A Runaway Stagecoach
By WALTON WILLIAMS
Copyright, 1910. by American Press
Association.
"The stagecoach of the past," said
one of a party discussing the compara
tive dangers of different methods of
travel, "had its advantages. True, a
reckless driver would once in awhile
swing round a sharp curve on a moun
tain side and spill a load of passen
gers down a precipice a few thousand
feet, but such occurrences were rare.
I remember one close call 1 had out in
Colorado half a century ago when I
was a youngster that I wouldn't like
to go through again. If an accident
of equal Importance should happen to
a railroad train, even on comparatively
level ground, it would be awful.
"On the particular occasion I'm go
ing to tell you about we started from
Georgetown, in the mountains, to go
down to Denver. There's a loop rail
road at Georgetown now, but at that
time there was nothing but a turn
pike. A green hand at driving, an
Irishman, Mike Rourke, from the sta
bles, had been put on the box, the reg
ular driver, Dan Patterson, having
been laid off for illness. Patterson
was inside the coach, going down to
Golden City, where he lived.
"It was a fine day, and we were re
galed with many extensive views of
the plains at the foot of the range,
appearing for all the world like an
ocean. Indeed, geologists say that it
was once an ocean bottom. From the
brow of an eminence where we were
admiring one of these views we could
see the road before us winding down
a steep incline and at the bottom ris
ing a shorter distance to another sum
mit. A few moments after we started
down we noticed that Instead of going
slow, as was necessary for safety on
such Inclines, we seemed to start off
with a quickening pace and were soon
rolling downward at a furious speed.
Patterson thrust his head out of the
window and drew it in again, white
as a cloth.
'"What is It?' we all asked breath
lessly. " 'Don't know, but we're all likely to
be dashed to pieces.'
"Coming from a trained stage driver,
this set us all wild. Some of the
women grasped frantically at the
doors, but two of us men, one on
each side, knowing that to jump would
be certain death and remaining inside
might mean life, held the' doors shut.
But the inside of that stagecoach was
the wildest scene I ever witnessed
women shrieking and men (some, of
them) trying to reassure them, while
others were holding on to something
as if In that way they could bold the
coach back.
"But looking outside was worse then
the inside. The few scrub trees there
were beside the road shot by like ar
rows. The coach swayed, and as ev
ery curve in the road we felt sure it
would upset, and sometimes an upset
meant a spill Over the side of a preci
pice. We kept hoping that there
would be some slackening of speed,
but Instead of slackening the pace was
continually growing faster, and the
quicker the pace the more the coach
reeled.
"By this time the babel among the
passengers was deafening. Some were
praying, while others were shouting
at us two men who kept a strong grip
at the doors to let them out. One big
strong man, maddened by terror, ham
mered me unmercifully to make me
open the door. But I held on with a
death grip. I think that having some
thlng to do helped , me to retain my
own equanimity? If anything more
was needed it was supplied by the
sight of men crazed by fear ready
to do any foolish or selfish act. Pass
ing a house beside the road, I saw a
man standing in the door looking at
the coach with bis eyes and mouth
wide open. But 1 saw him only a mo
ment, for he flew by like a cannon
ball.
"Then the swaying of the coach grew
less and the terrible speed at which
we were going seemed to be lessening.
I put my head out the window and.
looking forward, saw that we were
near the bottom of the incline and ia
a few moments would be rolling along
a comparatively straight ascent. The
sudden transition from almost certain
death to sure safety produced a very
singular effect on me. The blows of
the big man who had tried to force
me to open the door had produced no
effect on me of any kind. Believed
from the strain, my first act was to
stretch my arm and plant my fist
against his eye and knock him sprawl
ing on the weat behind him. Then 1
cried :
" 'Hurrah! We're safe!'
"From this moment our pace slacken
ed, but we went far up the hill before
It was reduced to anything like a quiet
run. The coach was a long while com
ing to a full stop, seemingly as though
it must do so of its owu weight. When
it did we all tumbled out. The driver,
too. came down from the box and
stood at the head of his trembling
leaders.
"'What was it?' we all cried in a
breath.
" 'It wor that,' replied Mike, pointing
to the tongue that lay on the ground
at the heels of the wheelers. Patter
son, who in addition to being ill had
been on a terrible strain, saw it and,
realizing what we had escaped, had to
hold on to a wheel to avoid dropping
down. I went up to Mike and asked
him what measures he had taken with
the horses after the tongue dropped.
" 'I licked em all the way down, sor,'
he said."
RULES FOR WIVES.
To Which Is Added Some Feminine
Advice to Husbands.
