North Carolina Newspapers

OXFORD PUBLIC LEDGER, FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1910 ABOUT T ow mm Hi! An Elusive Individual and How He Was Finally Caught. By O. HENRY. rCopvris-ht, br McClure, Fhillips & Co.J There -were two or three things that I wanted to know. I do not care about a mystery. So I began to in quire. It took me two weeks to find out what women cany in dress suit cases. And then I began to ask why a mat tress is made in two pieces. This se rious query was at first received with suspicion because it sounded like a conundrum. I was at last assured that its double form of construction was designed to make lighter the bur den of woman, who makes up beds. 1 was so foolish as to persist, begging Ji. SALVATION EiASSIK SHOOK HEP. CONTRI BUTION KECEPTACIiE. to know why. then, they were not made in two equal pieces. Whereupon I was ehunned. The third draft that I craved from -the fount of knowledge was enlighten ment concerning the character known as "a man about town." He was more vague in my mind than a type should be. We must have a concrete idea of anything, even if it be an imaginary idea, befoi"e we can comprehend it. Now, I have a mental picture of John Doe that is as clear as a steel engraving. His eyes are weak blue, he wears a brown vest and a shiny black serge coat,, he stands always in the sunshine chewing something, and he keeps half shutting his pocket knife and opening it again with his fthumb. And, if the man higher up is ever found, take my assurance for it the will be a large, pale man with blue wristlets showing under his cuffs, and lie will be sitting to have his shoes polished within sound of a bowling iilley, and there will be somewhere about him turquoises. But the canvas of my imagination, when it came to limning the man about town, was blank. I fancied that he had a detachable sneer (like the ,mile of the Cheshire cat) and at tached cuffs, and that was all, where upon I asked a newspaper reporter about him. 'Why," said he, "a man about town iis something between a rounder and a clubman. lie isn't exactly well, he fits in between Mrs. Fish's receptions i and private boxing bouts. He doesn't well, lie doesn't belong to the Lotos i club or to the Jerry McGeogheghan 'Galvanized Iron Workers' Apprentices' 'Left Hook Chowder association. I j don't exactly know how to describe hun to you. You'll see him every where there's anything doing. Yes, !I suppose he's a type. Dress clothes : every evening, knows the ropes, calls ; every policeman and waiter in town ; by their fir3t names. No. he never travels with the hydrogen derivatives. 'You generally see him alone or with -'another man." My friend the reporter left me. and ! I wandered farther afield, r.y this time the 3.12G electric lights on the Rinlto were alight. People passed, but they ; held me not. Faphian eyes rayed upon me and left me unscathed. Diners, heimgangers, shopgirls, confidence ihen, panhandlers, actors, highwaymen, mil lionaires and outlanders hurried, skip ped, strolled, sneaked, swaggered and scurried by me, but I took no note of them. I knew them all. I had read their hearts; they had served. I want ed my man about town. lie was a type, and to drop him would be an error-a typograph, But, no, let us .-continue. J "Let" hs continue with a moral di gression. To see a family reading the "Sunday paper gratifies. The sections have been separated. Papa is earnest ly scanning the page that pictures the young lady exercising before an open window and bending but there, there! Mamma is interested in trying to guess the missing letters in the wowl N w Yo k. The oldest girls are eagerly perusing the financial reports, for a certain young man remarked last Sun day night that he had taken a flier in 5 X. and Z. Willie, the eighteen-year-7 old son, who attends a New York public school, is absorbed in the week 3y article describing how to make over jsn old skirt, for he hopes to take a i prize in sewing on graduation day. Grandma is holding to the comic supplement with a two hours' grip, and little Tottie, the baby, is rocking along the best she can with the real -estate transfers. This view is in tended to be reassuring, for it is de sirable that. few lines of this story be skipped, for it introduces strong drink. I went into a cafe to and while it was being mixed I asked the man w-ho grabs up your hot Scotch spoon as soon as you lay it down what he understood by the term, epithet, de scription, designation, characterization or appellation viz, a "man about town." "Why," said he carefully, "it means a fly guy that's wise to the all night push see? It's a hot sport that you can't bump to the rail anywhere be tween the Flatirons see? I guess that's about what it means." I thanked him and departed. On the sidewalk a Salvation lassie shook her contribution receptacle gen tly against my waistcoat pocket. "Would you mind telling me," 1 asked her, "if you ever meet with the character