Lincoln County leader., August 10, 1900, Image 7

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0
HERE Is always
trouble of one
sort or another
when a woman
meddles with
those things
which do not
concern her sex.
Obviously, car-
blues were none
of Miss Mlvart's
concern. If she
felt that she had
to play with fire
arms she should
ml7 have kept to Flo-
' bert rifles. Noth
ing would do, however, but that she
must learn to shoot a carbine, and the
result M as that the whole post rose up
una cut Burton, to a man; so that there
was no peace for him any longer In
that regiment and he had to seek trans
fer to another. There were other re
sults, also! but they come further on.
Some thought that What Miss Mivart
ma was done on purpose, and some
thought that it was a piece of idiotic
silliness. The latter based their argu-
her ways, and upon the inuocency of
her round, blue eyes. The former held
to the belief that Miss Mivart was one
of those women favorites of Fortune
who look greater fools than they are.
They said, with a certain show of rea
son, that Georgia Mivart was a child
of the service and not an importation
from civil life. She had been born in
a garrison and had played with rows
of empty lgreen-rlmmed cartridge-shells
t an age when most little girls play
with paper dolls. She had hummed
snatches of the bugle-calls before she
could talk, and the person she had ad
mired the most and obeyed the best
for the first dozen years of her life
had been Kreutzer, Captain Mlvart's
two-headed striker. A few years of
boarding-school back East could not
lave obliterated all that.
Besides, the veriest civilian, who has
. tiever come nearer to a carbine than to
watch a Fourth of July parade, might
reasonably be expected to know by In
tuition that In a target-practice compe
tition every trigger has got to pull just
o hard, whatever the regulation num
ber or fraction of pounds may be. Oth
erwise, it is plain that the nearer you
come to a hair-trigger the better your
lm will be.
However, whether Miss Mivart was
fully aware of what she was doing,
nobody ever knew, unless perhaps It
was Greville and he, like Zulelka,
never told. But Burton had a Aid time
of it, and all his beautiful score went
for worse than nothing at all.
'That, though, was the end. . And the
beginning ought to come first. The be
ginning was when Miss Mivart under
took to learn to shoot a carbine.
There was a target-practice competi
tion going on at the post; not one which
was of any Interest to the service, or
even to the department at large; just
a little social affair, devised to keep up
the esprit de corps of the troops and to
lighten the monotony of life. There
were three contests, one for troops and
companies, as such; one for individual
privates, and one for the officers. This
last was to finish off, and then there
was to be a big hop.
. .Every one knew, from the first, when
Burton and Greville shot with their
troops, that the ofticers competition
would lie between them. This made It
interesting In more ways than one, be
cause the rivalry was not confined to
the target range,' but extended to the
winning of Miss Mlvart's hand and
heart, and every one believed that this
would settle a matter she did not ap
pear to be able to settle for herself.
Not that she was to blame for that.
Any one, even a person much more cer
tain of her own mind than Miss Mivart
was, would have been put to it to
choose.
They were both first lieutenants, and
both cavalrymen, nnd both good to
look upon. Burton was fair and Gre
ville was dark, but she had no fixed
prejudices regarding that. She had
often said so. Also, both were as much
lu love with her as even she could have
wished, and were more than willing
that all the. world should see it than
which nothing Is more pleasant nnd
soothing to a right-minded woman.
The rifle contest lusted ten days, dur
ing which time the air hummed with
the ping and sing of bullets over on the
range, and with the calls of the mark
ers in the rifle-pits. Only scores and
records and beta were thought and
talked about
. Miss Mivart herself had bet, with all
the daring wickedness of a kitten teas
ing a beetle. She even went so far as
to bet on both Burton and Greville at
once. The adjutant undertook to ex
plain to her that that was called "hedg
ing," and was not looked upon as alto
gether sporty. Miss Mivart was hurt.
Was It really dishonest, Bhe wanted to
know. The adjutant felt that he had
been unkind. He hastened to assure
; her that it was not not dishonest in
the least; only that It took away from
the excitement of the thing to a cer
tain extent. Miss Mivart smiled and
shook her head. No, she didn't think
it did, because, of course, she knew
herself which ouesshe wanted to have
win. The adjutant admitted that that
might possibly be just as interesting
for herself and the fortunate man. And
which was he, if he might nsk. Miss
Mivart shook her head and smiled
again. No, she didn't think he might
nsk. As the man himself didn't know,
she could hardly tell any one else just
yet, could she? She had her own ideas
about fair play.
