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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1903)
rTHAT GIRL of JOHNSON’sl By JEA/f K.ATE LWLX/M. Author of “At a Ctrl's .Ifcrcs f Etc, Entered According to Act of Congress In the Year 1890 by Street & Smith. In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. mi ■■ ...... CHAPTER VII. f The Strayed Cow. Dolores sat in the doorway wait ing for her father’s return from the tavern. He had been to the house while she was over the mountain, and had his supper. She herself had eaten uothing, for she had no appetite in spite of her walk over the mountain. ) She was quite idle, her hands in their old listless attitude in her lap, her dark head resting against the unpainted door post, her grave face and thoughtful eyes raised to the heavens. The moonlight falling across her face defined it clear and perfect as marble; upon the clean bare floor behind her lay her shadow long and dark. The night was silent; the distant sound of rude singing from the tav ern died away; the lights went out one after another in the long, low houses. Dolores began to wonder vaguely why her father did not come. Midnight had passed; the hours ticked away one by one on the big clock in the corner, the moon hung round and golden above the mountain peaks in the west; in the east a streak of whiter light appeared, broadened and deepened. The girl’s shadow disap peared from the floor; it lay in front of her on the door stone. The cow was cropping the grass on the roadside, her breathing deep and contented. Lodie, the next neighbor, carte up the road with a bucket. His v^^was low in this dry weather; Johifson’s well was public property at .such times. “A sheer day,” he said apologetical ly, looking at the brlndle. Dolores, roused herself, a slow thought coining to her mind. “I have been waiting for my father,” she said, •“la. he still at the tavern?” Lodie held the bucket suspended half way down the ’(veil; a dull sur prise was the leading expression on his face. “Don’t ye know where he went, D’lores? Warn’t ye liyar when he kem up fer his gun an’ started ter hunt ther cow ower yander on ther mounting? Ther cow is hyar; where’s yer feyther?” A sudden sharp fear woke in her mind; she arose and faced Lodie, the sunlight <?n her head. "If he went over on the opposite mountain to hunt Brindle and has not returned he must have lost his road, or gotten hurt, or something to keep "him.” “Yes,” said Lodie, slowly. “An’ theys want him et ther court ter-day; ■ef he ain’t thyar they’ll kem fer him; •theys sweared they’d hev him, fer ther thing kyant be settled tell he goes.” He swung the bucket up on the edge of the well and passed down the road in silence, his slouching figure like a blot on the exquisite landscape. Breakfast was ready, and Dolores went in and set the potatoes and ba con at one side of the hearth; the coffee was ready to make; she never made that till it was ready to be drank. When all was ready within she went out to the bank under the pines. The sun was high and warm, but under the pines the shadows were cool and dark; and there, she waited for her father. By and by the men of the settle ment started over the mountain in groups of twos and threes. Dolores watched them go, scarce taking her eyes front them till their slouching figures faded and blended with the yellow road and the rugged paths. As they passed they asked for her father, * ■V, She arose and faced Lodie. every one receiving the same reply. Later, as Dolores watched, a yellow cloud of dust arose where the road and the sky seemed to meet. She watched it mechanically. As the cloud appeared and drew nearer out of it appeared a body of horsemen riding at a sharp pace down the rough road. They slackened their pace as they came up. The girl was plainly dis cernible in her print gown under the pines. They halted at the rickety gate, and one of them dismounted and went up the walk. He removed his hat as he drew near Dolores. “Miss Johnson?” She hesitated a moment; the name was unfamiliar to her save as used by young Green. Then she bent her head in reply. “Your father?” “He is not here,” she said, slowly. “Wher*» can we find him?” "I do not know.” "But we must find him." He frowned sternly; his face and voice were authoritative. "He is summoned to appear in court to-day in the Green ease; the law cannot wait. Can you give us no idea where we can find him?" "No.” He returned to his companions and reported that Johnson wap not there; his daughter did not know where he was. They held a consultation. If it were possible Johnson must be found and brought to court that day; law and right must not be delayed. Riding down the mountain they halted at the tavern. The tavern-keeper’s wife came out to meet them. They asked for water; she said water was scarce on the mountain, “But we must find him." but she could give them cider If that would do. They replied that cider would do very well—in fact, much better than water for their purpose, for they had a rough time before them. As they drank they asked for the host. He was away, she said, gone over the mountain to the town; a trial was being held there, had they not heard of it? Nearly every one had heard of it; it was making a stir. Folks were excited about it; there was to be a trial there, and Johnson —had they ever heard of Johnson?