draperies which he wears. One of Mr. Hemphill's pleasing impersonations will be an imitation of the famous French actress, Anna Held, in which he will sing her song, "The Gay Parisenee."

The Martins are musicians. They present an original one act musical playlet entitled "Harvest Time." Mr. Martin plays the part of an old farmer, and Mrs. Martin appears in the role of a stranded actress. this is a delightful little comedy in which they introduce their specialty of performing, singly and together, on a number of musical instruments. Song numbers are also a part of this act. The Martins are among the best instrumentalists on the vaudeville stage and their act is clever and original. They have presented it in all of the best theatres in the larger cities. They use a beautiful stage setting of rural design.

Assisting in the entertainment will be eight of Chariton's leading young lady vocalists, Mrs. Howard Copeland, Misses Ruth Leonard, Carrie Custer, Dorothy McCollough, Mattie Penick, Marie Bown, Josie Swift and Ollie Connell. They will appear in chorus both with "Huntress" and the Martins. The Chariton Orchestra and Miss Lillie Wood, pianist, will also assist. The entertainment will take up about two hours time. It will be well worth seeing. Reserved seats are only 35 cents and are on sale at Jones drug store.

In connection it may be said that a share of the net proceeds of this entertainment will be given to the players on the Chariton baseball team. Attend and give our home stage folks an enthusiastic reception, and lend encouragement to our ball team too.

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The Friday night performance was such a success than an encore performance on Saturday night was added --- and everyone was happy  about the outcome.

The baseball team was having a busy weekend, too. It defeated Carlisle 9-1 on Friday, lost 5-1 at Hiteman on Saturday, claimed an "unfair deal" when the boys lost to Hocking on Sunday, but the team redeemed itself the following Wednesday by defeating the Buxton Wonders 3-2 in a hometown match.

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Having done his duty to the hometown folks, Harry hopped aboard a train at the Chariton depot during early July of 1908 and headed for Burlington to join friends for a camping expedition along the Mississippi, then continued east to Alton, Illinois, to commence a new stage season.

Next time: Harry's Cottage

Huntress: Chariton's gender-bending superstar

Harry Hemphill, highly acclaimed after 13 years on the vaudeville circuit as what his hometown newspapers described sometimes as a "lady impersonator," was 31 when this photo was taken during 1907 at Maxwell Studio in Mt. Ayr. Quite likely, Harry, who performed as Huntress, had sewn the costume himself --- he had learned the art of dress-making at his mother's knee.

The photo is from the J. Willis Sayre collection of theatrical photographs, housed at University of Washington Libraries, and the only image of this fascinating and almost forgotten guy I've found --- other than images on newspaper microfilm that do not reproduce well.

Harry's act was constantly evolving, from 1894 until retirement from the stage during 1916-17, but here's a snapshot in words, taken by a reporter for The Chariton Herald, when Huntress --- home to spend the holidays with his mother --- and his friends packed the Mallory Opera Hall during early January, 1903, for a performance to benefit the Royal Neighbors of America piano fund. A "North Dakota blizzard that was howling through every key hole and crevice" of the venerable building had not deterred the appreciative crowd.

"The impersonations of Mr. Hemphill were especially clever," the reporter wrote, "but the star performances of the evening were his drapery dances upon a large rolling globe, accompanied by beautiful electrical effects. This feat was certainly a most remarkable achievement and exhibited great skill and training in this line, in which he ranks high as an artist. The numerous costumes worn by Mr. Hemphill in his various acts, were designed and made by himself, and his art needle-work is another source of wonder to his friends. The white silk gown worn during the last act upon the globe contained about a hundred yards, and was made especially for this occasion."

This was relatively early in Harry's career and as the years passed, the Huntress act grew more complex, his costumes more elaborate, his retinue larger --- and he traveled across the country with his own rail car filled with costumes, props and scenery, even spent nearly a year performing in top venues in Australia and New Zealand.

I suppose some might have dismissed Harry as a "sissy," but this was one highly talented, very strong and determined young man.

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Harry was the son of a blacksmith and a dress-maker, born on June 19, 1876, less than two years after the Oct. 18, 1874 marriage of his parents --- William H. Hemphill and Elizabeth Rush --- in Chariton. His only sibling, sister Maude, came along a couple of years later.