"I can shoot a carbine, myself," she
told the adjutant, with her cleft chin
proudly raised; "and my shoulder Is
all black and blue. Mr. Burton Is teach
ing me."
"Oh!" said the adjutant, "and what
does Greville think nbout'that?" The
adjutant was married, so he was out
of the running
"Mr. Greville Is teaching me, too,"
said Georgia; "and here he comes for
me now."
Duiiuu was siue on the target range,
over behind the barracks. Miss Mivart
and Greville went in the other direc
tion, by the back of the officers' row,
over in the foothills across the creek.
Greville nailed the top of a big red
pasteboard box to the trunk of a tree,
and Miss Mivart hit it once out of six
teen times when she was aiming at
the head of a prairie dog at least twen
ty feet away tothe right. The other
fifteen shots were scattered among the
foothills.
Then hei shoulder hurt her so that
she was ready to cry. Greville would
have liked to have her cry upou his
own shoulder, but, as she didn't, he did
some fancy . shooting to distract her.
He found a mushroom-can, and threw
it into the aid and filled It full of holes.
She had seen Burton do the same thing
that morning with a tomato-can. In
fact, from where she sat now, on a
lichen-covered rock, she could see the
mutilated can glittering in the sun,
over beyond the arroyo. So she thirst
ed for fresher sensations.
"I'll tell you." she said to Greville, as
he held up the mushroom-can for her
to Inspect the eight holes he had made
with five shots, "let me toss up your
hat, and you make a hole through the.
trade-mark In the crown."
It was a nice, new straw hat. Gre
ville had sent East, for it and It had
come by stage the day before. It had
cost him, express paid, four dollars and
seveuty-flve cents. This, too, at a time
when anything he had left after set
tling his mess and sutler's and tailor's
bills, went Into stick-pins and candy
and books and music and rldlng-whlps
for Miss Mivart. But he took off the
hat and gave It to her without even a
lingering glance at that high-priced
trade-mark within. And he felt that it
was worth four times four dollars and
seventy-five cents when she picked up
the tattered remains, at last, and ask
ed If she might have them to hang In
her room.
Then she looked down at her grimy
hand and considered the first finger,
crooking It open nnd shut. "I think
it's going to swell," she pouted. "That
is a perfectly awful trigger to pull."
Greville did what any man might
have been expected to do. He caught
the hand and kissed it. Miss Mivart
looked absolutely unconscious of It.
She might have been ten miles away
herself. Greville, therefore, thought
that she was angry, and his heart was
filled with contrition. Yet he was old
and wise "enough to be a first lieuten
ant. He walked beside her back to the
post in a state of humble dejection she
could not understand. The next morn
ing It was Burton's turn. Greville was
over on the range now, vainly trying to
bring his record up to where Burton's
was. This time Miss Mivart fired at a
white pasteboard-box cover, and hit It
three times out of twenty. She was
Jubilant, and so was Burton, because
she was making such progress under
his tuition.
"That's an easy carbine to shoot, Isn't
it?" she asked as they wandered home;
"it Isn't at all hard to pull the trig
ger." Burton glanced at her, and she met
his eyes Inuocently. "It's just like any
other trigger," he told her.
"Yes, of course. And Is that the very
same carbine you use lu the competi
tion the one you shot with yesterday,
and will use this afternoon when you
finish up?"
He told her that It was.
"Well," she said, complaceutly, ."1
think I'm doing very nicely, don't you.
I hit the target three times, and . my
first finger doesn't hurt a bit this
morning.".
That afternoon the competition came
to an end, with Burton a good many
points ahead of Greville. And that
night there was the big hop. It had
been understood from the first that the
man who won was to take Miss Mivart
to the hop. So she went otw with
Burton, and gave him one-third of her
dances. Greville had another third;
and the rest were open to the post at
large.
Greville did not look happy at all. It
was not the target record he minded.
