Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1878-01-26

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don't know how many-are scattered
all over the State-half dozen States
Can you guess now what want of You
Come, give try"
The conundrum was beyond my
power.
..Perhaps you want me TO preacl
your funeral,n | venrured, the rough
ness of the joke being adapted to that o.
the questioner.
"Not much. No, siri" he replied
abandoning my collar to seize upon my
hand. "You ain'tsmart enough, smart
as you think yourself, sir. Nary man
in this town is smart enough by a long
shot to guess what | want with you
What | want you to do is to marry me,
sir,' he said, with an energy increasing
with every sentence. "To marry me
tomorrow night, sir. To marry me at
her house, sir. To marry me, sir, to
Mrs. McGregor!'
The enthusiasm of my aged friend cul-
minated upon the last announcement, as
well ii might. Mrs. McGregor! was
almost boy myself in those days, had
just got through reading Sir Walter
Scott, and this last-named lady was to
me as if she had stepped out of one of
those volumes into real life. have not
the least idea of how old she then was :;
nor had any one else. She was white
haired, with a beautifully clean and
clear complexion, and was always dress
ed as for church whenever / had seen
her; at least, in some dark stuff, which
seemed new, with a sort of mob cap and
arrangement of muslin about her throat
and brows, snowy in hue and full of
frilling and plaits. But this was merely
the framing for the lady herself She
had such bright eye and quick tongue,
was so decided in her opinions upon all
subjects and had so crisp a way
of stating them, that she made
the same lasting impression upon my
memory that new and sharply cut
die does when it is stamped upon wax.
And there was an energetic enforcement
of herself upon you which you had no
wish to resist. Mrs. McGregor had
come from Scotland to that frontier
country there was no telling how long
before; she had been married there was
no saying how often; she was possessed
of nobody knew how much property,
besides the home she lived in by herself.
Owing to long separation from the
church of her childhood, she had, | fear,
become somewhat negligent as TO her
religious duties. A fact flashes upon HE
this moment which Ihad forgotten since
the day it occurred. Happening to at
tend the funeral of a friend, She had
been SO affected by the solemnities of
the occasion that she had united herself
TO my church, and the week after GER
tain lady, also an old settler, had asked
me: Did your voice tremble, sir, when
you read out her name from the pulpit?
People say it did" And then. with
mysterious meaning: 81 wouldn't
blame you."
But this makes it necessary that l
should make word of explanation be-
fore proceeding. A certain estimable
friend of mine, General Murdoch, had
introduced me, on my first coming to
the place, to almost every inhabitant in
turn. After almost every such intro
duction he was sure to remark, as soon
as we were out of hearing: "Now. that
is man who had history before CON-
ing here" As his only explanation was
Z" A history, l tell you, sir!" was left
in the dark as to details. He had GER
tainly had ms history before coming, as
| happened to know; but he was, like |
most of the people there, that much the
better worth knowing. During years
of acquaintance |, at least, came to like |
them, too, the longer they were known.
As rule, the past was let alone there.
True, when you were introduced to a
new conner, after asking "Where are |
you from, sir?" it was standing joke
TO add; And what was it you did there,
sir? In the case, however of Mrs Me-
iregor the reference was purely TO the
exercise of a certain vigor on the good
ady's part in days past, for which she
vas not more to be blamed than