He grew up in the family cottage, just west of the square on Braden Avenue, but ended his formal education after just eight years in the Chariton schools, going to work at age 13 or 14 as a printer's devil, then apprentice, at The Chariton Patriot. The Patriot staff remained his friends and enthusiastic supporters as the years passed, following his career in considerable detail.

There were early signs, however, of the young man's more artistic talents and aspirations. During August of 1893, for example, The Patriot reported that Harry had "entertained about 20 of his friends to a masquerade party last evening." By early 1904, he had helped to organize the Chariton String Band, seven or eight young men --- including Mortimer Wilson who would go on to earn considerable musical acclaim himself --- who performed at various functions around town --- including a March social sponsored by the ladies of the United Presbyterian Church.

During June of that year, the band performed to considerable acclaim before guests at the Mallory estate, Ilion, and also during a party at the home of Col. and Mrs. Bartholomew and pronounced themselves ready to "furnish music for parties, dances and all social events. The people of Chariton should remember the boys when first class music is desired."

During October, Chariton hosted a district convention of the Womens Relief Corps --- auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic --- and Harry and his friend, Walter Smith --- on guitar and violin respectively --- were on hand to accompany the talented Katie Swett as she entertained during the grand finale, the "camp fire" (neither fire nor a camp was involved). They accompanied Katie again during a "literary entertainment" during November at the Methodist church.

On December 20, 1894, the Patriot announced that "Mr. Harry Hemphill, who has been a faithful and efficient employee in the Patriot office for the past four years, severed his connection Saturday night and bade adieu to his many friends for a few months absence in the northern part of the state."

Harry had secured a position with a vaudeville troupe then touring in north Iowa and was off and running, or in this case dancing.

More to come

Geeking out with the National Trust at Blickling Hall

I watched a couple of seasons of the wildly popular Downton Abbey series mostly to watch Dame Maggie Smith chew up the scenery and because it served as a virtual tour of a real-life country house called Highclere Castle, home of the Herberts (earls Carnarvon). A floor plan was kept at hand to make it easier to figure out how the public rooms of this 17th-century building recreated in "Jacobethan" style during the first half of the 19th century by Sir Charles Barry worked.

Then I stopped watching (a) because I'm not especially interested in what happened to domestic architecture in the UK after the Regency (1811-1820) and (b) because the Downton writers started killing off favorite characters, other than Dame Maggie.

Geeking out over big old houses (and much smaller ones) has been a pastime not exactly since infancy, but close. No idea why. But I can spend hours poring over books, floorplans, drawings, photographs --- and now Web-based media --- figuring out how buildings work and admiring the art and craft involved their creation.

This is why I'm a big fan of Britain's National Trust (for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty), owner and custodian of hundreds of properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has its own National Trust. Neither of these should be confused with the U.S. National Trust for Historic Preservation, although motives and manners are similar. (Highclere, by the bye, is privately owned).

The National Trust has made me very happy in recent months by upgrading the Web sites --- previously fairly stodgy --- it maintains for individual properties, coming up with innovative ways to share them --- and photographing and placing online in a searchable database items from the collections of these properties.

The image at the top here was lifted from what is the best "virtual tour" of an historic property I've come across, featuring Blickling Hall, a magnificent Jacobean "stately home" in Norfolk. Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian, left the Blickling Estate to the National Trust at his death during 1940 in Washington, D.C., while serving as British ambassador to the United States. Here's a link to the tour.

Here's another link, this one to the updated Blickling Estate Web Site.

And here's a final link, to the National Trust Collections Web site, where a "Blickling" search turned up 14,954 items. Caution --- the "Collections" site requires time to process requests.

Will it be New York, Harvard, or neither?

A south-of-Iowa route for this year's Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) was announced over the weekend. This will be the 44th year thousands of people from all over the world have gotten together during July to ride bicycles across the state --- from the Missouri to the Mississippi rivers. 

Chariton has hosted the multitude overnight twice during those years, but this year's route cuts across our neighbor to the south, Wayne County. After launching in Glenwood, overnight stops are planned in Shenandoah, Creston, Leon and Centerville before wheels turn northeasterly through Ottumwa and Washington to be dipped in the Mississippi at Muscatine.

