Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-08-07

N~01I1[fYxTN on Them 100 SeNerly.
lA3Nl38Xt5H31 The safest plan is
MIlES3H<yE& never to tread on a
worm mot even to the last new sub
altern fl ON home, with his buttons
hardly out of tissue paper, and the
red of sappy English beef in his cheeks.
This is the story of the worm that
turned. For the sake of brevity we
will call Henry Augustus Ramsay Faiz-
anne "The Worm" although he was
an exceedingly pretty boy, without
hair on his face and with waist like
a girls, when he came out to the Sc
cond "Shikarris" and was made I'M
| unhappy in several ways. The "Shi-
harris are q high-caste regiment, and
you must be able to do things we'll
play a banjo, or ride more than little,
or sing, or act-to get on with them.
The Worm did nothing except fall
off his pony and knock chips out of
the gate posts with his trap. Even
that became monotonous after time.
He objected to whist, cut the cloth at
billiards, sang out of tune, kept very
much to himself, and wrote to his
mamma and sisters at home. Four
of these five things were vices which
the "Shikarris" objected to and set
themselves to eradicate. Every one
| knows how subalterns are by brother
subalterns softened and not permitted
to be ferocious. 1t is good and whole
some and does no one any harm I'M
less tempers are lost, and then there
is trouble. There was q man once
but that is another story.
| Tho och l. n rriup vbily ,.ra1 Tho
Worm very much and he bore every
thing without winking. He was so
good and so anxious to learn, and
flushed so pink, that his education
was cut short, and he was left to his
own devices by every one except the
senior subaltern, who continued to
make life a burden to The Worm.
The senior subaltern meant no harm,
but his chaff was coarse, and he didn t
quite understand where to stop. He
had been waiting too long for his COM
pany, and that always sours a man.
Also, he was in love, which made him
! worse.
One day, after he had borrowed
The Worms trap for q lady who
never existed, had used it himself
all the afternoon, had sent note
to The Worm, purporting to
come from the lady, and was telling
the mess all about it. The Worm
rose in his place and said, in his quite,
lady-like voice: "That was q very
pretty sell; but I'll lay you q month 5
pay when you get your step that
work a sell on you that you'll remem-
Der for the rest of your days, and the
regiment after you when you're dead
or broke" The Worm wasn't angry
in the least, and the rest of the mess
shouted. Then the senior subaltern
looked at The Worm from the boots
upward and down again, and said,
"Done, Baby" The Worm took the
rest of the mess to witness that the
bet had been taken, and retired into
book with q sweet smile.
Two months passed and the senior
subaltern still educated The Worm,
who began to move about little
more as the hot weather came on.
have said that the senior subaltern
was in love. The curious thing is,
that girl was in love with the senior
subaltern. Though the colonel said
awful things, and the majors snorted
and married captains looked unutter.
able wisdom, and the juniors scoffed
t those two were engaged.
The senior subaltern was so pleased
: with getting his company and his
acceptance at the same time that he
forgot to bother The Worm. The CIR
was pretty girl and had money Of
her own. She does not come into this
story at all.
J, One night at the beginning of the hot
u weather all the mess except The Worm
who had gone to his own room tC
write home letters, were sitting on tn,
platform outside the mess house
The band had finished playing but ne
one wanted togo in. And the captains
wives were there also. The folly
of man in love is unlimited. tn,
senior subaltern had been holdin,
forth on the merits of the girl he was
engaged to and the ladies wer,
purring approval, while the mel
yawned when there was a rustic O
skirts in the dark and a tired, fain
4 voice lifted itself:
= where's my husband?"
i / do not wish in the least to rehec
on the morality of the "Shikarris,
but it is on record that four mel
jumped up as if they had been shot
HTeo Ol u1elI1 were IndTTleu I1len
Perhaps they were afraid that thei
wives had come from home unbe
knownst. Thefourth said that he hat
acted on the impulse of the moment
He explained this afterward.
The voice cried "Oh. lionel" Lione
!. was the senior subaltern's name. !
woman came into the little circle O
light by the candles on the peg tables
stretching out her hands to the darl
where the senior subaltern was, an,
sobbing. We rose to our feet feelin
that things were going to happen. ant
ready to believe the worst. In TIN
bad, small world of ours one know
so little of the life of the next man
which after all is entirely his own con
Germ, that one is not surprised whel
crash comes.
Anything might turn up any da,
for any one. Perhaps the senior sub
altern had been trapped in his yout
Men are crippled that way occasion
ally. We didn't know-we wante
to hear; and the captains wives wer
as anxious as we. If he had bee
trapped he was to be excused, for til
woman from no where, in the dust
shoes and gray travelling dress, wa
l. III