commonly denominated as 'a man about town' during your daily wanderings :" "I think I know whom you mean," she answered, with a gentle smile. "We see them in the same places night after night. They are the dev il's bodyguard, and if the soldiers of any army are as faithful as they are their commanders are well served. We go among them, diverting a few pennies from their wickedness to the Lord's service." She shook the box again, and I drop ped a dime into it. In front of a glittering hotel a friend of mine, a critic, was climbing from a cab. lie seemed at leisure, and I put my question to him. Ho answered me conscientiously, as I was sure he would. "There is a type of 'man about town' in New York," he answered. "The term is quite familiar to me, but I don't think I was ever called upon to define the character before. It would be difficult to 'point you out an exact specimen. 1 would say offhand that it is a man who had a hopeless case of the peculiar New York disease of wanting to see and know. At o'clock each day life begins with him. He follows rigidly the conventions of dress and manners, but in the business of poking his nose into places where he does not belong he could give point ers to a civet cat or a jackdaw. He is the man who has chased Bohemia about the town from rathskeller to roof garden and from Hester street to Harlem until yon can't find a place in the ity where they don't cut their spaghetti with a knife. Your man about town' has done that. He is al ways on the scent of something new. He is curiosity, impudence and omni presence. Hansoms were made for him and gold banded cigars and the curse of music at dinner. There are not so many of him, but his minority report is adopted everywhere. "I'm glad you brought up the sub ject. I've felt the influence of this nocturnal blight upon our city, but I never thought to analyze it before. I can see now that your 'man about town' should have been classified long ago. In his wake spring up wine agents and cloak models, and the or chestra plays 'Let's All Go Up to Maud's' for him. by request instead of Handel. He makes his rounds every evening, while you and I see the ele phant once a week. When the cigar stoi'e is raided he winks at the officer, familiar with his ground, and walks away immune, while you and I search among the presidents for names and among the stars for addresses to give the desk sergeant." My friend the critic paused to ac quire breath for fresh eloquence. I seized my advantage. "You have classified him." I cried with joy. "You have painted his pur trait in the gallery of city types. But I must meet one face to face. I must "I READ THE ARTICLE." study the man about town at first hand. Where shall I find him? How shall I know him?" Without seeming to hear me the critic went on and his cab driver was waiting for his fare too: "He is the sublimated essence of butt in; the refined, intrinsic extract of rubber; the concentrated, purified, irrefutable, unavoidable spirit of curi osity and inquisitiveness. A. new sen sation is the breath in his nostrils; when his experience is exhausted he explores new fields with the indefa tigability of a" "Excuse me," I interrupted, "but can you produce one of this .type? It is a new thing to me. I must study it. I will search the town over until I find one. Its habitat must be here on Broadway." "I am about to dine here," said my, i jLr - friend. "Come inside and if there is a j man about town present I will point j him out to you. I know most of the regular patrons heie." "I am not dining yet," I said to him. "You will excuse me. I am going to find my man about town this night if I have to rake New York from the Battery to littie Coney Island." I left the hotel and walked down Broadway. The pursuit of my type gave a pleasant savor of life and in terest to the air I breathed. I was glad to be in a city so great, so com plex and diversified. Leisurely and with something of an air I strolled along, with my heart expanding at the thought that I was a citizen of great Gotham, a sharer in its magnificence and pleasures, a partaker in its glory and prestige. I turned to cross the street. I heard something buzz like a bee, and then I took a long, pleasant ride with San-tos-Dumout. When I opened my eyes I remem bered a smell of gasoline, and I said aloud. "Hasn't it passed yet?" A hospital nurse laid a hand that was not particularly soft upon my brow that was not at all fevered. A young doctor came along, grinned and handed me a morning newspaper. "Want to see Iioav it happened?" he asked cheerily. I road the article. Its headlines began where I heard the buzzing loav off the night before. It closed with these lines: "Bellevue hospital, where it wps said that his injuries were not seri ous. He appeared to be a typical man about town." What Deep Breathing Did. I had suffered several days and nights from severe pain resulting from rheumatism and neuralgia. The relief afforded by all