Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1894-10-27

appearances the same giddy, pretty
Betsy Baker who had been so disturb
ing to the youngerI members, they
seemed no longer TO be disturbed by
her. A certain subdued awe and re-
spect, rs II the martyred spirit Of John
Baker still held his arm around her,
seemed 10 have come upon them oil.
They held their breath rs this pretty
' woman, whose brief mourning had not
seemed to affect her cheerfulness or
even playfulness Of spirit, passed be-
fore them. But she stood by her cabin
and the camp-the only woman In a
settlement OF forty men-during the
! darkest hours OF their fortune. help
ing them to wash and cook and min
istering to their domestic needs. The
sanctity Of her cabin was, however, Ill
ways kept rs inviolable as II Il had
been his tomb. No one exactly knew
why. for Il was only tacit instinct;
but even one or two who Ind not
scrupled to pay court to Betsy Baker
during John Bakers life shrunk from
even suggestion Of familiarity toward
the woman who had said that she
would "wait for him there"
! When brighter days came and the
settlement had increased by one or two
families and laggard capital Ind been
hurried up to relieve the still be-
lcaguered and locked-up wealth Of
Burnt Ridge. the needs Of the com
munity and the claims - the widow of
John Baker were so well told In politi-
cal quarters that the post Office Of
Laurel Run was created expressly for
her Every man participated in the
building of the pretty yet substantial
edifce-the only public building In
Laurel Run-that stood in the dust OF
the great highway, half n mile from
the settlement. There she was In
stalled for certain hours of the day. for
she could not be prevailed upon to
abandon Johns cabin. and here, with
all the added respect due TO a public
functionary. she was Us secure in her
! privacy.
But the blind devotion Of Laurel Run
to John l.aier's rclict did not stop here.
In its zeal to assure the government
authorities Of the necessity Of post
Office, and to secure permanent COM
potency to the postmistrcss, there was
much embarrassing extravaganza. Dur
ing the first week tho sale of stamps ut
Laurel Run post Office was unprccedcnt.
cd in the annals Of the department.
Fancy prices were given fer the first is
sue: then they were bought wildly,
rccklessly, unprofltably and on nll oc-
casions Complimentary congratula-
tions Mt the little window invariably
ended with: And dollars worth Of
stamps. Mrs. Baker" II was felt to be
supremacy delicate to buy only the
highest priced stamps. without refer
ence to their adequacy; then mere
quantity was sought; then outgoing
letters were all ovcrpaid, and stamped
in outrageous proportion to their
weight and even size. The imbccility
Of this, and its probable effect on the
reputation of Laurel Run Mt the general
post Office being pointed out by Mrs.
Baker. stamps were adopted rs local
currency. and even for decorative pur-
poses on mirrors and the walls Of cabins.
Everybody wrote letters. with the re.
suit. however. that those sent were lu.
dicrously and suspiciously in excess Of
those received. TO obviatc this. select
parties made forced journeys to liick-
ory Hill. the next post Office. with let
tiers and circulars addressed to them
selves nj Laurel Run How long the
extravaganza would have continued Is
not known. but II was not until II was
rumored that. IN consequence OF the
excessive flow of business the depart
ment had concluded that n postmaster
would he better fitted for the place that
il abated, and compromise was eff
fected with the general Office by per
manent salary TO the postmistress
Such was the history of Mrs. Baker,
who had just finished her afternoon
lcvee. nodded a smiling ''good-by" to
her last customer and closed her shutter
again Then she took up her own let
tiers. but before reading them glanced
with pretty impatience at the two Of
fetal envelopes addressed to herself
which she had shclved. They were gem
orally a lot of new rules (?) or notif-
cations. or absurd questions which
had nothing to do with Laurel Run, and
only bothered her and ''madc her head
ache" and she had usually referred
them to her admiring neighbor ut Hick-
DRY Hill for explanation, who had gen.
orally returned them to her with the
brief Endorsement: "Purp stuff; don't
bother or Hog wash; let it side" She
remembered now that he had not re-
turned the two last. With knitted
brows and q slight pout she put aside
her private correspondence and tore
open the first one II referred with Of
fetal Guinness to an unanswered com.
munication of the previous week, and
was compelled TO remind her OF rule
i47." Again those horrid rulesl She
opened the others; the frown deepcned
on her brow, and became fixed
II was summary of certain valuable
money letters that had miscarried on
the route, and Of which they had given
her previous information For n mo-
ment her checks blazed. How dare
they: what did they mean? Her way
bills and register were always right:
she knew the names Of every man,
woman and child in her district; no
such names as those borne by the miss
ing letters had ever existed at Laurel
Run; no such addresses had ever been
sent from Laurel post Office. II WA .
mean insinuatioul She would send in
her resignation at oncel She would get
the "boys" to write IN insulting letter
to Senator Slocumb-Mrs baker had
the feminine idea Of government rs q
purely personal institution-and she
! IA 80 AnA gNa1h