Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-12-02

4@Ss 49, ~ WA~1N sANeAA NAAE A0G~
men a princely addition to the terri
tory of the United States. Eastward
again went no army with banners, no
dragons with lance and sabre, no
batteries with bright field-pieces and
heavy caissons. There went only one
man-a courier, who rode like the
wind, changing bis horses at frequent
intervals and lodging the Sioux and
the Osages as he covered league after
league of the long route. At last he
galloped, safe and sound, into West
port and, the river being high, was not
detained on the steamer. When he
arrived at st. Louis the news he
brought spread rapidly, and people
stopped to discuss it at street corners,
and the papers, under flaming head
lines. told how the gallant little Army
of the West, with so many Of the sons
of Missouri enrolled therein, had gone
calamity on to the border. Only in
two houses were there stricken hearts
and sore distress and weeping for him
who would never return, but lay
sleeping under the walls Of Bent's
Fort. A father appeared at his post
of duty with the haggard look OF one
who has grown suddenly older by
years; a mother sat speechless and
with streaming eyes at western win
dow. and pretty Ruth Chandreu, on
whose finger shone the diamond of an
engagement ring, forsook society, and
clad in the sombre garments of woe
gave herself wholly to works of charity
and mercy.
The years rolled on, and Time, with
healing touch, soothed the suffering
and comforted the mourning.
Nearly 40 years had passed; and
what wonderous change had they
wrought? Near the spot where the
rough frontiersmen used to pack the
great wagons and make up the trains
for the route to Santa Fe stood the
large, prosperous. busy, growing me-
tropolis Of Western Missouri, Kansas
City. From it's commodious Union
Depot went trains of a far different
character from those of old times. To
them were attached not patient oxen,
nor refractory mules, but great engines;
and on them were not the white cam
vas-topped "ships of the plains" but
long cars, bright as to color and lux
urious as to interior. Hour after hour
forth went these trains, bound, on
schedule time, over what had not long
ago been a wild and Indian haunted
stretch Of land, the snowy range and
the Spanish peaks to the Wahsatch,
the Sangre de Cristo and Sierra Ne
vada to Denver, San Francisco, Paso
del Norte and the City OF the Monte
zumas.
1t was q beautiful July morning,
and there was tremendous hustle at
the station, but above all the roar and
rattle, the noise of the shouting, the
babel Of tongues, one heard plainly
the cry:
"Thunderbolt express for Pueblo
and Denver; through without change.
All aboard And then, with quick
putis of white steam and Changing of
DELL and gathering speed, the locomo-
motive drew the long train out of the
yard and whirled it away upon the
prairie The engineer, with hand on
throttle and quick eye ahead, settled
himself sidewIse on his bench the
express messenger, girded with car
fridge belt, began checking his way
bill, and the Pullman porter, with
practiced eye, took account of the pas
sengsrs in the new sleeping car Wa
hatoya." "Golly :" said he, under his
breath, IF dere amt ole Uncle Dick
Ruxton goin' out sgin. I'll strike
him for quarter to morrow mornin
an no mistake. An, sakes alive I,
amt dat pooty little girl in de op-
posite section She amt one OF dem
consumplive kind dat goes out to lie
springs. Reckon she and her mas
goin for cooler summer III de noun.
tains.'
Pretty, indeed, WAS Daisy Robinot
as she sat in her light travelling dress
by her white haired mother. Her
own glossy hair was as brown as the
water IN the mountain streams, and
the big eyes under their long lashes
shone as bright as the glow-worm in
the prairie twilight. Uncle Dick
Ruxton stopped to speak to the pair
before he went to the smoking com.
psrtmeut to enjoy a cigar with frienJ:
: to whom he discoursed as was his
wont.
"Of course, she's pretty" said he.
Il don't know no likeler lookin' gal
this side OF the mountains, but I'll Just
tell you one thing, an tibet is tibet she
can't hold candle to what her mother
was when | iust knowed her. Blame
me, ef she didn't lest lay over the
whole crowd in st. Louis when | was
a youngster an used to trap for her
father, old Flandreau. Lots of the
boys were mashed on her, but she
didn t care for no one but a Young
Teller named Hamln. When the call