The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, July 22, 1899, Page 9, Image 9

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    THE COURIER.
PASSING SHOW.
Continued from page ft.
boon no tragedy. She had plenty of
monoy, liberty, bounty, admiration, und
a husband both foolish and fond, Hut
sho had married Aubroy for nono of
thoso things; Bho married him to be
como respectable, respectublo instdo.
It was in horeolf that fcho wanted tho
change, to bo born again. This was
what'sho hud honostly hopnu for, and
she fought and fought und broke her
lifo against the bars, she could not "got
back," as tho phruBo roob, over that lino
eho had crossed so lightly onco. That
in the grimmest tragedy in life, tho find
ing that, in this world at loiiBt, thero is
no roiuroction of the soul. That part
of hers which could enjoy tho simple
pleasures and experiences of lifo, sho had
Beared away with a red hot iron, and
thero can bo no future for what no
longer exists. What 19 it that Paula
says crouching down by Aubrey's Bide,
with her cheek on his shoulder and her
hoary eyoa staring of! into vacancy.
"I boliovo that tho future iB only tho
paBt again, entered through another
gate."
And Aubroy eayB truly "That'a an
awful belief."
A WANDERER'S NOTES.
William Reed Dunhoy.
Union', Nemi , July 17, 1899
This is a typical small Nebraska town.
It iB clustered about a weather beaten
station house and two big ugly red
elevators. One straight street, lined on
either side by little stores, all in abject
need of a little paint. Tho town sets on
the prairie with nothing to shade it
from tho pitiless raiys of the sun nor
shield it from the terror of tho Btorm.
Tho streote aro fringed with a row of
weeds, a cheerless prospect indeed. It
is only as the eye seeks the surrounding
country that it exporiences a sense of
relief. There, although the aspect is
nearly a dead expressionless level, yet it
is diversified by tho cool green of tho
groat fields of com and the yellow fields
of ripening oate and wheat.
I arrived here lust night near tho hour
when graves aro said to yawn and tho
dead to stalk forth amidst tho deeorted
hauntB of mortals. I found a harbor for
the night at the hotel Smith, a bleak
hostelry indeed. The landlord showed
me to my room, which was a stilling one
with bedraggled paper curtains at the
windows and. furniture and all, grittv
with the undisturbed dust of many a
windy day.
"What time do you have breakfast?''
was my anxiouB inquiry as he was about
to leave the room.
"Well, the lust b.eakfast is at 7
o'clock," was the answer, and mj soul
Bank within me, for I had banked on
u beauty sleep in the morning.
I nought my couch and the last thing
I hoard before I went out into dream
lnud was a disturbance among tho hogs
in tho back yard who began to quarrel
and scold one another in quite a humBn
fashion.
At broakfuBt, two young men, evident
ly star boarders, lent excitement to tho
ogga and beofBtoak by their loud and
boisterous chufTing with the girl who
waited 011 the table. It sooms that they
had boon out wheel riding the night be
fore and ono of tho follows and a girl
had ridden away from tho fair waitress
of the hotel Smith. She did not relish
tho proceeding and tho repartee ex
changed between herself and tho man
who had inconeed her was interesting
to the two who engaged in it. To
heighten the excitement Btill further,
a man who wus a "transient guest'' ub he
informed me, kept diving across tho
table every few minutes to insert hia
knifo into tho Bugar bowl and extract
therefrom its saccharine contents to
Hproad ovor tho light biscuit ho wub
outing.
From tho kitch n camo tho monoton
ous round of tho landlady's voice. It
wub always pitched on ono noto und sho
talked as if she was tired to death and
had lost her last hope. During tho
whole morning but ono thing occurred
to arouse unythlug like a commotion and
that was when tho telophono boll rang.
This cuusod a thrill to run through tho
wholo houso and evorybody run to neo
whut was wanted.
"Hollo!" suid the man with the dark
hair as tho waiter girl came in with his
cofToo, "how's your houd this morning?"
"Still on mo yot' said tho girl with u
toss of hor hoad.
"Tina was out wheol riding lust
night," ho remarked to tho young mBn
with light hair, "wo rode about tbreo
miles."
"It must have made he tired," ro
marked tho young man with light hair.
