The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-11-06
He Was Afraid.

He Was Afraid.
An English army officer was asked by
q reporter for the New York Tribune il
he ever had felt afraid in battle. Many
times" answered the officer. But there
are different kinds of fear. have served
in India, in Egypt, and in western Africa,
but the worst fright was ever in was
when | knew there was no enemy within
thousands of miles"
l was captain at the time and W as
stationed at Port Royal, Jamaica, with a
lot of raw recruits ON my hands. They
were being drilled in riff, practice at
long range, and it was almost inposs ble
t. make them obey orders with anything
like precision. In fact, l could never lie
sure but they would fire when anted
them to present. or to present when
wanted them to fire.
One day | sat Oh my horse at the right
Of the squad giving my orders. Things
W, re going pretty well. l cried, Ready" "
and the work Was as pretty rs if the men
had been veterans. Pre- ,ent.' said |,
perfect form.
was about to say, FIRE." when just
OIL the instant my horse bolted and cut
directly across the range, within twenty
feet of the squad. NV eye caught the
slittering rifle, levelled right at me, and
instinctively l shut my eyes and ducked
my lead
If you know what British soldiers are,
you can imagine my feelings. AS l said
before, l never WAS i'll such a fright.
knew that if o ,ened my mouth these
recruits would riddle my body, for they
were expecting the word "Fire!" and
would take any sound whatever for that.
My desire to cry out "As you wei e! "
to get the rifles off my body, was so reat
that | had to clench my teeth in order to
remain silent.
All this lasted but few seconds, of
course, but the seconds to me were long
minutes. When my pIunging horse had
carried lue past the line of motionless
rifles, managed to wheel him. AS he
came round cried "Fire!" and off went
the guns as if by clockwork.
1t was palmer than ever to me that if
l had opened my mouth a second or tw Q
sooner | should have been dead man.
A Victory Won Too Late.
A Detroit wholesale house sent an
agent into one of the northern counties
the other day to investigate and report
on the failure of dry goods man whose
assets were below zero. The bankrupt
was perfectly willing to explain how il
all happened.
you see," he said, I got married
about two years ago. Up to that time
the postmaster and his wife had been al
the head of society here and run the
ranch. He had the only swallow tailed
coat, and she the only silk dress in the
town"
II see."
1--WE had to make lead for the head
and bought my wife s12 bonnet and
a diamond ring.
"Yes."
"The postmaster bought his wife {
bronco pony and a pair of diamond eal
rings.
"Yes.
"Then l subscribed $500 to new
church, gave two lawn parties, ant
bought top carriage and PAGER.
"Yes.
"He came up smiling with new bricl
house, a progressive euchre party, an(
gave $3.50 to the heather of Africa.
Il see"
well, had gone in to smash him o.
lose lung, and so pledged myself fol
the preachers salary for a year. lost $40t
on deal i'll wheat, kept two hired girls
bought three Persian rugs. backed 1
barber shop, took half interest in ou
| home newspaper. and presented every
/ church in town with new bell.
/ That must have laid him?"
at did. He threw up his hands ant
surrendered. But when you fellows il
| Detroit drew on me at three days sigh
was dished. I'm sorry it happened
| but you can't blame me. If that post
master hadn't made a fool of himself II
have been able to pay $50 cents on tn
| dollar. -[Detroit Free Press
He Would Not he Biuffsd
@You would love me just as much
would you not, George, if ] wasn't 6
rich mans daughter?'
Sure, said George.
"WelI. amt.
/ "No?"
Father has failed" said the beauti
full girl. as she watched George closely
"He has failed, and has placed all hi
property in mothers name, and now
am rich woman's daughter.
Il call all such bluffs as that" solilo
quized George an hour later as h
walked home bathed in the gloriou
light of the full moon. [Chicago Herald
One Bright Example.
Don't talk to ME about the indie
pendencs of the press!" roared tn
shaggy haired socialist lecturer. "Wher
! is the newspaper that dares to have q,
fopinion? Show ME one public journa
in all America, he thundered, ~that
not controlled by its counting room!"
ANY body in the audience got cop,
of the Congressional Recordf" inquiret
a gentleman in the back seat, anxiou
to oblige the speaker.-[Chicago Tribune
An Eye to Business
Photographer Ito young lady)-Ther
Is no need of telling you to look pleasant
miss. Such face can not be otherwis
than pleasant.
Young Lady (graciouslyeIw will tax
two dozen, sir, instead of one dozen. -
Boston Courier.