So I've been amusing myself this morning trying to figure out how the multitudes are going to get themselves across Wayne County (detailed route maps haven't been released yet).

RAGBRAI organizers avoid state and federal highways as much as possible and generally stick to paved county roads. Trouble is, there is no paved county route from Leon to Centerville all the way across Wayne County no matter which way you go.

I'm putting my money on the southerly route --- from Leon down to Lineville, then up through Clio and Allerton to No. 2, east through Corydon, then south again and east through Harvard, Seymour and Numa to Centerville. 

On the other hand, there's the northern route --- from Leon up to Garden Grove and Humeston, then eastward through Cambria, Millerton, New York, Bethlehem and Confidence, then along the south shore of Lake Rathbun to Rathbun, perhaps, then in to Centerville from the north.

Whatever the route, RAGBRAI is a great event for Iowa --- and this year for many southern counties again. I'll be anxious to see if those cyclists are channeled through Harvard --- or New York. Or neither.

What happened to Otter Creek's town of Savanah?

The list of Lucas County "ghost towns" --- Greenville, Freedom, Last Chance, Cleveland, Tallahoma, Ireland, Olmitz, Tipperary and more --- is a long one. These aspirational little places launched, then within a few years crash-landed.

But Savanah, it would appear, never even got off the ground. Its name appears on no list, nor does it appear anywhere in Lucas County records, except ....

I was scrolling through Lucas County Town Lot Book B on microfilm earlier this week, looking for the plat of Freedom, when I came across the plat of Savanah in "Otter Township"  on Page 123/125.

According to the text of the entry, W.T. Wade --- then county surveyor --- laid the three-acre town out during early 1856 around a generous central square, using a stone planted in the middle of the square as a reference point, then recorded the plat on March 13. Wade's clients --- patrons of the town --- were Jeremiah Long, James Bussell and William Blakely.

Today, the only landmark at the town site is Clore-Wells Pioneer Cemetery --- very old and very well maintained, but without a burial since the 1930s. Savanah's site and the cemetery are located a mile due east of the still-recognizable village of Norwood, which came along about 10 years later. "Otter" township was, of course, "Otter Creek."

It would have made sense to found a town here during 1856 --- new settlers were arriving regularly and the site was astraddle the main trail from Chariton to Indianola and Fort Des Moines beyond.

But for some reason, it didn't get off the ground. I'm speculating that this may have been related to the personal lives of its patrons, who for one reason or another didn't work to promote it or to found any of the usual centerpieces for a little community like this --- a store, a post office, a blacksmith shop and, perhaps, a church.

All three of the patrons were young men. Jeremiah Long, 26, and his wife, Mary, were living next door at the time the plat was recorded to the extended George and Elizabeth Blakely family (recorded in the 1856 census by a worker who couldn't spell as "Blankay"), which included William, age 28, and his apparent wife, Mary (Thirteen family members were living in the Blakely household during 1856, but the census-taker muddled them all together to the point that it's impossible to say who belonged to whom, other than the fact they all were Blakelys).

Living nearby were James S. Bussell, age 28, his wife, Sarah, 23, and their daughter, Elizabeth Alice, age 2, along with H.M. Bussell, age 20. Another Bussell sibling, William Wyatt, and his family also lived in the neighborhood.

By 1860, however, the Longs had moved to Illinois, where he was working as a farm hand. According to the 1881 history of Lucas County, "Jerry and Mary Long" had lost a daughter to death, aged about a month, during 1853 --- and she most likely was among the first burials at Wells-Clore.

The entire Blakely family had moved on, too, although I've not taken the time to find out exactly where they went. The 1881 history records that William and Mary left behind a son who was born and died ca. 1852-53 --- another early but unmarked Clore-Wells burial.

James S. and Sarah Bussell still were living in the neighborhood during 1860, but their only child, Elizabeth Alice, had died on Christmas day, 1857, aged 3 years and 9 months, and had been buried in the pioneer cemetery. Sarah died on April 21, 1862, and was buried near their daughter. These two graves are marked.

James remarried, but there were no more children; he and his second wife, Jane, moved west to Ord, in central Nebraska, ca. 1880.

In the meantime, William H. and Margaretta Ashby had brought their family west from Indiana in 1861 and settled on what became the Norwood townsite. Ashby was named Norwood's first postmaster on March 2, 1868 --- as close as we can come to a founding date for the village --- and any residual memories of little Savanah continued to fade.

