The times., 1897-08-08
hated rival, but the story may be told
without using him.

chid's book, very popular at the TIME. NO"
well / remember how my young piood-o
be exact, my seven year-o old blood-thrhieu
as / mentally watched this frail girl. WIN
a start of Just three feet, lead the ire
mendous and horribly savage bull IN
3OO-yard sprint, only to trip at lasO on Tue
only obstruction in the ten-dcre Iieih'
how, Just as the bull reached her, she 1iung
her red shawl few yards to the riSnI
how the bull, leaving her, plunged after III
how she, weak and trembling, ran TO ti's
stone wall and managed to vault 1t just as
her lover, a brawny blacksmith, who mad
seen the W hole affair at too great us
tance to be OF immediate service, reached
the wall and received her in his arms ON,
Kenston,' she murmured, you have saved
my life. and then she falnted-and / be
lieye the bull ate up the shawl. At any
rate, it's part in that particular story was
ended.
Il have always felt that, thrilling As the
scene was, it had not been worked for all
it was worth; but an extensive reading
since then has brought me to the conciu-
sion that, first and last, it has been worked
fer it's full value.
1.-The next time thatI readthe enthralling
L
memory Of the other telling was still fresh
within me; and so. when, in the secondchap-
ter, 1 read about savage old bull, one
Hector, the property of Squire Flint, the
mednest man in the county mot that MS
meanness had anything do withthe story,
but It'll one OF the conventions that saw
age bull shall be owned bya cICss, Grabbed
and thoroughly stiDgy man i say when
l had read thus far, my pulse quickened
Inexperienced as was, / somehow sensed
the coming situation. / seemed 10 know
as by Clairvoyauce that, however limited
the heroine's wardrobe might be III some
respects, there was one article of apparel
that she surely possessed, or wocld possess
in time tomeetthe exigencies. True enough,
in the very next chapter, her maiden aunt,
a sanity old lady of ninety, died and he
queathed TO her sorrowing niece a red pom
gee shawl of great value as a bHll-enrager:
The hook had seemed prosy atthe start, but
now that knew what was coming, and
that it was that that was coming, l read
on breathlessly.
Needless 10 say that, in the next chap
ter, the young girl fell in love with II
strappng young fellow, who Immediately
proposcd-that they take walk How
well knew, though they did not, where
that VI ak would lead them. The mad bull
in this case it was mad, although any
old bull will do, mad or uot-Was rampant
III lot q mile south OF the young girls
house, and hey started TO walk due north
but knew full wen that they would need
TO cross that particular pasture before they
got home; and a few pages later found them
oil 10 al -
bulls domain, and then they walked aloug
inteLI only on their new-found happiness.
The day was chilly lin the middle OF a
particularly hot july, 50 that the girl could
have an excuse 10 wear her red shawl.
Now, having brought two of the actors
on the stage. the cue was soon given 70
the bun, ard in moment the happy lovers,
! feeling the ground trenible beneath their
! feet, turned and saw Hector, his horns
gyrating with rage, his eyes bulging out
J and his 'iead lowered as he thundereI along,
straight for the pongee bequest. To take
| her under his strong arm and to rush for
ward were the only things for the young
man to DO, and he did them; and then, the
| rest ran as per schedule. believe that in
this case the young man threw the girlinto
| atrea and then plunged down a WoOdchuck'
| hole. At any rate the girl was unframed
| That is the one unalterable formula In
constructing these bull stories; save the
| girl unharmed. You may break the young
mans leg or arm, and you may do what
you will with the buIl, but the young girl
must come through unscathed.
at was years before this moving IN
| cident' ceased to hold me, and in that time
how many changes Were rung on it. Once
only was the red shawl absent, and
wondered how in the world the bull wa;
| to be infuriated, a he was singuarlJ
mid beast in the earlier chapters and Oh
May DAYS had been festooned with gar
| lands. Then, too, the girl was in deer
| mourning for her lover. But the ten
acre lot was all right, and as the author
| was clever man felt thai he would find
| a way to run the act with Il small cast
and no properties. So l read on, and after
wondering, together with the girl her
self, what could have caused the peace
ful old bovine 10 chase her, tail up anC
head down, the full length of a particu
larly long pasture, she and l found out
| when she realized that, the day being
sunny, she had picked up her cousins
parasol, which was, necessarily, of a bril-
liant scarlet. She had no lover, for, as
say, he had died two chapters before tn,
book was hegun; but she did have pres
| ence of mind, and SO she inserted the point
of the parasol in the bulls mouth and theI
opened it, and while he was extracting
it with his forepaws she reached the fence
and vaulted it in the usual way.
1.-The possibilities of the incident are b.
no means exhausted, and so far from Amos
Judd being the last story in which il wa
used, l saw it in a tale published thi
month; and this time with the full para
phernaliaof hatedrival, lover red shawl an,
all; but for me it had lost its zest. tt
DC sure, if they would make the hero al
athlete and have him bravely stand hi
ground, while the girl climbed to the to
of an enormous elm, and then. just as th
bull lowered his head to toss him, have tn
hero jump high in the air and make tn
bull pass beneath him, and as he reached
ground again, seize the ball, not by III
horns, but by the tail, and, swinging
three times around his head DASH agains
n tree and stun it-5hatis, IL its tail wer
securely welded to its body-there would b
an original treatment on the subject An
if its tail Were but loosely fixed to i
the hero could pull it out and the bul
filled with chagrin, would walk off di,
mayed and Inundated
But pending that form of the stor!
I am studousy avoiding all novels ths
contain heroines with red shawls, or tha
make early reference to fierce bulls, ,
that speak of certain ten-acre lot, d
culiarly adapted for lovers peregrination
For. like the successful burglar. know Il
Combination