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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1903)
|| THAT GIRL of JOHNSON'sf ay JEAJi K.A.TE LX/aJLVA*. Author of "At m Girl's Mercy." Etc. Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 19<J0 by Street A Smith. In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. D. C. CHAPTER X. , The Rescue. The arms of the men were brawny and strong; Green was light In weight and lithe as a tiger; the rope ran out sloly and steadily, slid out and down over the sharp edge of the chasm where the grasses were long and hid the sharp cut into emptiness, making a treacherous foothold. Suddenly the rope stopped running, grew slack, and Green’s voice came up in a shout. Thus silence reigned again save for the rain and wind. Moments passed; to the girl stand ing back motionless the moments seemed like hours. Her eyes did not move from the edge where the rope ran over. Green called again, and they began to pull the rope. Dolores’ eyes widened as she watched them; her lips were apart, a flush on her cheeks. The mist grew more thick and dense, stealing up and up until it reached the edge of the chasm. It stole about the men at work at the rope and enveloped them silently; through its gray folds they looked like specters at work for all eternity, with set faces, pulling the rope in and in. The rope camd up steadily and slow and sure, then Green spoke from just below the surface. “Stop; some of you give me a hand here. Careful. He is insensible.” They obeyed him without a word. A terror was on Dolores’ face; she did not move; her fingers were twisted tightly together; her lips were com pressed in a straight red line. The men were slow and careful; it was no light thing to lean over the edge of the chasm; the treacherous edge hidden in sedge might give way at any moment, but the hands of the men were slow and steady; they obeyed Green’s commands as though they were powerless of self-thought. They had Johnson up on firm ground and Green after him; they laid the insensible man on the ground with goats for pillows; they forced some cider between his teeth and chafed his brawny hands tenderly as a wo man would. Two of them cut down a couple of saplings and lopped off the branches, making the body smooth; these they bound together with two cross pieces; they crossed the rope in a network back and forth. No words were uttered; they worked in silence with a grimness that was al most terrible to the watching girl. The rain was falling steadily now, and dripped through the branches, falling on Johnson s face. His hands moved gropingly a moment; he opened his eyes and looked vacantly about him; they were hollow eyes and hungry; he recognized no one. Dolo res came up shyly, offering no word of sympathy, and with a moan John son closed his eyes again. “We must get him home as soon as \ li b\ •i'K.r Laid him on the Ground, possible,” Green said, gravely, his eyes on the face of the girl standing silently beside her father. “He has been without food since the day be fore yesterday. He lost his way, and fell in the night when he was trying to find his way back after hunting the cow. He has been lying there on that ledge ever since too weak to make any efTort to save himself, thereby doubtless saving his life, for the ledge would stand little motion.” He did not add that Johnson had broken both of his legs in the fall, and doubtless received internal in juries that must prove serious if not fatal. Dolores’ eyes were on his, and ■he could not tell the whole of what might come. When they had placed Johnson on the litter as comfortably as possible, Lodle offered his coat to Dolores in a short word or two and no change of face, but the girl shook her head, without speaking, though she gave him one of her rare smiles, and walked steadily down the path tangled in the treacherous bushes, half hidden in mist and rain, with Green at her side buried in thought, though his hand was ready to reach out for her assistance whenever it was needed and his face was almost sweet with a mew touch upon it. * * * * * ■* * .* Dolores stood listlessly at one of the kitchen windows; she was looking out at the storm, but she did not see Jt; her ears were straine^ to catch the £Ound of voices in her father’s room. « Earnest voices they were and full of a meaning she could not catch. The road was deserted; the men had straggled up to Johnson's house when first he was brought home, but as soon as the messenger sent by Green brought the doctors from the town they ordered perfect quiet, and the men were sent away without be ing allowed to enter. They turned away in silence and went down the road to the tavern with its welcome fire, its cider, and comrades. The women were forced to remain at home; they gossiped with their daughters or their kinsfolk around the great hearth fires. Their needles were busy, their spinning wheels hummed; their lives were narrow, but there was work to be done as well as food for gossip. Only Dolores was idle. She stood at window staring with un seeing eyes at the storm outside, straining her ears in vain to catch the hum of voices in her father’s room. Young Green was there, and two doc tors, and a woman they said was a nurse. What need was there of a nurse she asked herself. She could | nurse her father. And what were the doctors doing there? If her father