Peaches had won!
Peaches' was one of the hunch of
awn nags my uncle Owen had willed
me, and which his old trainer, Murf
faSgginbottom, had brought from their
•arirl Kentucky home. 1 hadn’t dared
' -€!>ell the family anything about it, and
Jfead let myself in for a bunch of trou
Ujie, and poor old Murf, too, had got
Shis from Uncle Peter.
And now Peaches had won the Cul
Truination stakes, at 100 to 1, and I
toared that all was out, and that 1 was
£ti—for more trouble.
titer the big race was run, 1 got
up and ran myself. There was some
' • tttfng in the air that frightened me,
l climbed a car and hiked it for
Some!
When I reached Dove’s Vest villa
X i'oun/1 Uncle Peter on the veranda,
fanning himself and telling Mother
doose rhymes to the tame mosqui
toes.
“What in the world is the matter,
John?” he asked in alarm; “you look
positively ill; go in and pour your
out a glass of sherry.”
“Nix on the pour,” I answered; “It’s
Moihing; I’ve been pacemaker for a
laightmare, but I’ll wake up presently.
.Where's Clara J.?”
“She and your Aunt Martha went
to town; I suppose they’ll be out on
toe next train. Try a tumbler of
whisky, John; there’s some good
JSourbon in the sideboard,” he ad
vised,
“Not me,” I answered; “I’ve had
m dose of Kentucky spirits this after
noon that will last me a lifetime,”
'With that I left, the old gentleman
fJa.t and struck for the sofa to do a
Sjnllaby.
An hour or so later I aw'oke from
I feather would have been my death
j blow.
"Promise to forgive me, and I’ll con
fess all,” she sobbed, burying her head
in a sofa pillow.
“It’s a cinch!” I answered; “why,
I’m the best little forgiver that ever
signed a pardon. Mention the crime
and I’ll prove an alibi. I’ll take my
affidavit that you were not there at the
time specified.”
“But I was there, John!” she
groaned, and the mystery grew so deep
I nearly fell in it.
“I went to town”—sob—“with
Aunt Martha to do some shopping”—
sob—“but we went to luncheon first”—
sob—“and Bunch and Alice”—sob
—“and they dared me” — sob—
“I mean they coaxed me"—sob—“to
go to the races with them”—sob—
“and I went”—long series of sobs.
"Fidge!’ I said, airily; “what’s that
amount to? Lots of people go to
the races. I saw several there—I
mean, I’m glad you did go. The ex
citement will do you good. It did
me good; that is it used to do me
good!”
“But, John, I made you promise
me never, never to bet again on a
horse race,” she continued, solemnly.
“And I’ve kept my promise faith
fully,” I answered, whereupon she
started crying as though her heart
would break.
Finally she controlled herself and
said: “Bunch showed me a program,
and when I saw a horse named
Peaches in a race I became so excited
I didn’t know what to do. Nobody
ever called me that but you, John,
and—and, well, I just couldn’t help
it!”
“Couldn’t help w'hat?” I laughed;
“At 100 to 1,” I Shrieked.
-Croubled dreams to hear voices out
wide the window.
"Why, Clara J., what on earth is the
:*E»ntter?” Uncle Peter was saying;
"“you look paler than John did when
be came home. Are you ill? What’s
<L2ie matter, Martha? You are trem
bling all over. How d’you do, Miss
Gray! Sit down, won’t you?”
"Where is John?” I heard Clara J.
mjC-, in the most mournful of tones.
Bt'fore any one could answer Alice
'Gray's voice floated in: “Oh, I’ve
fS^een telling them all the way out here
<tjbat there’s really nothing to be so
dreadfully worried about. Why, I’m
•-fjure -Clara J. simply couldn’t help It
Mi»» n she saw—”
“ ’ “Hindi! please do hush, Alice!”’
J. broke in, and l began to won
der what it was all about.
dura J. couldn’t help it when she
aa»w—saw what? Weouw! my name
aanust have crept into the newspa
Spers—fhat must be it. Me for the
Miorgue! She would never forgive me
.for •such long-continued and pictur
vifcque deception.
'M f arose, quite prepared to grab
may finish by the elbow, Clara J. came
«yywly through the door.
Seeing me, she lit her lamps with
pleasure for a moment and then put
rtifaftxe out with a burst of tears.
“Oh, Johnnohn!" she moaned, bit
terly.
It was all off. I had been caught
'with the goods and the delivery wagon
want; at the door.
