Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation.
About Haralson banner. (Buchanan, Ga.) 1884-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1889)
’ Isolated. ‘We hold our dear anes with a firm, strong grasp, ‘We hear their voices, Jook into their eyes; And yet, betwixt us in that clinging clasp A distanee lies, We cannot know their hearts, howe'er we may Mingle thought, a‘piration, hope and pray er; We cannot reach them, and in vain essay : i To enter there. Still, in each heart of hearts a hidden deep Lies, never fathomed by its dearest, best, With closest care our purest thoughts we keep : And tenderest. But, blessed thought! we shall not always so In darkness and 1n sadness walk alone; There comes a gloriousday when we shall know Aswe are known. " — Elinor Gray. e e eI~ e THE RANCHMAN'S WIFE BY FRANK H. CONVERSE. ¢‘What! Another story about the ¢wild and wooly West? Ishould think you boys would get tired of hearng of Indians and all that sort ofthing. Well, let me think a minute, Your Aunt Bess isn’t any where round, is she? No? For she isn’t over fond of Indians or Indian stories—and with good reason. It was way back in the seventies. I fitted out at Fort Caspar, in New Mexi co, and started off alone, fur trapping up among the foot hills. They told me I was crazy to venture so far, as the Indians were thicker than flies all through the section of country where I was going; but I was used to taking chances in those days, and game was wonderfully plenty round the Gila ranges. - 80 I started off. Well, I reached the southern foot hills all right, without seeing a sign of a red skin, But for all that, I didn’t get careless. Tused a bow and arrows, with which I was quite expert in those days, to kill what game I wanted, rather than run any risk of attracting 'the no tice of any prowling Apache by a riflé shot, I was very lucky with my trap ping, and in about three weeks had a mule load of pelts, with ‘which I started back toward the fort. The second day of my journey brought me to the bottom, lands in the finest sec 'tion of grazing country I ever saw. A branch of the Gila river wound along for miles like a blue ribbon, through buffalo grass half way to the horses’ knees, while on every side there was willow and cottonwood enough to sup ply fuel for the biggest kind of a settle ‘mént. : Irode slowly along, with my pack mule plodding a few paces behind, think ing, as I well remember, that I should like nothing better than to have a nice little ranch of my own in those parts, and settle down there. All at once from behind. there came a yell—or, rather, a chorus of them— such as a man, no matter how much courage he may have, doesn't care to hear more than once in a lifetime. Unslinging my rifle and turning in my saddle at one and the same time, I saw a score or more of mounted Indians coming up at full speed, whooping and yelling like so many fiends. Of course there was but the one thing to do. My horse was tolerably fast and in good condition. It was late in the afternoon, and if I could keep well ahead of my pursuers,” I might hope to escape them under cover of the night. Leaving the pack mule and peltries to their fate, I gave old "Reno his head, and then began a race for life or death. For an hour I seemed to gain little by little. Then poor *Reno began to flag, while the Indian ponies, lashed to their highest speed, drew nearer and nearer. I swung half round and dropped a big ¢puck” with my Winchester at a hun dred yards as neatly as you please, but —BO to speak—this was only a drop in the bucket, On came the rest with fiercer cries and more hideous yells, ac companied by a fusillade from their car bines, as well as by some half dozen ar rows, one of which went fairly through | my right forearm just below the elbow. i The pain was such for the moment that my fingers relaxed their grasp, and my rifle fell to the ground, leaving me, ex cept for a hunting knife, practically un ermed, as, unfortunately, on the day be foro 1 had broken the main spring of my. .eB g R point of the arrow, as I supposed at the time. : All at once my flagging horse rounded: a big clump of cottonwood. I saw a neat cabin, with one or two outbuild-’ ings, not a furlong away. But at that self-same moment old Reno’s forefoot went down in a gopher hole, and I went flying over his head, very much after the manner of a diver, only that my arms were outstretched as a diver's never ought to be, Luckily, I struck on my right shoulder; so, though badly bruised and shaken, I was on my feet like a cat in a second. And the instinct of self preser vation, as a matter of course, led me to run at full speed toward the cabin, though I could see no sign of life about the premises. ‘ But, run as fast as I might, the pur- ‘ suing ponies were faster. The red skins, who, as I afterward knew, were to a man Apaches—the most barbarous, murderous race on the face of the globe —could easily have tumbled me over by a carbine