— was all they were waiting for to lay the guilt where it belonged; he knew more about it than most folks; some thought Did Johnson go? No, not that she knew of, and she would know. He went over to the opposite mountain last night to hunt his cow. In what direction did Johnson go? She was not sure; she believed he went right down the road across the valley. There was a bridge across the river if one followed the road along the foot of the mountain a bit. Jenkins had seen her there, and he told Johnson so at the tavern; John son went right over to hunt her; he took his gun in case he came across game, but that was useless unless he were luckier than usual, for Johnson was too shiftless to have luck. Yes, the cow came back; she had lost her bell; he would expect to find her by that; doubtless he would keep on hunting; he hadn’t sense enough to know she would most likely come home by herself. But if he did not wish to return for reasons best known to himself—Johnson was shiftless, but he was no fool about some things. His girl now had about as little sense as was possible. She did not even know when she was well off; she was like her mother for ail the world, only worse. As for Dolores, she seemed to like him to talk to her; she was not in the habit of talking much; she never talked with her neighbors, she felt above them; he was the judge’s son, and, no doubt, she felt flattered that he took notice of her. Their men never said much to her, for they did not like her. Maybe she went over the mountain. Well, maybe she went because she wished to go. How could she answer for her? Perhaps Could they find Johnson if they tried? She did not know. The oppo site mountain was a dangerous place; there were sharp ledges and turns and deep chasms; folks seldom ventured over there except for hunting; they had no cause to go. Did they want Johnson? He was not in the habit of going off; he never went hunting except on their own mountain; he had no go ahead in him; he was shiftless and so was his daugh ter—only worse. They had accomplished their errand and paid her liberally as they arose to go, more determined than ever to find Johnson were it a possible thing. ' CHAPTER VIII. The Search. The deputies rode slowly down the mountain. The road was hard for their horses and uncertain, besides it was strange to them and strange ground was unsafe. They talked lit tle. On leaving the tavern one of them remarked that the woman knew what she was talking about, and now they would find Johnson if such a thing were possible, for they had more reasc«n than ever to find hint. They rode along the foot of the mountain in search of the path of ■which the woman spoke. There waa no road here as along the other moun tain; a narrow line half hidden by long grass and tangled bushes strag gled in and out capriciously, as though to puzzle its followers, now- up the mountain side, again straying out into the valley meadows nearer the river’s moaning. Above, among the pines, the blue haze was tangled, hiding all be yond; the dread mystery of the moun tain clung like a garment about It. The men rode on in silence; there was a solemnity around them that hushed all light words. The enormity of their undertaking dawned more and more upon them; to search for a man in that wilderness with the moun tain’s haert for his hiding place and its robe of haze for his shield was ab surd. There were chasms and dan gerous places, sharp turnings and winding paths, ledges hidden by haze that would swallow a man as com pletely as a sepulcher, and leave no trace, massive rocks overhead that a tremor of the mountain would hurl upon them. No wonder the men grew silent and allowed the horses to have their way; man could not follow the dangerous, hidden paths’ only brute instinct could And the safe places. They came at last to the path up the mountain, and the horses refused to take it until urged by whip and spur. It was a path that shielded all beyond it, as though the mountain had made a fastness that none could break. The horses toiled up slowly, slipping now and again on the treach erous ground; the tangled bushes and low boughs swept them as they passed; above the pine boughs parted enough for a man's head to pass un touched beneath. Now and again the bushes and ferns; great rocks loomed path seemed lost in the wilderness of ahead and the path that seemed cut oft turned sharply and wound up the mountain; again and again the horse hoofs paused on the edge of a chasm half hidden by haze, and the men with white faces held them up by main force from the ghastly depths beneath their very feet. Their voices, as they shouted in hopes of a reply had Johnson lost his way, sounded gruesome in the loneliness. Half way- up the mountain they1 paused and faced about. It was use less, they said, and foolish to follow the path up higher; no man would wander up there of his