was only ex hausted from exposure and lack of food why should he need two doctors? Men had been lost on the mountain before; they never needed nurses when they were brought home; their own women cared for them; she could care for her father. When he was well enough they would send for him at the town; they were only waiting for him to prove their suspicions. The case had been adjourned; it was a pretty clear case of malice, folks said, but they were waiting for her father to prove it. The door of the bedroom opened, and the nurse came out. She was an elderly woman with a grave face. She brought' several parcels from the town. Young Green sent her a note by the man who went to fetch the doc tors, and she knew what to bring. One or two of these she opened and pre pared beef and broth. She spoke quietly and pleasantly to Dolores, but she found her own way about the house and seemed to fit into every thing. A> sudden fear took possession of Dolores. It was sharp and appalling, and she straightened up under it as though she had received a blow. It was no exhaustion from want of food and shelter that ailed her father; some thing more than that brought this woman and the doctors, caused this hush of voice and footsteps, shut her from her father’s presence. She spoke, and her voice was low. The woman turned quietly toward the girl. “You spoke, Miss Johnson?” “What ails my father?” “He will be better by and by. We could not expect him to recover at once. Do not be alarmed.” Dolores repeated her question in the same low yet perfectly distinct voice; her eyes looked steadily at the wom an. ‘What ails my father?” The nurse was annoyed. She did not like to be questioned so pointed ly; she had studied to keep her own counsel and use few words. “Your father had a heavy fall, Miss Johnson; only the ledge saved him. His right leg was broken above the knee; the doctors have set that now; it will be better soon.” Like young Green, she would not tell the full truth. How could she tell the girl the extent of the injuries and the possible end? That one of his legs would have to be amputated; that his whole system was so shat tered it would be a miracle if he lived, and though he should live he would be a cripple always? She dared not say this; she dared not look at the girl at first. Presently Dolores spoke again, and her voice was perfectly even and slow. “How long before he will be well?” “Impossible to tell,” the woman re plied gravely. "Such cases are uncer tain.” “But he will get well?” “Why not? We will take good care of him.” “Do you think,” Dolores’ eyes grew dark as night, “do you think they will send for him before he can go? They are waiting for him to go to the town —for him to go to prove-” “I know,” the woman said, quietly, with perfect control over the muscles of her face. “I have heard. No, they will not send for him until he can go. You must not worry, Miss Johnson.” Dolores turned back to the window with no further remark, and silence fell over the room save for the wom an’s soft movements, and a hushed sound from the bedroom now and then. CHAPTER XI. The Nurse’s Story. The doctors remained in that hushed room the whole of the long night through; the nurse said that they would go presently, but they did not. As darkness settled down heavily one of them came out and spoke to the nurse. Then the nurse went into the bedroom with the doctors, and the door was shut. Once or twice young Green came out to Bpeaik a pleasant word to her of encouragement, or a message as to her father’s condition; he was more quiet now, the doctors had given him a narcotic. I^ater he was sleeping quietly; sleep was what he needed. "‘It is too bad it is so stormy," he said, and there was an indescribable kindness in his voice as he stood be side her at the window while the dark ness was enveloping the world. “1 would so like to see the stars from your windows. Dolores. Can you see Venus above the mountains when it is clear, and the moon set in the young moon's arms?” She lifted her true eyes to his face, and a flush was coming into the pure, pale face. “There are few 1 can place in the heavens,” she said, slowly, “but those I know are like friends to me; I have no friends, you know. And my mother is near me when the stars are in the sky. My mother is dead. You knew my mother is dead?” • "Yes,” he made answer, smiling into the lifted face so near his own. "I would so like you to see my moth er. Dolores. You could not fail to love her.” The girl shook her head. There was no deepening of the soft coloring of her face, no tremor of the proudly Ill—r-iii, She lifted her eyes to his face. curved red lips, no drooping of the silken lashes over the dark eyes. “I know nothing about love,” she said, quietly. "I have only my father and my mother’s books.” His eyes darkened suddenly, a strange tenderness came over the fair, kindly face. “After all. there is a sadness about love; perhaps it is as well, Dolores." He turned swiftly from her, and crossing the room lighted only by the flickering Are, his figure defined in grotesque shapes upon the walls, he entered the room beyond, leaving her motionless at the darkened window, her eyes following him. Presently she left the window also and, crossing to a shelf at the other end, took down the last book he had brought her and opened it to her favorite reading of the fables of the stars. Her eyes bent over the pages were aluminous, her cheeks flushed softly. She was out of her narrowed life with the infinite range of the heavens spread before her; the mill ions and millions of miles of space carried her mind with the thoughts l'ar, far above the shut-in life of her mountain home and the stolid settle ment that had no life but the tavern and the gossip. As young Green entered the bed room the nurse was setting things to rights for the night; she smiled at him as he entered; the two doctors were talking together in an under tone. “Take good care of her, Mrs. Allen,” he said, earnestly; “and see that she sleeps. She is completely worn out with this strain. 