Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1897-03-25
A SISTER.
BY GWENDOLEN ovERTON.


BY GwENDoLEN ovERToN.
r. - = <~:- - Lasg :, 8
Army wives generally have un1rar-
r;ed sisters. These sisters always come
out to visit them, and the rest goes by it.
self. -: 49,
Mrs. Lorrilard had an unmarried sis
der. She was very attractive. She was
far more attractive than}Mps. Lorrilard
ever could have been. The girls name
was Spencer-May Spencer. She was
IL years old, if you took her word for
it; and she was blond and pink and
white and plump. She came from
some place in Ohio, and she visited the
Lorrilards at Stanton-which is in New
Mexico, 100 miles from the railroad,
across Dead Mans valley (there is al
ways a Dead Mans valley) and |s6me
steep hills and a lava bed mile wide.
l. you have never seen a lava bed, you
cannot appreciate that. You mighttry
to imagine the ocean dashed into fury
by simeon, then fancy its great waves
and pillows and swells changed sud-
denly to dark gray-brown stone at the
height of the storm, and you may form
vague idea ofswhat the lava bed be-
tween Fort Stanton and the railroad il
like. &c.. - 9 / E%E& -
It frightened Miss - Spencer badly.
The ambulance went Slipping, and slid
ing, and coasting, and humping. and
bounding over the one passabie part,
in a way that: only an ambulance con-
Quoted by driver who.has spent his life
on Arizona and New Mexico roads could
possibly stand. 1t put all the laws of
centripetal force and of equilibrium al
naught. 1t and the four }mules were
laws unto themselves. -
Miss Spencer was not accustomed to
that sort of thing. She stoodIit as long
as she. could, and then she told Mai.
foche-in whose charge she was travel
ing-thatsh meant1o get out and walk.
She had bothered the major a good deal
already, and he was getting tired, so
he did not say anything, but simply
told the driver to "slow up" and let Miss
Spencer get out by herself. =.
She fell behind after a moment, and
the ambulance went relent]essly on,
creaking, Tapping it's canvas. clanking
its, chains,s it's brake screeching shrilly.
And as it disappeared, sometimes lost to
sight in great hollow, sometimes toi:-
ing up smooth face of lava, Miss Spen-
Ger felt herself abandoned, indeed, in
New Mexico desert under that terrible
midsummer sun. The heat was fiery,
searching, parch1ng.p t., The sky was like
lot blue glass. She wondered why,
when the lava was hotSenough to burn
her feet through the soles of her shoes,
1t did not melt or grow soft. She kept
on walking because she was afraid to
stop. Twice she slipped and fell and
cut her hands. Under the fporous,
piled-up rock, rabbits and owls and
quail were hidden; there WI ere snakes,
too, and lizards. At first she was
frightened when they scurricd by her,
but soon. with her head ringing and
her, ~eyes dazed with congested blood
and her mouth open and as dry as -four,
she did not even notice them.
She reached the enc. Of the bpgesrock
river at last, and found tie ambulance
waiting. The driver was asleep, and
the major was dri linking beer. sHeHof-
feTed her some, and when she had drunk
it she held outther5broad little FOOT
my shoes are allecut to pieces, and
they were new and awfully heavy. go
sYou should have, kept still" he an
swered. 1->'E 1'.:~> >>ttn@ q s7s~s5
Now, Missspencer wanted SYMPATHY.
and when she didn't getit she took,a dis
like to the major; and because she dis
liked him, She eventually made him
sorry. |J.}G $3.50 ~ 5sa;
For the first fortnig ht of, her visit she
was not pretty. She was sunburpcd
from her passage Of thea1ava sea. Her
face was red and swollen then bIotchy,
and lastly peely. After, that shet re-
turned to the normal pink and white
She was the only girl at the post, md
there was bachelor, q brevet bachelor,
a young contract surgeon, and Mai.
/ Roche's son.. The bachelor officerawas
studio,1s-the kind that have much faitt,
and think that the great fathers in
Washington will reward slieutenants
who pass high.exams. and have ideas on
Indians. He had no time for young rlgq
/, women. 5He paid his one call and re-
tired. The brevet. bachelor is, peculiar
4 to the service. 4 His wife is back east,
visiting her family. He differs from the
realsarticle only in that he is Ineligible.
He was devoted to Miss Spencer, but
he did not count There was alsn fha