Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-08-02
TWO QUEER SERVANTS.

trail Raosln.
"You talk of having trouble with
yeur servants, Courtenay. my boy.
said Captain Lansdowne. Of the British
Dragon Guards. as he sat at the
! double window of his hotel in Moscow.
watching the red winter sunset fade
behind the great white battlements and
! greenfield towers encircling the
"GorOdskays Tchast" (city quarter).
"Well. just you como and live in Rus
| STA for year or two. and then you'll
think all Western servants absolute
perfection
THAT'S so." assented MIR. Hiram
Boyler. with dry smile upon his keen
American face. i've engineered three
railroads between this and the Volga,
and l ought to know what sort of crit
tiers the Russians are"
"But really. now, you know" ex-
postulated COurtenay-whO. as a new
arrival. was being put through course
of Russian manners and customs by
his two friends some Of these stories
that they tell about servants can't pos
sibly be true. For instance, fancy any
body expecting one to believe that an
officers servant could bring his master
two odd boots, and say: Faith. l
don't know what's got into thin boots
to-day. There's another pair down.
stairs il that very same scrape. shure!
well, I'm sorry to contradict you.
old fellow. said the Captain, laughing.
''but it happens that saso that done
myself. and the officer was the senior
Major of our regiment"
land if you want parallel case. "
chimed in Mr.. BOyler. Il guess We
can accommodate you right away"
So saying. he stepped to the door.
and shouted into the passage: ''Vanya!
(Johnny).
Sei-tchass' Directly answered a
hoarse voice. and in came short.
square, lOw-browed fellow with red
calico shirt outside all his other clothes.
and face whose profound and placid
stupidity was worthy of Tartar idol.
bring two logs for the stove" said
the American; land mind that one
must be longer than the other"
Away plOdded honest Ivan like q
plow-hOrse. and returned presently
with two split logs of unequal length.
"Durak!' (fooD. cried Mr.. Boyler.
with admirably feigned anger. II
told you to have one piece longer than
the other, and instead of that you've
got one piece shorter than the other!''
Ivan hung his big head in confusion.
$50 l have, sure enough. It's all my
fault. BARN" (master); "but I'll go
and change it this moment"
"Well, cried Courtenay, as Ivan
disappeared, "if there's another such
fool as that in Russia. I'd like to SEQ
him, that's air.
$50 you shall. in less than half a
minute" said Captain LandsdOwne.
going to the door in his turn.
"Meesha." (Mike).
A hasty step was heard outside. and
tall. scraggy fellow entered. whose
gaunt face had none of the stOlid self
satisfaction which marked the heavy
features of Ivan. On the contrary. he
wore a restless and troubled look, as
if he were dimly conscious that he was
fool. and was always trying to find
out how and why.
"Were you pleased to call, Yury
Petrovitch?" George, son of Peter).
asked he.
Eyes; want you to do job for me.
You know FASHIONS store just across
the street? Well, here are twenty
kopeck pieces" (silver coins worth
about a dime). "Go and bring me
twenty kopecks' worth of white bread
and twenty kopecks' worth of cheese"
OFF went Michael on his errand. and
Mr.. Courtenay-whOco could not imagine
how any one could manage to bungle
such plain COMMISSIONERS greatly
puzzled when quarter of an hour
went by without any sign of his return.
"Something must have happened to
him. surely" said he at last.
II haven't the slightest doubt of
Ats oAo"C Su tuC OoPIdIHs Will d sly
smile, land l can pretty we'll guess
what that something is. Clap on your
coat and hat, and come along. Pash-
koff' isn't far of. and I'll be bound we
shall find Master Michael at the door
of the shop"
There they foun4 him, sure enough,
with such an expression as might be
worn by man who had just upset
plate of soup over his wife's new dress.
He was scratching his head perplexed-
ly with one hand while he held out two
silver coins in the other.
"Oh. BARN. BARN." cried he. on see
ing them. lit was written for me at
my birth that l should be unlucky. ana
there's no escaping it."
why, what's wrong?" asked the
Captain. with side glance at Courte
nays astonished face.
1--we mired the two COINS" an
swored Michael in hoarf-hrnkor fonos