Comic Speeches, Songs and Dialogues [cover title]

Kiowa, Ks, 1905. Very good plus.. 36pp. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled. Minor wear and toning. An unrecorded pocket-sized collection of short comic pieces, songs, and dialogues authored by Frank B. Orton, a real estate speculator living and working along the Oklahoma-Kansas border in the first decade of the 20th century. The work was issued by the author, "Compliments of the Golden Grain Land & Realty Company, Cherokee, Alfalfa County, Okla. Frank Orton, Mgr. Exchanges a Specialty. Bargains in Farms, Ranches and City Property." Both the front and rear outer wrappers sport photographic scenes from Orton's rural home, located "Eight Miles Southeast (truncated) of Kiowa, Kansas, in Woods County, Oklahoma." The present work was likely issued by Orton for reasons of both art and commerce -- as a collection of original works intended to advertise his real estate business. Orton's poems and short pieces include gems such as "An Oklahoma Girl," "The Cherokee Song," "The Early Pioneers - dialogue (in two scenes)," "The Western Young Man's Tribulations," and "Kiowa, Kan. is the Town," and others. The inside front wrapper includes a photographic portrait of Orton, and other photographs are peppered throughout, including one of "Mead, the favorite family horse," a group of settlers in "Oklahoma as it looked years ago," and a collage of six photographs picturing Orton performing a handspring. Yes, a handspring. No copies in OCLC of this odd but intriguing little book. (Inventory #: 3746)