"Oh, it’s too terrible!" she sobbed.
I didn’t know what to say. I felt
sas hopeless as a piece of soap in the
<©efv®. “Don’t cry,” I soothed her;
“ran*! on, now, be a good fellow and
brnoe up. Peaches!"
"Oh! don’t call me that—never,
never again!” she howled, and then
S. knew that my name was Pipestem.
"Tell me all about it!” I begged her;
Vot) boy for me, eager to know just
tM>w much she had heard.
“Alice Gray and Aunt Martha and
kiunch Jefferson drew my attention to
.f.t.” dhe said, between sobs; and I im
xnediat.ely picked out three people I
vCidn’t like.
“Oh, John! will you ever forgive
she wailed.
“Forgive you!” I repeated, and so
asun iised was I that a tap from a
“did you take a flying leap out of the
stand?”
“No, but Bunch told me It would
be simply criminal if I didn’t bet on
my namesake, so when Aunt Martha
Wasn’t looking I pulled a bill hastily
from my purse and told him to bet it
on Peaches to win.”
Say! I had a grin on my face the
size ot a barn door.
“After Bunch had gone .1 looked in
my purse and found I had given him
the wrong bill. I meant to give him
$10, but by mistake I gave him the
hundred dollars you gave me to buy
that summer suit.”
"And Bunch played a hundred
dollars for you on Peaches?” I gasped.
“Ah-huh!” she nodded.
“At 100 to 1,” I shrieked.
“I don’t know what it was at,” she
answered through her tears; “for
after I realized what I had done I
nearly fainted. I was so frightened
I couldn’t even watch the race. When
it was over, Bunch screamed like an
Indian and rushed away. Presently
he came back and threw a bundle of
bills in my lap and I stuffed them in
Aunt Martha’s purse, and—and—
cried so they had to take me home.
Can you ever forgive me, John?”
“Forgive you! Why, say! you are
the most thoroughly forgiven girl
that ever brought home money to a
lazy husband. A hundred dollars on
Peaches at a 100 to 1—well, say!
Where’s Aunt Martha? That’s too
much money for a reckless old lady to
lug around—lock all the gates!”
Then and there I ’fessed up every
thing from Alpha to Omaha, and I
wish you could have seen the. expres
sion on Clara J.’s face when I came to
the finish and told her that “Peaches”
was our horse!
She forgave me and I forgave her,
and then we both forgave each other,
and w ound up by dancing around the
room and kicking the meaning out of
all the furniture.
When presently we strolled out on
the lawn we found Bunch there, and
Alice broke away long enough to say:
"Didn’t I tell you he’d forgive you!”
“Why, Alice,” I answered, “for
$10,000 I’d open a factory and turn out
lorgivenesses by the barrel.”
Presently it was noised around the
1 household that I owned the colt which
had won a swell race ahd the change
of sentiment In favor of horses was so
sudden that the grass got frightened
and stopped growing.
Uncle Peter offered to back me for
any amount of money and said that
he was delighted to know we had a
horse In the family that was such a
credit to us.
After Dinner Clara J. and I strolled
down to the gate to talk matters over,
and presently Tacks yelled at us:
‘‘bay, don’t lean too heavy on that
gate, 'ause I took the hinges off to
day so’s I could get through quicker
if that crazy man come along!”
At that very moment who should
come plodding up to the gate but Murf
and the hero of the day, Spuds!
Clara J.’s welcome included a kiss
for them both, to their intense em
barrassment For the next half hour
Uncle Peter was so busy apologizing
-Uijnuny-iiw j v
“Weouw! My Name Must Have Crept
Into the Newspapers—That
Must Be It.”
to Murf and Spuds that nobody had a
chance to congratulate them.
Then we had a glorification for sure,
and Murf succeeded in getting his
ancient enemy so full of Bourbon that
finally loving hands had to lead Uncle
Peter out to the pump and hand him
the deluge in order to keep him from
telling all the family secrets.
“Peaches” was the toast of the
evening, and if the game little colt had
been there, a seat on top of the piano
for hers, with a bottle of Ruinart in
each hoof.
When, finally, Murf was ready to
take the count he turned to me and
said: “Yo’ Uncle Owen’s judgment
sho’ly made good, suh; and - it is
proved that Hank Peters ain’t no
liah, suh, for right now yo’ all are big
Casino on the eastern tracks, suh;
good night!”