He never thought about that. It was
having to go down the board-walk to
the hop-room behind Burton, and to
watch Miss Mivat leaning on his arm
and looking up Into his face from under
the white mists of her lace hood. He
was not consoled at all when she look
ed up Into his own face even more
sweetly at the beginning of the second
dance, and whispered that she was "so
sorry."
Now as the second dance had been
Grevllle's the third was Burton's. That
was the way it had been arranged. As
the band began the waltz, Miss Mivart
stood beside Greville in the ceuter of
quite a group. The commanding offi
cer was in the group, so was Burton's
captain, and so was the adjutant.
There were some others as well, and
also some women. Miss Mivart may
have chosen that position, or It may
simply have happened so.
Any way, just as the waltz started,
Burton, light-hearted and light-footed,
came slipping nnd sliding over the candle-waxed
floor, nnd pushing his way
luto the midst. "Ours," he said, tri
umphantly. But Miss Mivart did not heed him at
once. She was telling them all how
she had learned to shoot a carbine as
well as any one,, and they, the men, at
any rate, were hanging on her words.
' Mr. ureville taught uie," she said,
"and so did Mr. Burton." This was
the first either had known of the oth
er's part in It, and they exchanged a
look.) "They taught me with their owu
carbines, too. The very same ones
they used themselves in the competi
tion. But I shot best with Mr. Burton's
cnrblne. He must have fixed his trig
ger to pull more easily; It was almost
like, what do you call It, a hair-trigger?"
She looked about for an answer, and
saw on their faces a stare of stony hor
ror and surprise. They" had moved a
little away from Burton, and the com
manding officer's steely eyes were on
his face. The face had turned white,
even with the sunburn, and Burton's
voice was Just a trifle unsteady as he
spoke.
"This Is our dance. I think, Miss Mi
vart," he said.
The Innocent, round, blue orbs looked
Just a little coldly Into his. "Xo," she
told him, "I think you are mistaken. It
Is Mr. Grevllle's dance." Aud she
turned and laid her hand on Grevllle's
arm. San Francisco Argonaut.
Expressing His Disgust.
Frobably most writers of serial
stories are familiar with the sensation
of receiving letters of commendation
or disapproval from interested readers
who are following up the stories as
they appear In their regular weekly or
monthly installments. Occasionally
some curious person asks for private In
formation as to what the outcome Is
to be, while others offer suggestions as
to the disposition to be made of the
villain, or express a fear that the au
thor Intends to marry the hero to the
wrong woman.
The writer of a serial story in one of
the popular magazines a few years ago
received the following letter from an
lndlgunut reader. The names are
changed for obvious reasons:
"Dear Sir: I take the liberty of tell
ing you that I regard your 'Simeon
Stacy,' now ruunlug through the Blank
Magazine, as a little the thinnest novel
I have ever read. Furthermore, the
principal character In the story, to
whom you give the title role, so to
speak. Is so thoroughly detestable a
man that I have taken the most effect
ive means In my power to show my
contempt for him by ehanginz mv
name which happened to be the same
as his to something as unlike it a
possible. Yours truly,
"ANDREW .TACOBSON,
"(Formerly Simeon Stacy)."
Ungallaiit.
There Is a suggestion of ungallantry
In the latest telephonle Invention
adopted in Farls. Hitherto, In the
French capital, as elsewhere, the cen
tral exchange has been managed or,
as French telephone users alleged, mis
managedby women. But when busy
men have called up other firms and of
fices they have often been delayed by
the conversational tendencies of the
young ladles at the exchange. It Is
decidedly maddening to hnvean Im
portant telephonic Interview punc
tuated with "He's awfully handsome!"
or, "I'm going to wear my pink
blouse," and they have determined to
put a stop to It In France by supersed
ing the telephone exchange girls by an
automatic apparatus.
Heating in Uruguay,
Few houses In Uruguay are provided
with Btoves for heating purposes. No
chimneys or fireplaces are provided, as
a rule, one house recently built at a cost
of. $14,000 having for Its only chimney
a stovepipe from the kitchen.
tjjjjiivention
When a woman says, In excuse foi
her flowerless garden, that she doesn't
"understand" the care of flowers, It
means that she doesn't want the wuik,
Recent experiments by Monsieur
Janet show that the temperature of the
carbon hiameut in an electric lamp Is
between 2,000 degrees and 3.C00 degrees
Fahrenheit.
