The Oklahoma State Capital. (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 21, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 13, 1909 Page: 3 of 8
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11
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The End of the Robber Baron.
By BENNET
FEW hundred years ago, in a country
called Germany, there was a village
known as Grosshufelten, which was on
a lake. The lake is so small that 1 have
forgotten its name, and you will not find
the village on any map of the country,—
which is Still called Germany,—unless it is on the
back, where I didn't look.
The people in this village were greatly annoyed
by a robber baron who dwelt on a mountain near
by and who was in the habit of levying tribute on
them because he didn't like to work. The last
time that he told them they must pay what lie
called their annual dues, they refused to do so. The
baron was greatly surprised,—as people are usua y
surprised when others refuse to do things that they
have been in the habit of doing whether they ought
to or not,—and lie resolved to punish the villagers.
At first lie thought of descending on them with
1 his band and burning their houses; but this would
have required effort, so he changed his mind and
called before him two magicians whom he kept to
do things by magic, which he found more easy than
doing them by hand
( One of these magicians was a good man who
lyed with the robber only because he was afraid
The other was a bad man who stayed
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for no particular reason
"I am resolved," said the baron, "to kill all the
people in Grosshufelten, because they will not do
what I decree."
"That seems very natural," said the bad magician.
"I now wish to learn the easiest way of doing it,"
continued the robber.
"That, also, seems very natural," said the good
magician. , . ,
The bad magician suggested a number of mcthoJs,
none of which the baron liked, and he finally told
him that he could take a half-holiday, and he would
consult with the good magician, who worked for
less money, anyhow.
"If you are bound to do this thing, the best way
will be to do it quickly and painlessly," began the
good magician.
"You mean the best way for them," said the rob-
bcr.
"Yes, and for you," answered the magician; "for
then they will have no chance to conceal their
treasuries, and you can get as many of them as you
wish."
"Who will carry the treasures iback?" the baron
asked anxiously.
"You might make the bad magician do that."
The good magician then proposed a plan. Lead-
ing from the mountain to the lake was a passage
which was subterranean. (That is a rather long
word, but it was a rather long passage.) He sug-
gested that through this tunnel lie send some
poisonous gas he had invented, which he usually
used for killing potato-bugs. This gas would come
up through the lake, be blown into the village, and
overcome the people. The good magician did not
like this idea, but he knew it was more humane than
anything the bad magician would suggest, and
thought he might get a chance to warn the villagers
before it was carried out, so that they could escape.
The robber baron was delighted with the scheme,
and, telling the magician to execute it as soon as
he could, he proceeded to take his afternoon nap,
sleeping that kind of sleep which comes to the un-
just.
As soon as the good magician was sure that the
baron was sound asleep, he started the gas down
the passage, and then hurried to warn the villagers.
This happened on Wednesday, the day on which
the people of Grosshufelten made soap, and when
lie arrived he found a number of them on the shore
cf the lake, washing out their soap-kettles. Jut as
tic magician started to warn them of their danger,
4he gas began to rise. The water was rather soapy,
and when the vapor rose it formed an enormous
• fcubblc that covered half of the lake.
The villagers were greatly astonished, and looked
at the bubble with their mouths open and their
r.iinds closed. The magician, who made his living
1 y thinking, began to consider the matter. In the
first place, he knew that if the robber baron found
▼ that lie had warned the people he would be very
angry, and there was no telling what he would do—
there was no telling what he would do when he was
n't angry. In the next place, the wind might blow
the gas away from the village when the bubble
burst. At ill events, the magician would have time
to think, and he might devise some plan for saving
the villagers without making the baron angry
While lie was considering these things, a youth
named Hans Spratzlcberger-and-a-few-other-sylla-
bles ran to the shore with his bow and arrow.
"What are you going to do with that?" asked the
magician.
"I'm going to shoot that big bubble, out there,
and see it burst." said Hans.
"Do you know what will happen if you do that?"
inquired the magician. "This town will disappear
from the map."
Hans, who did n't know that the town was n't on
the map, was much imarf^^d. The villagers, many
m a s s o N.
of whom did n't know what a map was, advised him
not to shoot. . .. ..
While they were watching the bubble, the bad
magician, Who was taking his half holiday, ap-
proached. "What is that?" he asked. They told him.
"Who blew it?" he added.
" 'When in the course of human events, —said
Hans, who was very fond of making fine speeches.
The bad magician looked at Hans with interest.
"You are wasting your talents here," he said. "If
you will come with me 1 will train you so that you
will become an orator. What is your name?" Hans
told him all of it.
