It's first of what kind?
Ivan D.E. Beaumont.
The advertisement in the News-Press said the first of its kind atlas for Otoe county will be assembled. That may be, but it certainly will not be the first, as was pointed out by Mrs. Chester Ganzel.
The Standard Atlas of Otoe County was published by the Syracuse Journal-Democrat and the Kenyon Map Makers of Des Moines in October, 1917.
The county had three more towns than we now list. They were Wyoming, Minersville and Elberon. There were also 14 country churches.
Sponsors of the atlas were Mockenhaupt and Curtin Land Company, Sterling; Pickering Brothers Garage, Bank of Syracuse, Metzger's Grocery, Bauer's Pharmacy, Hays Lumber, A. H. Lorenz Hardware and Furnaces, John Lonan Land company, Lincoln, Syracuse Auto company, Cunningham and Steinhoff Hats and Novelties, E. C. Fey Real Estate, Unadilla; E. F. Tonsing Funeral home and The West End Pool Hall, William A. Pratt, proprieter.
The atlas contains a great deal of other information on the state and national levels and also pictures the "world leaders" of the year beginning with President Woodrow Wilson.
We don't know how many of these 59 year old atlases are in existence, but they certainly are a treasure.
Changing times.
Looking around while visiting the home of his grandparents, a five-year-old boy spotted his grandfather's old push-type lawn mower in the garage.
The boy wheeled it out and began to cut the grass, pausing to exclaim.
"Gee grandpa. This is wonderful. You don't even have to start the motor."
Green tomatoes
Most every evening the past week, the instructions came from the woman-of-the-house to "pick the ripe tomatoes."
We have had a good harvest of fresh tomatoes this year, but as always, the frost seems to come too early. Wayne Whitney said on a visit to town a few days ago, that he looks forward to starting his tomatoes during the winter months in his hothouse.
Well, we don't have a hothouse (sometimes the tempers generate enough heat to ripen tomatoes) so we are content to wait until spring before gardening.
And it always seems that the plants that I set out are those with all the green tomatoes.
There oughta be some way to beat the rip-off by Jack Frost.
We've tried hanging the plants in the basement and picking some. Nothing has seemed to work well. We've also "pickled" some green tomatoes. So, every year about this time I make my tippy-toe effort through the tomato plants gleaning the ripe ones.
Which brings us back to the beginning. Now that we've got all the ripe ones, what can we do about the green tomatoes?
Did you ever stop to analyze this in a science? Just think — if we could ripen the green tomatoes, we'd have enough to last all winter.
I could invent some machine to do that job, but by the time I'd sit down and try to figure it out, I'd probably read that the system has been developed and they're building the machines for Christmas sales.
I could always say, see told you so.
The visitor
No one could be more pleased with the scheduled appearance of Steve Davis to Nebraska City than Jim Brockhaus, NCHS athletic director and the leader of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization in the community.
Mr. Brockhaus has been instrumental in attracting other top FCA speakers to Nebraska City and he has accompanied many boys to FCA camps.
Mr. Davis is the former Sooner quarterback who directed the Oklahoma team into a victory last season over the Huskers. Most sport fans felt that only one young man had the capability to lead the charge against the Huskers and win and Mr. Davis was THE man.
Now, he spends his time working for the FCA. "I hope you don't remember me as an athlete, but as a Christian," he said.
Mr. Davis will be here October 20 to speak to students and address a joint Rotary-Optimist meeting. He pilots a twin engine airplane and will land it at Grundman airport.
Perfect pitch
John Klingman, a native of Chappell, Nebr., and a graduate of the School for the Visually Handicapped, is now living at 7 South Vine Street, North Platte. His business card says he's a piano tuner and technician.
John was my "partner" in church choir for several years. What he lacked in vision, he made up for in music talent. He has perfect pitch. And for people like me who can't read music, losing a perfect pitch partner was a big loss.
We wish him much success in his work.