THE COURIER.
11
COMPETITION.
Thence is won!
As victor I am hailed
"With deafening cheers
from eager throats; and yet
Gladder the victory
could I forget
The strained white faces
of the men who failed!
Julia Schayer, in the October Century.
TEARS.
"When chars the heart to ashes in its pain,
Or withers in its vain desire,
Tears are the benediction of the rain
Falling to quench the fire.
Charles G. D. Roberts, in October Lip-
pincott's.
STORIES IN PASSING.
Of all the men on the road who, in the
early nineties, when the times were
good, made the western territory, young
Arthur Graham of Chicago, was the
most popular. He played a fair game of
billiards, was an even hand at the whist
tables, and moreover having travelled
over nea.ly all the globe was a man
much sought after on a long run across
the states. His taste in dress wa3 ex
cellent. In fact, he was rather proud of
his personal appearance, but never in a
way that made him at all offensive. He
was one of those mortals who had the
faculty, (rare enough in a man as every
one knows) of looking perfectly cool and
comfort al le either in extreme heator ex
treme c Id. Never but once did I ever
eee him in the least ruffled or disturbed
in his appearance, and that once is the
theme of this story.
It wasoce scorcher of a day in July
when we were mak'iDg a little town down
in the hottest partof Kansas. The mer
cury had gone gliding up the thermome
ter tube to the blood heat mark and
was resting there preparatory to another
climb up the scale. The couth wind
came through the car windows like the
blasts that are fanned from the open
door of a furnace. And the desert dust
of the prairie waB formed in little gray
ridges over the windows and the cush
iooH and all the car.
But in all that beat and dirt Graham
looked as cool as an iceberg, if you can
imagine it. He even wore his coat. His
tan shoes were highly polished, and nis
Etraw hat, high collar and light- blue tie
were epotles?, for it seemed as if the
cinders and particles of duet were re
pelled. At LeGrand Junction a farmer came
in and took a seat opposite Graham. Tho
old gentleman pulled off his coat and
hung it upon the bat-rack overhead. He
settled his bundles and grips and began
mopping his wrinkled, sun-burnt face
with a red bandana.
The old gentleman's entrance brought
round the eyes of a little yellow-haired
girl in the seat in front. The child
ceased pulling at the stringy hair of her
mother and rubbed the sticky lips with
still more sticky fingers. Graham's gift
of a bag of "all-day-suckers'" was the
cause of the child's appearance.
As the train left the station at Le
Grand Junction, the old gentleman
turned to Graham.
'Goin' to Delmar?" he asked.
"No," replied the young man, "this
train don't go there. We are making
for Voca."
"Voca? Thunder and mud! I'm
goin to Delmar."
It was the last car of a short "stub
train" and the old gentleman seized his
coat and bundles and made a rush for
tho rear door. Graham, always accom
modating, jumped up to help the farmer
and hastily gathering up a paper pack
age and a valise from the aisle hurried
after him. He reached the platform in
time to see the old gentleman swirg
clear of the train and plunge headlong
into the bushes alongside of tho track.
Graham tossed the package and valise
after the man, who picked them up and
then began calling after the train and
waving bis arms excitedly in the air.
But in the roar of the train, Graham
could not understand and went back
smilingly into the car.
"Narrow escape," he said, brushing a
bit of dust from his sleeve. "It's a
wonder he didn't break hi? neck when
he took that jump. Went backwards,
of course, turned over in the air once
and landed full on his head. Then J
tossed the grip after him and that hit
him square in the back. He didn't seem
to like it for he got up and began yell
ing at trie and waving his arms and sh k
ing his tis's."
The woman with the stringy hair and
the sticky child leaned across the aisle.
Up to this time she had looked on with
out a word, for it is often the way of
women to gather together tho ends of
her wit-strings, when it is all Iod late
and will always cause more trouble.
"Say. young man,' she said, with tire
coming into her bard, dark, narrow-set
eyep, "what made jou thtow otr my
valise?'
"You're va'iae, madam, you're val
ise!' "Yep, my valise.'