1 leave it with you to see that she is interested in things outside of this room. I will stop at the tavern to-night and be up early in the morning. Everything all right, Harry?” (To be continued.)K READY WITH HiS ANSWER. How Sir Harry Keppel Staggered the Governor of Algiers. There are not many men in the British navy who were promoted more quickly than Sir Harry Keppel. T!e was a commodore at twenty-four, and at this early age was sent to the gov ernor of Algiers to demand an apol ogy from that monarch for an inBult to the British flag. Naturally the gold braid of the commodore fired the youth to deeds of daring, and, perhaps, a little bit of “side,” and the high tone which he arrogated to himself upset his majesty of Algiers to such an extent that that dusky potentate cried out against the insolence of the British queen for sending a “beardless boy” with such a message to him. But young Keppel was prepared. “Were my queen,” he replied, “wont to take length of beard for a test ot wisdom, she would have sent your highness a he-goat.” Sentiment vs. Fact. That the advance preparation ot speeches will not always conform tc circumstances was made evident dur ing a recent flag raising at an uptown public school. The young orator had been speaking for several minutes, when he advanced to the front of the platform, raised his hand with a dra matic gesture to the flag on the stafl above him and shouted: “See yon flag throwing its protect mg folds to the breeze of freedom!” It was a pretty sentiment, but the "breeze” didn’t bear out the picture. The flag,to which all eyes were turned immediately turned, hung as limp as if it had been dipped in water.—Phila delphia Press. HALF CENTURY AGO. CONVINCING ARGUMENTS IN SUP PORT OF PROTECTION. Free-Trade Newspaper of To-Day Waa at That Time 8trongly In Favor of Legislating for the Best Interests of Our Own People. Curious relics of the past, when sane and sound Americanism characterized the columns of a newspaper which in recent years has turned much of Its talents and energies In a contrary di rection, are found in the files of the Springfield Republican of nearly fifty years ago. In the edition of that pa per of the date of Jan. 12, 1855, ap pears an editorial on ' The Tariff,” which shows the then editor, Samuel Bowles, senior, as one of the ablest and clearest sighted protectionists of that period. No one has ever pre sented more effective argument in fa vor of the policy which looks after our own country and our own people and leaves foreigners to look after them selves than is contained in this urgent appeal to congress to lose no time in enacting a strictly protective tariff. Business conditions in 1865 were simi lar to those which prevailed forty years later under a Democratic-free trade tariff. Franklin Pierce, a New England free-trader, was president of the United States. Free-trade was the order of the day, and the customary free-trade conditions prevailed. With a tariff for revenue only in full force, revenue was falling off at. the rate of $2,000,000 a month. Said the Spring field Republican of that period: “Away with merely revenue tariffs! They are destroying American Inde pendence. They are transplanting our workshops to Europe. They are carry ing off our gold as fast as it can be dug in California. They are obliging us to wear German and French broad cloths by forbidding the manufacture of American. They are shutting up factories, reducing the rates of labor, Impoverishing the country. Away with them!” That is exactly what a Democratic tariff was doing in 1895, forty years la ter. In the winter of 1855, as the Re publican narrates, the unemployed la borers of New York to the number of 60,000 men, 50,000 women and 10,000 UNWISE POLICY. Republican* Should Not Side With Democrats. There is no substantial reason to bo advanced why Republicans of either state should attempt to play into the hands of their political enemies by changing front on the tariff question. The tariff law as it stands Is admit tedly a good measure. If the whole question were reopened It is more than doubtful whether any better law could be framed; and to reopen the tariff question in part is to reopen it in whole. If imperfections exist In the law as it stands there has been a dis tinct lack of any specific pointing out of those defects. When it is positively shown that somo Injury Is worked through them it will be time enough to proceed to remedy those defects: either by raising duties If they have proved too low or lowering them if they have proved too high. In the meantime and until some de fects do appear and are specifically pointed out, it is decidedly advisable, both from the standpoint