GURDON -- In the wonderfully wacky world that makes up the International Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, the most exalted figure is the Snark of the Universe.
Other bigwigs in the Snark's realm include the Seer of the House of Ancients, the Scrivenoter, the Bojum, the Jabberwock, the Custocatian, the Arcanoper and the Gurdon.
Some of these make-believe titles for Hoo-Hoo International officers are borrowed from Lewis Carroll's 19th-century nonsense poem "The Hunting of the Snark." The last one is the namesake of the otherwise unassuming Clark County town of Gurdon, population 2,212, located 85 miles southwest of Little Rock.
That's where Hoo-Hoo was hatched on Jan. 21, 1892, by six businessmen and journalists waiting out a seven-hour train delay. A fraternal organization for lumber-industry people, it is said to be the oldest such industrial society in America.
The group's membership of about 2,500 ranges as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. But its headquarters and museum occupy a timber building erected along Gurdon's Main Street in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration, not far from a Hoo-Hoo monument along First Street.
Overseeing the museum is Beth Thomas, executive secretary and a friendly font of information on all things Hoo-Hoo. She'll explain that the term "Hoo-Hoo" was applied by one founder to an unusual tuft of hair on the head of one Charles McCarer, the first Snark of the Universe.
One object Thomas points out proudly is a candidate for the Guinness World Records compilation. Leaning against a wall and measuring 13/8 inches by 50 inches by 96 inches, it is billed as "Largest Known Board."
As the caption explains, "This huge board was cut from a Douglas fir log in northern California. Approximately 1955. ... It is perfectly cured and has no knots, checks or defects." As boards go, it is awesome indeed.
Among the potpourri of museum objects are a couple of wooden coffins. They were crafted, as Thomas explains, for a ceremony called the Embalming of the Snark. It takes place when his exalted term of office ends and he becomes a Rameses -- a former top cat.
The Rameses moniker is borrowed from the pharaohs of Egypt, as is the order's symbolic black cat with its tail curled in the shape of the number 9. Cats were sacred to ancient Egyptians, even if little seems sacred in the Hoo-Hoo credo.
Beneath all the joshing, there is evidently a serious side, as expressed by Australian member Doug Howick in a recent issue of the group's magazine:
"In an industry full of suspicion, Hoo-Hoo is a medium of trust. In an industry full of misunderstanding, Hoo-Hoo is a means of clarity. In an industry full of strangers, Hoo-Hoo is a medium of friendship."
There's nothing at all snarky about those sentiments.
The Hoo-Hoo International Headquarters and Museum, 207 Main St., Gurdon, is open 9 a.m.-11 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Admission is free. Call (870) 353-2661 or visit hoo-hoo.org.
Weekend on 10/23/2014