"We'l. or all the fool's on God's earth
why didn't you say eo before?"
Graham now understood the old man's
waving. He jerked the bell-cord and
the train slowed down and the conduc
tor came in. Graham explained the
situation and asked that the train be
run back.
"Can't do that," said the conductor,
biting the end of his blue pencil, "No.
iO backs right in after us for local
freight and the road's blocked. But
you go back and we'll wait here for
you."
So Graham had to go after the valise.
He ro led up his trousers, tucked a
handkerchief about his collar and went
back along the track. The sun beat
down until all the earth baked and
turned brown in its glare. Along the
rails the white heat qu.vered uncertain
ly but unceasing. The wind struck
against his face until it produced that
peculiar effect of being stung by a
hundred red hot needles.
At the end of the half rnile, he found
that the farmer had returned to the sta
tion and taken the valise with him, and
Graham had to trudge on for another
half-mile. He could feel little 'rivulets
running down his back and breast, and
he was feeling mean and sticky and al
together uncomfortable.
Down at the station he found the
valise and a big heavy one, too, as all
women's valises are with a shawl
strapped on ote side and a shoe box ot
lunch on the other. AHer a drink at
the depot, he took otr his coat and
placed it over one arm. and with his free
hand seized the valise, and started back
to the train. Every tifty feet he had to
change loads, and every ten feet he lost
his temper and swore at everything in
mind the farmer, the railroad company,
the woman with the stringy hair, and
himself.
All the passengers were out to meet
him, as he came around the curve. lhe
were cross and angry at the wait but
Graham cared not for that. He pushed
Lis way into the car and dropped the
valise beside the woman with thestringy
hair, breaking open the lock and strew
ing the lunch over the tloor. And the
woman actually thanked him.
Graham was a picture! His suit was
black with dust. Tho cmderB had
scratched great raw places across his
tans, and his tie had melted blue chan
nels down his shirt front. His lmt had
run a black, slimy mildew over his fore
head and face, which, with the perspira
tion and tho dust of the rails, .made him
a sight to see.
Graham tried to keep the matter
under cover, but somehow it leaked out
and rapidly ran about the hotels until it
was the talk of the road.
HAhlA G. SHEDD.
Painting YT0llF Hwe
Is a matter of man, brush ami paint more or
less. The paint is not the least imjxirtant
of the three. You want paint that sticks
and paint that has color. The main point in
paint besides prettiness is perfect body and
paint that holds on. We sell the famous
MOUND CITY
HORSESHOE BRAND
f ,BW
I z
k
Tumi
"v S VCsTr
Th X7
Of VV )ss
IK &i I
and pride ourselves on selling the best paint
in the city. We warrant it to be the ideal
paint. Of course we sell brushes and
everything for painting purposes. We also
line up in the front rank with the largest
g"lass and paint houses in the west. Esti
mates cordially furnished.
Starvdard QIass ard Pairvt Go.
Wliolesole and Retail
1.312 to laiG O street.
Plilllli Matter, J. 13. Meyor,
Proprietor. Manager.
i,
o
J&KB
We defy the Experts
ehave demonstrated, expert. admit, and everr one i
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liears no relation to other so-called imitation diamonds no matter I
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12 KT.
'i
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OUR GUARANTEE:
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CIAKGNDS DLTLICATCO IN
WHITE TCPAZ.
RoTalty and tLe four houdreill
who own celebrated and cotly
diamonds ret in nrcLlace. tiaras ( ,
Leenthemlnbnnrlari roof ran its.,
while tlicr wear in rnLlietliecxact .
duplicates in While Topaz ami'
no one ever detects ti e dnrerrnce.
8
I WHITE TOPAZ ARC MM EMKH FM RRYAlTYj ARE THEY GM9 ER8UGH f CR YCU
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Send us Twenty-five Cents in coin or stamps and you wilt
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MONEY REFUNDED IF COODS ARE NOT SATISFACTORY.
THE DIAMOND PALACE.
AMERICAN EXPRESS BUILDIHG, CHICAGO, ILLS..
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