Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1891-03-26
JOHNNIE AND TEENIE.
Story of a Little Coquette and
How She Was Conquered.

Texas idyl
had heard of my heroine long before
I saw her, as undisputed belle OF the
whole Dry Fork country, where she
held regal state, like the cruel princess
I'm the fairy tale, sending away sutton
after sutton and champion after cham
MON despoiled, not of his head, but OF
his heart. and with several inches taken
off the stature of his conceit-
The family name was Drake; Teenie
was affectionately known among her
admirers as s'the duck" the ranch was
.sthe duck pond" and whenever an
other unfortunate went down to wor-
ship at her shrine, he was facetiously
referred to as having gone duck-hunt-
ing.
She was as rule engaged to three or
four of the best-looking and most prom
Using Young sheepmen of the region,
and carried things in general with
high hand All this had predisposed
me to think slightly of the girl as a
poor. shallow creature, triding with
and rejecting men who were too good
for her only to crafty her vanity and
love of conquest.
But perhaps the thing that prejudiced
me most against her was her failure to
fall a victim to the charms OF JOHNNIE
Sherwood.
Johnnie and ! are great friends.
met him at balls, where he was the best
dancer; at round-ups, where he was the
finest rider and roper, and he campedwith
our party many night A handsome,
black-eyed boy of twenty-four, just six
feet. with fine, square shoulders and
well-knit figure, beautiful black hair,
curling fat against his round, comely
head, glowing eyes, satiny cheek, fresh
and warm; a nice, well-cut chin, with
dimple set little to one side of it; a
good mouth, with youthful mustache
above it, and the finest white teeth pos
sible.
Face and figure were quite handsome
ordinarily; but when the eyes shone
the dimple deepened, and the
white teeth flashed in the bubbling,
mellow, spontaneous laugh that came
SO naturally from the fine deep chest,
you hastily laid aside all Judgment and
surrendered your heart.
never heard so captivating laugh.
There was virtue, there was piety in
Il. 1t was sweeter than reason, better
than wisdom. You felt sense of per
sonal and affectionate gratitude to him,
as though he had made you a special
gift of it.
And these two were sweethearts
once: indeed, Johnnie had been en-
gagged to Teenie, "all by himself"
when no one else was, and the matter
was regarded as quite serious.
There was, as might have been ex-
pected between two such heart-brealS-
ers, a smash; mutual determinations
were INDUCED in. At the hottest Of
the quarrel, smarting beneath sense
of injustice, tingling at remembrances
of the affronts she had put upon him,
Johnnie came one day upon maverick
and made so innocent thing as year
ling calf the vehicle of his resentment.
1t was delicate bit of cowboy repair
tee, an example of pure Texas wit, to
catch it up and brand it all over its
helpless bovine side in great, sprawling
letters: duck"
When the capering bonmot present
ed itself before Teenie's indignant eyes
she waxed very wroth indeed, and told
her big brothers, but on the ready offer
TO wipe up the ground" with the au-
thor she weakened, and advised the
whole family that they treat him with
silent contempt-which they were do
ing when / went there.
When came to spend a week at the
Three Cedars ranch and see her daily
with her mother and her little broth
ers and sisters, found her quite differ
emit from what | had imagined, and
was constrained to like the girl despite
my disapproval of some of her meth
dds She was a good daughter, kind
sister, and the blithest, most irrepress-
IDLY Joyous creature, with frank, en-
paging boyishness of manner that
never found in any other girl, and |
soon came to the conclusion that if she
was vain and tickle it was the fault of
the foolish men who hung about her
and ministered to her vanity.
She rode finely, and was as passion
ately fond of it as |.
She appeared unaware of the six or
eight years difference in our ages, the
wide dissimilarity of our history, train
ing. environments, and probable aims
and ambitions, and made of me a regu-
larchum and contidante,s seeming to think
it no fault of mine that had been city
born and bred; that at heart, and given
fair show, was ''as good a man" as
herself.
used to talk to Teenie good deal
about Johnnie, dwelling warmly on his
good qualities and his winning ways
She was always ready to argue with
me on the subject, processing to find
him the most hideous and disagreeable
of mortals. When l ceased she would
go on at some length herself, applying
to him all her small feminine epithets
of derogation. sneering especially at his
conceit
Perhaps a more masculine bat might
have been deceived by the appearance
of frank sincerity with which she
'.slanged" him, but as Sister Peacoch
says. l am female myself, and win al
! - .