Conservative * 9
HE UNDERSTANDS.
Our censors guard us roundabout ,
And hedge us with their dusty creeds ;
They cry us wrong in hope or doubt ,
And howl Hko ban dogs at our deeds.
They wail our knotted skein of life ,
And flout us for our clumsy hands ,
Because with tangles it is rife
But nil the time God understands.
a
Our censors mo' mro stop and stride
With mathcmatic rod and rule ,
And when wo wandfr to one side ,
Straightway they cry aloud , "Thou fooll"
And book and bell and candle bring
To curse the one who halting stands ,
But , ah I the footsteps wandering
He understands Ho understands.
Our censors weigh our every wed ,
And sift its sound for sign of sin ,
And whispered dreams that arc unheard
Against the screen of fate they pin.
With ha'-py smile they search our brain
To bind our thoughts with brazen bands ,
But hope shall struggle not in vain ,
And all the time God understands.
He understands our little fears ,
Our little doubts and littlb woes ;
And in the shadow of th ? years
Ho sees the soul. He knows Ho knows ;
Ho scans us , not.as censors doTe
To mark the blindly searching hands
But all our good He brings to view ,
He und -rstands He understands.
Josh Wink in Baltimore American.
A TALE OF THE PLAINS.
Mr. H. G. Cotton , a brother of
President W. A. Cotton of the Merch-
ants'Bankwasin the Conservative office
the other day , bringing a newspaper
clipping that he judged rightly would
be of interest to us. Mr. Cotton , who
now lives'in Lewis. Iowa , north of Red
Oak , was an inhabitant of Omaha in the
earliest days , and later took part , in the
first surveys for the Union Pacific. A
map of the old freighting trail to the
mountains , hanging on the office wall ,
interested him , and the comments lie
made ou it certainly interested his
hearers ; he went over it inch by inch
for quite a distance , pointing out the
stage stations and ranches , naming the
owners and telling what became of this
one and that , and diverging here and
there into an anecdote.
When he eat down again something
was said about Indians , and he there
upon mentioned a little incident , sug
gested to him by the previous conversa
tion , of the fall of 1866 , when the
Oheyennes and Sioux for a time inter
rupted stage travel and drove in all the
ranchmen and surveying parties.
He was with a party of about eight ,
who had been at work in the Larainie
plains and westward , until it was
thought dangerous to remain out any
longer. They therefore came down
keeping a sharp lookout for Indians , bui
seeing none until the night they camped
at O'Fallou's Bluffs , just above the
forks of the Platte. They always kept
a guard , as everybody did in crossing
the plains in the early days. The guarc
consisted of two men , who were
changed occasionally through the night
This tifno they were aroused in the
middle of the night by the guard calling
out that they had got an Indian. Their
story-was this : They had been sitting
by their smoldering fire , when they
heard a voice say "How , " and at a little
distance perceived an evil-looking In
dian sitting on his pony holding out
his hand. Then they covered him with
their guns and called up the others.
All hands tumbled out quickly ant
surrounded the Indian , keeping a care
ful lookout for others. He sat on his
pony , with a rifle across his saddle and
a bow behind his back , and seemed
friendly ; but declined their invitation
to dismount. Looking him over care
fully , they observed that he had a new
hat on his head , of the kind called
"cowboy , " also a new snddle-blimket
and a new bridle on his horse. It was
therefore plain to them that he had
been concerned in some recent robbery
of emigrants ; and feeling satisfied that
he would bring a war party upon them
before morning if allowed to go , they
made him get off and spend the night
by their fire. They put a double guard
over him ; in fact , Mr. Cotton says , none
of them slept any more that night.
In the morning they concluded to
keep an eye on him , at least until they
reached Cottonwood Springs. Jack
Morrow had been driven off with the
rest of the ranchmen , but there was a
camp of soldiers there , and they expect-
3d to reach the place before night. The
Indian objected. He liked to travel
with them , but had a number of reasons
why it was not convenient at that time.
Ee would like to go and get his squaw
and pappoose , who were about ten
miles off on the right , and would meet
bhem again further down the road.