of politics and from regard for the Interests of the country, to let the tariff alone, and to refrain from aiding the Demo cratic campaign for revision. The Republican party does not have to apologize for the Dlngley law, its workings or its results. Considering the present condition of business in the United States, the development of industry, the growth of our domestic and our foreign trade and the splen did financial condition of the treasury, all due in great measure at least to the present tariff law, it is difficult to see why any Republican should favor tampering with that law In the direc tion which the Democrats desire to see it amended. As a matter of fact there are very few Republicans who do want to see It tampered with, even in Iowa, as the Republican convention there has Just shown.—Seattle Post-Intelli gencer. Protection Wins by 300 Per Cent. The product of pig iron In this coun try the present year will exceed twen ty million tons. That of Great Britain and Germany combined will be consid erably below this; and the pre-emin ence of the United States In iron and steel Is growing more pronounced year by year, under the Influence of the be nign policy of protection, which the TRVING TO RAISE A DEAD ISSUE. children, were holding' mass meetings and petitioning the city government for work on city improvements, and were threatening anarchy unless their wants should be in some way provided for. In Boston the souphouse system was in full blast, excepting on Sun days, when the unemployed had to go hungry. Regular Democratic tariff times! Tho Springfield Republican demanded a return to protection as a means of allaying distress and restor ing prosperity, just as the Republican newspapers were doing in 189G, after three years of free-trade domination. The Springfield paper appealed for: “Preference for American labor, for American goods, for American men, over the labor, the goods and the men of other countries.” Precisely what the protectionists of to-day are insisting upon. Forty-eight years ago the Springfield Republican was saying: “Free-trade is correct in theory and correct in practice, if we are legisla ting for the benefit of the whole world. But If we are to legislate for America, let us legislate for Americans by pro tecting their interests and their labor against the interests of the uneduca ted and impoverished labor of Europe." To-day the Springfield Republican is diametrically opposed to the doctrine which it so ably advocated in 1855. Either it was wrong then or it is wrong now. It could not have been wrong in 1855, Judging from the terri ble conditions of want and ruin which then existed as the direct result of legislating for the benefit of foreign ers. Is there any more reason now than there was then why we should legislate against our own people and in favor of foreigners? Is there any reason to suppose that the conditions of 1855 and 1895 would not return if we should abandon protection and in vite the competition of th(j under paid labor in Europe? They certainly would and must return in such an event, the only difference being that the damage and loss would now be ten times greater because the aggregate of la bor and production is now ten times greater. Having climbed so high, we should fall so much further. It would seem that all that was needed to re convert the Springfield Republican to protectionism would be a perusal of Its own. files of forty-eight years ago. /VVVWVWOVWVA/VWVWWSfWVW Republican party has conferred upon the country. Our present rate of pro duction is a remarkable contrast to the production in this country nine years ago, the “boss" Cleveland year, when the pig Iron produced in the Uni ted States was but 6,757,248 tons, or about one-third of the present rate. In that year Great Britain’s production considerably exceeded ours, while Ger many's didn't lag far behind. The showing is a remarkable object lesson in the comparative advantages to the country of free-trade vs. protection, and protection wins by three hundred per cent.—Salt Lake Tribune. Iowa's Free-Trade Radicals. The tariff plank of the Iowa Demo crats is sufficiently radical to please the Cleveland contingent, for it not only calls for a removal of the tariff from all trust-made goods, but it de dares that ail tariff schedules should be adjusted with a view to tarlff-for revenue-only. This proposition, it is to be hoped, will be as squarely met by the national Democratic conven tion, Blnce it raises the issue between the British free-trade policy, which Colonial Britain is giving evidence oi being tired of, and the American economic programme, which has been embodied in the most successful in dustrial experience ever snared by any nation in human history.