Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-10-28

have In my possession some wax fowers-a
Startling fuchsia and q bewilderinS dahIa--
sold for mere pittance by this little lady.
whose pictures lately took the prize at a
foreign exhibition, shortly after she had been
half starved by O California public, and
claimed by California press as its fostered
child of genius
OF these struggles and triumphs Thatcher
had no knowledge; yet he was perhaps more
startled than he would own to himself when,
one December day, he received this dispatch:
Come TO Washington at once-Carmen
De Haro"
Carmen De Haro!" grieve to state that
such was the preoccupation of this man,
elected by fate to be the hero Of the solitary
amatory episode of this story, that for a
moment he could not recall her. When the
honest little figure that had so manfully stood
up against him, and had proved her sex by
afterwards running away from him, came
back at last to his memory, he was at first
mystified and then self reproachfuL He had
been, he felt vaguely, untrue to himself. He
had been remiss to the self-confessed daughter
of his enemy. Yet why should she telegraph
to him, and what was she doing in Washing
tona To all these speculations it is to be said
to his credit that he looked for no sentimental
or romantic answer Royal Thatcher was
naturally modest and self-depreciating in his
relations to the other sex, as indeed most men
who are apt to be successful with women
generally are, despite vast degree of super
animated bosh to the contrary. To the half
dozen women who are startled by sheer au-
dacity into submission there are scores who
are piqued by self-respectful patience; and
where woman has to do half the wooing,
she generally makes pretty sure thing of it.
In his bewilderment Thatcher had over
looked letter lying his table. 1t was
from his Washington lawyer. The conclud-
ing paragraph caught his eye-sPerhaps it
would be well If you came here yourself.
Roscommon is here; and they say there is
niece of Garcia's, lately appeared, who is
likely to get up a strong social sympathy for
the old Mexican. / don't know that they expect
to prove anything by her; but I'm told she Is
attractive and clever, and has enlisted the
sympathies of the delegation" Thatcher laid
the letter down a little Indignantly. Strong
men are quite as liable as weak women are
to sudden Inconsistencies on any question they
may have in common. What right had this
poor little bud he had cherished-hew was quite
satisfied now that he had cherished her, and
really had suffered from her absence-what
right had she to suddenly blossom in the sun
shine of power to be, perhaps, plucked and
worn by one of his enemies. He did otagree
with his lawyer that she was in any way con-
nected with his enemies; he trusted to her
masculine loyalty that far But here was
something vaguely dangerous to the feminine
mind-position, fattery, power. He was al
most as firmly satisfied now that he had been
wronged and neglected as he had been posi-
tive q few moments before that he had been
remiss in his attention The irritation, al
though momentary, was enough to decide this
strong man. He telegraphed to San Fran
cisco; and, having missed the steamer, Sc
cured an overland passage to Washington;
thought better of it, and partly changed his
mind an hour after the ticket was purchased;
but, manlike, once having made practical
step in wrong direction, he kept on rather
than admit an inconsistency to himself. Yet
he was not entirely satisfied that his journey
was business one. The impulsive, weak lit
tie Mistress Carmen had prudently scored
one against the strong man.
Only small part of the present great
transcontinental railway at this time had
been built, and was but piers at either end OF
desolate and wild expanse as yet unbrldged
When the overland traveller left the rail at
Reno. he left, as it were, civilization with it;
and. until he reached the Nebraska frontier,
the resi- of his road was only the old emigrant
trail Travelled by coaches of the Overland
company Excepting part OF "Devlls Can
yon,n the way was unpicturesque and Hat;
and the passage of the Rocky mountains, far
from suggesting the alleged poetry of that
region was only reminder of those sterile
distances of a level New England landscape.
The journey was dreary monotony that
was scarcely enlivened by its discomforts,
never amounting to actual accident or Incl
dent, but utterly destructive to all nervous
tissue Insanity often supervened. "On the
third day out" said Hank Monk, driver,
speaking casually but charitably of fare
son the third day out, after axing no end
of questions and getting no answers, he took
to chewing straws that he picked outer
the cushion, and kussin' to hisself From
that very day / knew it was all over with
him. and handed him over to his friends at
Shy Ann,' strapped to the back seat, and
rayin, and cussin at Ben Holiday, the gen
tlemanly proprietor" 1t is presumed that
the unfortunate tourists indignation was ex-
cited at the late Mr.. Benjamin Holiday, then
the proprietor of the line-an evidence of his
insanity that no one who knew that large
hearted, fastidious and elegantly cultured
Californian, since allied to foreign nobility,
will for moment doubt.
Mr.. Royal Thatcher was too old and expe-
rienced a mountaineer to do aught but accept
patiently and cynically his brother Califor-
mans method Of increasing his profits. As it
was generally understood that any one who
came from California by that route had some
dark design, the victim received little SYM
pathy. Thatchers equable temperament and
indomitable will stood him in good stead, and
helped him cheerfully in this emergency. He
ate his scant meals and otherwise took care of
the functions of his weak human nature, when
and where he could, without grumbling, and
at times earned even the praise of his driver
by his ability to trough it." Which trough
ing it." by the way meant the ability of the
passengers to accept the incompetency of the
company 1t is true there were times when he
regretted that he had not taken the steamer;
but then he reflected that he was one of a
vigilance committee sworn to hang that adj
mirable man, the late Commodore Cornelius
Vanderbilt, for certain practices and cruelties
done upon the bodies of certain Storage pas
sengers by his line, and for divers Irregular
ties in their transportation mention this
fact merely to show how so practical and
stout a voyager as Thatcher might have con-
| founded the perplexities attending the admin
istration of great steamship company with
selfish greed and brutality; and that he, With
other Californians. may not have known the
fact, since recorded by the commodore's fam
lily clergyman, that the great millionaire was
always true to the hymns of his childhood.
| Nevertheless, Thatcher found time to be
cheerful and helpful to his follow passengers,
and even to be SO far interesting to "Yuba
Bip," the driver, as to have the box seat placed
at his disposal. "But," said Thatcher in some
concern, "the box seat was purchased by that
other gentleman in Sacramento. He paid ex-
ira for it, and his names on your way bill"
THAT" said Yuba Bill, scornfully, "don't