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About Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930 | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1901)
- s I I 1 sketch tssrroH 3 HI 111 i ill 9KSnmSiMJwmv ilk -A Memorial Surprise Party Alma Maynard sat at the window Jooklng thoughtfully out at the newly Ibudded trees Poor Alma had heen confined to the house all the spring with the scarlet fever which had left 3ier so weak that at first she could hardly lift her head but now that she was up and her young friends were al lowed to visit her she had been wish ing they would come in a party some evening She did not know that at school that very day her playmates were planning to surprise her on the afternoon of Decoration day which was the next Wednesday The day dawned bright and warm and about 1 oclock that afternoon IMrs Nelson said Alma you had bet ter go and lie down awhile So Alma lay down and was soon fast asleep At a signal from Mrs Nelson the children trooped noiselessly from -a neighbors where they had gathered and soon the room adjoining Almas was filled with gay lads and lassies all bearing sweet spring flowers which they arranged around the room and -then sat down to wait for Alma to awake At last she opened her eyes then closed them again thinking that the flower filled room with its gay oc cupants was only a dream Then Viva Leland Almas most inti mate friend came and took her hand and led her into the room where the shout of surprise surprise surprise met her on all sides Half dazed she looked from one to another then broke into a gay laugh in which they all joined The afternoon passed quickly and pleasantly and at 6 oclock they were called to the dining room for supper And such a supper They were seated in couples around the table Alma and Ray Thornton her fa vorite chum presiding at the head AfLer supper Almas father told them stories and later they returned to their homes leaving the flowers for their convalescent playmate and with them many wishes for a speedy return o health a Tteione jr BYCRNDCEflBRRMBLE HJC -A Jfwdenile Story for Memorial Day There was a regular nouseful of Dawsons in the little low red house which stood all ly itself on the edge of the village there were six children who called the little house their home and six noisier happier heartier chil dren were never known There were the twins Fred and Frank who head ed the list and then there were Grace and Nellie and Harry and last of all came Minnie the baby the tiniest and noisiest of them all There were great plans afoot today in the curly heads of the merry crowd Tomorrow would be Decoration Day and were not the four oldest of the young Dawsong to march in the long procession of school children and carry garlands and bouquets of flowers to strew on the graves of our soldier heroes There were the flowers to hunt in the woods for the Dawson iiower garden showed only two flaming red and yellow tulips and a few fra grant lilacs as its offering to the chil dren But that fact troubled them not at all they were only too glad of an excuse for spending a long delightful day in the woods There would be the garlands to make and bouquets to ar range and pieces to rehearse and a thousand and one other things to do so it was no wonder that all the little Dawsons were up and flying around as busy as bees at an exceedingly early hour Even the baby was interested and toddled around tipping over every thing she could and getting into everyones way So much hustle and bustle made them a little bit cross perhaps and so it turned out that there was a slight disagreement between Grace and Nel lie and the twins early in the morn ing and as each side added fuel to the fjSfcja in the shape of sharp words and Angry frowns by the time they were ready to start for the woods the quarrel had grown to be something serious The boys had been very pro voking and the girls were so angry with them that they decided to take the lunch basket and hurry away when the boys were not looking and thus take revenge upon them for all the mean things they had said and Auaj that morning Their plan worked to perfection and they got safely away without being seen by anyone but someway they did not look very happy in their triumph as they truaged silently along They walked quite slowly as soon as they once were out of sight of the house instead of W f3 J skipping gaily along as they always did upon such happy occasions At last Grace stopped suddenly and said Nellie I dont feel good one bit I guess wed better go back I dont care If the boys were mean we ought not to be mean too and tis awful mean to run away like this The lunch is as much theirs as ours and Its most as bad as stealing for us to take it all Come on Im going back And away she went on a run with Nellie following a fast as she could at her heels The boys had not missed them yet and so they knew nothing of the girls intended treachery They seemed to have recovered their usual good humor and it was a very merry little party that started a few moments later for the woods What good times they did have that day What treasures of woodland wealth they found How good the lunch did taste and what fun it was to eat it out there under the green trees all alone Yes it was a long glad beautiful