(Copyright by G. W. Dillingham Co.)
Want Bounty on Squirrels.
Since the bounty on squirrels was
stopped several years ago the little
pests have greatly increased in num
bers until the question of handling
them has become of vital importance
to the welfare of all growers of grain
and vegetables.
Every farmer has to devote from
five to fifteen days each year in fight
ing squirrels, and the annual cost of
poison to each farmer averages $5.
During the operation of the former
squirrel bounty law the animals be
came quite scarce in this section, for
men often made wages in the spring
by a systematic campaign against the
squirrels. The amount of damage
caused each year in this county by
squirrels runs into many thousands of
dollars, causing a consequent decrease
in the amount of grains, grasses and
vegetables produced and an increase
in the cost of production.—Colville
Correspondence Spokane Herald.
I
Elastic Roads In Switzerland.
An interesting experiment has been
made with promising results at Zu
rich. Fine gravel, the grains averag
ing from one-twentieth to one-twelfth
of an inch in diameter, the whole
carefully freed from earthy sub
stances, was coated in a revolving
drum with tar. These pellets were
then carefully dried and hardened, and
after eight or ten weeks were spread
during dry weather in a thick layer
upon a prepared roadbed and rolled.
The road thus formed is inexpen
sive, possesses a certain elasticity and
is said to withstand well the effects
of heavy traffic. The desirability of a
slightly elastic road for saving wear
and tear and suppressing noise is evi
dent.
Peasant Schools in Russia.
The Russian ministry of agriculture
has established fourteen schools in dif
ferent parts of the country for the
training of instructors in the ‘koustar
ni,” or peasant industries. These lines
include weaving, carpentry, cooperage,
wood carving, sculpture, pottery, tan
ning, fur dressing, making agricultural
implements and carriages, metal work
ing and varnishing. In Vladimir prov
ince a school has been established for
instruction in toy making, and in Ka
zan for making musical instruments.
Orenburg shawls, the silk and cotton
laces and embroideries, the work in
hammered brass and copper, and espe
cially the Russian enameled jewelry
and ornaments, are among the prod
ucts.
Fatal Mistake.
Gladys—Edith is so sorry she took
Herbert’s ring back to the jeweler to
have It valued.
Penelope -Why,
Gladys—Well, the jeweler kept It,
as he said Herbert hadn’t been in to
Bettle for it.—Exchange.
T WAS a bright October
morning, and the sun was
rising over the foothills
of the Cascades, spread
ing its glory over the
beautiful Wenatchee
lake, and the valleys
leading to it. The vines,
maples and alders in all
the small canons were
clothed in their gorgeous
autumn colors, varying in
hues from bright yellow
to deep purple, and inlaid among the
deep green of the pines and cedars,
making a magnificent landscape. As
we ascended the mountains we came
upon a camp of SNvash Indians, and
Judging from the number of buck In
dians with them it appeared certain
that they would kill all the game in
the hills, or drive it so far up to the
summit of the mountains that a white
man would not be able to get a shot.
We made up our minds to go after
the goats at the earliest moment, after
reaching camp, which we intended to
establish at a high elevation, because
the mountain goat inhabits the least
accessible solitudes.
The North Fork of the White River
runs through the camp ground, mak
ing a narrow and deep canon of sev
eral hundred feet with the most exqui
site scenery", consisting of waterfalls
dashing over the cliffs, and through a
small meadow of stream grass and
rushes. Looking up through the'
canon we could see the glacier peaks
from the foot of which springs the
White river.
guide and drive the other three goats
up the canon. Ross joined Neil and
Bill on the edge of the thicket and
together they began to climb a small
ridge in front of them.
“By Jove,” said Bill, “those fellows
are going right into a goat if they
don’t look out, and none of them seem
to see him.”
Bang! Bang! Crack! Ping!
“Now they’ve done it,” said Bill.
“Look at him go; the rocks are full of
them. Great Heavens! what a mess
they have stirred up. Even that goat
is going; they have only crippled him.
Now, look at him hiding behind that
rock.”
“Yes,” said I, “but Ross sees him;
he has a bead on him now. Bang!
He has got him.”
Ross laid down his gun, took out his
knife and, on reaching the goat, at
tempted to take hold of a horn to
lift up Mr. Goat’s head and bleed him,
when his quarry made a leap off the
rock they were on and bounded
around the other side of the cliff as
though he had just woke up.