For the extraction of rubber from the
rubber tree a new process consists In
cutting up the bark and roots and seat
ing in dilute sulphuric acid. This de
composes the woody portions without
affecting the India rubber. In this way
the rubber and bark and roots are sep
arated. An extensive building has recently
been opened In Leeds (England) to be
devoted to the development of cloth
workers' research, dyeing, etc. It Is
the intention of the Cloth workers' com
pany of London that this college should
become the leading and most complete
example of a textile and dyeing school
in the world. .
In Strasburg an engineer has invent
ed a substitute for gutta percha. In
ordinary temperatures the mass Is hard
like pitch, and while not being brittle
Is firm against pressure. It does not
break when hammered, even at the
freezing point. Thin plates were sub
jected to the action of sea water with
good results. '"
experiments at Rothamsted, England,
it is shown that in the winter months
more than half of the amount of rain
that falls penetrates Into the soil, and
becomes available for the supply of
springs, while In the summer onlv one-
quarter of the rainfall Is absorbed by
the soil. The maximum quantity of
water in the soil Is at a depth of about
forty Inches.
At a recent meeting of arboricultur
ists in France, the ouestlou was de
bated whether spiders should he suf
fered to spin their webs on fruit walls.
The general opinion seemed to be that
the webs were more useful than objec
tionable. It was remarked that thev
prevent the Incursions of earwigs aud
similar Insects, and also Interfere with
the operations of noxious flies whose
larvae ravage leaves and fruits.
A remarkable effect of the creat hur
ricane of 181)8 lu the West India Isl
ands was the complete disappearance
from the Island of St. Vincent of a sne-
cies of humming bird, which, previous
to the storm, had been one of the com.
mouest and tamest birds that Inhabited
the Island. Other species of humming
birds, of a larger size, survived the
tempest, and are yet to be seen In St.
Vincent, hut the little bronze-green
birds with erected crests, which for
merly attracted much admiration, are
all gone.
L. M. Looruls, the Cnlifornlan ornith
ologist, who has been studying the
question of bird migration on the Pa
clflc coast, concludes that those which
he has observed shape their course by
landmarks, and possess no mysterious
superhuman faculty for determining
direction such as some persons have
Imagined that birds are endowed with.
When a fog prevails the birds are be
wildered and lose their way. In brief,
Mr. Loomls thinks that bird migration
Is a habit evolved' by education and In
heritance, and owing Its origin to the
failure of food in winter
No one knows just what happens
when one drops a lumn of salt or Kiifii p
Into a bowl of water. We may believe
with I'rof. Ostwald and his followers,
that the molecules of sucnr merelv
glide everywhere between the mole
cules of water, without chemical ac
tion; or, on the other hand. dismlHRinir
this mechanical explanation, we may
say with Mendeleef that the process of
solution Is the most active of chominni
phenomena. Involving that Incessant In
terplay or atoms known as dissociation.
But these two explanations fire miitn.
ally exclusive, and no one can say posi
tively wnicn one, If either one, is right.
GENTLENESS IS NOT A VIRTUE.
Some Cases in Which It Is Slnitularlj
Out of 1'lace.
A young man at the art school had
Just finished painstakingly sharpening
three or four sticks of charcoal for one
of the girl students.
"Anything more I can do for you?"
he asked lingerlngly.
"No, 1 thank you; it was Just splen
did of you to do this for me."
With a bow and a timid smile of
pleasure the young man moved away.
"Isn't he a real nice boy?" asked the
girl who had been favored of her friend
who sat at the next easel.
"No," was the uncompromising nn
swer of the next girl, who was older
and possessed of more vigorous views.
"Why-why "
"No; he's not a nice boy; he's a real
nice girl. He's the most negative speci
men of a young man I ever saw. Why,
If another fellow stepped purposely on
his toes he'd apologize for being In the
way."
"But he's gentle nnd of very sweet
disposition," argued the first girl.
"Granted, but he might be all thai
nnd still be a little more of a man. Now.
whaf I like In the way of a man la one
who Is noble, gentle, chivalrous nd
i generous, tmt with plenty or flrmnesav
and with strong, well-defined views on
every subject. A man should always
be at the positive pole; make him nega
tive and he Isn't a man. Your real nice
boy Is 'nice' because he's too meek to
be anything else. I've been watching
him for some time, and, do you know,
what I've had an aching desire to do?"
