THE FREMONT COUNTY HERALD
September 27, 1907
A GLAD SURPRISE
J. L. Judd, on last Saturday at the proper hour for meeting to
begin at Liberty church, as his custom is, caught his team which
he harnessed and hitched to his carriage and drove it to his
front gate where he met his good wife and children, took them in
and moved off towards the church, not thinking that the eyes of
his kind neighbors were watching every movement he was making.
But they were, and as soon as he was seated in his pew, they took
possession of his domicile, and began to bake and stew and fry in
the good old fashioned way, preparatory to a feast upon his
return. While this baking and cooking was going on, and while the
singing and praying and preaching was going on at the church,
Joseph sat in his accustomed place without a dream of its being
his birthday. But is was, and he knew it not. But his brethren
knew and had planned to follow him to his home and to make him
glad with their hearty good w!
ishes and congratulations. At the close of the services Brother
Judd with his wife and family left Brightside and started home,
expecting the congregation to do likewise. But as he was near his
home he cast his eyes toward the way he had come and with great
surprise he beheld almost the entire congregation coming after
him. What could the matter be? When momentarily, as it were, his
eyes were opened to the fact that this day, September 21, 1907
was his birthday, and his friends were taking advantage of the
occasion. Shortly after this however, his friends assured him
they were not going to do him any harm, when they took from a
carriage a nice rocker which was given him as a token of their
respect for him on his 50th birthday. This was not all: They took
possession and surrounded his house like bees surround a dish of
honey--75 in number--men, women and children helped themselves,
as if they were at home. All were glad and Joe himself could not
help smiling as he saw them all partake of the abundan!
ce of good things, especially ordered for that occasion. After
the dinner was disposed of and a very pleasant little social was
indulged in, S. S. Orr presented J. L. Judd with some birthday
presents in his Scoth-Irish way, making his audience laugh at the
use of his pleasantries -- after which it was proposed by Elder
Ring, of Lincoln, Neb., that "God be with you till we meet
again," be sung, after which the guests took their departure
feeling that Brightside people can furnish magnanimous surprise
parties on very short notice.
Percival News
-Myrtle Bryant, niece of Mrs. George Crocker, is lying at the
point of death at her home in Denver....
-Mrs. Effie Stiles drove to Tabor last Thursday with Mrs.
Utterback and children, and brought her mother-in-law, Mrs.
Stiles, home with her....Mrs. W. E. Utterback who has been
visiting relatives here while her husband visited his brother at
Carstairs, Alberta, Canada, received a letter from him saying
they were having a three day Iowa snow storm, and it left five
inches of snow on the uncut wheat....
-Mrs. Fred Smith of Terre Haute, Ind., but formerly of Nebraska
City, is visiting her sister, Mrs. S. L. Kellogg.....
-Mrs. O.K. Paddock of South Omaha and her sister-in-law, Mrs.
Allie Shipps of Wanego, Kansas, are visiting friends here this
week....
-Mrs. Flora Smith accompanied by Mrs. Treat attended one of those
famous Knox quiltings at her cousin's, Mrs. Heston Green's, south
of Knox last Wednesday.
WOES AT PERCIVAL--Romantic and Mechanical:
The First
-Since his experience last Saturday night one of our young men is
in a quandry to know which to engage first for a party, your
girl--OR--your team, for if the girl says "no" you
don't want the team AND if she says "yes" and when you
go to the barn for a team they are all gone then you are strictly
up against it. But if you happen to have an accommodating
brother-in-law to fall back on, you had best get the girl first
as you want to prevent the other fellow from taking his girl.
The Second
-Dr. Jolly and his son, accompanied by H. W. Parkison and his
son, came up from Hamburg in his automobile Sunday. When down by
Al King's, the machine balked, but the doctor was equal to the
occasion and with a jack knife and a rusty nail, he repaired it
sufficiently to get on into town......An automobile registered
Neb. No. 1472 containing two gentlemen bound from Omaha to
Nebraska City were obliged to leave their machine in town last
Tuesday night and take a team the rest of the way. They were to
send a machinist over from the City to fix it and take it home.