Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1900-12-05
CHAPTER V.-CONTINUED.

CHAPTER N.-CONTINUED.
"What on earth does John Folsom
want of a housekeeper? asked the
helpmates of his friends at Fort En-
DRY, and in the busy, busting town.
s'Why don't he marry again?" queried
those who would gladly have seen some
unprovided sister, niece or daughter
thus cozily disposed of. 1t was years
since Elinor's mothers death, and yet
John Folsom seemed to mourn her as
fondly as ever, and except in midw1n-
ter, barely a month went by in which
he did not make his pilgrimage to her
never-neglected grave. Yet, despite
his vigorous years in saddle, sunshine
or storm, and his thorough love for
outdoor life, Folsom, now well over so,
could no longer SO lightly bear the
hard life of the field. He was amazed
to see how his sleepless dash to head off
Red Cloud and his days and nights of
gallop back had told upon him. Wom-
en- at Fort Emory who looked with ap-
proving eyes on his rudy face and
trim, erect figure, all SO eloquent of
health, and who possibly contemplated,
too, his solid bank account, and that
fast-building house, the finest in Gate
City, had been telling him all winter
long he ought to have companion
an elder guide for Miss Elinor on her
return; he ought to have some one to
preside at his table; and honest John
had promptly answered.: "Why, Nell
will do all that" which necessitated
their limiting that although Miss Fol-
som would be a young lady in years,
she was only child in experience, and
would be much the better for some one
who could take mothers place. No
one could do that" said John, with
sudden swimming of his eyes, and that
for the time at least, but only for the
time. Taking counsel together, and
thinking how lovely it would be now if
Mr.. Folsom would only see how much
there was in this unmarried damsel, or
that widowed dame, the coterie at En-
ory again returned to the subject, I'M
til John, in his perplexity, got the idea
that propriety demanded that he
should have housekeeper against his
daughters coming, and then he did go
and do, in his masculine stupidity, just
exactly what they wouldn't have had
him do for worlds-invite a woman, OF
whom none of their number had ever
heard, to come from Omaha and take
the domestic management of ishearth
and home. All he knew of her was
what he heard there. She was the
e 0ffSnQ1, who h q n
died of disease contracted during the
war. She was childless, almost desti-
tute, accomplished, and so devoted to
her church duties. She was interest
ing and refined and highly educated.
He heard the eulogiums pronounced
by the good priest and some of his
flock, and Mrs. Fletcher, a substantial
person of some 40 years at least, was
duly installed.
Fort Emory was filed with women
folk and consterna tion-most of the
men being afeld. The seething ques-
ton .of the hour was whether they
should call on her, whether she was to
be received at the fort, whether she
was to be acknowledged and recognized
dU dill, dIU UIou CdIIIS, ILL oOIiO NiNou, q
great government official from Wash
ington to inspect the Union Pacific
and make speeches at various points
along the road, and Mrs. Fletcher,
mind you, walked to church the very
next Sunday on the honorable secre
tary's arm, sat by his side when he drove
out to hear the band at Emory and re-
ceived with him on the colonePs veran-
da, and that settled it. Received and
acknowledged and visited she had to
be. She might well prove woman
worth knowing.
Within a fortnight she had made the
new homestead blossom like the rose.
Within month everything was in per-
feet order for the reception of Elinor
and her school friend-a busy, anxious
month, in which Folsom was fitting to
and fro to Reno and Frayne, as we have
seen; to Halls ranch in the Medicine
Bow, to Rawhide and Laramie, and the
reservations in northwestern Nebras-
ka; and it SO happened that he was
away the night Maj. Burleigh, on his
way to the depot, dropped,in to inquire
if he could see Mr.. Folsom moment on
important business. The servant said
he was not i'll tcwn-had gone, she
thought, to Omaha. She would inquire
Of Mra. Fletcher, and meantime would