Some presumptuous Frenchmen pub
lished a list of -commandments for
wives, one of which ran: "Now and
then acknowledged gracefully that thy
husband knows more about some
things than thou. After all, thou art
not infallible." A second and still more
daring rule for wives was, "Never be
aggressive in thy arguments with thy
husband, but always consider him as
superior to thee." This was too much
for French feminists, and no wonder.
One lady answers the presumptuous
man indignantly:
The weaker sex has not merely du
ties; it has also rights. Feminism is
advancing, and nothing will stop it.
The weaker sex is the equal of the
sterner. Equality forever! Here are
the commandments which women op
pose to those of men.
The lady then gives her rules for
husbands with more spirit than logic:
Woman has a right to have whims;
it is a privilege of her sex. Never put
her out. She might have hysterics,
which would impair her health and
cost the money in doctor's bills.
Another commandment runs:
Bemember, good man, that thy wife
is thy superior by her grace, her beau
ty and refinement. Therefore always
worship at her feet.
Where, then good lady, does "equal
ity forever" come in, if woman not only
has privilege because she is a woman,
but is decidedly superior to man?
Surely, the strong minded suffragist
would spurn privileges of sex. In an
other rule the lady seems to show
some sly knowledge of her sisters.
If, good man. thou desirest mountain
air. ask thy wife to come to the sea
side; she will immediately propose a
holiday in Switzerland.
But this is a very mild gibe at her
own sex compared with her final
thrust at the other in her last rule
for husbands:
Man was created before woman as a
preliminary sketch for the master
piece. Bemember. then, O husband,
that thou art but a rough draft.
This ought to shut any husband up
finally. Paris Cor. London Telegraph.
TRAVELERS' TALES.
Some That Were Discredited and Vin
dicated Long Afterward.
Travelers' tales have often been ac
cused of beiug mere flights of imagi
nation, and in the past stay at home
people have sometimes erred in treat
ing travelers' tales with scorn. There
was, for instance, the description by
James Bruce in 1770 of the barbarous
Abyssinian custom of eating raw meat
cut from the living animal, which was
ridiculed by everybody. Yet Bruce has
even recently been proved right. When
Paul Du Chaillu explored equatorial Af
rica in 1SG1 and described the wonder
ful gorillas and also the nation of
dwarfs there he was discredited none
too politely by the British Boyal Geo
graphical society. Yet subsequent ex
plorers amply vindicated his veracity.
In the matter of discredited travel
ers' tales vindicated long afterward it
will never be possible to beat the
classic instance in Herodotus. He
tells how King Neco of Egypt com
missioned certain Phoenician mariners
to circumnavigate Africa if they could.
They did it, starting from the Bed sea
and returning by the straits of Gibral
tar after very many months. And
they reported, says Herodotus, that in
rounding the southern end of Africa
they had the sun on their right hand.
"I, for my part," he says, "do not be
lieve this, but perhaps others may."
In modern times that detail is pre
cisely what proves that the Phoeni
cians did achieve the wonderful voy
age. Such an '"improbable" fact could
never have been invented in an age
which was not familiar with the equa
tor. Chicago News.
Two Cheerful Liars.
Two Americans were disputing as to
which had experienced the greatest
cold in winter. Said one: "In the part
of Iceland where I was last summer
the ground is frozen so hard all the
year round that when they want to
bury a man they just sharpen his feet
and drive him in with a pile hammer."
The other replied: "Yes, I know
that place. Didn't stay there long
found it not quite bracing enough for
me. Went on to a small town farther
north. The hotel where I was stay
ing caught fire. My room was on the
top story. No fire escapes or ladders
in that primitive settlement. Stair
cases burnt away. Luckily, kept my
presence of mind. Emptied my. bath
out of the window and slid down the
icicle." Truth.
Calais is rather an untidy'place for
a French town. The Place d'Armes,
where the tower of the Hotel de Ville
has remained since the fifteenth cen
tury, is the center spot. Here Calais
meets its friends and has its cafe noir.
In the square, towering out of . the
roofs of surrounding houses and
dwarfing them, is the old watchtower.
Since 184S it has been superseded as a
lighthouse by the magnificent one at
present in use. Never shall I forget
the effect of this lighthouse as I stood
under it that night. The revolving
spokes of light cast away into filmy
space In all directions, looked like the
ribs of a huge umbrella being turned
by the white handle, which was the
lighthouse tower. J3o tall is this that
its revolving light can be seen from a
distance of twenty miles at sea. Wide
World.
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THIS YEAR'SQON VENTIONS.
October 18, New York, N. Y., Unit
ed Textile Workers of America. .
October 18, Detroit, Mich., Interna
tional Association of Car Workers.