Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-02-27
A ROUGH RIDER,

VlSlt alHt crowded around when De ap- proached the bed, where white sheet set itself stif1y over all that had re- quired his ministrations. Bud Wilson, eaRtering down from the Hill range, caught sight of the unusual throng and flung his horses head up sharply by the side of the house.
 Whats the racket2' he asked of one of the men standing by. Some one hurtT'
 Jim MeMillan's baby's dead.a'
 Bud Wilson was q handsome fellow He sat horse superbly and rolled cigarettes to perfection, bending them in the Mexican way. Tn the surprise of the announcement he rolled one now, placing the wisp of paper on the pommel of his saddle while he pour ed the tobacco into it. After med itated whiff or two that burned tho paper half down to his fingers he threw his cigarette away, and swing ing down from his saddle tossed his bridle over the nearest fence post and walked back to the door as softly as his high-heeled boots and sWaddling goatskin ''chaps" permitted.
 Bud Wilson at one time had been very attentive to Lizzie McNlillan be- fore she was Lizzie McMiHan. Certain of the range people had said lit would sure be q match" but Billy Howe, Buds most intimate friend in the roundup gang, had prophesied that Eye wouldn't rope Bud fer no such halter yet" and they had not.
 The door was pulled open at the newcomers knock. He paused 9 mom- ent on the threshold, thefH walked in with bowed head and stood looking down at the figure in the little white coffin, holding his broad sombrero in both hands, with it's heavy row of buckles glinting around the crown.
 While he stood there the mother, whose silence had at last found voice, sat in the adjoining room looking over the empty field. She was eroon- ing to herself softly:
 "Yes. My pore child's gone. But it's better off-Ah know it. And never brought it up right. Ah'm sinful an worldly, an And "a brought it up to daynce an all such things. Ah know Ah would. Ah'm not fit to have q child, so weak an sinful, an God has taken 1t back now, an he maght not ef it he'd stayed with me an groWed up like me-
 She sat by the kitchen window, her cloak on as though she were about to go out, and swayed softly back and forth, her fine head and figure mak- ing a superb silhouette against the square of light behind her.
 But Ah eayn't bear to think of her lyin' oat there in tn rain an'snow," she went on. "Ef 1t was only Summer an it was green an there was flowers but to be oat there-Ah eayn't bear to think aboat it. Oh, Ah cayn't!"
 Wilson stood looking down at the child while she spoke, not once rais- ing his head. Then he turned and went out as quietly as he had come In.
 Whats she sayin' bout flowers, Bill?' he asked of one of the men on the outside, indicating the direction of the mother with twist of his brows.
 Liz? Oh, nothin'. She's picked out the place for the grave out there on the knoll by the river, where. she can see it from the window, and she wants to have some flowers there some time"
 '.So she's cryin' for flowers" Wilson unused. Lets see. No up train till tomorrow, and that's too late. I'll do it. D-n me if don'tw
 The funeral service was not elabor- ate. The one minister at Table Rock, who was also the carpenter, came over for the occasion. There was a hymn by iarring voices, q chapter from the Bible, read while the men, for the most part, crowded bareheaded around the open door or tramped heavily over the faded flower beds that lined the red wall with a starved stubble of greenery-p -portulaca,, ,Sweet-williamand bachelor button the Springtime reaching out of some soul toward the beautiful, now become, as everything must, but the setting for the common tragedy. Once, while the service was under way, an ore train went pounding by with Il sudden roar and chatter of wheels.
 After the service four of the men carried the coffin to the place where the grave had been hollowed out on tho bluff above the river. The sagebrush grew thiekly on the sides of the slope, with an occasional yucca lifting it's barred blades. There was quite a steep ascent for a dozen yards or more, and the men who were carrying the coffin had to watch their steps. As they reached the top of the rise the leader then went on amid low mur- mur of surprise.
 The yellow mound of newly turned earth had disappeared under the dazzl- ing bank of dowers-roses,s carnations, lilies-a little Drowned at the edges in the chill air, but white and glorious still in the morning light, and hiding as one came up the slope, even the ragged edge of the grave itself.
 No one knew whence they came and the minister, taking advantage of the wonder, wove into his final words a reference to that promise of Him who said. II will give you beauty for lshes."
 Bud Wilson rode home with his cousin Medic after the funeral. You re comin' long over to stay tonight. lint you?" she had asked. "Yes, I'll go over and sleep, he had answered, md then felt her eyes upon him as he lad tramped along ahead of her horse to where he had left his own animal 1t some distance from the station.
 You must've been ridin' that horse pretty hard, Bud" she began.
 ..Yes. have rid her q little," he an yvroraJ