Delia Wing's Story: May School in the 1880s

Wild plums grew in Warren Township thickets during the 1880s --- and still do. These were found in August 2015.

This is the last story of early days in Warren Township's May crossroads community that I have up my sleeve --- for the moment.

The story-teller is Delia Alice (Wing) McCollough, who moved into the neighborhood during 1880, age 11, with her family, then struggling to make a living on rented land after being driven back to Iowa from Kansas some years earlier by a crop failure. Her story was published in The Herald-Patriot of May 6, 1937, during the year that followed William DeForrest Gay's multi-part memoir of growing up in the same neighborhood.

Delia's parents were Casper Wister and Frances Jane "Fanny" (Allard) Wing and she had six siblings who survived childhood --- older sister, Nora (Spencer) and younger sister, Truthful (Malsbury), and brothers Robert, Doctor Seneca (Doctor was a given name, not a title), Joseph Thomas and Casper Lee. There also were at least two children who died young, buried at Goshen Cemetery --- John David and Bessie.

After she had educated herself as best she could in country and Derby schools, Delia took the county superintendent of school's examination and was licensed to teach, which she did for some six years at Freedom and elsewhere in Lucas County. Then, during 1893, she married William Hurd McCollough. They farmed in the Derby area for some years and had four children, then moved west in 1908 to Allen County in southeast Kansas, where her parents and three of her siblings also settled. Brothers Casper Jr. and Joseph T., however, remained in or returned to southern Iowa and are buried in the Derby Cemetery. Delia died in 1939 in Kansas, age 70.

The "Indians" remembered by Delia from her early years in Doniphan County may have been members of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, who still have a tribal office near White Cloud. Despite Delia's nightmares, the Iowa were not in the business of massacring or terrifying anyone, but were struggling to survive after having been driven west of the Missouri by EuroAmerican settlement years earlier, then finding themselves under pressure from land-hungry white settlers again.

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My first day at school was in Doniphan county, Kansas, where we were living at that time. It was the year 1874, before I was five years old. I went with my elder sister, Nora, across the prairie where many kinds of spring prairie flowers were in bloom. I remember only the trip there, the bouquets of flowers the teacher had on her desk and on the stove --- it was warm and no fire was needed --- and the long trip home. I became very tired and I think Nora said I cried. This is my first definite memory.

There were several other incidents that year that may be worthy of mention. Father had gone to Marshall county (Kansas) in 1871, taking a homestead, and after proving up on it rented the farm near White Cloud. However, when the scourge of grasshoppers came and ate his crops down to the ground, he changed his mind from making our home in Kansas and we moved to Wayne county, Iowa, in a covered wagon.

While living there (in Kansas) we children listened to the Indian tales the older folks told, which filled our lives with fear. Only a few years before there were massacres near where we lived and one day while my sisters and I were playing in the yard we heard yells and when we looked a body of Indians were coming on their ponies as fast as they could run. The Indians were painted, had feathers in their hair and weapons in their belts. that was a horrible nightmare to me for years. I even dreamed of Indians.

Another incident was on our way to Iowa. When we came to the Missouri river we drove onto the steamboat and of course that was quite interesting to me. All at once there was a scream of "There goes a man!" We looked and saw the body of a drowned man floating quite a distance downstream.

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We settled on a small farm with a log house and called that home for three years. I do not recall if we started school that winter or the following spring. I could read in the First Reader when I commenced school. I used McGuffey's reader and speller. Words were easy to pronounce and spell.

We passed our Grandmother Allard's house on our way to and from school, and we were always hungry when we got that far. She always had something ready for us, and how good it tasted.

I went to three different schools while living in Wayne county the five years following our arrival. One was a log school house in the midst of an oak and hickory timber on a road from Lineville to Clio. There were new seats and desks, but the recitation seats were two-inch planks from a nearby sawmill, with legs inserted in holes bored in the ends. However, within the next year a new frame building was erected with all new appliances for those days.

Aside from the regular school sports, we bent down young hickory saplings and made one-way teeter-totters. We had very happy days there. I used my slate instead of a copy book. One copy I had in this school when I first started was, "Many men of many minds; many birds of many kinds."

