The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1896-02-20
TRIAL BY FIRE.

The major was one Of the many we'll
born Eng lishmen who come to Califor.
MIA with younger sons portion and a
small monthly allowance and hope to
make a fortune on vineyard or a wheat
ranch. The plan always looks feasible in
England, and the agent assures his vic.
tim that the thousand pounds will buy
ten acre plot plant vines. build de.
cent bungalow and tide the owner over
until the vines shall bear and bring him
a harvest of good American gold
The major was going the way of many
of his English friends. The & 900 legacy
was gone, and the monthly allowance of
$50 (Which, viewed from "a distance,
seemed large) always grew painfully
small as it neared California and the
debts it was supposed to cover. The
majors little mountain vineyard had
been destroyed by phylloxera, and he
was living on the uncertain promise of
a number of green shoots, called, re-
spectfully, 1.-THE olive orchard. " But
the major was not unhappy. When he
was not tilling the soil, he sat on his lit
tie veranda. with his brier wood pipe be-
tween his teeth and studied the long.
narrow, picturesque Napa valley far be
low.
1t may be that the major failure to
succeed in the grape business was not
the fault Of the country, but that his
genial, impractical nature was the true
obstacle to success. The major was, in
fact, the most helpless Engllshman who
ever came to California TO take care of
himself. The poor fellow became SO con
WINGED of this after "A short trial that he
engaged man to act as valet to him
self aud incidentally cook the meals for
both
The major was "a solitary bachelor
then. The gods alone know i'll what un-
propitious moment he picked up Pete to
hang about his neck milestone of in
efficiency. Pete's poverty must have
been his recommendation and the ma
jOr's poverty the excuse for keeping him.
Pete had about as much know ledge Of
laying out and caring for IA man s ward
robe as the major bad of running IA
ranch. The consequence was that the
major often presented himself at his
friends houses in the most surprising
garb--a combination of white duck
trousers, black frock coat and russell
hunting boots being one of Pete's mas
terpieoes In his capacity as cook Pete
was not one whit more efficient and of
ten suffered mental agony over the pom
derous directions of the major $ French
cookbook, which were like the hero
glyphies of the ancients to his clouded
intellect. Considering the diet of sour
bread and timed meats which Pete pro
vided, ii is only less than marvellous
that his benefactor was still alive
When the major married Ellie Smith,
a pretty San Francisco girl, Pete was
promoted to be manager of the ranch
and expended his grooming talents en-
the pet mule. The majors wife was
artistic. She had studied sketching
and did some really clever bits Her ad
miring husband was sure that she pos
sessed the divine atllatus, and conse-
quently much time was devoted to art
and little time to ranChing.
But this was not without protest from
one individual. Not that he was disturb
ed by lack Of work, but poor Pete WAS
oftener than not the unwilling model
for Ellie's clever studies One day Pete
posed for The Man With the Hoe " His
temper was particularly tried on that oc-
casion, for he had taken up his tool with
.he honest intention of wedding the
primitive vegetable garden. Though he
had scudded through the back yard and
climbed the rear fence he had not count
cd on meeting his young mistress i'll the
barnyard. He began to wrestle with the
weeds and pretended not to see her. His
education, however, had not included IA
sight of Millet's picture or he would
have fled down the mountain side in
utter despair.
Stop, stop, Peter, right there. Don't
move an inch, y called the sweet voice
that drove him to madness. Kenneth, :"
Ellie called to her husband, look. Ism {
it wonderful? The lights, the pose, the
very landscape like
1.-the Man With the Hoe, {" shouted
the major gleefully. 'Ill get your
paints, Ellie. Hold on, Pete!" And be-
fore that honest son of toll had time tt
collect his scattered senses, he found
himself posing III very uncomfortable
attitude with the Napa valley lying at
his feet and the major s familiar phrases
ringing i'll his ears-"tiue pose-jolly
good subject-delioiou coloring.
After Pete had posed for hundred or
more indifferent works of art without
names, he began to think of deserving
his master and leaving him to a just and
awful fate. But this stupendous blow
was ayerted by the arrival of Brompton
Edwards, another Eng lishman, who had
come to learn practical ranching under
the direction of his fathers old friend.
the major.
After a week had been given up to
driving his protege about the valley and
introducing him to tho English colony,
the major returned to his daily routine
vi pruning olive trees and digging out
worm eaten grapevines. Ellie soon dis
covered in the young man $ clean cut
features and fine, athletic figure an ell
tirely new field for art study. and Ed
wards found the time pass more pleas
antly as a model than as an embryo
rancher. They were together during