THE COURIER-
1
I.J
Mercer of the 8th infantry has been do
tailed in his place. Captain Beck baa
made a record that will stick to him the
rest or his life, for administrative in
tegrity and absolute obedience to the
spirit and the letter of the law. The
yielding to the demands of the cattle
mpD that Captain Beck be removed is
weakness. Lieutenant Mercer is a
jounc and untried man, but as he is
a soldier there is reason to hope he will
follow the precedent a soldier biffe setaud
especially that of the policy of the In
dian oflicu concerning the leasing of In
dian lands.
"Soldiers of Fortune," by Richard
Harding Davis, is finished in the June
number of Scribner's magazine. It is
an interesting talo of love and war
highly sophisticated New York and New
port love and South American war,
three dozen cannon firecrackers under a
barrel, a terrifying noise, but over in a
moment, without the suspense that ac
companies international disagreements.
Stephen Crane's chiaroscuro eye would
have regretted the absence of red in the
middlo foreground. His reports to the
papsrs of 6iich a struggle would have
plaintively referred to the absence of
any real war effects, making it impossi
ble to register the impressions on hi3
vulgar little nose andeyes in three hua
dred page3 of padded copy, In the
story a South American republic is
seized by General Mendoz3, the head of
the army. The president o! the
republic is killed and Gen
eral Mendoza announces himself
dictator. After twenty-four hours of
sleepless r.ule be is shot, the vice-president
retailed from prison and the re
public re-established, through the of
fices of Robert Clay, an American civil
engineer, ten feet tall by actual measure
ment of the furniture ho leanB on in
Gibson's pictures. He is Harding's he
ro and Mr. Harding creates an atmos
phere of hero worship around him thick
enough to start a new religion. Hard
ing can heroize almost as thoroughly
as Du Muurier can. His meth
od is to dehumanize him by devest
ing him of all faults, have Gibson draw
his picture supernaturally tall, set a tall,
lovely woman to worshiping him and the
effect of a superior being in a crowd of
worshipers is complete. Robert Clay is
aa good as MisB Jane Addams, as polite
as Van Bibber, as strong as Sandow, as
wise as any pundit and with the
splendid military resources of a Napo
leon. No woman, married or single, can
read bis stories without being filled with
an uncomfortable dissatisfaction with
what she has drawn or with impossible
aspirations to secure what is not in the
market. Even the minor characters,
which the author slings in just for good
measure, are great prizes considering
the market. Ted Langham, whose
father has twenty millions, is a brave,
well mannered lad who plays
foot ball and is modest
still. Yet because the interest
must not be diverted, neither he nor the
other maBulins e'igibles are allowed any
sweetheart. In spite of the lack of lady
loves,' the war plotand the love interest
the readers of Scribner turn first to
"Soldiers of Fortune," when the maga
zine comes out. I have even read it
before looking at the funny pictures in
the advertisements, and that is highest
praise. The love making and the story
end with Clay telling his fiancee where
he is going to take her on their "tour."
Buffalo Bill has a whole page of the
' Xetc 1 ork Journal to tsll of the vanish
ed buffalo of the Nebraska prairie.
There is none to say" the Btoriee are not
true though since the animals are near,
ly extinct they have a "once upon a
tiaen flavor.
Buffalo Bill is the beau ideal of bord
er romance of the small boy's furthest
and highest dreams of accomplishment
and renown. The most thrilling dime
novel cover ever printed fallB below Buf
falo Bill's reality. It is unnecessary to
describe him to Nebraskans. His really
tine eyes, chiseled noso and mouth and
modeling of head and nczk, make a
scout that any juvenile publishing house
would bo gald to receive copy from. Tho
New Yorkers consider him an ideal Nc
braskan and with true story teller's tal
ent Buffalo Bill is living up to his lool s
and keeping the reporters interested.
"I was then employed by the con
tractors building the road as a buffalo
hunter, to supply fresh meat for the
hundreds of men at work on construc
tion of the road, and during one summer
killed 2,280 head of buffaloes myself
with one gun. I used a breech-loading
Springfield ritle, and have it jet. It was
a simple enough job, but a man had to
know his business or he was liable to
leave it and everything else mighty sud
denly. I had to charge in among the
galloping thousands of animals and
shoot them down right and left while
racing along with them, selecting such
as would be good meat, and taking care
that my horse should not bo hurt by
their rushes or bo thrown. If by any
accident 1 had got down on the ground
I would have been trampled toshteds in
a few minutes.'
here's a close call.
"The narrowest escape of my life was
in such an adventure. The slopes of the
plains often lie like terraces, with steps
or breaks in elevation about four feet
high, running in a straight line as far as
the eye can see. I was out one day on
foot and saw an enormous herd of buf
faloes coming straight toward me on a
gallop. It was too big. a herd for me to
run off to the flank cither way. I could
not possibly outrun them, and if I stood
still in their war they would trample mo
down almost without observing me and
leaving mighty little of me for anybody
else to observe afterward. As my only
chance I threw myself down lecglhwlse
at the foot of one of those little benches,
crowded in as close as I could, and lay
still while the herd galloped and jump
ed over me. Not less than 5,000 passed
right over me, and 1 got up unharmed,
but it was a very close call."
A JIAIRBREADTH ESCAPE.
"In those days if a man got lost on the
plains in winter and could not make his
camp night coming on and perhaps a
blizzard he would shoot a buffalo, take
out all its inBides and crawl in there to
keep from freezing. One night we lost
one of our men and the next day set
out to hunt for him about where we
thought we would be likely to find him
inside a buffalo. Wo found the buffalo
and him inside it sure enough, but if we
had not, the carcass would have been
h's tomb instead of his shelter. The
weather was terribly cold and the buf
falo had frozen Eolid around him, so that
we bad to chop him out, He was all
right though when we got him out and
thawed.'"
