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Julia Harrington
Text and Illustrations by Richard Bissell
Chapter One
My name is Julia Harrington. I am twelve years old going on thirteen. I attend the Prescott School where I am in the Eighth Grade. My teacher is Miss Prohaska, the most popular teacher in the school.
My Papa owns the EMPORIUM, a dry goods and fancy goods store on Main Street across from the Railroad Station. Salesmen come from Omaha and Kansas City and St. Louis and Dubuque and Chicago to sell goods to Papa. They "show their lines", as they call it, in the "sample room" at the Hawkeye Hotel.
Our town is Winnebago, Iowa, an Indian name and a pretty one. It was founded by James Perley Lord in the year 1841. Population 8,651 and located on the North Branch of the Upper Antelope River. We are served by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad on the double-track Main Line between Chicago and points west. However, the crack express trains naturally do not stop here. The railroad is always called "The Northwestern".
The men who work for the railroad have a joke Papa told me:
They say, "There are two ways to do things: the easy way and the Northwestern way."
I don't understand it, really.
My best friend is Harriet Hackenbush who lives up Osage Street one block, and one block to the left on Prairie Ave. Her Papa owns the Oriental Sweet Shoppe next to the Paris Theatre. How would you like to have a best friend whose Papa owned a Sweet Shoppe?
There are many stylish homes in Winnebago, both quaint and stately, of which we are justly proud.
Can you guess which one is the humble abode of
Julia Harrington
22 Osage Street
Winnebago Adams County
Iowa
United States of America
North America Western Hemisphere
The World
The Universe
September 1913