suggested home reme dies had been only temporary- My neck was raw from a mustard plaster blister. I'd slept poorly several nighr? from pain. Again it was night. I was quivering Avith pain and unable to rise to a sitting posture. To turn from back to side, or vice versa, was ago nizing. I did not wish to call any of the family, knowing their duties for the following day. How I longed for sleep! Then I remembered reading somewhere that deep, abdominal breathing persisted in would induce sleep. I resolved to try it. Assuming a position as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, I began deep, abdominal breaths. My head soon be came light, or, rather, dizzy; my body relaxed. After a few minutes I was asleep. After a nap I awoke, squirmed about to a new position, repeated the deep breathing- and fell asleep again. I kept this up during the night, thus se curing a fair night's rest. Harper's Bazar. Two Texts. Two stories are told in a magazine of ministers stumbling on texts of a hu morous personal application. One was a very young minister, hav ing charge of his first church and preaching a series of sermons on the life and utterances of St. Paul. The last one of these was given just before taking his leave, and during his ab sence he expected to take unto himself a wife, his engagement having been announced. After turning over the leaves of the Bible thoughtfully he said, "I invite your attention this even ing to these words of the great apostle, 'I am ready now to be offered up.' " The other minister was a widower who had remarried wTithin a year after his first wife's death. His friends and congregation thought him very expe ditious, and on the next Sunday, when his text was announced, "they could scarcely control themselves. He rose in his place in his pulpit and said, "My beloved brethren, you will find my text in the seventeenth verse of the fourth chapter of II Corinthians, "Our light affliction, which is for the moment.' " "Just Helping." A gentleman fitting up his house in the country had brought from a neigh boring town a considerable force of carpenters, plumbers and the- like. After superintending them for a few days he grew to know them all by sight. One day suddenly he spied a new face among them. It was a cheer ful face, and its owner was busying himself most actively carrying things up and down stairs and otherwise be ing useful. Nevertheless the owner of the house beckoned to him. "Who are you?" he inquired. "Oh, I'm just helping," answered the mysterious one, with an engaging smile. "Carpenter or plumber?" "No; just helping." And off he went with a boxful of crockery. The owner called the boss carpenter aside. The boss carpenter eyed the cheerful helper; then he smiled. "In the next township," he said, "there is a lunatic asylum. I'll make inquiries." Next day the willing helper was not on the job, Exchange. Not His Fault. Irate. Woman These photographs you made of myself and husband are not at all satisfactory, and I refuse to accept them. Photographer What's wrong witb them? Irate Woman What's wrong! Why, my husband looks like a baboon! Photographer Well, that's no fault of mine, madam. You should have thought of that before you had him caKen. cmcago News, A Boston Husband. Mrs. Caudle I think there's a man downstairs. Mr. Caudle I thought I heard some one. Suppose you go down and ask him what he wants. Even a burglar Wouldn't strike a woman, you know. Boston Transcript, a EVERYTHING TO BUILD WITH. Lumber, Mouldings, Porch Work, Sash, Doors, Blinds, Gement, Plaster, Shingles, Laths, Builder's Hardware, Paint, etc. Coal and Wood to Burn. Oxford, N. C. Phone No. 7. Singer the Standard to WMdi Ml Oftes Are Compared Sjj" Have you ever wondered why it is that dealers in other makes of sewing ma chines take pains to emphasize their claim that their particular machine is "just as good as" the Singer ? fj Or why it is that more than 2,000,000 women buy Singers every year more than all other makes combined ? CJ Or why Singer sales have spread all over the world, into every civilized country ? J The Singer has so long represented the highest degree of excellence that it is to day everywhere recognized as the stand ard of perfection the envy of every competitor the pride of every owner. It is easy to own a Singer. Ask in any Singer store they're everywhere. Sold Singer Sewing Machine Company Main Street Coupon For Subscription. Pinnix fic Pinnix, Oxford, N. C, Enclosed find a dollar for which send me the Ledger for one year, i understand that unless I renew, you will stop my paper when the twelve months has expired. Name - Address. Cut this out, enclose ran n ir?g FOR THOSE Pinnix 6c Pinnix, Oxford, N. C Please find herein to pay my back subscription to the Ledger which I forgot to pay and i a dollar for another year. I notice you have taken my name from your list. Upon Receipt of this put it back. Name- Address. If you have missed your paper because you overlooked