The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1888-05-17
RED AND WHIT.
BY L. \. CUSTEl..

elbows Northwestern this morning,
Uncle Zeke" asked Dick Spriggs
across the restaurant table.
"SIumped off six points, blame ity'
scowling viciously over his paper at the
Seak brought by the waiter.
Ezekiel Spriggs laid down his paper,
and picking up his fork, stuck it into
the meat. As he withdrew it and saw
the rich, red juice ooze out, his face
frightened. Spriggs was somewhat of
an epicure.
"six points pretty big drop" said
Dick, possessing himself of the paper
and alternating between it and his
breakfast; chow dye come out2'
But Spriggs was busily engaged il
tearing off huge pieces of steak and
chewing them with much the same ex-
preston that a chicken exhibits when
taking drink of water. Business was
business, but breakfast was breakfast
just then, aud while Dick chattered and
sead extracts, Sprigg5 turned his eyes
to the ceiling at every bite and gave
himself up to soulful enjoyment of what
was before him. Dick skinned lightly
over the news, took 2 cursory glance at
the editorials and paused at the lower
corner of the page, then he read aloud:
Possibly the reason why, when q red
headed girl appears on the street, a white
horse soon makes its appearance, will have to
be sought for in history, Away back in the
early Greek and Egyptian days, rei-hairei
girls were justly prized above all"
"Whadz that1" interrupted Spriggs.
SPriggs was bachelor and though rich
was not especially addicted to the fair
sex
Dick leaned thoughtfully back in his
chair, "Its dOdgasted funny thing,
Uncle ZeEle, but It's a fact, never iknew
it to fail; straight as a string, too"
"Well, what is it,"
"Why, don't You see, the saying is
that where ever you see a red headed
girl there is always white horse in
sight, believe it now-didn't at first.
Why only last Sunday night I went to
church with Miss Au5ti1-you ought to
see her, Uncle Z.ke-~-~--" Dick paused
with a piece of steak halfway to his
mouth and gaze yearnin yly at the
blank wall. 'WcIl, as I was saying,
went to church; coming out I saw di-
rectly in front of us a girl with hair
Just about as red as you f1d it. Ooe
Of the rules of the g M is that You
must always 60 somewhere tn t i, ac-
cessible to the horse after seeing the red
hair, so | mad3 an excuse about a short
cut and dragged Mabel out the side
door. | thought | had the white horse
sequence dead this time, but Just as we
came out the door, sure enough the in
evltab!e white horse came trotting rou ID
the cOrIer There wasn't another four
legged animal il sirht AMI | didn't see
any the whole way home. I've tried it
every chance a1d never knew it to fail.
Spriggs gruuted an inaudiblo response
and rose from the table By noon he
had forgotten all about it but the si-ht
of red-haircd girl brought the sub ject
to his mind. In spite of its evident alb
surdity there was something odd aad
uncanny about the notion and Spriggs
almost unconsciously began to scan
the passcIs-by Turning the corner he
came plump a ,ainst another maid with
fiery hair and sure enough there, hitched
to post, was rathor scrawny but an
unmistakable white horse. This was
the beginning of his dc yn all for there
and then he determined to see exactly
what was in the saying. Now Spriggs
was nothing if not methodical. A long
life of single blessedness and business
training had made him 50, and he en-
tered into the investigation in somewhat
she sam manner as he would some great
business question.
The major part of the next day was
spent in keeping tally of the horses that
passed his office window; and the fol-
lowing day in an extended hunt of red
headed girls without regard to their So
called Accomplishments. The result
was that while one horse in every fifteen
was white, only one female in thirty -one
had red hair. A series of afternoon sit
tings at his club window brought out
the remarkable fact that for every seven
women that passed, two horses were in
sight. This was to be the basis of the
test. Spriggs reason ed that the chanc
against the sequence were about two to
oael foF seeoEdiag to his ehssFya!lQas,