Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-09-22
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| HKTTTv MINIS is not a common
N name, nor can it be truthfully af-
firmed that it is at all suggestive of ro-
nance. Yet Kitty Minis was a remark
able young woman; but this was due
as much to her unusual surroundings
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, New, that agreed to furnish
Accommodations for man and beast
and kept its pledge to the letter.
Simon Minis was known far and near
as s'the DOCTOR and he felt not little
proud of the title. 81 amt meyer grad
| dyated, as We mout say" he would ex-
prescription, "but thar's two pains
set on relieving every time, and they're
the pains that most troubles folks in
these digging@they're hunger and
| thirst. Are you troubled that way,
friend?"
| The population OF Experience was
largely transient and largely COM
posed of rough miners, many of them
foreigners. who seemed to have ac-
CURED the English language in a very
| profane atmosphere.
The gentler sex was not we'll repre-
| sented. Four sets of cotillions ex-
hausted the supply, and as they were
not always available for the Saturday
night dances, the younger men fas-
| tened their arms, and so were bre-
vetted "ladies" for the time being.
! But, had the ladies beenrepresented
by the usual proportion, and had Ex-
| perience been many times more popu-
lous, still Kitty Minis must have been
| the belle.
! She was over the average in height,
finely formed, and with a certain
| piquant, self-reliant expression in her
dark eyes and about her rich lips, that
! made her irresistibly attractive to the
| habitues of the Aurora hotel.
| Her education was limited to not
very familiar acquaintance with the
! three RS. But the miners, one and all,
| were ready to wager their bottom
dollar" that as a 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 outstrongest in sc Way
down upon de Suwanee Ribber," and
| 'sFome, Sweet Home" songs that in
| variably produced great deal of
coughing on the part of her bearded
| auditors, and the use of handker-
| chiefs-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 heart-burning among her
| many admirers, for it must be con-
| fessed she was not ignorant of her
charms, and she used her charms with
| a fascinating tyranny, against which
the strongest did not dare to 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 a more practiced rhymer
might have done.
| IF the name had only been Ford"
| he said, sid had no trouble with it.
There's 'adored' and 'foored' and
| 'gored' and-and-"
| "And 'swored,' said Tom Reed, com
| ing to the foreman's aid.
| Mr.. Ford refused any assistance, in
| this connection, that savored of pro-
family, and, it may be added, he had no
admiration for the young man who
volunteered his help.
| Tom Reed was tall, well-built man
of six-and-twenty, 'bashful as a GAL"
his companions said. He was the only
man in Experience that neither drank
| nor gambled, and though these were
hindrances to his social status. it was
generally thought that ne would get
| over the defects when he was older.
| It was Rufus Ford's privilege to sit
at the table on which Kitty Minis
waited. He was always Kitty's first
| partner at the dances; and the very
first time buggy drove down the one
street of Experience Kitty sat in it
| beside the young uperintendent-
The older men joked with Simon
Minis, and thought the landlord was
non-committal he gave the impression
that he would not object to Rufus Ford
| for a son-in-law.
But" he would say, 1.-The gals young.
| and as she amt got no mcthe:. to adj
wise with her, / calklate she'd better
not think of marrying for some years
to come
The younger men gradually dropped
off, one at a time. reluctantly leaving