Shelby Museum - Authors

Shelby Ohio Authors

DAWN POWELL
Background Shelby post cards were published during her years in Shelby.

Summer Stories - 1914

The Daily Globe - June 12, 1914:
"LITTLE GIRLS"
Should Not Hunt Flowers and Strawberries Unaccompanied Near Dick's Woods.


"A Shelby man this morning called the attention of the Globe to the fact that Shelby parents should warn their little girls to be cautious about gathering flowers and strawberries near the Dick woods just north of Shelby Junction, which woods is woods used as a camp by hoboes who travel the Big Four and B & O. Yesterday his attention was called to the matter when he was near the woods. He observed about ten hoboes in the woods. Some of them were half drunk and at this time two little girls, little dreaming of danger passed the woods walking along the railroad tracks gathering flowers and strawberries. The Shelby man fearing that something might happen remained in the vicinity for an hour longer in order to protect the little girls if they needed it.

"The girls passed the woods going down and half hour later came back the same way. The Shelby man stated that he believed that Shelby parents should know of the danger that existed and they can then warn their children to remain from this woods. If little girls continue to walk by the woods hunting flowers and strawberries there is no telling what is going to happen when one stops to think that there are usually from two to a dozen half drunken hoboes in the camp the greater part of the time. Probably the parents of the children did not know where they were and had not stopped to think of the danger the little girls were exposed to. It is hoped that Shelby parents who read this will talk the matter over with their children and warn them to remain away from the woods."




The Daily Globe - June 20, 1914:
"PROFESSOR LEWIS SCHULER"
Says 'Half and Half' Will Be Most Popular of New Dances This Year.

"'The Half and Half is destined to become the most popular of any of the newer dances,' says Prof. Lewis D. Schuler, the Mansfield dancing master who was elected president of the International Association Masters of Dancing at the annual convention held in Dayton last week. 'It is a dance which appears to be popular both with the dancing masters as well as the dancers and for this reason if no other it is certain to become popular. At the convention at Dayton last week, it was demonstrated by the two representatives of the Castle house, and dancing masters who have taught it to some extent in other sections of the country during the past season reported that it had become immensely popular.'

"The Half and Half way originated by the Castles and is danced 5/4 tempo, which is entirely new to musicians and composers alike. It is danced moderately and is really a combination of waltz and two-step so that an equal balance is struck. It is danced by gliding forward three steps to the waltz bar of the music and pause on the two-step bar of the music, swinging the free foot to the front to the bar. It can be danced backward or forward and some of the variations are the closed position, open position, fadeway, scroll and square.

"This dance, the Half and Half, will be the one which Prof. Schuler will demonstrate and teach at the park pavilion in conformity to his annual custom of teaching one of the newer dances there each season. The first demonstration will be made Wednesday evening, July 1.

"'There are several dances which while they have become popular in some circles are not considered ball rooms dances and will therefore not be taught by me,' continued Prof. Schuler. 'For instance, there is the La Forlana, which has received wide notoriety. The International Association decided that it was not a ball room dance but a dance more suited to children. Then, there is the one-step which has been a thorn in the side of all dancing masters. It is being taught in many dancing academies, but the fact that some of the variations are considered rather vulgar has led to its not being adopted by the dancing masters.

"Among the newer dances which Prof. Schuler will teach at his academy of dancing during the coming season in addition to the Half and Half, will be the Cross Walk Boston, as originated by Frank Norman of Montreal, Can., the Castles' Maxixe, and the Twinkle Boston, as originated by R. H. Jacques, of Utica, N. Y."



The Daily Globe - June 30, 1914:
"BAREFOOT TIMES RECALLED"
Memory Draws Picture of Country Boy Who Went Barefooted Years Ago.

The sun has been shining with increased ardor and long ago there was borne on the wings of the breezes that play across the fields the message to the small boy that barefoot time was here. Barefoot time! Ah what a caravan of memories, phantom-like appear on the mental horizon at the mention of the words.



