The Hickman courier., 1872-10-12
TIMMS, STRATEGY.
Or, the story of Rival California
Lovers.

AIapes was chivalrous by nature !;
he believed in seeking the bubble
reputation even in the cannon s
mouth His enthusiasm was aroused
by the stories of deeds of desperate
daring; while he had nothing
but contempt for even success won
by crooked and indirect means.
Timms, on the contrary, believed
there was policy in war, and that the
end justified the means, particularly
if the end was attained. Compan-
ions from infancy, their lives had
been spent in competition for scho
lastic and such other honors as the
locality afforded, without even a mo-
mentary break In their friendship.
But now, in early manhood, they
struggled for a prize of incalculable
value, with an ardor that threatened
a com plete rupture of friendly rela-
tions. The heart and hand of Eliza
Reed, the neighborhood belle, were
to be won and to these none others
might aspire, in the face of such
formidable competition as that of
Mapes and Timms. They alone
each by virtue of his own person
atty andzposition-had q right to
lay siege to the heart of that variable,
irritable, imperious beauty. and for
months the strife between them had
gone on. Each one had called into
play all his personal and social re-
sources for the local society had
taken such an interest that it was
divided into two factions, known as
the Mapesites and the Timmsites.
And yet Eliza could not be brought
to express a preference if she rode
with one to-day, she was careful to
walk abroad with the rival to-mor-
row.
Coquetry is delicious to a woma4;
and Eliza would not have been feIni-
nine had she been in haste to have
made an election. Nevertheless, she
did not intend to miss an opportu-
nity. She knew well the war could
not always last, and feared that
when one of the aspirants tor her
favor withdrew from the contest,
the love of the Otner, wanting the
stimulus of competition, would grow
cold hence, she hal made up her
mind, that, upon the first favorable
opportunity, she would signify to
Mapes that his suit, so often pressed,
was at last accepted. The opportu-
nifty, it seemed, was not long wanting;
for invitations were given out for
an apple-bee in the neighborhood,
and Eliza found means to convey an
intimatien to MaPes that she ex-
pected to meet him there, and
counted on his escort home at the
conclusion of the frolic.
The appointed evening looked for
with such nervous anticipation to
Mapes came at last. He felt that it
was the most important of his life,
and arrayed himself as only rustic
dandy can. His way lay across a
meadow, through which ran = or
rather loitered "a deep, bat narrow
stream, spanned by single log. 1t
was so dark when he reached this
primitive bridge that he was COM
PEELED to feel his way slowly across.
As he progressed it commenced to
swing hghtly-something very un-
usual-until he reeched the centre,
when, to his utter confusion, it gave
way, and he was launched into the
water. He scrambled out, then sud-
denly the night became luminous
with that lurid light to which people
refer when they say, In speaking OF
some profane wretch: "He swore
until all was blue" Whatever illu-
minating qualities this lurid light
possessed, it had no drying ones,
and Mapes was forced to bid adieu
for the night to all hopes of plight
ing his troth to the loved Eliza.
In the rural districts down east
in early times, the good people had
such habits of industry AMI rigid
economy that they seldom gave. OF
attended parties, unless such as
| were cloaked under the names oi
raisings, cuttings, huskings, OF
apple-bees !; thus, the apple-bee,
fraught with momentous conse-
auences to Mapes and Timms, was
but social party in disguise few
apples being pared, quartered, cored,
and strung in the evening for ap-
pearance sake.
As usual, Eliza Reed was the belle
of the occasion. Good looks, entire
self-possession, and a keen, satirical
wit always assured her that position ;
and this night she shown with un-
usual brilliancy, until, as the hours
wore away, and Mapes came not,
she began to lose herself in ponder
ing why, and at length she asked
Timms:
Is your friend Mapes aiIing? ?"
CT guess not" replied Timms
sssaw him to-day. He wasn't complain
ing"
He denies himself much pleas
ure," said Eliza, "in not coming
here tonight, for this is the place
where We always see good time