The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-03-28
CUPID'S ARROWS.

~ nee upon a time there lived at
Simla a very pretty girl, the daugh
~ ter of poor but honest district and
sessions judge. She was a good girl, but
could not help knowing her power and
using it. Her mamma was very anxious
about her daughters future, as all good
mammas should be.
When a man is a commissioner and
bachelor and has the right of wearing
open-work jam tart jewels in gold and
enamel on his clothes, and of going
through a door before every one except
member of council, a lieutenant COVER
nor or a viceroy, he is worth marrying.
At least, that is what the ladies say.
There was a commissioner in Simla in
those days who was, and wore, and did
all have said
He was a plain man-an ugly MANTLE
| ugliest man in Asia, with two exceptions.
His was a face to dream about and try to
| carve on pipe head afterward His name
was Saggott-Barr-Saggot Anthony
! Barr-Saggott and six letters to follow.
| Departmentally, he was one of the best
the government of India owned Socially
he was like a blandishing gorilla.
When he turned his attentions to Miss
| Beighton, l believe that Mrs. Beighton
wept with delight at the reward Prov
idence had sent her in her old age.
Mr.. Beighton held his tongue. He was
| an easygoing man.
Now, commissioner is very rich. His
| pay is beyond the dreams of avarice--is so
enormous that he can afford to save and
scrape in a way that would almost dis
| credit a member of council. Most COM
| missioners are mean, but Barr-Saggott
was an exception. He entertained royalty.
He housed himself WELL he gave dances,
| he was a power in the land, and he be-
| haved as such.
| Consider that everything l am writing
! of took place in an almost prehistoric era
in the history of British India. Some
| folks may remember the years before
| lawn tennis was born, when we all played
| croquet. There were seasons before that,
! if you will believe me, when even croquet
! had not been invented, and archery
which was revived in England in 1871
was as great pest as lawn tennis is now.
| People talked learnedly about holding
and 'loosing" "steles." "refexed bows"
"56-pound bows" as we talk about raj
lies" "volleys." "smashes," returns"
| and "16-ounce rackets"
Miss Beighton shot divinely over ladies'
| distance-6O yards, that is-and was ac-
| knowledged the best lady archer in Simla.
Men called her Diana of Tara-Devi."
Barr-Saggott paid her great attention,
and, as l have said, the heart of her
mother was unified in consequence. Kit
| ty Beighton took matters more calmly.
1t was pleasant to be singled out by
commissioner with letters after his name
and to fill the hearts of other girls with
bad feelings.
But there was no denying the fact that
| Barr-Saggott was phenOmenally ugly, and
all his attempts to adorn himself only
made him more grotesque. He was not
christened 1.-THE LanguT''-which means
gray ape-for nothing. 1t was pleasant
Kitty thought, to have him at her feet
but ii was better to escape from him and
ride with the graceless Cubbon-the man
in a dragon regiment at Umballa-the
boy with handsome face and no pros
poets.
Kitty liked Cubbon more than little.
He never pretended for moment that he
was anything less than head over heels
in love with her, for he was honest
boy So Kitty fed now and again, from
the stately woOings of BarrSaggott to
the company of young Cobbon and was
scolded by her mamma in consequence.
But. mother" she said Mr.. Sargott is
such-such ais so fearfully ugly, you
know"
MY dear" said Mrs. Beighton piously,
I'VE cannot be other than an all-ruling
Providence has made us. Besides, you
will take precedence of your own mother,
you know. Think of that and be reason
able"
Then Kitty put up her little chin and
said irreverent things about precedence
and commissioners and matrimony Mr..
Beighton rubbed the top of his head, for
he was an easy-going man.
Late in the season, when he judged that
the time was ripe, BarrSaggott developed
a plan which did great credit to his adj
illustrative powers. He arranged an
archery tournament for ladies, with a
most sumptuous diamond-studded brace
| let as prize. He drew up his terms skill
fully, and everyone saw that the bracelet
was a gift to Miss Beighton, the accept
ance carrying with the hand and the heart
of Commissioner Barr-Saggott. The terms
were a st. Leonard's round-36 shots at
go yards-under the rules of the Simla
, Toxophilte society.
All Simla was invited. There were beau
tifully arranged tea tables under the deo-
dars at Annandale, where the grandstand
is now, and, alone in it's glory, winking
! I'm the sun, sat the diamond bracelet in a
blue velvet case. Miss Beighton was anx-
ious-almost too anxious-to compete
, On the appointed afternoon all Simla
rode down to Annandale to witness the
judgment of Paris turned upside down
Kitty rode with young Cubbon, and it was
easy to see that the boy was troubled in
his mind. He must be held innocent OF
everything that followed. Kitty was pale
, and nervous, and looked long at the brace
, let. Barr-Saggott was gorgeously dressed
even more nervous than Kitty, and more
hideous than ever.
Mrs. Beighton smiled condescendingly
as behtted the mother of potential COM
missioneress, and the shooting began, al
] the world standing a semicircle as the