Jack Stillwell, ihe celebrated scout,
who went for reinforcements when Gen
eral Forsyth had his great battle on the
Aricaree fork of the Republican, had a
thrilling experience inside a buffalo on
that occasion. He crawled out from
camp through the Indian line3 surround
ing General Forsyth's command and
had made tome ten of fifteen miles on
his way when daylight overtook him and
he found himEelt right among the horses
belonging to a biz camp of Indians. He
was too close to get away, light as the
day was getting to be, and the only
thing he could do to save his life was to
crawl intb the old, dried up carcass of a
buffalo that providentially happened to
be within reach. There he stayed the
entire day until he could crawl away in
the dark and continue his journey.
While he was in the carcass the Indians
tending their horses were passing and re
passing frequently, and some times they
even eat upon hi; shel'er.
After many mistaken reports a3 to the
date of publication of James Lane Al
len's new novel, The Choir Invisible, it
was published a few days since by the
Hacmillan company. The first large
edition of the work was entirely sold on
the day of publication, and a second is
being hurried through the press as rap
idly as possible. Curiously enough at
the same time that they are publishing
this story of John Gray's life they are
issuing also a new edition of a book
which, according to the novelist's story,
exerted a 6trong influence on his hero at
a critical moment in the story. The
reference jb to MaHbry'sMorted'Arthur,
which is, perhaps, scarcely so well
known as it should be.
Feathered Visitors at the Capitol.
Having occasion to call at the capitol
a few days since I treated myself to a
stroll through the grounds and renewed
my acquaintance with the little
feathered visitors there. I had taken
but a few steps from the south entrance
when I came across a group of those
boisterous, mischief-making little chaps
the English sparrows, upon a ledge above
a window. Three of them with feathers
ruflled, blustering and chattering away
Two o these little chaps were trying to
out do each other in their attention to
the third, a little brown Miss, who was
receiving them quite coolly. Now whpn
two such ardent little wooers pay their
respects to the same little lady some
thing unusual happens. They don't re
main good fiiends 'ong. And so it
proved with them, for down they came
to the ground, their beaks locked in
each other's feathers, turning over and
over in their efforts to punish each other.
Their little brown eyes fairly ablaze
with rage, I watched them for a few mo
ments; then thinking it time to stop this
royal battle I proceeded to calm their
ruffled feelings by throwing them a
handful of wheat which I had iu my
pocket. They, with some of their
friends who soon came for a share of the
feast, became interested in picking up
the wheat, forgetting all about their
trouble of but a moment before.
Out in the grass a short distance from
where I was standing, were four of our
alwajs interesting little friends, the rob
ins. Mr. Robin, his wife and two child
ren were taking their lunch of worms.
These two young robins were large and
well feathered for so early in the spring
When I first saw them I thought they
were young birds. How amusing it was
to watch them running from one parent
bird to the other for the worm they had
just dug up. They would open their lit.
tic yellow mouths for it when the old
bird would carefully tuck it in. Then
with a swallow and a look that tasted
like more they would cock their wise
ittle beads and wait till the patient old
bird had found another. What a num
Mr. Searly I want to tell you something Clara, I have wanted to tell it
long time.
Miss Winem II Think, that is, I have suspected it.
Searly Thank Heavens, then you can't say it is "so sudden."
ber of robins there are on the grounds
this spring. More than . I
have ever 6een there before.
In the crotch of an ash tree I found an
other little fellow who had not yet learn
ed to fly. He to was taking his break
fast from his little red brensted mater.
Where ever I went that bright morning
I found them, in the flower beds, on the
lawn and up in the trees, some of them
singing, others buisly engaged in the,
to them, all absorbing work of catching
a nice fat worm for lunch. Off to the
right not far away, down from a maple
came a naughty Blue Jay, uttering his
shrill cry, startling a beautiful red head
ed woodpecker who had been quietly
eyeing me from the trunk of a decaying
tree. At his old tricks of giving tho
alarm, he Lad been watching me from
his leafy retreat and at the same timo
espied a grasshopper which he made off
with to a neighboring tree, where he
proceeded to make his breakfast on
young hopper. My next little enter
tainer was a fly catcher, or as he is bet
ter known, a bee martin, perched on
tho twig of a 'small tree in that part of
the grounds near Sixteenth and H
streets, where the trees are small. In
the bright sunshine he sat with feathers
all rutlled up, looking as if he was half
asleep. His actions belied his looks,
however, for in an instant he had
smoothed down his feathers and with a
quick dart off he went, and with flutter
ing wings he held himself suspended in
the air. 'Then a quick snap of the beak
making a noise at times like the rapidly
opening and closing of a pair of pincers,
told the fate of another fly or moth.
Then back he came to his perch ready for
the next unsuspecting victim.
The small pocket magazines published
by tre Frederick A. Stokes Co., contain
just the right kind of summer vacation
stories. The names of the best story
writers in the country, such as A Conan
Doyle, Stockton, Weyman, Brander,
Mathews, etc., appear in the prospectus.
The book Is small but printed in large
type. Just the thing for a summer af
ternoon. Sutton & Hollowbush have invented a
cough drop. They call it the S. & IL,
Sutton & Hollowbush, and it is a good one
Stop and get one on your way to the
theatre. It will save you a spasm of
coughing.