Entertainments at the Ainsworth School

(Click on image to enlarge)
Hobart News 1 Dec. 1921.

I don't know the reason for this Thanksgiving-evening banquet in the W.G. Haan School, nor do I know the topics of those "talks." The first talker I can only tentatively identify as George B. Argo, whom I haven't mentioned yet in this blog. Born in Iowa circa 1884, George shows up in my notes as early as 1912, when apparently he was the Grand Trunk agent at the Ainsworth depot. He pops up now and then through June 1913, after which he disappears; that may have been when he was transferred to the Grand Trunk station at Capac, Michigan, where the official records place him in 1918 and 1920. But now he's back in the area — where, exactly, I don't know; perhaps he's in Hobart, where the 1930 census will record him. Anyway, if George had anything to do with the February 1921 community entertainments and the "Argo orchestra," he must have been something of a live wire.

The other two talkers at the November 1921 banquet were, I'm guessing, Robert Harper (a local dairy farmer and one-time marshal of Ainsworth), and Albion Paine (another local dairy farmer, and father of Alice ).

After the talking, there was dancing.

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I have not been able to find a script for that 2.5-hour play, The Country Minister, which may be a mercy. But the performance was intended to raise money for a good cause — the purchase of equipment for the school — and in fact it was well attended, and judged "a big success."


Additional Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 2 Dec. 1921.
♦ "Ainsworth Notes." Hobart News 26 June 1913.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 15 Dec. 1921.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 2 Dec. 1921.
♦ "Ross Township Notes." Hobart Gazette 21 June 1912.
♦ WWI Draft Cards.