The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1872-05-24

SesA - sCA cs - uo unlOHlOQAIA Col
st'tutlon OF the family was the dire.
cause of its unwonted thrift. An
white woman in such a place is an eI
ncen1ent not to be resisted by the ave
age plainsman, and "Sims' GALS wer
celebrities over an extent of country 9
large as the State of New York.
| But as time passed and the sma
herds increased, the females became oil
Iects OF still profounder interest. The
were spoken of as heiresses. Neyertht
less, at the pinch no amount of none
could have married, either of the tw
eldest daughters. They were tall, saupt
and coarse. They were as ignorant a
Eve, and had performed the duties o
masculinity SO long that either of then
was near match for CHINA
mon bear. Not so with tn
youngest. The most courtly and pol
ished danes in the land have seldom
displayed as much in the way of per
sonal endowments as this one ros,
| among the thistles. Fair-skinned ant
blue-eyed, strong and graceful, petteC
from infancy and nurtured in compare
tive ease, healthful in sentiment as in
body, she was special attraction, anG
came seldom in contact with the rough
characters who frequented her fathers
house. And she had the mind of the
family. Her opinions were the law OF
the house, and she occupied her auto.
cratic position without embarrassment
and ruled without check. Old Sims
was her man-servant, and her mother
was only privileged associate and ad-
viser. AS for her huge sisters, they
continually rebelled and always OBJ az ed.
There is a mysterious law of primoeeni.
ture by which children sometimes en-
body the characteristics of distant an.
cestors, and discarding the nearer family
traits and circumstances, reproduce the
vices, virtues, and countenances which
have been moldering for a century.
There must have been some rare blood
in the Sims family, for this last scion of
a racewbich had been subjected TO an
the influences of the frontier-hardship
and toll in the Alleghenies; ague and
laziness in the Missouri bottoms, and
poverty always-was totally unlike her
familyand hersurroundin9. Thesprawl-
ing feet, gaint limbs, great brown hands,
coarse complexions and carroty hair of
her sisters and her mother were things
they had apart. Nobodp knew or ever
asked how Chuck had learned to read,
or became possessed of certain we'll
thumbed books and stray newspapers.
No one ever inquired into the mystery
Of how her garments came to fit her
round figure with a neatness which was
= miracle to the uninitiated, or why the
yellow coils lay so gracefully upon her
,hapely head. Finally, the pervading
Iorce which directed all things in and
around the ranch came to be almost un-
Questioned. A beauty with will is a
power; o beauty with brains and will
Is the most complete of despots.
The Sims family had been five years
in this locality, and mainly through the
ability of the youngest child, now a ma
lure woman, aided by the circumstance
Of fortunate location, had acquired cat
lie, money and responsibility. The
money and respectabiiity were easily
cared for, because Chuck carried them
both upon her person; but the herd
which was gathered nightly into the
corral was the lure of finnl destruction.
The charmed circle Of safety which was
lrawn around the military post was an
indefinite and uncertain one, and the !
ncursions of Apsches are governed by
no conventionality: After long delay
inal swoop which took al. : e'"'n '"H
Old Sims and Chuck started to go to
he post. The presence of the latter
was necessary to keep the former from
getting drunk and falling into the hands
Of military minions, TO be incarcerated
IN the guard. house. In the perfect
and serenity of the early
it seemed impossible that dan
ger and death could lie in wait SO near.
As the old man dug his heels into the
flank of his mule and Chuck looked
back from her seat upon
a pony only less willful than his rider,
the two little dreamed that it was the
last time they were to see = Sims's
Ranch" As they threaded their way
along the intricacies of the trail, Chuck
of course in the lead the old man la
bored diligently TO bring out the capac-
tiles of his mule wherever the path was
wide enough to permit his riding beside
his daughter. In truth he had some
thing to pay to her concerning those
matters in which girls are always inter-
ested and about which they are always
TO talk. A confidential con.
yersation with his daughter was one of
Sims's ungratified ambitions-a thing
which in late years he had often failed
i'm accomplishing. She cared for him,
was kind and loving, but seemed 10 have
no ideas in common with him; and do
what he would he could not keep pace
with her, When two persons are thus
together, there is frequently an uncon-
scious idea Of the thoughts of one in
the mind OF the other, and the girl kept
steadily ahead Butthc object was one
which weighed upon the old mans
mind; and despairing of nearer ap-
proach, he presently called out from be-
hind:
"Chuck |"
,nWeil, what is it?' came from the
depths of the sun-bonnet in front.
IL want9er know now. honest, what
yer going to do with them two fellers
which AR one or rother of 'em allus
! 'reund our hosMpi lookin' fur You. ;'it
looks as though Sairey, bein' the Oldest,
shud Ihev some kind of a chance
and she did afore- you growed up
but recon, now, there's no use thinkin
NV that GIL you're gone. Now, as atween
these fellefs, I'd like to know'--and
plaintivcly-" pears to me like I've a
rigat 10 sinow (which, nv 'em you're
going TO take. j cuden't be long a
cnoosin' ef twas me. Wy, Tom Harris
IS big an hansum, and rides jest forty
miles every week to git sight Nv 70. !
KIN toll from that feller's looks that he'd
swim the Arkansawe and fight anything
fur ye.n ras'snssfai 7.aia 80 -