"Well," said the bad magician, "if you can remem-
ber all of your name, you certainly must have .t
good memory; and that will be an advantage to
you in your oratory."
Hans's parents, who now regarded the bubble as
a good omen, did not want to have it destroyed; and
when the other villagers learned that he would prac-
tise oratory somewhere else, they decided to let it
remain for a time.
The good magician returned to the mountain, and
told the robber baron what had taken place. The
baron was far from pleased. ^
"This is what comes of using so much soap,' lie
said. When the bad magician arrived with Hans,
the baron was still less pleased. "Any speech-mak-
ing that is to be done on this mountain I can
do myself," he declared. "As for you," he added,
turning to the good magician, "you had better go
back to Grosshufelten and tell the villagers what
that bubble is. You can take a crossbow, and if
they are not willing to pay up, burst the bubble.
If thev are willing, burst it after they have paid up."
"But what will become of me?" asked the good
that to-morrow." said the
This attracted It big crowd, and when the burgo-
master thought the people had looked at the bubble
long enough, lie made a little speech, in which he told
them that it was filled with poison, and was liable to
burst at any moment. Then they all ran away, lhe
'next day the magician made tile bubble green, the third
day blue; and as long as the bubble and the colors held
-u; out the people kept coming back.
In the meantime the robber baron was getting im-
patient, not only because Hans was learning oratory,
but because he heard nothing from Grosshufelten. He
called the bad magician to him and told him that if he
could not suggest some way to bring the villagers to
terms he should be thrown into the bubble. "The bad
magician was greatly alarmed at the baron's threat,
and thought as hard as he could, which was not very
hard. At last he suggested that the baron and his band
go to the opposite side of the lake, shoot the bubble,
and allow the gas to float over Grosshufelten. Then,
when the villagers were overcome, they could take
their treasures, which lie would transport to the moun-
tain by magic. The baron thought it would be easier to
do it all by magic, but the bad magician 'aid he was not
clever enough to arrange a spell for that; besides, there
would be the sport for the baron of shooting the bubble.
The next day, the baron, his band, and the bad magi-
cian appeared opposite Grosshufelten, and saw nothing
but a big fence. They were rather' disappointed, but
climbed some trees and got a view of the bubble, which
was then chrome-yellow. The baron took a crossbow^
and prepared to shoot.
But meanwhile tile good magician—who was much
pleased at living among honest people—had not been
idle. lie had devised an enormous bellows, and when
he saw the baron aim his crossbow at the bubble, he
told the villagers to get ready to blow it.
The baron fired a bolt which struck the bubble. It
burst, and as the gas rose from it the villagers blew the
bellows with great force, and the vapor floated over
among the trees where the baron was.
So far as I know, this was the last of that robber
baron and his band, and also of the bad magician; but
Hans, who had stayed behind at the mountain, becamc
a mighty orator.
Greedy James.
By Katharine Pyle.
magician
"I will think about
robber 'baron.
When the good magician delivered the baron's
message the villagers were offended. Instead of
offering to pay their annual dues, they seized him
nnd put him in jail. He was perplexed at th as
the baron had not told him what to do rf such a
thing should happen. However, as his cell window
overlooked the lake and he could see the bubble, he
made the best of things, and ate the meals they
brought to him.
The weather was favorable for bubbles, and the
next morning, when the good magician looked out
of his window, the big one was still there. Large
crowds of people were coming from the surround-
ing country to look at it, and the villagers were try-
ing to charge them two pfennigs apiece. It was
hard to collect the money, however, as the bubble
could be seen from any spot on the shore; so that
afternoon the people decided to fence in the lake.
The next morning a committee of villagers, head-
ed by the ^burgomaster, called on the good magician.
"We are much shocked to find a good man like
yourself associating with robbers," said the burgo-
master. "We had decided to leave you in jail, but
having found a way in which you can help us to
make money, we will release you."
The magician was overcome by their kindness.
He thanked them, but said he could not see how
the money would benefit them if the bubble happen-
ed to burst.
"We will run that risk." said the burgomaster.
"With that robber baron in the neighborhood, we
are so used to risks that we don't mind them. We
want you to put a magic fence around the lake, as
it will take our people too long to build the one
they began this morning."
The magician had n't his wand with him, so he
borrowed the burgomaster's cane, waved it a few
times, and a fence appeared around the lake. But
as most of the country folk who lived near by had
already seen the bubble, this fence was of little use.
The burgomaster thought for a while, and suggest-
ed that the magician turn the gas in the bubble red.
He did this, and that afternoon some of the villag-
ers went out in the country with a banner on which
was printed:
See the Great Red Rubble of Grosshufelten 1
Admission, 4 Pfennigs.