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In the spring of 1880 we moved to Lucas county, having rented a farm in May district, Warren township. I was not quite 11 years old, but it seemed that move was quite the turning point in my life.

I was ready for fractions. Nowadays pupils have fractions along with division, which helps so much. Then they came as a shock, unless the teacher used them of her own accord. As a rule they did not.

All our books except arithmetic and geography had to be changed. Instead of McGuffey's readers, we had the American Educational. I read in the Fifth Reader. McGuffey's spellers were changed to Swinton's, which were quite different. We used Monteith's geographies and Swinton's history. While dates were hard for most children they were easy for me, and we had pages of them to learn. As I look back I think May was a good school and consider my six years there were mainly the foundation for my work as a teacher in Lucas county, which also covered a period of six years.

That first April morning when school began, four from our family started on the way across the George Champlin cornfield east to the road, one-fourth mile to Henry Delmar's place, thence north about three-fourths of a mile to the school house. The scenes were all new and the people we saw were strangers to us. Mr. Delmar's house was log at that time, one room below and a bed room above. Mrs. Delmar was the first person to call on my mother. When we came to the corner, there was the school house and cornering across the road from there was Mr. Champlin's place. It was about the nicest house anywhere around.

Miss Ida Culver was our teacher. There were many more pupils than we were used to in former schools, and no one we know. After school was called and we had taken our seats, Miss Culver was taking the names and ages of the children when she came to a seat where a little girl with lovely face, blue eyes and light brown hair, and her brother with black eyes and hair, were sitting together. Before Miss Culver could ask, the little girl said, "My name is Nellie Wright, six years old, and this is my little brother, Gene, five." She spoke out so frankly that it seemed funny to the school and everybody laughed. However, Nellie was not disturbed. She was a dear child and everybody loved her. She was one of the dearest friends I ever knew.

Then we attracted some attention --- new pupils are usually objects of curiosity --- and I suppose we were not the most attractive subjects. I wore my hair combed straight back, only parted in the middle, and braided in two braids looped up to the beginning and tied --- but not with a ribbon. We were not blessed with such luxuries. My parents were passing through a period of adversity --- but we had happiness and pleasures that money would not buy.

The term passed without much excitement, and we were getting acquainted.

The summer a Sunday school was organized and we girls attended. I remember Mrs. Gay, who in her kindly and quiet way tried to make us feel at home. Mrs. Wright also was very kind to us. Mrs. Powers was a neighbor and friend, practical and helpful in many ways.

In vacation we located a wild plum thicket, which in August had fine plums. We also found where wild strawberries grew. The branch west of the house was explored for quite a distance --- the shadiest spot, the willow tree we had watched from the bud to leaf. It was a lovely tree to play in. The water in the branch was clear and cool, starting from springs far to the north end of the William Lazear pasture. I loved to wade in that branch and climb the trees. My health was not the best and I was very much under size and weight, therefore my mother gave me much outdoor freedom in the hope of overcoming it. The cause was prolonged illness with measles and scarlet fever.

The winter term of school was taught by Miss Juniaette Shepherd. Some of the students were Eliza, Mary and Lillie Fulton, Flora Powers, Frank and John Voris, Jimmie and George Miller, Lizzie and Jane Delmar, Carrie and William Gay, Charles Young, and Dave, Tom and Charity Plymate. That was an interesting winter. Miss Shepherd had her work well in hand. Her quiet reserve and thoroughness made it a success. I was not what one would call a student, as I usually saw what went on. Nevertheless, I had my lessons. However, my older sister, with whom I sat, had to jog me with her elbow once in a while to call my attention to my study. She pored over her books every minute, even recess, and noon usually found her seated with some book.

Other teachers I had at May were Marion Sigler, J.M. Speers, Mary Hopkins, Ida Enslow, Carrie Gay and Eliza Fulton. Each of these teachers had some outstanding characteristics.

After two years we moved west a half-mile, which made a walk of one and three-fourths miles. We had to go cornering across Mr. Lazear's big pasture, where the bluestem grass grew high although many cattle were pastured there. We had only a cowpath and many a snake was killed by my sister, Nora, who carried a stick and seldom let one get away.