own free yvlll; facing the law were preferable; one knew what to expect from it. Here death laid his traps in secret and lured his victim on; he waited at every corner and lurked near every rock; he was above, below, and before them; he reigned in the mountain's heart. If Johnson were there he might stay there; their lives were of more value than his; they would re turn to the town and report the utter hopelessness of the search. It would be wiser to search for him nearer home; to hide from the law showed that he was cowardly, and a coward would never come there. They would stop at the tavern and speak to the woman again; her words might be wiser than they thought. And they would speak again to that girl of Johnson’s; she might be more willing to talk, and she was no fool. (To be continued.) SHIRTS GROW ON TREES THERE. That, at Least, Is the Statement of an Old Sailor. “Shirts grow on. trees where I came front.'’ said the old sailor. “How so, shipmut?” a pale clerk asked. The sailor emptied his glass and wiped his mouth with the back of his' hand. "I’m a-speakin’,” he said, “of the South seas. You know them isl ands over there?” “Sure,” said the clerk. “Well, that’s where I mean that shirts grow on trees. There’s a kind of a willow tree on them islands with a soft, flexible bark. A native selects a tree with a trunk that’s just a little bigger round than he is. He makes a ring with his knife around the trunk through the bark, and he makes an other ring four foot below. Then, with a slit of the knife, he draws the bark off, the same as a boy does in makin’ a willow whistle, and he’s got a fine, durable shirt. All ho needs to do is to dry it out, make two holes for the arms, and put a lacin’ in the back to draw it together. “In the spring of the year the shirts are gathered. Men and women both go out at that time to look for trees that fit them. These bark shirts are treated so as to be soft and flexible. They don’t look bad. Gosh hanged if they look bad at all, for shirts that grow on trees.”—Philadelphia Record. Knew the Major. “I hear the major is coming up to spend a week with you.” “Yes, and I am fitting up a room for him to entertain his friends. I put in ten chairs and a sideboard." “Where is the major from?” “South Carolina.” “Then you had better put in tan sideboards and a chair.” Out of Season. “Why are yer so sad?” asked Dusty Dennis. “Why,” growled Sandy Pikes, “dat lady said if I’d split de wood she’d give me an old pair of shoes she promised me last winter.” “An’ did she?” “Yes, she give me a pair of snow shoes.” Making Macaroni. Macaroni is made in forty different shapes and sizes. A special kind of very hard wheat is used in this manu facture. Lighthouse Service. The United States lighthouse ser vice cost3 14,500,000 a year. THE TARIFF BURDENS NOBODY SEEMS ABLE TO FUR NISH SPECIFICATIONS. Easy to Assert That Industry Is Op pressed Because of Protection, But Much Easier to Prove the Blessings It Has Conferred. Alluding to the report that the pres ident and some others have prevailed upon Gov. Cummins to abandon “the Iowa idea,” at least until after the next presidential election, the New York Evening Post says: "It is not to be inferred that the “Iowa idea” has undergone any change or that Gov. Cummins has retracted one Jot or tittle of his own previous sayings. Nor can such changes take place while the tariff burden resting upon western industry continue to weigh upon it. Petitions from makers of agricultural Implements calling for relief from the duties on iron and steel and a great variety of articles which have been monopolized by trusts are now In circulation. They will be presented to Theodore Roose velt and to the congress of the United States as soon as the latter come to gether in regular or special session. They embody ‘the Iowa idea,' and they will disturb the harmony of the party In many places before the dele gates are elected to the next national convention.” It is a fault of free traders, In which class we do not hesitate to in clude Gov. Cummins, because if he had his own way he would destroy our protective policy by radically changing it for the benefit of foreign ers and some selfish home interests, that they deal in generaltles and care fully omit particulars. The Evening Post illustrates this trait in the above extract from its columns. What are the “tariff burdens” which now rest upon “western industry?” In what way is the west now burdened by any of the schedules of the Dlngley tariff? All of them, working together, have been powerful factors in creating for this country in the six years since they have been in force the most mar velous and most general prosperity in that this country has ever known. year 1902 to *17,981.597, against *1B, 714,308 in 1901, *15,979,999 in 1900, *13,594,524 in 1899, *9,073,384 to 1898, and *5,302.807 in 1897, To increase these exports more than three fold fn five years does not look as if our agricultural Implement manufacturers had been carrying many "burdens" In their export trade under the Dlngley tariff. We do not believe that the west wants the free trade policy of Grover Cleveland, or any policy approximat ing it, to be substituted for our pres ent protective policy. Under this lat ter policy it has no "tariff burdens” to complain of—only tariff blessings to be thankful for.