—Boston Jour nal. No Assault on the Tariff. The convention of 1904 will make no demand for any tariff revision. It will suit the Republicans to make a fight on the tariff if the Democrats can )<• Inveigled into assailing the protective policy next year. The chances are, however, that Gorman and the rest of the shrewd leaders of the Democracy will prevent their party from making any assault on the tariff that can arouse Republican opposition. — St I.ouis Globe-Democrat. A Sure Cure. Says the Chicago Record-Herald: “The only cure for the surplus is a re vision of the tariff.'' Very true indeed Tariff revision downward has never failed to cure a surplus either in -the national treasury or in the pockets of the people. As a surplus cnrer tariff revision belongs in the category of “death on rats.” Cow Poa* and Soy Beans. Many farmers in Illinois, especially in the central and northern sections of the state are not familiar with the cow pea and soy bean. In some parts of southern Illinois cow peas are grown extensively, and where the value of this crop Is known it consti tutes one of the chief forage crops. Soy beans are of more recent intro duction, and this crop is not so well known as cow peas. In some cases farmers have given one or both of these crops a trial, but through the UBe of varieties not adapted to their climate, unsatisfactory results have been obtained, and consequently they have pronounced these plants un sulted to Illinois conditions. Others have been more successful in their growth, and find them worthy of a prominent place in the rotation. As a matter of fact, both crops have been grown In this state long enough and to such an extent that they have passed beyond the purely experiment al stage, and in places they are al ready considered as important factors in Illinois agriculture. The cow pea is a native of south eastern China, and the soy bean of Japan. Being semltroplcal in origin, both plants are naturally best suited to a warm climate, and the introduc tion and cultivation of the cow pea in America has been largely limited to the South, although in recent years certain varieties have become so ac climated as to mature In the latitude of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minne sota. The soy bean has been grown farther north since its introduction, consequently there is no question as to the adaptability of both crops to the soil and climate of Illinois. How ever, there are varieties grown in the south which are not suitable for this state, and will not mature if planted here. One of the first essentials in the successful culture of these crops, therefore, is the selection of varieties adapted to the conditions of climate and soil.—Circular 69, Illinois Agri cultural College. , Hog Pasture. It la not safe or even desirable to rely upon a single crop to furnish pas ture for our hogs throughout the en tire season. It Is better to arrange for a succession of pastures from the be glnlng of the season until the hogs are ready for market, making the feed richer and more concentrated toward the close of the season, and as we ap proach the finishing of fattening pe riod. For this purpose the following crops are recommended: Red clover or alfalfa, rape, cowpeas, soy beans. On lands adapted to alfalfa It will undoubtedly prove to be better for hogs than red clover. Inasmuch as it will produce a larger quantity of feed of a somewhat higher value. Inas much as we have not yet learned W> grow alfalfa successfully on the ma jority of our upland clay soils, we shall be forced to rely chiefly upon clover. It starts earlier In the spring than any hog pasture we have except ing alfalfa, and would therefore be used first., and should be used as long as It Is succulent and palatable. Usu ally not later than the middle of June the crop will have become so mature that the hogs will relish a change for the time being, and the surplus clover should be cut ahd removed, so as to allow the second or fall crop to start promptly.—Report Missouri State Board of Agriculture. Condition of Foreign Crop*. According to reports received by the Department of Agriculture relative to the condition of European crops July 1st, In Russia the cereal crop prospects have considerably Improved even In regions where conditions at the be ginning of spring were unfavorable. In Germany there has been great Im provement In all the winter cereals, partlclarly rye. In Austria only a good medium harvest of spring sown .crops is to bb expected. Hungary's output will fall considerably below that of 1902, the deficiency in the case pt wheat being 16% per cent Most of the Bulgarian crops are In good con dition. Storms and floods have serious ly damaged crops and vineyards In Italy. In France the winter wheat area is estimated to be 681,724 acres less than In 1902. Wheat and other crops made marked Improvement dur ing June and now look well. Reports from Denmark are generally favorable. Great Britain’s wheat crop Is late and will hardly equal the average yield. The total wheat crop which India har vested this spring has been estimated at 290,261,104 bushels against 226,370, 890 In 1902. Grooming the Herd. After the cattle have had their hay In the morning they are cleaned up for the day. We use good stiff root brushes for the purpose and the curry comb is brought Into requisition when neces sary. The cows enjoy this brushing and stand perfectly still, frequently stopping their eating during the opera tion. Some authorities claim that brush ing stimulates the circulation, thereby increasing the milk flow. Whether or not this is so, I do not know. That a clean row of cows is more attractive and pleasing to the eye, there Is no doubt. Besides this, can you tell me of anything more repulsive than milk ing vile smelling, filthy cows? If the custom of cleaning cows was more gen eral among farmers, the butter mak ers and creamery men throughout the country would have much less trouble in producing a first class article.—D. \V. Howie