day They en joyed every moment of it and stayed just as long as they dared But at last they decided that they must start for home for there were the flowers to ar range yet and there would be but little time to spare if they noped to finish their tasks that night It was even later than they nad thought they found when they came to the edge of the woods and saw how low the sun had sun So they hurried along as fast as they could When they came to the fallen tree upon which they had crossed the noisy little creek in the morning pernaps they were a little careless and when it came Nellies turn she slipped and with a little frightened cry down she went into tie water The creek was higb with the spring rains and the water was over Nellies nead so it was no wonder that it was a frightened as well as a shivering little girl that Frank drag ged out upon the bank a moment later Oh oh dear she cried I am so wet and cold and all my flowers are lost and she pointed a trembling fin ger at the basket which held all her pretty blossoms and was sailing gaily away with them to some unknown port Never mind said Frank cheerily Ill get it for you I cant get any wetter than I am now and in he plunged again and in a twinkling the flowers were rescued and they were on their way home but Nellies wet clothes were very uncomfortable and her teeth fairly chattered before she had taken many steps Suddenly Fred stopped and said Here sis why didnt I think be fore You take my coat and then Frank and I will take hold of your hands and run and well be home in a jiffy There thats right one two three and away we go A few hours later Nellie and Grace who had returned before the others were sitting alone finishing the last of the garlonds when Nellie said sud denly Oh Grace how glad I am that we diunt run away from the boys this morning I am sure I would -lave been drowned if we had and sne shivered again at the thought of her icy bath Yes I am glad too returned Grace AnJ Nellie I was giad all day I amsure we had a much nicer time than we would if we had gone alone and we would have felt so mean if we had taken the boys lunch away from them Yes so we would And Grace do you know after this when the boys are 4Mw - - - - - - - i ALL MY FLOWERS ARE LOST cross I dont mean to take any notice and see what effect that will have upon their tempers This plan Grace and Nellie carried out and it worked so well uiat har mony has reigned in the little red house ever since Only in a world of sincere men is unity possible and there in the long run it is as good aa certain Carlyle Scholars are frequently to be met with who are ignorant of nothing sav ing their own ignorance Zimmerman A loss of 2000 was sustained by the burning of David Ralstons home near Wabash Insurance 800 - jJkfaLfiLUv gz Raymond had just been over to the hall with his basket of flowers mostly from the woods and fields Decoration day always found him on hand and although his contribution was simple he was glad to be able to do even a little toward furnishing material for this touching memorial service Raymond was the grandson of a vet eran of the civil war and this year he wanted to do something more than usual to let the old friends of the grandfather whom he had never known understand his loyalty both to his grandfathers memory and the country that he had died for Suddenly he remembered an old tat tered flag that stood in a corner in the attic and beside it a musket rusty and time stained Then he looked at Rover Can you do it Rover Raymonds eyes asked the question The soft brown eyes of the dog answered Try me All right Rover I will Rovers tail ceased its impatient tat too upon the floor and with a yelp of delight he followed his master up the attic stairs Half an hour later the boy and the dog sat side by side upon the door step The boy held a flat piece of wood in one hand and his jack knife in the other Occasionally he lifted a faded flag and slipped the end of the worn stick through a hole which he was whittling in the new piece of wood At last he sprang to his feet say ing All ready now Rover Do you think you can hold that in your mouth Rovers eyes said Cf course I can as his tail gave three excited thumps Good faithful Rover Ray mond knew that he could be depend ed upon to be his color bearer Now WITH BARE HEADS AND SOLEMN LITTLE BROWN FACES for his own part in the program The sound of approaching footsteps and ie beat of a drum floated up to the spot where the boy and the dog were making ready to honor their countrys fallen heroes From a window of the cottage a pair of tear dimmed eyes watched the strange preparations Raymond hastily donned an old sol dier cap and shouldered the rusty gun je hoped that he looked liKe a sol dier Rovers admiring eyes assured him that he did Now Rover said Raymond pat ting the dogs head Im going to let you hold the flag Rover never was happier than when he could carry a bundle but this was such an unexpected privilege that for a second or two tbe flagstaff veered like a weather vane with each delight ed thump of his stub of a tall Then seeing his masters motionless attitude Rover took pattern and as the little company of veterans drew near the color bearer and his master attracted instant attention Every man in Company C loved Ray