The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-18
oBn1eno MN DnIrTER.
NE Travelled $40 sliss to match = Risson Tor
Another MANS WIN.

Drtfter tho other night about MS deVOuOn 10 Wo-
mankind in general, when one Of the youngsters,
who took a hand in the badinago, said:
"why. Drifter is nevor happier than when no
is holding some woman's parcels or doing the
gallant on a street car. l honestly believe he'd
find pleasure on a shopping tour with his
mother.in.law."
"Righ ~you.are, you-cub," said Drifter, and,
what's moro, rs long as Drifter can navigate
he'll DO at the service Of the ladies. The truth
of tho matter is, I've lived q part Of my life
where a woman's voice or tho s~qualling Of a
teething b~aby:was rarer music than COULD be
furnished by all the great stars OF the Metropol-
itan Opera Company, and as for shopping with
a woman! Pshaw. youngster! Two travelled 500
miles to match a bit of ribbon and buy a pair of
gloves for Il woman, and l thought no more Of II
than you dawdlers do of calling a cab In Fifth
avenue for a girl Of your acquaintance"
OF course Drifter was called upon to explain.
Talk about dancing attendance on women"
he said. when / was up In the Lake OF thu
Woods country In 1888, and put In my time
out at the mines or exploring along Rainy River
and Rainy Lake with a few good fellows, we
p rSSIsd' io ao' on The II make witt With the s" tomperature
knocking around 40 below, just to get Q chance
70 You near There S" were S0I perhaps, half a dozen wo.
men all told at the little Hudson Bay post In
those d. s.,d. hotel hot d.d m q " wif &, the aSon d9 st BE-
the asu %an Who ran TIE only steamboat on the lake
Those men must have been brutes to compel
9 woman to stay In such a place" said one OF
Not 90 fast" said Drifter. 'That place was
. woman's paradise. winter or summer; have
learned ! = = Ss1,t that "a t sxSSFEy wS%H M young mSn or Oh be Mhssst
t SSs Rainy faS River Five e1 rsserysti 3 has Ssa a iSn sSSss tSr
as we averaged about twenty,hy men TO every
respectable girl or woman between Port Ar
Pacific Sn Raiiiway.p its 5 safe betting that each Of
those th{ss S women osnrs could , haze AYE pretty nearly any
And about that 32O-mile trip for q ribbon
cub who had started Differ on this tack.
down. have tWinisets Of rheamat iEn' or govt
once in q while, and like New York pretty
miles in nOoessins on a Northwest prairie
right now for the same woman under circum-
STANCES such e,I as am na about Z. ted describe ; dainty
@ slosh,sy'q brought hssS-s up 2 az oi9S pe Sssn.d Gss town Sns
forts, but iSIuries, ali her lie unitii she mar
ried q giant Of a Russian who had come to the
M Went Mssis s Y make thsm n's At fS So@s. and s0 IN ea%s
q. he Ess station agent and yardmastsr in
,ri a. q ,PG Hln E pIf re hos. sss SisxI nsa to s toT d M see
She followed h her husband as soon as he wrote
for her to come. She looked al much out Of
breeds, and adyenturers at the Portage a. one
Of you easy-goiug chaps would in the stoke.
h mss only Of an a fs Ssen months aRsF old Ab but t tSs first eao One II
camp, and some Of the old timers actually sniy'
s ass when nth they heard h the ySSqiRR sIr coG GFy Sith
he was not Workips for The g: ?: r. put up a
Young sister. who came along with her from
their old home, and the kid. IT was tho best he
at sent That to- ti Gne a B sto When Ss an fhe n snow S~' d rite nm IN
and the wind howled around the cabin, there
wore trying times for mother and baby. We'll
u course, that husbandnoyedh her. Who wouldn't,
She never murnured.. She never complained
Rough life. We all made friends With the baby
and as for the mother-she was the good ange
One day the hotel mans wife told us boy,
that she intended to have a dance at the hote!
TIA, 7! not be one o 5ef he n sIsw rsspses saa ha ame IN i Il,
lumber. camps or out on the prairie. Not one
Of you men is to have a drink until the affail
Clothes II there was one Of US hardened sin
ners there were a dozen who sneaked one al
asked the station agents wife to come to tn,
dance: l know l quarrelled with two OF m.
tsey 1raaeo intrud linz :" They gave gave me & adj" DRESSING ssIu
band and ask HIN to pick on, an escort toi HI
liC III oClhS " tAAASt WV khot III 41A hf
time for anything but work and sleep.
Two days before the dance / went up to tn,
house to see how the baby's latest tooth wa
coming on, or something of that sort. TIL
mother looked bluer than the baby's eyes.
heard her sigh once or twice. and at last sh
said:
DO you think it's wrong. Drifter, for a younl
gloves and ribbons, and to fx herself up once Il
a while, even though she is buried out here in
wildernessi'
That was enough for me. I wanted to &c
'Pshaw,' / said. You always look prett.
enough to eat, and SO does the baby, and"
" Yes she said. with a shade OF petulanos
But do want to go to that dance Just as II
of gloves to my name, nor q ribbon sash of tn
color I want. And there's no way OF my gel
ting them. ] might as well wish for the moon
THAT was enough for me. II l get them 1
time will you go to the dance with mel"
"Of course I will she answered. But no,
foolish. You can't leave here for a woman
within and take that long journey to Winnipe
Cant IT. / exclaimed. SEQ me- I got
piece of the ribbon to match; took tho size {
her pretty little hand. and that night the onl
| train out took Drifter to Winnipeg, 100 mile
At Winnipeg I astonished tho clerks in all til
!, Of gloves, and the next day the train out too
I me back to tho Portage, a round trip of 80
!, miles to oblige q woman, and that woman q,
other mans wife.
I "Yes,"' concluded Drifter, land I'd do Il
same thing over again to bring as much hnpp
ness as that little wife displayed when she wer
|. TO the dance, and probably revelled in the fsst
p~rettiest and best dressed woman in the settl
ment-