The best short stories of 1922, and the yearbook of the American short story
General
The best short stories of 1922, and the yearbook of the American short story
American fiction -- 20th century; Short stories -- 20th century -- Bibliography; Short stories -- 20th century -- Indexes; Short stories, American
Well, one of the first things we done in St. Petersburg was to go
to the Chamber of Commerce and register our names and where we was
from as they’s great rivalry amongst the different States in regards
to the number of their citizens visiting in town and of course our
little State don’t stand much of a show, but still every little bit
helps, as the fella says. All and all, the man told us, they was
eleven thousand names registered, Ohio leading with some fifteen
hundred-odd and New York State next with twelve hundred. Then come
Michigan, Pennsylvania and so on down, with one man each from Cuba
and Nevada.
The first night we was there, they was a meeting of the New
York-New Jersey Society at the Congregational Church and a man from
Ogdensburg, New York State, made the talk. His subject was Rainbow
Chasing. He is a Rotarian and a very convicting speaker, though I
forget his name.
Our first business, of course, was to find a place to eat and after
trying several places we run on to a cafeteria on Central Avenue
that suited us up and down. We eat pretty near all our meals there
and it averaged about two dollars per day for the two of us, but the
food was well cooked and everything nice and clean. A man don’t mind
paying the price if things is clean and well cooked.
On the third day of February, which is Mother’s birthday, we spread
ourselves and eat supper at the Poinsettia Hotel and they charged us
seventy-five cents for a sirloin steak that wasn’t hardly big enough
for one.
I said to Mother: “Well,” I said, “I guess it’s a good thing every
day ain’t your birthday or we would be in the poorhouse.”
“No,” says Mother, “because if every day was my birthday, I would be
old enough by this time to of been in my grave long ago.”
You can’t get ahead of Mother.
In the hotel they had a cardroom where they was several men and
ladies playing five hundred and this new tangled whist bridge. We
also seen a place where they was dancing, so I asked Mother would she
like to trip the light fantastic toe and she said no, she was too old
to squirm like you have got to do now days. We watched some of the
young folks at it awhile till Mother got disgusted and said we would
have to see a good movie to take the taste out of our mouth. Mother
is a great movie heroyne and we go twice a week here at home.
But I want to tell you about the Park. The second day we was there we
visited the Park, which is a good deal like the one in Tampa, only
bigger, and they’s more fun goes on here every day than you could
shake a stick at. In the middle they’s a big bandstand and chairs
for the folks to set and listen to the concerts, which they give you
music for all tastes, from Dixie up to classical pieces like Hearts
and Flowers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account