“Haven’t those blamed fools got
that goat killed yet?” said Bill. “Look
at him go; he’ll get away sure.”
The goat was making across the
slide wrhere we had seen them the
night before dnd was headed for a
thick patch of timber.
> Bang! Bang!
“Well, they’ve got him down again,”
said I. “I guess they have got him
this time, so we might as well go
back to camp.”
“Well, don’t be in a hurry,” said
Bill, “we’re not sure yet. Where are
they now? Where is the goat? That’s
what’s bothering me.”
“By Jingo,” said I; “there he is,
heading this way.”
We were so excited at the prospect
of the others losing the goat that un
der a simultaneous impulse we both
climbed down the precipice into the
canon below, and headed for the
clump of brush into which we had
seen the goat disappear. Here is
where our troubles began, for we had
to try our hand at climbing up a steep
rock slide for nearly half a mile. We
ran for about 20 rods and then went fl
into a maple clump that was nearly fl
as bad as the alder and willow brush ®
we had crawled through early In the fl
morning. Neil lost his hat. Then s fl
limb of a tree sprang back and struck fl
my forehead, knocking me into afl
woodchuck’s den. When I came tcfl
there was Mr. Goat sitting a few yards ■
from me, chattering as if I had plun-fl
dered his orchard. I took out my Colt 8
revolver and settled his hash, as I fl
thought. At the crack of the weapon fl
Neil came hurriedly up to see what fl
was happening, and fell off a log he fl
was climbing over, and skinned his ■
elbow on a rock. In the meantime the ■
goat hobbled up the mountainside and 11
lay down upon a ledge of rock about fl
200 yards above us* The way we I
went up that rock slide on all fours I
would surprise a Siwash. We got up R
within about 25 yards of the rock and H
Mr. Goat stuck his head over the H
ledge as much as to ask where we H
came from. a
“Shoot him," yelled Neil. 8
“Shoot nothing,” said I, "I can't fl
shoot a flock of balloons—shoot him l|
yourself.” fj
At this the goat thought it was his ■
move and hobbled off the rock, pass- fl
ing Neil within about six feet. Nell ■
grabbed a handful of wool and lost g
his hold. He then made another lunge
and stubbed his foot and fell flat, and
as he fell chanced to grab the goat’s
hind leg. He was dragged for about
20 feet, yelling for help at the top of
his voice. Finally the goat fell down
and Neil got up, still hanging on to
the leg. He managed to get his rfr
volver out, but the goat kicked and
floundered so that he could not an
die both.
By this time I had got to him and
he gave me the goat’s leg to hold, and
then stepped in front of the goa •
get a shot at his head. Mr. Goat did
not approve of that and made a lunge
sideways that upset me and I was
dragged about 15 feet. When
aged to get right side up I oundtha
the goat had wedged himself between
two rocks and had to stop. He
where we killed him at last.
_
Our guides, Bill and John, began
gathering wood for the night, and pre
paring supper, while Neil, Ross, and
myself, attended to the erection of
the tents, and a general investigation
of our surroundings. Ross and I
climbed up a dizzy summit that hid
our camp from the main hill, to see if
we could discern any game. On
reaching the top of the cliff we did not
see the sign of a goat, but stood scan
ning the hills for half an hour. Pres
ently we saw a white spot leap across
a narrow opening between two clumps
of bushes, about half a mile from us,
and well up on the range to our right.
Then we saw another, and still an
other, and then the fourth goat. While
we were watching these, a herd of
eight goats passed the opening, and
made their way leisurely down to a
slide, where they stopped and began
feeding. We saw that it was up to us
to plan our strategy to gain a posi
tion above them where we could begin
operations.
The mountain goat is extremely cau
tious and observing, and when pur
sued will never go down hill unless
when wounded, when they will often
hide in a clump of bushes, or in the
crevices of rocks, rather than expose
themselves to punishment.
I have often watched a goat try sev
eral times to get from one cliff to an
other, that were separated by a small
chasm, which it could easily leap
across, but rather than take a chance,
it would walk for half a mile out of its
way so as to reach the other side in
safety. W’hen hard pressed by hunt
ers It will, of course, take leaps that
it would not otherwise do in its mo
ments of leisure. A goat, when pur
sued, will climb along shelves of rock
on the walls of precipices, with appar
ent unconcern, walking in places that
would completely shatter the nerves
of any one who attempted to follow it.