"Yob, it did. But you seo the fun of
it was Hannah and mo wo run away
from hor. Didn't wo Tina?" turning
onco more to tho waitress ae she brought
in Borne fried oggB for Ihe man who was
juBt inBorting his knifn into tho sugar
bowl.
"No, you didn't," snapped tho girl. "I
didn't want to go with you and Hannah
at all. I wanted to go alone," she said
with just enough asperity to show that
she was far from tolling tho truth.
"I wish I had taken a little of that
PabstB," remarked the man with dark
hair, hb the girl left the room.
"But you are going up to old Wes
Nea bit's thiB morning and you wouldn't
dure drink before going there," said the
light haired man.
"That's so," was the response.
"Are there any squirrels in them
woods down jendor?" asked the man
with his knife in the sugar bowl.
"Yes, I guess there are a few."
"Gosb, but I'd like to have a mesa of
e'm. I've got er turget gun in my chist
and if J could git out there I think I
could git a few."
"Yep, but the farmers kick on you
ehootin' out there. Hunters 1b bo
reckless with their guns, you know.
After a farmer has had a horse or a cow
shot ho won't allow any one to shoot on
his farm."
"Ob, but I conld get a privilege. I
never have any trouble that way," re
marked the man who wanted the
squirrels, with a self satisfied air.
At this juncture Grandfather Smith
came shambling in for his breakfast.
He was subjected to a great deul of
rough bantering on the part of the star
boarders, and 1 left the dining room.
ON OUR NEIGHBORS DOORSTEP.
Floka Bullock. 1
PILGRIMAGE OP CRYPHC MA
SONS OP COLORADO.
DENVER, COLO., AUGUST G -13, 1899.
Por tho abovo occasion the Union
Pacific has made the greatly reduced
rato of one fare, plus $2, for the round
trip to Denver, Colorado Springs and
Pueblo, from points in Kansas and Ne
braska. Do not complete arrangements for
your trip without first askingyour agent
about the magnificent train service and
fust timo to Colorado via the Union
Pucific.
Por tickets, bIoc ping car reservations
and full information call on
28-3 t. E. B. Slosson, Agent.
Parmer (culling waiter) Say, where
kin I wash my hands?
Waitar (pointing) Dar's de flogah
bowl, sah.
Parmer (turning pale) Martby, I
thought that last stuff we et didn't taste
like cheese we've gone an' et the soap,
by gum! Town Topics.
Truth naked is obscene; truth adorn
ed is a demigod. Town Topics.
Tho gu do-bookB and railroad adver
tisements will toll you that Edgemnnt is
tho gatoway to tho Bluck Hills, By
taking the northward branch of tho
road from this pluco, you can striko very
booh into tho real Hill country on tho
way to Deadwood. Tho othor branch
turnB somowhul to the west and for
many droary miles you trail along a
track that lies liko n braid upon tho
western odgo of tho hills. On your right
all tho way aro tho bids, slato gray at
first, then showing raoro and moro tho
greenish black of tho ptnoe and tho
grtenisli brown of thu rango grass; on
your loft ub fur us you euro to look is
sago brush, cage-brush, gray and bunchy
so that in tho distance you think you
boo herds of dirty sheep. The irrigation
ditches, mado cavernous in places by oc
casional deluges, aro encouraging; you
can traco them across fields by tho real
Nebraska groon of thu grass and buBhoa
which grow so luxuriantly betide them.
Occasionally you pass a fow acres as
pronounced in color as a Cubs county
corn field, und afterwards, when you
learn something of tho ways of irriga
tion, ynu appreciate what such a field
means.
If Edgemont in tho gateway to the
Hills, Nowcastle muBt bo the doorstep.