mand loved him for his own sake for he was a bright and lovable boy and also for the sake of the brave com rade who had marched with them through many a weary campaign and at last had given his life for his coun try There was a quick order from the front and instantly every man lifted his hat and the band struck up the Str Spangled Banaer and Ray mond with his faithful dog beside him and his grandfathers tattered flag waving in the breeze was the hero of the day Helen M Richardson Thousands of ZnKjiotvn Dead One of the largest national cemeter ies in this country is located at Salis bury N C There are 11000 unknown dead in the cemetery which is kept in splendid repair by the government The sopiety hand shake isnt exact ly what youd call a pretty howd you do Qfrfr T5he Bondmarv By HALL CAINE CHAPTER II Continued So with Jason in the house by the sea and Sunlocks in the house by the lake the weeks went by and the Summer that was coming came and like a bird of passage the darkness of night fled quite away and the sun shone that shines at midnight And nothing did Jason see of the face that followed him in visions and nothing did he hear of the man known io him as A25 except reports of brutal treatment and fierce rebellion But on j day a month after he had returned to the stockade he was going in his tired and listless way between ward ers from one solfatara at the foot of the hill to another on the breast of it when he came upon a horror that made his blood run cold It was a man nailed by his right hand to a great socket of iron in a log of driftwood with food and drink within sight but out of reach of him and a huge knife lying close by his side The man was A25 Jason saw everything and the mean ing of everything in an instant that to get at the food for which he starv ed that man must cut off his own right hand And there like a devil at his elbow lay the weapon that was to tempt him Nothing so inhuman so barbarous so fiendish so hellish had Jason yet seen and with a cry like the growl of an untamed beast he broke from the warders took the nail in his fingers like a vice tore it up out of the bleeding hand and set Michael Sun looks free At the next instant his wratch was pone and he had fallen back to his listless mood Then the warders hur ried up laid hold of both men and hustled them away with a brave show of strength and courage to the office of the Captain Jorgen Jorgensen himself was there and it was he who had ordered the ruthless punishment The warders told their tale and he listened to them with a grin on his cruel face Strap them up together he cried leg to leg and arm to arm And when this was done he said bitterly So you two men are fond of one anothers company Well you shall have enough of it and to spare Day after day week after week month ter month like as you are now you shall live together until you abhor and detest and loathe the sight of each other Now go CHAPTER III THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH Red Jason and Michael Sunlocks now lashed together were driven back to their work like beasts of the field They knew very well what their pun ishment meant to them that in every hour of life henceforth in every act through every thought each man should drag a human carcass by his side The barbarity of their doom was hideous but strangely different were the ways they accepted it Michael Sunlocks was aflame with in dignation Jason was crushed with shame The upturned face of Sun locks was pale his flaxen hair was dishevelled his bloodshot eyes were afire But Jasons eyes full of con fusion were bent on the ground his tanned face trembled visibly and his red hair grown long as old old fell over his drooping shoulders like a mantle of blood And as they trudged along side by side in the Brst hours of their un natural partnership Sunlocks strug gled hard to keep his eyes from the man with whom he was condemned to live and die lest the gorge of his very soul should rise at the sight of him So he never once looked at Ja son through many hours of that day And Jason on his part laboring with the thought that it was he who by his rash act had brought both of them to this sore pass never once lifted his eyes to the face of Sunlocks Yet each man knew the others thought before ever a word had passed between them Jason felt that Sun locks already abhorred him and Sun locks knew that Jason was ashamed This brought them after a time into sympathy of some sort and Jason tried to speak and Sunlocks to listen I did not mean to bring you to this said Jason humbly And Sun locks with head aside answered as well as he could for the disgust that choked him You did it for the best But you will hate me for it said Jason And once again with that com posure he could command Sunlocks answered How could I hate you for saving me from such brutal treat ment Then you dont regret it said Ja son pleadingly It is for you not for me to re gret it said Sunlocks Me said Jason Through all the shameful hours the sense of his own loss had never yet come to him From first to last he had thought only of Sunlocks My liberty was gone already said Sunlocks But you were free free as anyone can be in this hell on earth Now you are bound you are here like this and I am the cause of it Then Jasons rugged face was