We had breakfast about four o’clock
the next morning, and packed our
lunches, loaded up with ammunition,
arranged our gunnysacks and ropes
on our pack straps, and started for
the hills. We agreed that myself,
with Bill, the guide, should work our
way among me crags on me otner
side of the sheep and secure an ad
vantageous position above them, while
Ross, Neil and John should get below
them and drive them up past the posi
tion I would occupy. Bill and I climb
ed to an almost inaccessible position
among the crags, overlooking the
canon, where we could see both the
herd and our companions.
With John leading the way and
Ross and Neil following, they made a
detour and got below the goats, and
here they began to shout. The herd
of five broke up into two sections, two
of the animals heading for the canon
that I commanded, and the other
three broke off in a westerly direc
tion, heading for a thicket of alder and
willow, which offered them for the
time being complete security.
At this moment Bill, the guide, with
Ross, made a bee line for the thicket
the sheep were heading for, in the
hope of intercepting them, while Neil
fired his gun at the two sheep that
were rapidly approaching my posi
tion. The animals were soon within
range and, of course had no suspicion
that I was located right above them.
Taking careful aim, I singled out the
leading goat and fired. I knocked him
down and he fell on his side, kicking
furiously. The other goat was wound
ed by Neil, who was in hot pursuit,
and after falling to the ground, got
on its feet again, and kept on heading
for the top of the canon. Signalling
to Neil to go after the goat that was
lying on the ground, I took another
shot at my quarry and succeeded in
keeling him over. As soon as Neil
got up to the goat I had disabled, he
put a bullet through its head, killing
the animal completely. It required
three more shots from my rifle to kill
the hardy animal that was working its
way into safety. I signalled to Neil
to go back and rejoin Ross a.ncj the
The Millionaire and The Boy
The other day, when the elevator
service in the Standard Oil building,
at 26 Broadway, New York, gave out,
the newspapers had considerable
amusement over the fact that the mil
lionaire tenants of that building had
to walk from two to fourteen flights of
stairs to get to their offices. In this
connection an amusing story is told
about Henry M. Flagler, one of the
oldest of the Standard Oil pioneers.
While approaching the age of 81, he is
strong and stalwart, paying regular
attention to his large business inter
ests, both in New York and in Florida.
His office is on the twelfth floor of
the Standard Oil building, and it was
thought that he would not care to do
what many a younger man would
shrink from, and so a porter was sent
to meet him at the door and advise
him to establish his office temporar
ily on a lower floor, as the elevators
were out of service. While the P0™‘
was hastening on this mlss'on’
Flagler was gayly climbing t ®
and shortly appeared on the ^
floor as unconcerned as ever. • '
Beardsley, Mr. Flagler’s right^Mj
man, tells an interesting story rjb
a messenger boy who ,^S Feeler but
livered a message to Mr. Hag
who declined to climb twelve flight !
of stairs to do so. “How old is J
boy?” asked Mr. Beardsley. £
was the reply. “Well, s*ld “. a fine
ley, “you can tell that boy
old gentleman approaching: his eig J
first birthday has Just c£
twelve flights of stairs w 1 °u jjr.
a hair.” Turning to Mr. Flag •
Beardsley remarked: “Y°u - ;
the conceit out of a ^ .I
So much for good habits and
ing.—Leslie’s.^^^^^^^^^ |
A Lost Homer ..
“I always thought a homing pigeon
would go straight home,” said a man
who kept his country house open for
the winter week-ends. “But I was up
at my place a while ago and the gar
dener told me about a curious excep
tion to the rule. He was out in the
barn one day when in flew a pigeon
through the open door. After it had
flown from one post to another, he
approached it gently and caught it.
Then the bird was seen to be a
homer, with a gilt band on one leg
and two silver ones on the other. As
it was toward night, the gardener
thought it would be only humane to
take it indoors and release it the next
day after breakfast But in the morn
ing the pigeon flew oaca fl„al. |g
then to a neighboring > [gbt. H
ly back to the barn for the ^ H
That homer hung »r0 off never fl
ten days, and then he fl ^ J fl
to be seen again. Jlh * h)g bear ■
account for it is that h ^ found fl
ings and stayed by us un fl
them—or thought he dim__ fl
The Real Reason\, 88j4 tW fl
“Can you tell me, my • ls not fl
prim teacher, “why fl
always to the swif • ]lttl# toy fl
“Yes’m,” said the eme> fl
promptly. “It 3„!!Smore ^-g
their tires bust. —fl
can. fl