shot or an arrow; but no, they wanted a white man to torture. And if you will believe me, when I was within 50 yards of the cabin, the chief, who was rather better mounted than the rest, was so close at my heels that, leaning forward with a devilish grin on his painted face, he prodded me gently in the rear with the point of a long feath ered lance, which he carried in addition to the carbine slung over his naked shoulders. He smiled on the other side of his ugly mouth a second later, though, for all at once a little puff of smoke from one of the two cabin windows was fol lowed by the crack of a rifle, and the Apache chief pitched forward to the earth—as dead an Indian as need be! Another report followed almost like an echo,and another Indian bit the dust, while a third discharge an instant later drew a howl of pain from another, whereupon the remainder wheeled sud denly round and took up a position some little distance away—far enough to be practically out of range. Between the increasing pain of my wound, and be ing almost winded, for a moment or two after I had stumbled in at the door of the cabin, which, thrown open to ad mit me, was as quickly closed and barred, I was silly enough to fall to the floor, where I lay for a moment sort of dazed faint, I suppose some would call it. “‘Here, drink this,” said a woman’s voice. It was spirit of somekind, and though to this day I don’t know one kind of liquor from another, that ha})pened to be an occasion when I felt justified in tak ing it. ' Any way, the - fiery draught gave me renewed strength, and brought me to myself in a measure. I saw that the woman who held the flask to niy lips was young, and the handsomest woman —so I then thought and think to this day, that I ever saw in all my life. Oh, yoix needn’t laugh, boys, your Aunt Bess knows all about it. She says she has forgiven me for thinking so a very long time ago. I got on my feet in a hurry. ¢«‘Where are your men folks, ma'am?” I asked, quick and sharp, as, looking around the room I saw that she.and I were the only occupants. Her voice had a curiously hard sound. Somehow it seemed to match a sort of wild, unnat urdl look in her eyes, which were just the color of those of your Aunt Bess. “My husband—Jim Rainsford—was shot down in front of our own door yes terday morning, by that—-.” j Her specch scemed to fail her, but ‘she pointed through the substitute for a window to the outstretched body of the Apache chief lying stiff and stark a few rods away, killed by her own avenging hand. : ' pes ““There is no one else,” she added, re covering her speech; and though I have never been called ‘a coward, I have to confess that my heart sank at the pros pect. : oty / But all the while Mrs. Rainsford was speaking she stood by the window, riffle in him_d, _ watching . the Apaches,. who, in a sort of huddle some eight hundred yards distant, tion. And this of itself made me pull myself together. Lot B tor itk amy lof hund gt B e sharp; ‘‘you've been hit with a poisoned ‘azrow! I know, for Jim was wounded the same way the year after we were ‘married, when we were living in Mon ‘tana. Keep your eye on those fiends— I know just what to do!” ~ And before I had an idea of her pur pose, Mrs. Rainsford dropped on her knees and applied her warm, fresh lips to the ragged puncture, which, owing to the presence of the poison, perhaps, had bled very little. My expostula: tions were in vain. Ejecting the poi sonous fluid, and repeatedly rinsing her mouth with the raw spirit, of which she forced me to drink from time to time, this bravest of women continued her pe culiar treatment till I felt a sensible de crease in the pain, and the swelling it self began slowly to subside. “You'll do now,” she abruptly re marked, rising to her feet with a glance at my face, to which I knew the color was fast returning. But the situation was an almost desperate one. Night was fast approaching, and though the Apaches were making no definite move toward dislodging us, we of course pre sumed that they only waited the cover of darkness to carry out their purpose. Which shows how easy it is to be mis taken—especially in reference to the movements of the wily Apache. For, unperceived by either of us, one of the red fiends had separated himself from the rest, and making a long detour un der cover of the willows along the river 3 bank, crept up in the rear of the build- } ing and fired it at the two corners. i The first intimation we had of this new disaster was the cloud of stifling smoke that came pouring through the chinks of the cottonwood logs, which were as dry and almost as inflaimmable as tinder by their long exposure to the baking sun and rarified air. Immediately following we heard the sharp crackle of the flames, kindled into additional strength by a strong westerly breeze, and above all rose the exulting yells of the Apaches, who of course expected that we should very shortly ‘be driven from cover. ¢« don’t know how