They did not doubt that he would meet
them , though they were skeptical as to
the squaw and pappoose ; and they in
sisted all the more on his going with
them. They tied his pony behind their
wago'u , having already , as they sup
posed , taken away all his weapons , and
invited him to get in and ride. This he
refused to do. Ho didn't like to ride ;
he would walk. So he walked , naked
but for his breecholoth , hat and moc
casins , the others watching him sharp
Mr. Cotton saw that he was continu
ally trying to fall behind , and called a
halt. "Boys , " he said , "this fellow's
got to go in the wagon , if we have to
put him in by force. " So they sur
rounded him and closed in , prepared to
throw him into the wagon.
Mr. Cotton says he had the wickedest
face he ever saw. His eyes glittered
like a snake's. As they came near him ,
he whipped out from somewhere in his
breecholoth a butcher knife that long
and made a leap for the nearest white
man. He dodged , and away went the
Indian , racing for the river like a jack-
rabbit.
All the party began popping at him
with their pistols , and one jumped into
the wagon and jerked out the rifle that ,
like most of the plains parties , they had
hanging in the bows. This was a long ,
heavy gun , carrving an ounce ball. The
man dropped on his knee , aimed care
fully at the jumping redskin , who was
nearly to the river bank by this time ,
and when he fired he dropped him. The
ball struck him in the middle of the
back , and broke him in two. When
they came round him he was helpless
from the waist down , but he lay on his
back striking at them with his knife
like a wasp. They fired ten or fifteen
balls into him , and then a couple of the
pirty , "who had queer kind of tastes , "
Mr. Cotton said , "began sawing at his
scalp. I got sick at the stomach and
left. "
They then hurried on , feeling uneasy ,
for they were in a very dangerous
neighborhood. A few miles back in
the sand hills to their right was a
famous meeting-place of the Indians ,
and on their left was a ford much used
by the savages ; Beauvais' ford , per
haps. They expected every minute to
see a murderous band come galloping
over the bluffs and to have to fight for
their lives. But they saw no Indians ,
and reached Cottouwood Springs with
out further adventure. There they
bund a large foroo of regular troops
ust arrived , and reporting their experi
ence to the commander , a scouting
mrty was sent out , which found the
) ody of the Indian just as they had left
t , and also the fresh trail of several
luudred warriors at the ford mentioned ,
jut did not see the hostiles themselves.
This was the extent of the surveying
party's Indian adventures ou that trip.
All the way in they saw the traces of
; heir depredations , but they missed
them everywhere , by good luck.
At Blue Springs , however , they met a
party of five young men going to the
mountains. They wore well-armed and
fearless , and were taking the chances of
the road agninst the advice of the
plainsmen. While Mr. Cotton's party
were still at the station , a cavalry squad
came in , bringing in an ambulance the
bodies of all five of the young men.
They had found them stripped , mutil
ated and scalped , lying by the roadside.
DEMOCRACY'S HOPE.
The republican party is the best
knit and most skillfully led political
party the world ever saw. It has had
more "luck" of the good kind , in the
last five or six years , than over before
fell to an.y party's lot. It is intrenched
in e ery federal department , and rules
twenty-eight of the states. It holds
in the hollow of its hand essentially
the whole of the bounding , growing ,
aggressive northwest , and the whole
Pacific slope. It is equally solid in
the middle north and the potential
east. It holds Delaware. It has prob
ably a majority in both Maryland and
Kentucky , on a fair count.
To expect some petty quarrel be
tween leaders to even seriously weak
en an organization with its prestige ,
its financial facilities , its backing in
every social , financial ramification , is
vain imagining.
The one way the democracy can
hope to overcome its rival is by and
through making itself worthy of the
country's respect and support. Pitch
out the isms and fads and follies ; dis
card tno leaders that have led only to
defeat and humiliation. Drop the
theorists whose vaporings have been
demonstrated of less value than the
babble of babes. Get back on the
broad platforms that covered every
principle of liberty , honesty and
efficiency. In a word , make the party
worthy , and it will prosper. Chatta
nooga Times ( Dem. ) .
TO CURE A COLD IN ONE DAY.
Take Laxative Brome Quinine Tablets.
All druggists refund the money if it
fails to cure. E. W. Grove's signature
is on each box. 25c.
you in line
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