"Memory draws a picture of a country lane bathed alternately down its way in the sun and the shade of the locust trees that line its edge. A barefoot boy meanders down the hot dusty road, the dust spurting away from the impact of the small feet as they pad almost noiselessly along. Perhaps it is the journey through the hot summer sun of midday to the neighbor's, half a mile up the road, on an errand for mother. The shade of the locust was as welcome to the wayfarer as the sight of the fronds on the date palm to the desert traveler. The traveling feet stopped for an instant at the invitation of the trees' shade. Perhaps the boy saw Hiram Hensley's boy coming in the opposite direction and waited on the switch, so to speak.

"Hiram's boy had to tell all about the fox's den he had discovered over on Wilkins' ridge. Brown feet drew mysterious symbols in the cool dust as they talked. Now and again dusty volcanoes erupted from between spread toes. Then Hiram's boy moved on without a word of good-by.

"Or it may have been in the evening that the barefeet sought the road. The cows must be brought up from the woods pasture, and the boy had just dumped the last arm-load of wood into the box behind the kitchen stove when he was urged by his mother, 'Johnny you'd better run down and get Betsy and Mary Ann. It will be dark before you know it, you lazy boy,' and the playful thump she gave the boy's back took all the sting out of her words.

"The shadows deepened as he went over the road. The sun had begun to sink slowly into the west as though loath to go. The air, now rid of the heat of the day, was balmy, and the smell of the woods and the fields rose as incense to the nostrils. The dust of the road was still there, but it had cooled and felt grateful to the feverish little feet. Far across the fields came the sharp challenge of the Bob White. Nearer, in the dense thicket, in a corner of the field, flitted the red of a cardinal. The frogs in the pond and along the bayou were almost ready to begin their serenade and the drone of the myriad insects that keep the night alive with their noises had begun. The bullbats, too, were wheeling overhead in search of their night's food. All nature seemed busy with a hymn of praise as the boy went down the road after Betsy and Mary Ann.

"When the day's chores were over, a tired little boy crept into bed. Mother took a goodnight look at him as she held a coal oil lamp aloft. A smile played over features as she moved the lamp so that it's rays fell on the dirty brown feet that had got only a 'lick and a promise.' 'If you don't watch that boy every night he won't wash his feet at all,' she said to the boy's father.

"'Oh, well Mary, I was the same way,' the father probably remarked, as they left the room when the boy turned nervously in his sleep.

"And who would not, if he could, be a barefoot boy again in the country?”



The Daily Globe - August 25, 1914:
"AUTOMOBILE WAS GONE"
When Shelby Girl and Galion Man Arrived Home From Colonial Dance.

"Last evening a little affair took place which we would love to relate to our readers using the names of the different parties connected with it. But having sworn a solemn oath not to reveal the identity of those interested, we must content ourselves with telling the facts of the case but leaving the names shrouded in mystery. To proceed with the narrative or rather to begin we have the following items: One Cadillac auto with a Galion pennant streaming from the back; One young man from Galion; One young lady residing on - we almost told it, and last but not least an elder brother with a fancy for running automobiles but no particular talent for that art - merely fancy. Well the young man drove over in his trusty car and left it sitting in the front yard of the young lady's home.

c 1913

"They had intended to drive over (to) the Colonial club dance in Mansfield but as it looked rather cloudy, the(y) concluded to go via the Mansfield & Shelby electric line.

c 1914

"While they were cavorting around on the ball room floor through the mystic mazes of the High Jinks and Maxixe, the aforesaid brother with the fancy etc., invited the folks in to take a little ride. All leaped in with alacrity and with a piercing honk, honk, they were off. The brother demonstrated to the satisfaction of all the other members of the party, his lack of experience as a chauffeur. They had sighted the glaring lights of Chicago Junction before the rest of the party struck, and all agreed that the wiser course to pursue would be to remain at Chicago Junction, instead of attempting the perilous return journey. So when our hero and heroine returned from the dance they found a telephone call waiting for them, explaining why, and how the auto was not where it should be. Needless to say there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. The young man left for Galion on the train, the brother and his little friends came home today on the car, and meanwhile the big Cadillac car is in a garage at Chicago Junction waiting for its owner to call and claim it."



Were any of the above stories written by Dawn Powell before she was off to Lake Erie college? Since The Daily Globe at that time seldom published authors names, it is not possible to determine for certain, however you can be the judge.

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