When Miss Gay was teaching, Mother told Truthful and me to come by Mrs. Fulton's on an errand one evening. After we left there we crossed the field south of their home, then had to cross the big pasture where no person ever passed unless on horseback looking after the cattle. We were chatting along on our way when we saw a beautiful green knoll to the right of us. I suggested we go to it. We got almost to the knoll when to our consternation and horror a great snake which lay coiled on the very top raised its head --- about a foot, it seemed --- and started darting its fiery tongue at us. Truthful screamed and ran, but I was afraid to run for fear it might chase me, so I faced the snake and backed away. It began to spread its head and as I watched it seemed like its head became more than twice the size it was at first. The whole great coil was writhing, all the time its beady eyes were on me, but I still backed away until I was sure I was safe, then I made double quick time. Mother said it was a viper. We told her it was as large as her arm in the largest part. It seems almost like yesterday that we saw that snake. We never went that way again, and we never heard of anyone else seeing it. It was a horror to us long after.

That summer at school we girls organized a play Sunday school. Addie Gay, Jane Delmar and Lillie Fulton were teachers and officers. We learned Bible verses and the one who learned the most was to get a prize. I happened to be the lucky one and the girls gave me goods for a new dress.

The last two years were practically uneventful, although I was making great plans to become a teacher and working very ardently toward it. I had taken up Green's grammer and Cutter's physiology and advanced geography and had been through Ray's third part arithmetic, but was going over it again. Those two years were my last at May.

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In the spring of 1886 we moved north of Derby about a mile in Union township. I attended the spring and fall terms at the Fisher school and at Derby during the winter. May Sutton, Carl Clouse and Isaac Bowen were my teachers. Mr. Clouse and Mr. Bowen were fine teachers and did much in helping me so that when I took my teacher's examination the following spring I received a certificate which qualified me to teach. J.M. Hanlin was county superintendent.

Early one morning I decided to apply for a school, and as there was no such thing as a car those days and even top buggies were rare around where we lived, I went horseback on Old Frank. I rode sidewise on a man's saddle as I had not even a lady's side saddle or the customary riding equipment.

The first two schools visited had already hired their teachers. However, I was directed to Freedom school. I visited each board member and received some encouragement, and they promised to write me as soon as they had a meeting and made a decision. One board member was rather doubtful that I could manage the school as I was quite young and very small. I told them if they would give me their school I would do my best.

Well, they hired me and I contracted for a three-month spring term at $20 per month. A dollar a day seemed grand to me as I had never earned but little in my life and that was at housework which was exceedingly small pay. I taught Freedom school several terms. My last certificate was signed by Carrie E. Allen.

I had a slight accident on my way home that evening. In crossing a culvert my horse stepped on a broken board and went through to his hip with one foot. I slid off unhurt and worked for what seemed a half hour getting him out. He limped some, but we arrived safely home about 8 o'clock that evening. I missed dinner but did not mind as I had great hope I would get the school.

We've got politics to keep us warm

I went looking online for an Iowa Caucus cartoon this morning, and found this --- probably from an earlier caucus season. Funny, and not far off the mark.

I'll be glad when it's over. Heaven only knows to what degree all of that hot air has accelerated global warming in the Midwest or how many Facebook "friends" have been unfriended or otherwise silenced.

Of course I'll be attending my neighborhood Democratic caucus on Feb. 1 and of course I'll be caucusing for Hillary. Nothing against Bernie --- other than those political spots that have been preceding every YouTube video I wanted to watch undisturbed. Really annoying.

I believe I've only unfriended two people --- one for suggesting that the incumbent president should be killed, another for excessive cussing. Politics bring out the worst in people sometimes and you learn things about people you'd rather not have known.

On the other hand, I think everyone is entitled to aggravate their Facebook friends who hold opposing political views by posting something snarky --- twice a day at the most. Beyond that, it's overkill.

You're preaching to the choir --- not changing hearts and minds --- so don't push it too far. The rest of us are just yawning and scrolling on by.

And do check facts. I misattributed a statement to Donald Trump early in the season and was appropriately humiliated. He says quite enough verifiably absurd things to make it unnecessary to make things up.

There, I've gotten dig number one out of the way for the day.

It's been fairly cold in Iowa during January and all of that politicking has kept blood pressures up and blood circulating. Maybe that's good. Hopefully, the turn toward spring during February will make it unnecessary.