The Portland daily press., 1881-01-08
Western Romance.
An Unequal Step by One of Bret Harte's
Followers.
Louisville Courier-Journal.

Louisville Courier-Journal.
Long during the early years of the war
before the bloody railroads burst our business
all to pieces, drove ON the river line which
connects the lower river towns with St. Paul.
At this time Hastings was the finest town be-
low st. Paul. It's rich slow town now. a
kind of one-hoss st. Louis, full of rich no
bodies, church sociabIes, lunk-heads and scan
dal.
Well, there was a family lived there, sort
of high-fyin' family named Rallison who had
got bust up in Washington, and moved out
there-some money, lots of style, never did
nuthin' like nobody else and while they had
their own sweet way which was jolly, easy
way, kinder got themselves disliked by the
busybodies. They had several daughters, and
one named Gertie Everybody called her Cert,
for short,) that was real stopper, got herself
up like four-time winner. OF course the
more she got herself up the Hastings folks got
her down. She was fur the world like my
off-mare outen the barn-spunky. Draw it
easy and mild like, and there amt better
mare livin'. Yell and yank little and she's
dodrotted sinful eternity. Well, Cert Ralli-
son growed up in that naggin' crowd down
there, and kicked the traces. Everybody
whispered, and nudged, and winked, and
prophesied, and tried to make her out bad,
whether she was or not. She despsed all that,
and did act, mebby, jist leetle off sometimes,
but she had heart blgger'n John Kray's
belly, and got around among the mourners
doin' more genuine good than all the psalm
singin sisters in Hastings.
This didn't help her character any, and they
did give Cert pretty hard racket, right along,
till one day quiet sober-thinkin' kind of
fellow civil engineer or something, come
along and married her.
Everything went lovely for while but the
bloody old gossips couldn't stand it to see the
girl happy, pisoned her husband about her,
and in Jealous fit he listed one of the very
first, in the old Minnesota first, went to the
war without sayin' goodbye, never writ a
word to her, and the girl all broken-hearted
like, jist had no comfort trying to be decent
among them bloody gossips, and did really 60
to the bad. What settled it with everybody,
little kid was born, and the old wimmen
showed that it couldn't oh, no, never, be by
her rightful husband.
So Cert Rallison was sort of half tolerated,
half on the town, and the miserablest woman
that ever lived. What made it all Grazing to
her was little Willie, as everybody called the
kid, was, SO they said. just red hot handsome,
perfect picture, and they'll talk about the
beauty of that boy to this day down at Hast
ings. Ye see everybody gathered their skirts
when Cert came along the street, but all the
old women'd steal Willie off and hold prayer
meetings. over him, and give the kid all sorts
of rackets, such as poor boy, and such a
mother! Poor boy, poor Willie, We haven't
got any father, have YEP 'Alack, alack, poor
Willie! Such mother; no fatherp
Well, do you know that the little fellow
grew up the pet of the whole place, and got in
the habit of prattling, When [ dts big I'll
fin my papa! Everybody thought that sma art
of course, and encouraged the little cuss in the
idea, until he scarcely thought of anything
else. while it nearly drove Cert wild, and
seemed to send her to the bad worse than
ever learned all this afterward.
In the fall of '65, jest as winter was threat
enin' was on the run from Red Wing up to
Hastings. There wasn't any snow yet, but it
had come down the night before. Down at
Red Wing, at the hotel I had met a military
lookin' sort of chap, splendid gentleman,
but nervous as thunder. He edged up to me
pretty easy, set 'em up lively, and kept asking
about the Hastings folks, but 1 didn't know
many, and he left on st. Paul ticket stage
ahead.
Well, was drivin' along at a pretty good
jog, considerin the roads was almighty ugly,
whistlin' and sometimes runnin' aside the
horses to keep warm, when saw something
kinder flutterin' in the rail fence. 1 stopped
the horses and kinder poked in among the
leav es and sand drift, and what do you sup
pose found? Ifound little kid, boy about
four years old, with curls all over his face and
shoulders, smiling, if you ever saw a child
smiling in your lives, claspin' his hands to-
gether jist as kids do when they find somethin'
which makes 'em mighty happy, but froze as
stiff as that iron poker, s'elp me God.
Well, boys, I jst did the best [ could, and
wrapped the poor lump up in the blankets,
slowed it away with the mail-bags and started
for Hastings lively. About four miles this
side-I hadn't derned passenger but the little
frozen traveler-who should catch up wit h
but the military lookin' man, who said he'd
been footin' it from Etter, and he guessed he'd
ride. Some way I forgot to mention things to
him, and in a few minutes we dashed up to
the old Fremont house at Hastings.
middle of the crowd was Cert Rallison, fling
know he's got him! Got him?' somebody
says, he's got your husbandP I couldn't un.
derstand things then. But after takin' out the
mails-yOu know tho governments biz is the
first biz alwaysI got hold of the little pack
age, and holdin' it up, said pretty solemn:
Does anybody know this infant?'"
"Well, boys, / feel like ticker. If any of
youfellers can get over that story. and it's true,
you get over me; and if any of you want to
linger around such meeting as there was be-
tween tnat husband, that mother and that
dead Willie Rallison, who had started out to.
ward the somewhere to find father, you re
made up queer, and that's all I've got to say
here's 'ho!' -