Near-sighted People Half-Price.
Mava had one morning been baking
Some little cakes, spic> and sweeL
May I have some?" said James. " Not
at present,"
Said mama. " you've had plenty to
eat."
( But'mama was called out of the kitchen;
^ The cakes looked so tempting and
I that James filled his pockets and ,
And ran out of doors in a trice.
As James ran atnng with his spice-cake«,
tie looked up, and what should he
see,
Beyond a high wall, but a pear-tree
With ripe yellow pears on the tree.
Thought James, " If I only could reach
With <^>kes they would taste very
good."
Then in tlTrough the gate he went creep-
ing—
I wonder, myself, how he could I
But a terrible witch owned this pear*
Out into the garden came she.
" Ho! " she cried. " So at last I have
caught you —
The boy who's been robbing my tree."
The wicked witch called out her
daughter;
•« Come watch by this pear-tree," she
said,
" And I will go fetch out the ladder
1 have laid nway in the shed. '
(But James took the cakes from his,
satchel,
And soon he had scattered them round;
And the witch-girl went hunting and
stooping
To gmher them up from the ground :
^Then the satchel James dressed in hU
And set his old hat on it straight,j
And slid down the tree in a jiffy,
k And hurried a way to the gat C.J
When the cakes had been gathered and
The witrh-girl looked up at the tree,
And there, just like James, sat the
satchel.
As quiet and still as could be.
Out comes tlkC-old witch with the lad
der;
She says, " I've a plan of my own :
1 *11 take this boy in and I Ml flog him;
Henceforth he Ml leave our ueca alone.'
They both began climbing the ladder, !
But, rumplety-dumploty-dumpl
The j>eais and the satchel came tutivl
bling
About them with many a thump:'
And there they sat rubbing their]
bruises,
And staring up into the tree;
But James has been taught a good le*-.
And henceforth lesi greedy will be.
The Pet Alligator.
By ..ELIZABETH ELLIOT.
| T SEEMS incredible th.it it was only last
Easter lhat he came into our lives. It
seems as if he had always lain upon that
log, as if for agra of time he had been
lying there immovable and sphinxlike.
When a friend brought the little alliga-
tor to us last Spring from Florida, in a
pasteboard box, with holes in the top of
It, we regarded him as such a frail exotic that we
feared he would not survive the night In such close
confinement We would remove the cover gingerly,
fearing that on a playful impulse he would spring
out. How little did we know him! How feebly did
we comprehend the long reflection and well-balanced
deliberation that characterized his cvcTy movement.
He spent the night in the bath-tub, and early the next
morning an eager little night-gowned figure hastened
in to see if lie was still alive. He was. He still is.
In spite of many hours of decep<ive rigidity, during
which he has pretended to have passed away, he is
still extant. When the next day he'was taken with great
care by the tail and hastily dropped into the galvan-
ized iron tub which was henceforth to be his home,
his small owner took the name of the first aquatic hero
that occurred to her, and informally christened hint
"Hobson."
Since that hour Hobson has led a life of such un-
broken serenity that beside it the career of the Trappist
monk, under his vow of perpetual silence, may be de-
scribed as a glittering round of excitement. To lie in
the water with his head on his log, about once in
twenty-four hours to slowly draw his body up on the
log, at long intervals secretly to absorb a small por-
tion of the raw meat provided for him, two or threa
times a week to be dropped by the tail into the bath-tub,
there to swim lazily about for a few minutes while
the water in his tub is changed—these incidents form
Hobson's round of life. Though he "scorns delights,"
he cannot be said to "live laborious days," and should
he ever return to his native swamps, no one could say
more truthfully than lie, with Canning Knafc-Grindcr,
"Story? God bless you, I have none to tell, sir."
Social attentions have gradually ceased, he is so
coldly unresponsive. The children used to gather round
his tub and ascribe various emotions to him, "He likes,
it when I scratch his back with my hoopstick," or "See,,
now he's mad when I tickle his tail." But his pleasure
and his rage were characterized by such a subtle shade
of difference that the unimaginative grown-up eye could
not distinguish between them. If you teased him long
enough he would eventually slip back into the water
i'rom his log; at the extreme provocation of a white
string dangled on his nose he has been known once
or twice to open the wide mouth which almost meets at
the back of his neck and even to emit a faint squeak.
This, we have decided, means rage—but this is merely
theoretical. There is, however, a distinct malignancy
of effect when he lowers the skin which covers his pale
and expressionless eye, though he is quite as apt to do
this when he is—supposably^—pleased at the sight of his
law meat.