your subscription, use this coupon. We want you back. We need you and you need us. only by Route a dollar and'send it in, WHO FORGOT ., Route. i 33 NOTICE. North Carolina: : Granville County. In Superior Court, May Term, 1910. W. L. Nevins, vs. South HiiU Mfg. Co. The defendant above named wiH take notice that an action as en titled as above has been commenced against It in the Superior Court of Granville County to recover the sum of $1,000 for a breach of a contract entered into by plaintiff and defend ant for the sale and purchase of a certain lot of timber and lumber sit uate in said County and fully describ ed in the above referred to contract; Said defendant will further ( take no tice .that It is required to appear at the next term of the Superior Court of eaid county to be held at the court bouse at Oxford on the 2nd day of May, 1910, and answer or demur to the complaint in said action or the plaintiff will apply to the court for the relief therein demanded. This 24th day of March, 1910. J. G. SHOT WELL, C.S.C, Lanier & Hicks, Attys for Pl'ff. SALE OF LAND. By virtue of sale contained in a certain deed-in-trust, executed to jm on January 20, 1309, by T. W. Stov all and wife Buna V. S to vail, and duly recorded in deed in trust book 70, page 540, of the office of the Reg ister of Lteeds of Granville County, I shall, on MONDAY, MAY 16TH, 1910, sell to the highest bidder, by pub lic auction, for cash, at the court house door ,in Oxford ,the following described lot or parcel of land: Situate in the towu of S to vail, N. C, and bounded on the East by the public road leading to Bullock, N. C; on the North by Macadam road of E. N. Dickerson; on the west by a strip of land owned by the es tate of Dr. F. R. Gregory; and cn the South by the Oak Hill public road, containing about 4 cr 5 acres, and upon which are located the dwelling of T. w. Stovall, the dwelling occu pied by H. M. Stovall and the dwell ing occupied by H. M. Stovall and the dwelling occupied by T. A. Hes ter. Time of sale: Between 12m. and 1:30 p. m. This April 8, 1910. F. W. HANCOCK, Trustee. NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION. Having qualified as administrator of William Pettiford, dee'd, late of Granville county, N. C. This is to notify all persons having claims a gainst the estate of said deceased to exhibit them to the undersigned on or before the 23rd day of March, 2&11, or this notice will be pleaded it. bar cf their recovery. All per sons indebted to said estate will please make Immediate settlement. T. LANIER. Admr,. This 22nd day of Mar.1910 . Sa'e of Land For Nonpayment of Tov Taxes. Under authority of an ordinance of the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Oxford, I will on MONDAY, MAY 2ND, 1910, at 12 o'cock, m., it being the First Monday in May, 1910, sell at public auction at the Court house door in Oxford, for the nonpayment of town taxes for the year 1909, the following I described lots or parcels of land in sa:d town of Oxford: Mrs. C. H. Landis Williamsboro St.. $22.70 Willis Moss Hillsboro St. 4.77 Lee Ragland, near Foundry Branch. $5.37 Mrs. Ellen Bryan, on High St. $4.36 This April 1, 1910. J. F. ROY'S TER. Apr. S 4t. Tax Collector, Treasurer. EXECUTRIX NOTICE. Having qualified as Executrix of the will of the late Elijah Green, r.efore the Honorable J. G. Shotwell, Clerk of the Superior Court of Gran ville Count notice is hereby giv en to all persons indebted to said estate to come forward and make immediate payment and save costs. Persons holding claims against said estate will present them to ma on or before the 22nd day of March 1911, or this notice will be plead in bar of their recovery. This the 22nd day of March, 1910. BETTIE GREEN. A. A. Hicks, Attorney. pd. NOTICE. j North Carolina: : Granville County. In the Superior Court. S. H. Tingen Admr. of Ellender D. Tingen, vjs. Benjamin Duncan and Joanna Duncan his wife.Ellie Humphries and Louis Humphries her husband, John C. Tingen, Emma Franklin and Die Franklin her husband, Ada Long and Joe Long her husband, Gra ham Arrington, Hattie Humphries and Ben Humphries her husband, husband, Jack Arrington and Came ron Arrington. The defendants above named will take notice, that an action entitled as above has been commenced in the Superior Court of Granville County by S. H. Tingen, Admr. as aforesaid for the purpose of obtaining an order for the sale of the land of the said Ellender D- Tingen, and particular- , ly the Jim Roe Evans tract for assets with which to pay the debts of the said Ellender D.. Tingen and the said defendant will further take no Tice that they are required to ap pear at the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court in Oxford in the said county on Wednesday the 11th day of May, 1910 and answer or de mur to the petition filed in said court or the petitioner will apply to the Court for the relief demanded in said complaint. This the 1st day of April, 1910. J. G. SHOTWELL, C.S.C.