[Since the 1881 portion of this newspaper has not been microfilmed, Bonnie Ekse has made it her mission to
transcribe important items about the people and happenings of 1881 in Odebolt. ]

ODEBOLT OBSERVER 
VOL. 2. NO. 14. October 5, 1881.

[A sampling of the ads which appear on the first page of the Odebolt Observer:]

[Much of the first page of this issue is devoted to promoting or denigrating various candidates for county and state elected offices. We have not transcribed any of these articles.]

--Mr. Waters, the nurseryman, placed upon our table a cluster of the Prentiss grape. This is a new variety, white in color, and very superior in flavor. Mr. W. is sole agent here for the sale of this vine, the sale of which in the U. S. is under the control of T. S. Hubbard, Fredonia, N. Y. The price is $1.50 to $3 each. Mr. Waters guarantees the vines to be true to name and those who know Mr. W. know that his recommendation would not be given to anything that was calculated to deceive. For particulars call on him at the Odebolt Nursery.

--Mrs. Frank Burleigh is visiting friends at Grinnell.
--Mrs. Gibson leaves next Monday for Ames to visit relatives.
--Wm. Sampson left yesterday for a visit to his brother at Storm Lake.
--There will be services at the Catholic church in this place on Sunday, the 15th inst.
--Mrs. Augusta Warren, from Lombard, Ills., is visiting with the family of J. W. Fraley.
--By a delay on the main line the mail and express train last Saturday did not arrive here until 11 P. M.
--You may shoot ducks, geese, ruffled grouse, pheasant and quail. The embargo was raised Oct. 1st, inst.
--A. J. Mann has returned to Odebolt and for the present is assisting in the office of the Reporter. His health in fully re-established.
--Will E. Caswell started yesterday for a trip east. He will take in the Chicago Exposition, Niagara Falls, Christmas, New Year's and the next Congress, and return about February, 1882. The OBSERVER will follow him around.
--Messrs. Cook & Gregg of the Wall Lake Journal bid its readers good-bye in last week's number. The parting address is full of pathos. Gregg says the newspaper business required "fastidious accuracy and good literary judgment, and he failed to catch on." and says "with a melancholy sigh of fond relief we bow very low and back out." Mr. T. J. Newbury assumes control of the Journal.
--The brick-work on the building of Mr. Schmitz is now completed and the cornice is put in place. The whole appearance of the building is neat, tasteful and imposing and is admired by all who see it. Mr. S. has spared no expense or labor to make an elegant and durable building and he has succeeded. It is an excellent type from which others building may copy, and we hope another season will see several structures like it on our business streets.
--A business man asks us to suggest to the City Council the establishment of fire limits in the city. We make the suggestion, but doubt the wisdom of any such regulation while it is so expensive to build with brick as at present. It is a fearful risk, certainly, to add to our present wooden rows, but we see no other alternative unless, indeed, we stop building altogether. All that great watchfulness and care can do to prevent fires should be done. The exemption of our town thus far from the destroying element is almost wonderful. The most dangerous season is approaching and it behooves every one to be vigilant and careful.
--Dr. A. H. Hull left yesterday for Chicago to attend a course of medical lectures. He will be absent five months.
--Mrs. Flanders and her daughter, Mrs. Pierce Coy, are visiting friends and relatives in Illinois and will be absent several weeks.
--A storm visited our neighboring town of Vail last Thursday destroying the Catholic church, and unroofing other buildings and doing other damage.
--Rev. W. Preston, formerly of Manson, is the Conference appointee for the Odebolt charge the coming year. Mr. Fysh is appointed to the Boyer circuit.
--Mrs. Helen Michel, of Davenport, mother of Mr. E. R. Darlington, who is lying dangerously ill at the residence of Fred Rassmussen, arrived last Saturday. LATER.--Mr. Darlington was somewhat better.
--Rev. R. S. Fysh will preach in Masonic Hall next Sabbath morning at 10:30 o'clock, and in the evening at 7:30 o'clock. His subject for the morning sermon will be, "Save the young man." In the evening he will preach his farewell sermon, entitled "The power of Christian kindness."

REPORT OF THE ODEBOLT SCHOOL
For the month ending Sept. 22, 1881:

DIED.
Monday night Oct. 3, 1881, the infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Lindquist, aged 8 months. Funeral from residence yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock.

[END OF PAGE ONE.]

[Copied from the original volume by B. Ekse.]

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