you feel about it,” said my companion in the same hard, unemotional voice, ‘“but I had rather burn to death a hundred times than fall into the hands of those fiends.” Before I could reply, a great tongue of fire burst through into the interior. A sudden thought seemed to come to the brave woman at my side. «‘This way—quick!” she exclaimed. And pulling upa trap door in the rough flooring, she dropped lightly through— I following—lletting the trap fall back to place. There was no time for standing on ceremony. Reaching out a small hand, that was icy cold, though firm as a rock, Mrs. Rainsford, taking my own, drew me to the further end of the rude cellar. In those parts it was customary to construct a sort of vegetable cellar a few feet away from the house, in addition to the one vnder the dwelling, for winter use. But Rainsford, from some whim of his own, had dug his place of winter storage in one end of the main cellar itself, roofing it over on the outside with slabs of gray sandstone from the river, bottom. All this his ‘widow ‘hastily explained as we groped our way to the heavy door of thick planking in the side of the cellar wall, and, having entered, pulled it to after us. It was indeed a last resort, and it is no wonder that for some time neither of us was inclined for conversation. Over head was the roaring of flames, followed a little later by the crash of falling tim bers and beams. The heat was almost stifling, but luckily the wind blew the fire and smoke directly away from the | ‘covering above, or else, despite the apertures left for ventilation, we should have been smothered. We could hear the Apaches’ cries of fiendish joy as - they stood about the burning building, expecting to see their victims bursting through the flames, and it was a trifling satisfaction to know that they were doomed to disappoint ment. . : . As the anxious hours went by, and the intensity of the heat decreased some what, T drew from i Rainsford. hor simple story. She and ler husband, | who w%mmm%g%gg@ chief deliberately shot him through the heart, and, strangely enough, the band rode away without offering any violence to his horrified wife, who, all alone, had dug a grave under the cottonwoods, and buried her husband's body out of sight. She was intending to make her way to the nearest scttlement on the following morning, and after communicating with her people in Montana, decide upon her further course of action. Then [ had appeared upon the scene. In return, I told her of myself as far as seemed necessary, and I need hardly say, placed myself entirely at her service, as the faintest of returns for all she had done for me—saving my life in a double sense, as it were, for not only had she afforded me protection from the fury of the savages, but had undoubtedly prevented my dying a hor rible death from the poisoned arrow. It is probable that the Apaches pre sumed that we had both perished in the flames, for, after day dawn, when I ven tured to push aside one of the slabs of stone covering our retreat, they had gone. And two hours later a party of homebound prospectors with a four horse mule team and complete outfit hove in sight, and I need hardly say, after hear ing our story, they extended every kind ness toward us. We reached El Paso with them in about a fortnight, ind their I said good by to Mrs. Ransford, for a time at least. Did I ever see her again? Why, yes. I 'married her the year after, and we came East to live, for it's your aunt Bess I've been telling you about—didn’t you mis trust? No? Well, those are the facts in the case, as the lawyers say, but— there she comes across the street. Better not mention that I have told you the story; she never likes to talk of that ex perience, or hear it mentioned. But her hair has been as white as it is now ever since that night in the cellar of the burn ing house.— 7'he Argosy. An Abused Image of Washington. Sypher, the New York dealer in art relics, curios, etc., has in his establish ment a wooden statue of George Wash ington with a history. The statue was set up at the Battery in 1794 and there it stood for 40 years or more until it got badly battered and became an eyesore to artists and art lovers. It was then put up at auction by the city, and the city got soundly berated for the indignity. A French dealer in relics named Jacques bought the figure on speculation for $250 and failing to realize upon it stowed it away in the attic of his country-house at South Norwalk, Conn. M. Jacques died in 1863 and at the sub sequent sale of his effects the wooden George fell into the hands of a Yankee curiosity hunter, who paid a 4 mere trifie for it and sold it at a considerable ad vance to one Frederick J. Theobald, who placed it in front of ‘a modest es tablishment in Harlem, which was henceforth known as the ¢“Washington Cigar Store.” Every 22d of February and 4th of July Mr. Theobald religiously decorated the statue with flags. One day, not very long ago, Mr. Sypher heard of the ignoble use to which the father of his country was put and opened negotiations which resulted in his get ting possession of the same. The figure is 8 feet 10 inches high, and is a credit- able work of its kind. Washington is represented as standing in an easy pos ture, holding a chapeau at his hip. The Continental costume consists of a bluish black coat, white waistcoat, buff breeches and top boots. The old-fash 10oned fob is in its proper place, and the expression of the face is benignant.