Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-06-10
A WlFE'S SISTER.

Army wires generally have unmar-
RED sisters. These sisters always come
orr TO visit them and the rest goes by
itself
Mrs. LorI1lard mad an unmarried SIS
FER She was very attractive. She was
far more attractive than Mrs. LoriIaro
,9r1d have been. The girls name was
Sne3cer-May Spencer. She was Is
wears old. il you took her word Tor IT,
and she was blond and pink and WHITE
and plump. She came from some place
in Ohio and she visited the Lorrilards
ar stanton. which is in New Mexico
7ce miles from the railroad, across Dead
Mans Vauty-there is always a Dead
Mans Valley-and some steep hills ana
o lava he'd a mile wide. If you have
never seen a lava bed you can not ap-
nraciste that. You might try TO mag
inc tbe ocean dashed into fury by
s.moom then fancy its great waves and
bulows and swells changed suddenly
~ dark grey brown stone at the height
of the storm. and you may form a
vague idea Of what the lava bed be-
tween Fort Stanton ald the railroad Is
like.
II frightened Miss Spencer badly. The
ambulance went slipping. and sliding
and coastng. and humping, and
bonnding over the one passable part in
WAY that only an ambulance conduct
Oh bv q 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
at naught. 1t and the four mules were
laws unto themselves.
Miss Spencer was not accustomed TO
that sort of thing. She stood it as long
as she could. and them she told Major
Roche. in whose charge she was tray
cling. that she meant to get out ana
walk. She had bothered the major
good deal already, and he was getting
aired. so ne did not say anything, but
simply told the driver TO slow up and
let Miss Spencer get out by herself.
She fell behind after moment, and
the ambulance went reientlessly on,
creaking. tapping its canvas, clanking
IFS chains. it's brakes screeching shrilly.
And as it disappeared, sometimes lost
10 sight i'm a great hollow, sometimes
t'iling up a smooth face of lava, Miss
Spencer felt herself abandoned indeed
in q New Mexico desert under that ter
r.ble midsummer sun. The heat was
like hot blue glass. She wondered
why. when the lava was hot enough
90 burn her feet through the soles Of
her shoes it 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
porous. piled up rock, rabbits and owls
and quail were hidden; there were
snakes too. and lizards. AT first she
was frightened when they scurried TO
her but soon, with her head ringing
and her eyes dazed with congested
blood and her mouth open and as dry
as f5ur. she did not even notice them.
She reached the end Of the huge
rock river at last and found the ambu-
lance waiting. The driver was asleep,
and the major was drinking beer. lie
offered her some and when she had
drunk it she held out her broad little
foot.
My shoes are all cut to pieces, and
they were new and awfully heavy
You should have kept STILL he an
svered.
Now Miss Spencer wanted sympa-
thy. and when she didn't get it she
took a dislike 10 the major and be
cause she disHked him she eventually
made him sorry.
For the frs, fortnight of her visit
she was not pretty Sne was sunburn-
el from her passage of the lava sea.
Her face was red and swollen. thea
blOJchy and lastly peely. After that she
returned TO the normal pink and white.
She was the only girl at the post, and
there were a bachelor, a breyet bach
elOr. a young CONTRACT surgeon and
Major Roche's son. The bachelor Off
Ger was sUdjous-a kind that has much
faith and thinks that the great fathers
i'm Washington Will reward lieu,enants
who pass high exams and have ideas on
Indians. Tie had no time for young
women. He paid his one call and re-
tired. The brevet bachelor is peculiar
10 the service. His wife IS back east,