It is the first considerable station in the
territory of our rather now neighbor,
from whom, it Booms to mo, we have
hardly yet bprrowed our initial friendly
cup of suit, though we have, in business
fashion, bought from her, train loads of
coal, and eaten of the fat of her laud for
duo consideration. Kansas and Minne
sota we have koown so well that we beg
for the "loan" of a chancellor, as
loans go sometimes. But Wyoming
may not even be invited to
our neighborhood parties unless we are
strongly moved by geographical princi
ples. The reason is, of course, that Wy
oming ia a new state. Not only because
it has boon but a few years since her
Btar took its place in our flag, but be
cause her territory has been so inac
cessible. Newcastle is but ten years
old. Up to the time title Billings road
wus pushed through, a large section of
the state could hardly think of itself as
Wyoming, for it really seemed to belong
to Deadwood, South Dakota. The story
of the way in which this land has been
rescued from arid useleesnees will some
day be considered not the leaet in our
national "book of heroic deeds,"
Newcastle is a real Hill town. Its al
titude is only 4,1)9 feet, but it maintains
a fresh mountain breeze that mukes
even the hottest day endurable and ia
not encouraging to the fan manufactur
ers. The red brick school house stands
among the pines on a bill which is a
path of knowledge itself and saves the
school-board any expense for a gymnas
ium. Once up there you can look for
miles and miles across the sage-brush
prairie a semi-level country dotted here
and there as far as you can seo with
strange shapes that you take for hay
stacks until you are told of the buttes
One is made always memorable to you
under the the romantic name of Pump
kin Butte. It is seventy miles away,
and forty milesfrom a poBtoflico. There
are places further thun this from the
daily newspaper, to be sure, but it
seemB far enough to bo interesting.
Once out there, I reflected, one might
live in blessed ignorance for six weeks
at least, as to whether his home was at
843 Ninth Avenue north, or 843 Xun
tippe Boulevard, or simply 813 X street,
Lincoln, Nebraska. Tho school-board
of Newcastle has charge of the Pumpkin
Butte school when there is any as of
fifteen others scattered all over enough
land to make a good sized eastern state.
Justa t present the board is in a quandary
as to Pumpkin Butte. At least eight
children of school age must be living in
a district to warrant keeping up a school.
Pumpkin Butto has only six or seven.
It seems that in the interest of educa.
tion some good people with a nourish
ing family ought to seek out the
Sabbatical atmosphere of this place.
"By iho way, what is a butte?" I ask
my host, for while I think I know, a
tonderfoot is never safe in presuming to
understand the nomenclature of the
Hills and ranches. After some facetious
attempts to put me off by explaining
that tho term is applied to almost any
thing which is particularly tine and
"swell," ho at lust detlt ed a butte as
generally a peculiar hill or knoll stand
ing alone or somowhat boldly in a range
or out in tho midst of the prairie land.
Tho dictionary corroborates his state
ment with its usual Latimty. The buttes
are perhaps no more barren of what a
Neruskan would call vegetation than
the rest of the land. You would hardly
call sage brush and cactus vegetation, I
am sure; they are more like vermin.
Then that short dry grass, which in
spitb of your scepticism will grow out of
the dirt, out of the very rocks, indeed,
should really you think, be is good for
nothing an it looks. However, as Mr.
John Fitzgerald said once when told
that he was looking very well, "Appear
ancnk are docelving." You have to get
used to the idea th t whereas you like
to eat beef, beef, alive and ruminating,
like to eat this stuff; therefore, logically,
you stand convicted of liking to eat this
stuff. The atrange story of this barren
land, this dry grass country, ia old, I
know, to many; but it is not old to all
who sit at dainty dinner tables and use
napkins.
Newcastle has narrowly escaped being
a fashionable watering-place ai.d resort
for invalids, and perhaps it will meet
that fate at last. The Black Hills re
gion is not blessed with lakes, naturally;
there are tereral beautiful "maiaV
lakes, however. One of these ' was
formed about three miles from New
castle. Hunyadi lake, as they call it,
was a very popular free-for-all bathing
place, made by chaining up the waters
of a brook they call it a creek which
comes from the Hills; 'he dam was cofi
tinually repaired by the citizens of the
town until that became tiresome. So,
for some time the clear brook has gone
sparkling on its way. It is a pretty
stream, as you follow it up a very wild,
(OvetlaiMl ltoiat"
aVLrsUThBaXI Lb
& I HHBaahev
oxi n ry
r
4ipv
DIRECT LINE for all Points in
Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming.!
Utah, Padific Coast, and
Puget Sound.
Palace Sleeping Cars
Ordinary Sleeping Can
Buffet Smoking and Library Cars
Free Reeling Chair Cats
Dining Cars, Mealt a la Cart.
For time tables, folders, and illustrated
pamphlet descriptive of the territory tra
verse, call on E. B. Station, General Agent