The Boss of Little Arcady

Boss of Little Arcady, by Harry
Leon Wilson

Project Gutenberg's The Boss of Little Arcady, by Harry Leon Wilson
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Boss of Little Arcady
Author: Harry Leon Wilson
Release Date: December 1, 2003 [EBook #10358]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOSS
OF LITTLE ARCADY ***

Produced by Suzanne Shell, Steven desJardins and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team

[Illustration: THE BOSS OF LITTLE ARCADY]
[Illustration: "A-CHESTIN' OUT HIS CHEST LAHK A OLE
MA'ASH FRAWG."]

THE BOSS OF LITTLE ARCADY
BY
HARRY LEON WILSON
1905

TO
MY MOTHER

CONTENTS
THE BOOK OF COLONEL POTTS
CHAPTER
I.
How the Boss won his Title
II. The Golden Day of Colonel Potts
III. The Perfect Lover
IV. Dreams and Wakings
V. A Mad Prank of the Gods
VI. A Matter of Personal Property
VII. "A World of Fine Fabling"
VIII. Adventure of Billy Durgin, Sleuth

IX. How the Boss saved Himself
X. A Lady of Powers
XI. How Little Arcady was Uplifted
XII. Troubled Waters are Stilled
THE BOOK OF MISS CAROLINE
XIII. A Catastrophe in Furniture
XIV. The Coming of Miss Caroline
XV. Little Arcady views a Parade
XVI. The Spectre of Scandal is Raised
XVII. The Truth about Shakspere at Last
XVIII. In which the Game was Played
XIX. A Worthless Black Hound
XX. In which Something must be Done
XXI. Little Arcady is grievously Shaken
THE BOOK OF LITTLE MISS
XXII. The Time of Dreams
XXIII. The Strain of Peavey
XXIV. The Loyalty of Jim
XXV. The Case of Fatty Budlow
XXVI. A Little Mystery is Solved

XXVII. How a Truce was Troublesome
XXVIII. The Abdication of the Boss
XXIX. In which All Rules are Broken
XXX. By Another Hand

ILLUSTRATIONS
"A chestin' out his chest lahk a ole ma'ash frawg"
"And yet I have been pestered by cheap flings at my personal bearing"
"We might get him to make a barrel of it for the Sunday-school picnic"
"That will do," I said severely. "Remember there is a gentleman
present"

The Book of COLONEL POTTS
CHAPTER I
HOW THE BOSS WON HIS TITLE
=Late last Thursday evening one Jonas Rodney Potts, better known to
this community as "Upright" Potts, stumbled into the mill-race, where
it had providentially been left open just north of Cady's mill.
Everything was going along finely until two hopeless busybodies were
attracted to the spot by his screams, and fished him out. It is feared that
he will recover. We withhold the names of his rescuers, although under
strong temptation to publish them broadcast.--Little Arcady Argus of
May 21st.=
Looking back to that time from a happier present, I am filled by a
genuine awe of J. Rodney Potts. Reflecting upon those benign ends

which the gods chose to make him serve, I can but marvel how lightly
each of us may meet and scorn a casual Potts, unrecking his gracious
and predestined office in the play of Fate.
Of the present--to me--supreme drama of the Little Country, I can only
say that the gods had selected their agent with a cunning so flawless
that suspicion of his portents could not well have been aroused in one
lacking discernment like unto the gods' very own. So trivially, so
utterly, so pitiably casual, to eyes of the flesh, was this Potts of Little
Arcady, from his immortal soul to the least item of his inferior raiment!
Thus craftily are we fooled by the Lords of Destiny, whose caprice it is
to affect remoteness from us and a lofty unconcern for our poor little
doings.
There is bitterness in the lines of that Argus paragraph, and a flippant
incivility might be read between them by the least discerning.
Arcady of the Little Country, however, knows there is neither bitterness
nor real cynicism in Solon Denney, founder, editor, and proprietor of
the Little Arcady Argus; motto, "Hew to the Line, Let the Chips Fall
Where they May!" Indeed, we do know Solon. Often enough has the
Argus hewn inexorably to the line, when that line led straight through
the heart of its guiding genius and through the hearts of us all. One who
had seen him, as I did, stand uncovered in the presence of his new
Washington hand-press, the day that dynamo of Light was erected in
the Argus office, could never suppose him to lack humanity or the just
reverence demanded by his craft.
We may concede without disloyalty that Solon is peculiar unto himself.
In his presence you are cursed with