The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1898-11-18
A SAGE. BRUSH
NIGHTINGALE.

1TTY MINIS is not common
1.


TT ITTY MINIS is not a common
~ name, nor can it truthfully af-
- - frmed that 1t Is at all suggest
I've Of romance. Yet Kitty Minis was
remarkable young woman, but this
was due as much to her unusual sur
roundings as to her undoubted personal
charms.
Simon Minis, Kitty's father, was the
landlord of the Aurora Hotel, the only
tavern in the mining town Of Expert
ence, Nevada, that agreed to furnish
accommodations for man and beast
and kept its pledge to the letter.
Simon Minis was known far and near
as "the DOCTOR" and he felt not little
proud Of the title. 81 amt never grad
dyated, as We mout say" he would ex-
plain to strangers who came for pre-
scription, "but thar's two pains I set
on relieving every time, and they're the
pains that most troubles folks in these
diggings-they're hunger and thirst.
Are you troubled that way, friend?'
The population Of Experience was
mostly transient and largely composed
Of rough miners, many of them foreign
ers, who seemed to have acquired the
English language in very profane at
mosphere.
The gentler sex was not well repre-
sented. -Four sets Of cotillons exhaust
ed the supply.
But had the ladies been represented
by the usual proportion, and had Ex-
perience been many times more popu-
lous, still Kitty Minis must have been
the belle.
Her education was limited to a not
very familiar acquaintance with the
three Rs. But the miners, one and all,
were ready to wager their ''bottom dol
lar that as singer "Kitty Minis could
give the odds to Nelson, Patti and the
hull caboodle of 'em, and then come out
many lengths ahead"
Judged by the effect Of her efforts, no
prima donna that ever trod the boards
could surpass her when she sang "The
lone starry hours give me, love-" which
was always followed by a storm Of
"angkores."
But she came out the strongest In
sway Down Upon de Swanee Ribber"
and "Home, Sweet Home" songs that
invariably produced great deal Of
coughing on the part of her bearded
auditors, and the use Of handkerchiefs
just as If they were troubled with
sudden colds or dust in their eyes.
Of course Kitty Minis had suitors,
and of course. she was the cause Of
much heartburning among her many
admirers, for it must be confessed she
was not ignorant of her charms, and
she used her charms with fascinating
tyranny against which the strongest
did not dare revolt.
Rufus Ford, the superintendent OF
the mine, was a confident, fine-looking
fellow, and he boarded at the Aurora
Hotel. Up to the time Of his meeting
Kitty he was in profound ignorance Of
poetry as an art. But his soul was
touched so that he attempted to COM
pose song in which he designed hav-
ing darling Kitty Minis" at the end Of
every stanza. He failed miserably in
the effort, as more practiced rhymer
might have done.
'1f the name had only been Ford" he
said, 'T'd had no trouble with it.
There's 'adored' and tfoored' and
.gored' and-and-"
"And 'swored,'" said Tom Reed, COM
ing to the foreman's aid.
Mr.. Ford refused any assistance In
this direction that savored of profanity,
and it may be added that he had no ad-
miration for the young man who volun-
teered his help.
Tom Reed was tall, weIl-built man
of six and twenty, "bashful as a GAL"
his companions said. He was the only
man in Experience who neither drank
nor gambled.
1t was Rufus Ford's privilege to sit
at the table on which Kitty Minis wait
ed. He was always Kittys first part
ner at the dances, and the very first
time buggy drove down the one street
Of Experience Kitty sat in it beside the
young superintendent.
The older men joked with Simon
Minis, and though the landlord was
non -committal, he gave the impression
that he would not object to Rufus Ford
as q son-in-law.
The younger men gradually dropped
off one at time, reluctantly leaving
the field to Rufus Ford; the only excep-
ton was Tom Reed.
It might be said, however, that Tom
Reed was never really in the field, He