Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-06-26
THE STIRRUP CUP.

Everybody saw that. The young lady her.
self saw 1t better than any. They were
beautifully matched in every way. He
was dapper little cavalryman who only
exceeded the regulation height by two
inches. She was dowdy little person
about as big as 12-year-old child. He
was handsome in French miniature sort
Of way, and she was pretty, with the bread
and milk beauty Of extreme youth. AS to
mental qualifications, no two could have
suited better, for his love of domineering
was that not only of the little man, but of
missiveness itself. 1t really was pleasure
to her to be walked over and stepped upon
by anything masculine, which just met
the young officers ideas as to what a wife
should be. AS if to leave nothing wanting
to complete this match-so evidently Of
celestial making-fortune had given to her
only spendthrift father and to him the
vast wealth Of second lieutenant's pay
They could have loved very comfortably on
such means and paid off their accumulated
debts of years when he came to be cap
tain, as others have done before, but they
may as well be introduced-you may meet
them some time. She, then, was Miss
Ruggles, daughter Of Captain Ruggles Of
the -th infantry; he was Second Lieu
tenant Patten Of the ID cavalry.
The thing started beautifully. Patten
had been twirling his thumbs between re-
veille and taps with more or less cursing
of fate for year He was pretty badly in
debt to the sutler and was likely to become
more SO if he was not given something to
do with his evenings very soon. He did
not like reading, He was too lazy to hunt
and there was nothing but the elusive
prairie dog to hunt in any case. He was
the only bachelor at the fort, which was a
hundred miles from the railroad, by the
bye, and the married women could not be
induced to firt-with him, at any rate
So the soil was ripe.
Now, just in the nick of time, Captain
Ruggles' pretty daughter came on from a
New England boarding school, as limo
cent, simple, pink and white as such girls
should be. Of course Patten called on her
the night of her arrival, as is customary in
posts. He found her quite interesting. She
sat and smiled and drank in his poured
out wisdom as the soil of the plains drinks
rain, and the wisdom was lost in the
sandy depths of her unsophisticated soul,
as is also lost the little rain which falls on
the parched prairies. However, she evil
IDENTIFY admired him, and he went home
convinced that this really was his first love,
this time In Now England boarding
schools a man is never seen, so he was
Miss Ruggles' first experience of the sex,
and she was sure, too, that this was not
only her first but her only love. Now
Pattcn liked the sensation of thinking Of
some one else. 1t was novel, and there was
'blessed little novelty" in the post at any
blessed" exactly.
The trouble with novelties Is that as
soon as they are experienced few times
they cease to be novelties, and so lose their
spice. That was the way with this one.
After week or two of thinking of Miss
Ruggles-whom he fondly called Bertha
In what answered for his mind-Patten
got tired of it and concluded that 'old
things are best" that he preferred his
.quondam occupation of thinking only Of
himself, and he went back to tit was far
less trouble, and he objected to trouble--at-
tending reveille was enough of 1t for him
in one day. Then a delightful element
was added to his former employment. He
discovered in short time that some one
else was thinking Of him. That was
charming. He sat back and enjoyed it,
absorbed it. Heretofore the garrison had
never bothered its head about him, and he
had had only the sickly comfort of telling
himself that he represented pearls, the gar
rison swine.
Here, however, was q girl who knew
priceless jewel when she saw 1T. He adj
mired her taste and smiled on her APPROX
ingly. She smiled back even more sweet
ly, and in little ways entirely original and
clever she tried to lead him OH. For in
stance, shewalked up and down her porch
on nice starry nights and coughed now
and then--a gentle cough. She would go
to the suffers for crewels and ribbons at
the hours when Patten was likely to DO
there for his mail Her horse never would
stand still at the mounting block-the cx-
aspcrating animal!-if the young officer
were in sight. All these little tendrils
reaching out are such, we all know, as the
world has never known before.
But there was good deal of the nature
Of the government mule In Patten. The
instant he could see that some one was at.
tempting to lead him he would refuse to
advance step, and he did see despite Ber-
tha's wholly original methods of proce-
dure. So he stood still, and the poor girl
tuggcd and pulled, but Patten refused to
move ever so little. She really became
quite desperate and struck him In the face
metaphorically, with some remarks that
were meant to be scornful and sarcastic
OF course If she had known anything
about mules she would have been aware
that such treatment only makes Them
Jump back, but she was of the infantry
and can be excused for not knowing any
thing about live stock. Experience taught
her, though, and she came to learn to let
the mule think he was free and going
alone. The experiment worked like
charm. Patten began to fear that he was
losing the alteration and advanced few
steps. Bertha received his overtuws with
delight, and Patten was wise enough to
keep her little delighted all tho time.
He did not think, now, that he WAS really
in love. On the contrary, he was sure that
his first love was yet to come. But Bertha
was q pastime, at any rate.
Things progressed nicely now. Patten
and Miss Ruggles took frequent horseback
rides and often did not get home until
after dark. The first time this happened
Bertha approached her mammals presence
with fear and trembling She did not know
what her mother would say, but she was
sure OF good berating from Q none too
gentle tongue
Fancy, then, her surprise and delight at
being met with sweet go and eat your
dinner, dear. I've kept 1t warm" At tho
monthly hop Pstten danced most of the
time with Bertha and forgot to complain
Of the scratches she made ON his beautiful
pumps. Every one was sure they wers en-