sud denly lit up with surprising joy That is nothing he said Nothing said Sunlocks I mean that I care nothing if you dont said Jason It was the turn of Sunlocks to feel surprise He half turned towards Ja son Then you dont regret it he asked No said Jason firmly And you Sunlock felt that tears not disgust were choking him now No he answered shamefacedly turning his head away March shouted the warders who had been drinking their smuggled sneps while their prisoners had been talking That day Jorgen Jorgensen went back to Reykjavik for the time of Althing was near and he had to pre A Contlnwi Story pare for his fourteen days at Thing vellir And the Governor being gone the Captain of the Mines made bold so far to relax the inhumanity of his sentence as to order that the two men who were bound together during the hours of work should be separated for the hours of sleep But never for getting his own suspicion that Red Jason wa san ally of Michael Sun locks planning his escape he ordered also that no speech should be allowed to pass between them To prevent all communication of any kind he direct ed that the men should work and sleep apart fro mthe other prisoners and that their two warders should at tend them day and night But though the rigor of discipline kept them back from free intercourse no watchfulness could check the stolen words of comfort that helped the weary men to bear their degrading lot That night the first of their life to gether Michael Sunlocks looked into Jasons face and said I have seen you before somewhere Where was it But Jason remembered the hot words that had pursued hiuA on the day of the burning of the beds and so he made no answer After a while Michael Sunlocks looked closely into Jasons face again and said What is you name Dont ask it said Jason Why not said Sunlocks You might remember it Even so what then Then you might also remember what I did or tried to do and you would hate me for it said Jason Was your crime so inhuman said Sunlocks It would seem so said Jason Who sent you here The Republic You wont tell me your name Ive got none so to speak having had no father to give me one Im alone in the world Michael Sunlocks did not sleep much that night for the wound in his hand was very painful and next morn ing while Jason dressed it he looked info his face once more and safd You say you are alone in the world Yes said Jason What of your mother Shes dead poor soul Have you no sister No Nor brother No thats to say no no No one belonging to you No Are you quite alone Ay quite said Jason No one to think twice what becomes of me No body to trouble whether Im here or in a better place Nobody to care whether I live or die He tried to laugh as he said this but in spite of his brave show of un concern his deep voice broke and his strong face quivered But whats your own name he said abruptly Call me brother said Sunlocks To your work cried the ward ers and they were hustled out Their work for the day was delving sulphur from the banks of the solfat aras and loading it on the backs of their ponies And while their ward ers dozed in the heat of the noonday sun they wiped their brows and rested At that moment Jasons eyes turned towards the hospital on the opposite side of the hill and he remembered what he had heard of the good woman who had been nurse there This much at least he knew of her that she was the wife of his yoke fellow and he was about to speak of her trouble and dishonor when Michael Sunlocks said After all you are luckiest to be alone in the world To have ties of affection is only to be the more un happy Thats true said Jason Say you love somebody and all your heart is full of her You lose her and then where are you But thats not your own case said Jason Your wife is alive is she not Yes Then you have not lost her There is a worse loss than that of death said Sunlocks Jason glanced quickly into his face and said tenderly I know I under stand There was another man Yes And he robbed you of your love Yes And you killed him cried Jason with panting breath No But God keep that man out of my hands Where is he now Heaven knows He was here but he is gone for when the Republic fell I was imprisoned and two days be fore that he was liberated Silence shouted the warders awakening suddenly and hearing voices Jasons eyes had begun to fill and down his rugged cheeks the big drops were rolling one by one After that he checked the impulse to speak of the nurse The wife of his yoke fellow must be an evil woman The prisoner priest must have been taken in by her For once the warders must have been right And late that night while Jason was dressing the wounded hand of Michael Sunlocks with wool torn from his own sheepskin jerkin he said with his eyes down I scarce thought there was any thing in common between us two Youre a gentleman and Im only a rough fellow You have been brought up tenderly and I have been kicked about the world ever since I was a lad in my poor mothers home God rest her But my life has been like yours in one thing Whats that said Michael Sun locks That another man has wrecked it said Jason I never had but one glint of sunshine in my life and that man wiped it out forever It was a woman and she was all the world to me But she was proud and I was poor And he was rich and