— The President’s Exchange Reader. The official at the White House who does the President’s newspaper reading and clipping is Benjamin Montgomery, the telegraphic secretary. eis one of the most valuable officers of the force, as in addition to his knowledge of tele graphy, he possesses a wonderful ac quaintance with men and measures, and is singularly active in clerical work. He now attends to a duty that was for merly performed by Col. Lamont, name ly, perusing the newspapers of the country and transferring to a scrap book all articles regarded as worthy of the President’s consideration, either because of thairpm’morcnficism of his ad mineprtion, .o o L — AU R e b s s | Diec il s g o dnk The Roses by the Rum, The roses and the clover Are very sweet and fair, And I love the fragrant odors They breathe upon the air; But the sweeter seemed the blossoma Beside the meadow run, The time that you were twenty, And I was twenty-one, How fondly I remember The time we culled them there, And 'neath the shady maples I wove them in your hair; How there in bliss we tarried Until the set of sun, The time that you were twenty, And I was twenty-one, It may have been the flowers, : Or a look benizn and free, That bade me whisper softly How dear you were to me; I never stopped to question, I only know ’twas done, The time that you were twenty And I was twenty-one. We've had our summer, darling, The fields of life ar: brown. We've traveled up the hillsida, ‘We're on our journey down; Yet oft I wake from dreaming Those days have just bezun, That you again are twenty And I am twenty-one, When life and love are over, And I am laid at rest, I hope some one will gather, And place upon my breast, Such fiowers as used to blossom Beside the meadow run, ) The time that you were twenty, And I was twenty-one. —Merchant Traveller. HUMOROUS. A sign of summer—Keep off the grass. ¢«You look so much like your brother,” said Dennis to Phelim, ¢‘that I could tell yez was brothers if I'd never seen aither av yez.” Officer to Court—The charge against this man is false pretences. He shouted he could do up the whole ward, but I guv him one meself and flured him. “‘However could you think of falling in love with such a homely fellow? His figure is something awful” ‘Yes, but he has a lovely one at the bank.’ A Florida shark swallowed an eight day clock that had accidentally been dropped into the water, and seven days later ran ashore to have it wound up. Fond mother; ‘Yol muss remember, Emeline, that fine feathers don’t make a fine bird.” Daughter: ¢True, mamma, but they do make awfully pretty hats.” It is not good to take tea in the middle of the day. The man who tried it in a Texas grocery store when he thought the clerk was not looking is au thority for this. An Irishman was planting .shade trees when a passing lady said, ¢‘You're dig ging out the holes, are you, Mr. Hag gerty?’ ¢No, mum, Oim digging out the dirt, an’ lavin’ the holes.” Mr. Kenwood—l hear you arc engaged to Mr. Tallboy? Miss South Park— Who told you? Mr. Kenwood—Tl have forgotten, but { understand the infor mation came from Jack himself. Miss South Park—l wish he'd tell me. Great Lawyer: I cannot manage a case unless I know all of the facts.. You must tell me truly whether you are guilty or not. Accused party (scornful ly): D'ye's’pose I'd be fool enough to hire a high-priced lawyer like you if I was innocent?”’ e ‘ A discussion arose between the con ductor and the driver in a Boston horse car,” It grew exciting, but at last the. conductor, turning to go to his end of the vehicle, said in a withering manner; “You have only personality; I have in dividuality.” s ' Customer—¢‘l see you are advertising full sets of teeth for SB.” ' Dentist (cautiously)— “Y-e-s, sir. Do you live at home?” ' Customer— ¢No, I board.”. Dentist (with dignity)—You certainly cannot expect an $8 set to be of any use in a boarding house, sir. My charge to you will be $25.” o Ly ¢Will you vote for my Dbill?” inquired the lobbyist of the legislator. ¢‘No, sir,” replied the latter; ‘‘your bill is a swindle.” “Why, man, you must have - the wrong bill in mind. I mean this fifty-dollar bill!” ~ ““Well, this "appears to be a good bill,” said the legislator, = after examining:it eritically. “I'll vote for it, olicourse.t’. i (G e meLE f’ That was Just the Troublo, = . “Whatisit, deart” acked his wife, S roing Sl @*‘%%w%fii‘%f L '@*{"gm" hing,” answersd the poet, mourn- UL R e FLGna e G R R
