The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-12-14

But the next time he got drunk he set out
to have his revenge. After long search he
found me alone in neighbours cabin. He had
knife and coolly declared that he had come
to cut my head off, l asked him if he was sure
his knife was sharp, because If he did not cut
my head completely Off it would grow on again
This idea puzzled him. and | kept working
upon it until induced him to 20 into another
room for milestone When he passed through
the door closed il and locked him In, then ran
off home.
Another affair occurred when l was seven
teen years old in school district ten miles out
from Denver. The tcacher-n man-had been
wrestled down by the unruly boys and bound
and left in that condition over night. No ono
would go to succeed him, and volunteered
The roughs were determined to drive me out
and watched every chance To trip and throw
me. One day a big half breed clnchcd me
and tried To wrcstlc me down, but | was IL
match for him and not only threw him, but
beat him until he had To he carried home. His
fnhcr was II VIGOROUSLY hard tempered man.
always ready with his shooter He sent word
that he was coming to settle accounts with mo
for beating his boy. answered that if he mo
Tested me would treat him In the same man
ner, and the idea pleased him that ho came
in n friendly spirit, praised me for my grit and
sent his son back To school.
AS | have indicated already, circumstances
favored me III many of these actions. Once
we were snowbound for six months and was
SO small and light that | could travel on snow
sHoCS vi ipI vi tHc uTlllS uHl 20 where men
could not. | carried food from our camp to
the men snowbound in the mines. At another
time, when was very small, my fathers camp,
containing only ten men, was surrounded by
hostilcs. There WAS an army post several
miles distant, but we had no means OF sending
to them for relief.
mounted my pony and rode about the camp
for time aimlcssly, and the Indians knew me
and paid no attention TO the fact. They had
seen me playing with Indian children and
tod
duty in mind, and watching favorable oppor-
tunity struck out into the country ut full
speed and reached the post, carrying the
alarm Ia the soldiers. Any one would perhaps
have done these things had they been in my
place, but was fated TO meet with cmcrgen-
cics and to do the right thing
1t should not be inferred from anything
in the foregoing recital that Miss West
over is II type of the cowboy in skirts. She
not only disclams all mannish propensi-
ties for adventure, but has made II fight for
acareer wholly at war with the drift of her
childhOod's circumstances. She educated
herself under great disadvantages, gradu-
ated Mt the university at Boulder, cult
waited musical and literary tastes, mastered
the polite languages and located in the
east as the more congenial atmosphere for
those abilities she prizes most.
She told me these stories between whites
of entertaining lady callers in her study,
surrounded by "objects, art and imita-
tions," possibly never dreamed of, certain
ly not hoped for, in the midst of the
rough environment of her Colorado days.
But what was the quality beneath all these
things? Was it courage daring, pluck,
presence OF mind or the indefnable genius
for seeing the needs of the flying moment
and acting promptly in n way that the
world must applaud? Thcrel In that last
sentence have incautously stated n third
theory OF heroism, the one toward which |
incline as the correct one.
GEORGE L. KILMER