—Iron and Steel Bulletin. All Record* Beaten. We never sold so many products of American manufacture to foreign na tions in one month as in the last April—the month of March and April, 1900, alone excepted. And yet the Democratic free traders again want to tinker the tariff in or der further to Increase our export trade. In 1893-7 the tariff reformers got in work in economic law which they thought would increase our foreign trade. The net result was they de spoiled our domestic trade and at the same time home manufactures failed to get a foreign market such as we now have under the Dlngley tariff. On the only occasion in two gener ations of American politics when the Democratic party had opportunity to show for what purpose it existed, a Democratic President and congress not only failed to effect good results, but actually succeeded in bringing dis aster on all American interests. The less the Democratic tarifT re formers now say about promoting our foreign trade by tariff tinkering the better, especially as under the pres ent tarifT all records are being beaten in the history of our exports, alike of manufactures and of the products of the farm.—Boston Herald. MAIDEN FIRST VOTERS. Colorado Women Display Interest In the Next Presidential Contest. A unique and Interesting feature of the campaign of education Inaugur SEEING THINGS. The west has abundantly shared in this prosperity. No western industry has been oppressed by the Dingley tariff; all western industries have been helped by it. It is true that some western and eastern agricultural implement manu facturers, not satltied with the con trol of the magnificent home market for they products which they have long enjoyed, and being themselves free traders, would still further increase their profits by enlarging their for eign markets through reciprocity at the expense of their own countrymen who do not make agricultural imple ments, but who do make other things. But these embodiments of the most brazen selfishness that the world ever knew can not truthfully say that the Dingley tariff has been a “burden" to them. It has immensely helped them, and well they know it. But the Dingley tariff has not helped selfish agricultural implement manu facturers or their selfish interests in the east or west to close American iron and steel works, or helped them through reciprocity to substitute the wool of the Argentine Republic for that of American farms, or to substi tute French gloves and brushes and glassware and other French products for the products of our own factories. All these and similar absent features of the Dingley tariff are not "bur dens.” As well say that the laws which are intended to restrain the enemies of society from the commis sion of crime are “burdens.” In addition to controlling the home market absolutely, and charging for their reapers and mowers and thresh ers and plows and cultivators such prices as they care to exact, our agricultural implement manufacturers have been steadily extending the for eign market for their products ever since tho Dingley tariff became a law, as the following official figures will I show. Our experots of agricultural Implements amounted in the calendar ated by the American Protective Tar iff League, with reference to the con test of 1904, is furnished in the re turns from Colorado. In that state unrestricted woman suffrage prevails and among the lists of persons who .will cast their first vote in a presi • dential election next year are a large number of young women. Here In deed is a fruitful and inviting field. What more necessary, more useful, more profitable or more agreeable work could there be than to provide with Protection literature the thou sands of fair ones who will next year be the "first voters” in Colorado? And where, moreover, could the good seed of sound doctrine be more advantage ously scattered? Women are vitally concerned in tariff matters, for they are the chief sufferers when free trade hard times take the place of protection prosperity. Truly a pleas ant task it will be to aid in rightly directing the political steps of the budding electresses of the Rocky Mountains. If further proof were need ed of the value and utility of the “first voters” plan, this would settle it! Ready to Meet It. “Can the tariff issue be sup pressed?” asks the New York Journal of Commerce. Suppressed by whom? Republicans do not ask to have it sup pressed. They have not raised the is sue and would be glad enough to have the tariff let alone and protection go on its prosperity-making way for an indefinite term of years. But, if the free traders and tariff reformers in sist upon forcing the issue, Republic ans are ready to meet it. It is an Is sue which they have no need to shirk or evade. Ail the strength of the sit uation is on the Republican side. Democrats will make the tariff an issue. They always have, and always will, we