"No; what?"
"I long to go up behind him, hit him
a hard slap between the shoulders and
urge him to brace up. Of course, It
would be rude," -finished the older girl
with a sigh.
"I have a married friend who has a
boy of 10," resumed the older girl, after
a pause during which she Industriously
filled In several square Inches with
light and shade. "Her boy was Inclined
to belong to your 'real nice girl' sort of
being. Of covPse, it followed that oth
er youngsters 'picked upon' him a great .
deal. Ills mother paid for a course of
Instruction in the manly art for him.
Then she old him that every time ho
got luto a fight she would give him a
qua rter."
"Horrible!" shivered the other girl.
"That would make a regular bully of
him, I should think."
"It hasn't had that effect. He Isn't of
the bullying kind. He's muscular now,
though his build Is so slight that ono
would not suspect him of strength.
He's gaining In firmuess nnd quickness
of decision, nnd his mother tells mo
that her conscience doesn't trouble hep
a bit. One of the greatest parental
I........, k.iC Luiuua, la til lulu u &ill-lHjy
out Into the world. He's only Imposed
upon now by boys who don't know him
aud they never try It a second time.
I'm in love with that mother, and her
son, whom I used to secretly detest;
now challenges my admiration."
"1 I don't know," said the younger
girl dubiously. It Is a dpubtful matter,
to be sure. But there is ne doubt that
most women like a man or a boy who
can tight on occasion. Boston Transcript.
CRUEL RAILWAYS IN RUSSIA.
They Kill Ten Times More People than
'1 hose of Any Other Country.
It appears from railway statistics,
recently given to the public lu Russia,
that the Russian railways kill ten
times more persons each year than do
those of any other country. By similar
statistics printed some years back the
United States led the other countries la
this respect, but since 18!)3 Russia has
had the bad pre-eminence of leading
the world as respects the numbers kill
ed yearly in proportion to the numbers
carried on Its railways. Out of 500,000,
000 paseugers on the American rail
ways the fatalities are 0,800, lncluding
employes; while out of 52,000,000 pas
sengers on the Russian railways the fa
talltie8are(l,107. Including the Siberian
railway Russia's mileage is about 25,
000 miles, while that of the United
States Is about 180,000 miles.
The United States commercial agent
In Vladlvostock reports to the State De
partment that experiments have been
made on the St. Petersburg and War
saw road with an Invention designed to
give warning and lessen the deadly
effects of railroad collisions. Two
wrecking railroads were provided; on
the first the sleepers were displaced, on
the second the rails were displaced. In
both cases the stoppage was Immedi
ate by the aid of this device, without
outside help nnd without injury to tho
moving trains. The essential feature
of the Invention is an Iron tube, of
usual construction, connected with tho
general system of brakes nnd placed la
front of tho wheels. At the least Ir
regularity lu the movement of the trajn
the tube, In consequence of certain cuts
made on It at Intervals, breaks, and
thus produces the Immediate stoppage
of the train, locomotive as well.
I'oteI.
She had met her city cousin at the
train, nnd as they rode down Grand
River avenue on the street car she took
a prldeful pleasure lu pointing out the
objects nnd buildings of Interest.
He evidenced the proper appreciation,
making highly complimentary remarks
and no belittling comparisons with In
stitutions In his own city. Passing tho
corner of Grand River avenue and Cass
street, where the new (. A. R. struc
ture Is approaching lines of architec
tural beauty, she rapturously ex
claimed: "Now that will be one of our grand
est buildings. Don't you think It will
be a beauty?"
"What building Is It?" he Inquired.
"That," she said, with becoming
pride, "Is the Gar building."
"The what?"
"Why, the Gar building, and It will
be Just too beautiful for "
"What is It a hotel?"
"No-o-o, not a hotel; It's Just a pri
vate residence. Mr. (Jar, who Is Im
mensely rich, Is going to live there, I
believe."
A faint suspicion of a smile hovered
about the mouth of the city cousin as
he glanced sideways at his intelligent
guide. Detroit Free Press.
Horses Kxported.
In the nlue months ended March 1,
11HH), 30,025 horses were exported from
the United States, at an average price
of $120.