Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-08-08
LOST ON THE WIDE psAIslk.

There Is something fearful in the very idea
Of being lost How it almost makes our
flesh creep to hear the preacher pronounce
the awful words, lost 1! lost LOST To make
the being lost more terrible, it is generally
supposed q season Of extreme happiness
precedes this awful state Of "lostness." A
happiness like that enjoyed by the rich old
sinner in his gaudy palace, Gring tumptu-
ously every day, and dressed in purple and
fine fax clothes; or the thoughtless, joyous
happiness Of youth. Taking this view Of
the subject, about the worst case of being
lost ever recorded occurred with three
young men of this city and their best girls
last Sunday night A D. Hufmaster. o.
B. Stocker and Oscar Smith. each of whom
owns a roadster that is supposed to trot
their mile in less than three minutes. On
the evening in question, when the cotton
wood trees were casting long shadows upon
the grass, these young men drove out east
of town. They drove fast The
ladies held their hats in their
hands to prevent the breeze caused by the
rapid flight blowing them or The young
mems summer coats stood on parallel line
straight out from their shoulders. Thus
they went on past waving fields Of corn and
fam houses where the good farmers wives
left their house work and ran to the front
door to see the cause of the commotion and
the farmers too concluded the cattle had
stampeded and cried out head EN- off, Thus
they went on gradually circling back to the
city as they supposed. But the darkness
of night spread over the earth and it was
IL o'clock when our heroes drove along q
narrow road graded up eight feet high on
either side of which long pool of water
was visible through the darkness Of the
night Huffmaster's horse stopped and re-
fused to move. The embankment prevented
the others going round. The boys all got
out and left the ladies TO hold the
horses and accommodated to the front, they
found bridge with about FIVE feet OF the
floor removed. While the boys thus coun-
seled, one of the young ladies overheard
enough to learn that they were lost and de-
manded to know how it was that
she was brought out to this terrible
place One said, "What will people say"
The third one said, "Did you ever! Why,
this will be in the papers" Then all three
cried out, "Oh, for pity sake.'' Then rose
I'D Oscar Smith and said, "Now ladies this
is all right, we are lost, but 1 am the fore
man of the Beacon Office, and nothing will
be said in that paper about this unfortunate
affair, and the EAGLE will never hear OF il"
Then Oscar thought to jump across the
opening in the bridge to find some boards
but some thoughtless farmer had stretched
q barbed wire over the place. 1t struck
Oscars shins and raked the bark all of from
his knee to ankle and sent him head fore
most over the bank. Stoker hearing his friend
fall bounded after him and landed on the
top of his head. An old farmer hearing the
rumpus came to the rescue and put the lost
ones on their way home where they:Arrived
in the early hours of the morning.
After few explanations to the old folks it
was concluded that it was all right, and
Oscars future mother-in-law told him to rub
some mustang Imminent on his sore shin.