he came between us He had everything and the world was at his feet I had noth ing but that womans love and he took it from me It was too cruel and I could not bear it God knows I could not Wait cried Michael Sunlocks Is that why you are here Did you you did not no No I know not what you mean but I did not kill him No no I have never seen him I could never meet him try how I would Where is he now With her in happiness and freedom and content while I am here in misery and bondage and these ropes But there will be a reckoning between us yet I know there will I swear there will As sure as there is a God in Heaven that man and I will one day stand together face to face Then Michael Sunlocks took both Jasons hands My brother he cried fervently Brother now more than ever brother In suffering brother in weakness brother in strength Silence there shouted the ward ers and the two men were separated for the night The wound in the hand of Michael Sunlocks grew yet more painful and he slept even less than before Next day the power of life was low in him and seeing this Jason said when the warders stepped up to lash them to gether He is ill and not fit to go out Let me work alone today Ill do enough for both of us But no heed was paid to Jasons warning and Michael Sunlocks was driven out by his side All that day the third of their life together they worked with difficulty for the Wound in the hand of Sunlocks was not only a trouble to himself but an impediment to Jason also Yet Jason gave no hint of that but kept the good spade going constantly with a smile on his face through the sweat that stood on it and little stolen words of comfort and cheer And when the heat was strong est and Sunlocks would have stumbled and fallen Jason contrived a means to use both their spades together only requiring that Sunlocks should stoop when he stopped that the warders might think he was still working But their artifice was discovered and all that came of it was that they were watched the closer and driven the hard er during the hours that remained of that day Next day the fourth of their direful punishment Sunlocks rose weak and trembling and scarce able to stand erect And with what spirit he could summon up he called upon the warders to look upon him and see how feeble he was and say if It was fair to his yoke fellow that they should compel him to do the work of two men and drag a human boffy after him But the wards only laughed at his protest and once again he was driven out by Jasons side Long and heavy were the hours that followed but Sunlocks being once started on his way bore up under it very bravely murmuring as little as he might out of thought for Jason And Jason helped along his stumbling foot steps as well as he could for the arm that was bound to him And seeing how well they worked by this double power of human kindness the warders laughed again and make a mock at Sunlocks for his former cry of weak ness And so amid tender words be tween themselves and jeers cast in upon them by the warders they made shift to cheat time of another weary day The fifth day went by like the fourth with heavy toil and pain to make it hard and cruel taunts to make it bit ter And many a time as they delved the yellow sulphur bank a dark chill crossed the hearts of both and they thought in their misery how cheerfully they would dig for death itself if only it lay in the hot clay beneath them To be continued Ancient Quarries The stone for the great wall of th dam across the Nile at Assuan i3 be ing obtained from the quarries of which the Temples of Philae are be lieved to have been built the unhap py Philae which when the dam is completed will be submerged and part ly disappear from sight for the first time in its 3000 years of existence The granite blocks that are being quarried for this the first great engl7 neering achievement of the twentieth century bear the marks of wedges used thirty centuries ago Sbcty Two Tears Married Near Attica the other day when tha neighbors went over to congratulate Grandpap and Grandma McDaniel oq the sixty second anniversary of their marriage they found grandpap out in the field planting corn while grandma was cleaning up the breakfast clutter in the kitchen When the good folk told grandpap the object of their visit he said Lordy lordy how time does fly Kansas City Journal Mexican Cocktails Are Powerful American barrooms are multiplying in the City of Mexico Their so called American drinks are almost as dead ly as knockout drops and the imbibers of them are very likely to be given the chance to sober up In the police station Three Mexican cocktails ara usually powerful enough to paralyzi a mule ZJkes to See the San Blie President McKinley and party reach ed Altoona about 6 this morning on their way to Washington The presi dent had arisen at 5 oclock to view the sunrise on the Alleghanies That is a sight I never miss he remarked to the Pullman conductor Philadelphia North American Czar Has Twenty Seven Physicians The czar of Russia has twenty seven physicians and they are all selected from the medical celebreties of Russia There is a first physician-in-chief then come ten honorary surgeons two oc ulists a chiropodist and honorary chir opodist two court physicians and threa specialists for the czarina