suppose. Very well, let them do it again in 1904. Republicans will welcome the tariff issue. They will aot lift a finger to snppress it Chicago Haa New Dairy Law*. The Chicago city council has Just passed some new and stringent laws relating to the milk traffic. There haa been for a long time much com plaint of the very loose way In which mlUc was bought and sold In that city. Its handling was often conduct ed under conditions that were likely to make milk a conveyor of disease. Moreover, In some of the poorer lo calities the milk sold for whole milk waa both skimmed and watered. In many cases It was so nearly sour that Its use for children’s food resulted In much sickness and some mortality. The new laws create a milk and food department In the board of health. One of the most startling In novations Is the rule that all cans containing skim milk shall be paint ed bright red. This Is because the sale of skim milk has been largely conducted under the pretense of sell ing whole milk. It is not desired to prevent the sale of skim milk, but only to prevent Its sale as unskimmed milk. The oleanllness of cans and other mllk-holdtng utensils Is to be rigidly enforced. Mixtures of any two or m^re of tbs following articles Is prohibited: Whole milk, skimmed milk, cream, condensed milk and buttermilk. Cans containing any one of the foregoing are required to be labeled In three inch letters. The caps of bottles are similarly required to be stamped. The test provided for milk Is 3 per cent butter fat and 9 per cent other solids, a total of 12 per cent solids. Fot cream the minimum fat must be 15 per cent. No skim milk can be sold If It contains less than 8.6 per cent of solids, Including butter fat. Watered milk, adulterated milk and Impure milk will not be permitted to be sold at all, nor can the milk be sold from cows diseased or kept In a filthy con dition or fed on slops or refuse. Any attempt to sell such milk will resulf In a fine of from $6 to $200. Impure Or condemned milk must be des troyed. Cow stables must be washed dally and diseased animals must be kept away from the well ones. Refuse matter must not henceforth be stored in dairies. As a notice that the laws adopted Monday last are to be enforced, the milk Inspectors on Tuesday seized twelve cans of watered milk and poured their contopts Into the gutter, Thi meh that sent them canfidt be fined, as they are outside the jurlsdic lion of the city. It Is doubtful, how ever If they send any more watered milk to Chicago. - , 17 I Errors In Milk Testing. Professor Eckles of the Missouri station says; If cream is tested by measuring out with the 17.6 c. c pipette, as Is done with milk, the reading will be too low for two rea sons. The basis of the Babcock test is 18 grams. The 16.7 c. c. pipette de livers this weight of milk, but as cream is more adhesive than milk, a considerable amount will stick to the pipette. In sour or thick cream this error may be as much as 1.6 per cent. This error Is easiest removed by fill ing the pipette about one-third full of warm water, shaking to loosen the cream from the sides, then adding this to the cream in the bottle. The other cause for error is on account of the lightness of the cream, as compared with milk. A 17.6 c. c. pipette full of cream does not weigh quite 18 grams, the regulation amount, but somewhat less, depending upon the richness of the cream. If it is neces sary to have an exact test of cream, it can be obtained best by using deli cate scales and weighing out the de sired amount. Scales especially ar ranged for this purpose can now be purchased at a reasonable price. The temperature at which cream bottles are read Is of great importance. A difference of over 1 per cent can be made by changing the temperature from 110 degrees to 180 degrees; ex tremes often met with in various testers. The exact temperature at which reading Is correct has not yet been determined, but should be some where about 120 degrees. The best way to get bottles at a proper tem perature Is to set them in a pan deep enough to bring the water up near the top of the bottle. Grading Up. From Farmers’ Review; In grad ing up a herd I start with ordinary cows, but always with a full blooded sire and, by the time his get Is old enough for breeding, I change my sires, only using the same one two years. By the eighth cross you have as near a full blood as can be, unless It be a thoroughbred. For a general pur pose cow I would rather have the cross, my choice for a general pur pose cow being the Durham.—L. H. Allen, Clinton County, Michigan. To Keep Milk Cans Clean. From Farmers’ Review; On return of cans from factory, empty at once, wash cans thoroughly with warm water, then put in boiling water, put covers on, let stand five minutes, empty and wipe dry, put in sun and let stand until milking time, rinse with cold water and use. In case the cans should be sour, add a teaspoonful of soda to the boiling water.—H. H. Mor mey, Van Buren County, Michigan. The "primary" feathers of the wings xre those used ip flying, but are tucked ander the wings, out of sight, when at rest. j