Feliciana sentinel., 1892-08-27
BAPTIZED BY FIRE.
Uncle zarah's Story OF How Cap
pie Won Her Husband.

pie Won Her Husband.
THAT reminds me of an incident"
eaid Uncle Zarah THAT riding mas
ter may think he knows it all SO far as
grace is concerned, though his ideas
of grace differ with mine materially;
but Id like to tell him about one
woman I have known who had been
accustomed to the management of
horses in rural parts or ON the plains,'
who had been at home on horses
back all her life and seldom essayed
any gait but a .gallop.' yet who could
lay it over any rider in this city for
grace"
then remarked, interrogatively: You
remember Mrs. -? Her name was
Captola. Did ever tell you how Cap
pie won her husband?
''It was an early September morning
in the late sixties. The summer rains
had made vegetation rank and the buf-
falo grass was then thicEly matted.
brown and dry as powder. The night
had been gray and still, and given place
to a skylight copper in the morning,
nnd a strange stiffness broodcd in the
mir.
II had been given orders for brand
ing bunch of steers to send to the
lower range, and as I came up on the
porch l discovered Cap in her dingy old
riding habit, sitting on the edge swing
ing her feet and swapping a quirt, her
pony browsing just in front of her, and
beside her was Henry-the owner of
the big Home ranch and her affianced
lover. His bride rein was thrown over
his arm, and he was earnestly begging
the girl to comply with some request.
Please, Cappie, yield to me this
time
But want the gloves and whip
"I'l buy you a gross of silver
mounted whips and a dozen pairs of
Jouvin's best; import them especially
for the purpose, if you would give up
riding at the fair
THAT would be circumstance,
wouldn't it?' flashed Captola- I could
shake them under Miss Oates nose and
say: There! just see what got for
letting you win the prize" No, Hal, it
isn't the gloves or the whip, but .
mean little am mbition want to crafty.
That woman called me hoyden, an
uncultivated little heather, and said
couldn't ride little bit. don't mind
the hoyden and heathen.. i suppose
am both, but 1 can ride, and mean to
do it,
Little girl, you hurt me when you
talk so thoughtlessly.'
"'And you hurt me cruelty she
cried, passionately, as she turned her
flashing eyes on him. I'm ashamed to
acknowledge how much. I thought
you loved me, but you don't. When
you see me beside your mother and
your Incompatible sisters, and-and
that horrid prim Puritan, Miss Oates,
you get ashamed of me and want to
make me over by the square and level
of your own social world, but you can't
do it. 1 tried to cultivate the little
prairie anemones, but they always
died I'll die, too, under the cultivating
process. So you-I think-you can
have your ring back and with little
Sob Captola began to tug at her gaunt-
lets, but Henry caught her hands.
My dear little wild bird, 1 love
you. am twenty years older than you
are, but never said that to a woman
till I met you. 1 am graver and
quieter than you are, but like
your sunny ways - your bright
nature. My mother and sisters do
not know you as well as 1 do, and
they want me to marry Miss Oates.
They are looking for flaws in my gem,
and don't want them to have a chance
20 think they have found one. 1t is
such little thing 1 have asked you.
Your father is away; there is no one
70 attend you, as you utterly refuse my
escort unless I desert my mother and
the other ladies, which 1 cannot do
You-wen, you know, little girl that
you are very unconventional in both
manners and dress, and do wish you
would try to win them over, child
Henry paused, feeling that he was
making bad matter worse.
"tNcver!' Cap replied, angrily, as
she jerked her hands away. They may
take me as am or not at all If mann
ma had lived maybe I would have
been different-as prunes and prisms
rs Miss Oates, possibly-but I've only
had dad, and he likes me best as am.
/ never would have thought of riding
at the fair, only when we were all out
horseback riding one night after Miss
Oates first came, she said, purposely for
me to hear, that sticking on was not
good riding by any means, and made
fun of my "old-fashioned' riding habit
And Caps tears splashed down on the
dangy black calico.