The Shasta courier., 1867-02-09
SHASTA COURIER.

RARE EXHIBITION OF Coop MANNERS AND
ESDURAYcE-Ye Yesterday, about ii A. NJ, as
officer Close was beating along on his beat
through Market street. little man, in a
fearful state of agitation and a bad hat.
rushed close up to him. and frantically slut
tered out, p p-p-p-please, Nm m mistur,
there's two VI W wOb, wOb, women d down
th-th-thar !" Close looked in the direction
indicated, and asked what the matter was,
seeing nothing exciting going on. The little
man again burst out, ''Th th-ther there $
t-t-t.t two W wo wob. women" and then de.
spairing of making himself understood. sud
denly jerked out, Oh, hang it, come here -
and pulling the officer by the coat, hurried
him down to the end Of Third street, and
pointed to the crossing of Stevenson, where
there was crowd gathered. numbering some
hundreds of persons and not small number
of teams. Rushing down to the scene of
hostilitles. the officer with difficulty elbowed
his way into the crowd. and made his way to
the centre of the black mass Of humanity and
hcrsefesh At the intersection of Third and
Stevenson streets there are four parallel
crosswalks of stone, each about sixteen inches
In width, on each side. from sidewalk to
sidewalk, across Third street. On one Of
these small cross walks two females--a young
good looking and well-dressed one. and an
elderly, slightly obese, aud not attractive
one--had met exactly in the middle OF the
street, Either could have passed by simply
stepping to one side upon another crossing !;
but neIther would bulge an inch, and there
they had been standing for an hour. Tney
had exhausted every epthet in the vocabu-
larry suited to tongues polite, and failing to
accomplish their object by that means, now
stood grimiy silent, with folded arms. grin.
ming The defiance which they had no words
to htly express. Meantime the crowd had
gathered and were indulaing in all sorts of
amiable encOuragements to the cOntending
parties. = Go in, old gal I'll hold your
baaneti" yelled a knock kneed drayman,
with halo of glory around his right eye;
Stick to your pust, young un the old gal
will die of old age first ~ mildly suggested
a hackman with wcolly hat and broken
nose, and SO on to the end Of the chapter
I" have sent for you, officer, to move this
'ere thing out of the way" yelled the irate
elderly female, as Close shouldered his way
ap to her and she caught sight of his star.
And | have been waiting for you to come
and see that | am in the right. and make
that hideous old creature get out of my
road, " said the younger one. Close took a
hurried survey of the situation and soon
satisfied himself that the Younger female had
the strict letter of the statute on her side she
having complied with the formula, - Turn
to the right as the law directs, F" but the elder
sister had made up her mind to fight it out
on this line, if it took all summer, and there
she stood, immovable as IA statue. with her
arms folded. and nose in the air like Napo-
leon the First at St. Helana. He tried rea-
soning. - can see, Miss, that you are on
the right side, but remember that this is an
old lady, and think if it would not be better
to let her have her way, and step on the next
crossing; it is only eighteen inches to turn
out, anyhow he said, politely. Not an
inch would she bulge, and the elderly lady
would stand there until her corns sprouted
before she would be compelled to move
Well, if | can't do any other way. must
arrest you both for misdemeanor in blocking
ap the streets ~ said the officer emphatically
at last. . Well, you admit that am in the
right, at any rate, don't you." said the
young woman, politely. 80 yes, if that will
do any good, it is admitted ~ At this, she
gathered up her skirts. stepped quickly over
to the next strip of crasswalk, advanced Il
step, jumped back upon the first strip or
pathway again, and in less time than words
could tell it brought her shoulder acciden-
tally of course-In contact with that of her
elder antagonist. The shock Of the collision
was too much for the old lady. whose pins
had probably grown somewhat stiff and rigid
from long standing on the damp and cold
stone crossing, and missing stays, she was
lying broadsde in the mud, in an instant.
while her antagonist swept across under full
headway and sailed off down the street, amid
the cheers of the multitude The elderly
lady was helped to her feet, and scraped. to
relieve her ofthe mud, whereupon she spoke
a piece" of her mind, which we will not
repeat. Reader, this is no fancy sketch, but
a sober, unbiased statement of facts which
happened only yesterday at the locality
named-S. f. Alta, FEB. 8.