There was a portly and floridly handsome boy who
lived up-stairs, and who much frequented the society
of Hobson and his small and agile owner. Out of a
deep fund of inexperience he gave us many instructions
about Hobson's nature and habits, and surveyed him
in his tub with dauntle courage. He "wasn't afraid
of alligators"; when Hobson grew large he "would
take him out of the tub for us," etc. but when famili-
arity had bred intrepidity, and the proud proprietor
■would take her unattractive pet by the tip of his tail,
and display him wreathing himself up toward her com-
panion in a stiff curl, the undaunted Boy would always
suddenly remember an engagement elsewhere and
swiftly vanish.
But in spite of his terror Hobson laid his silent
spell upon him, and when we were to be away for a
few days the Boy begged to entertain him in his apart-
ment. I am compelled to admit that the invitation
was not very cordially seconded by the Boy's mother,
and that she was even heard to remark that she wished
lie would take the horrid thing away. But New York-
ers who live in apartments are known to be inhos-
pitable, and Hobson was not sensitive.
During Hobson's sojourn with us there are few of
our friends who have seen or heard of him without
giving us some advice on the proper nurture and train-
ing of alligators. We have been informed alternately
that we starved and that we stuffed him, though the
first theorist could suggest no method of forcibly adi
ministering the food when he haughtily ignores it, as,
lie does much of the time. One who claims great m-
Himacy with alligators tells us the tub should be nearlyi
full of water all the time; they like plenty of water
lo swim in. Another who. like Brer Rabbit, was
•thorn an' raised" in an alligator swamp, contradict*
this by saying he should not be confined to his tub,;
but be allowed to run at large—a suggestion which,,
if followed, would rid us of visitors as effectually a(
if we had a diphtheria sign on the door. Another
• authoritative voice is raised to say that Hobson will!
soon expire of loneliness; that, like Emerson s Man,
the adligator "is made of social Earth, Child anjj
lirot'her from his birth"; that if there are a hundred*
alligators in a swamp the whole number will invariably;
be found assembled together; that, in short, like many!
fashionable ladies, Hobson "cannot live without so-!
ciety," and that it is wanton cruelty for us not to. pro-
vide him with a flock of frolicsome companions. Any-,
way, our critics say, chcrtsh him while you may, fori
you cannot expect to have him long. He truly live
through the Summer, hut he never could survive a.
northern Winter. In spite, however, of all our sins
of omission and commission, throughout the past Win-
ter, Hobson has appeared precisely the same as he did)
411 the heat of July, when he was boarding with the
janitor during our Summer absence. It ra true he nan
=* spent much time in a chair by the radiator, with hisi
feet, so to speak, to the fire, but let the mercury - soar
to the nineties, this first cousin to the Sphinx slum-
bers unappreclatively on his log; let It drop to thosa
unsounded depths it reached last Winter,^ not a wavo
of trouble rolls across his peacaful breast.
In this age of hurried and restless activity this
Buddha-like calm is toothing to contemplate. But ad
the same time it has a somewhat depressing effect.
1 am sure that Caspar Hauser, or any other prisoner
Known to fame, would long ere this have trained Hob-
son to walk a tight-rope, to say his prayers, or at least
lo squeak so many times for Yes and No. Having had
no training in the method* of teaching. I seem to be
incapable oi imparting even these simple accomplish-
ments. Worse even than this, in a day when the child
;il Ins mother's knee prattles of the frog's ganglia, and
directs the alimentary canal of the lobster, when the
dullest can be trained to penetrate into nature's secrets,
I cannot even guess what subtle intellectual processes
are going on in Hobson's brain. When with that
world weary air he closes his eyes, is he meditating
upon the race-problem .is he dreams of some plump
and careless little nigger falling into the water within
reach of that wide-spreading jaw? If Mr. Long were
here, or Mr. Thompson-Seton, or even that naturalist
of an earlier day whom I recently heard alluded to as
"Buffoon," no doubt he could tell us with precision.
But, alas! I do not know.
1 sit in the sun and sew. and Hohson sits beside me
on his log nnd thinks. And 1 think of the poets, of the
"repose that marks the caste of Vere de Ver, '; of
Aboil Ben \dhem in his "deep dream of peace ; most
of all of Calverley'j parrouqiiet:
"I never loved a fond gazelle,
But I had once a parroqnet;
How I did nurse him if unwell,
He's imbecile but lingers yet.
He's green with an enchanting tuft,
Hi' melts me with his small black eyflt
He'd look inimitable stuffed,
And knows it—but he will not die."
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Greer, Frank H. The Oklahoma State Capital. (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 21, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 13, 1909, newspaper, May 13, 1909; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc127197/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.