Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1900-08-04
) ON THE TRIGGERS PULL.
How Prize Was Won and Lost.

BY Gwcndolcn Ovcrton
1T HERE Is always trouble Of
Il yvhny, n

"Y llEkE Is always trouble Oh
one sort or another when n
woman NEEDLES with those
things which do not concern
her sex.
Obviously. carbines were none of
Miss Mivart's concern. If she felt
that she had to play with firearms
she should have kept to Fl0bert rifles.
Nothing would do, however, but that
she must learn to shoot carblne,
and the result was that the whole
post rose up and cut Burton to a
man; so that there was no peace for
him any longer in that regiment and
he had TO seek transfer to another.
There were other insults, also, but
they come further on.
Some thought that what Miss Mivart
| did was dorc on purpose, and some
| thought that it was piece of idi-
otic Stiffness. The latter based their
argument upon the general frivolous
ness of her ways, and upon the inno-
cency Of her round, blue eyes. The
former held to the belief that Miss
Mivnrt was one of those women ia
vorites Of fortune who look greater
fools than they are. They said, with
n certain show of reason, that Georgia
Mivart was n child OF the service and
not an importation from civil life.
She had been EOrn in Il garrison and
had played with rows Of empty, green
trimmed cartridge shells at an age
when most little girls play with paper
dolls. She had hummed snatches Of
the buglc-cals before she could talk.
and the person she had admired the
most and obeycd the best for the first
dozen years of her life had been
KrcutZer, Captain Mivzart's tow
headed striker. A few years of board
ingschool back East could not have
Obltcrated all that.
Besides, the veriest civilian, who
has never come nearer to Il carbine
than to watch n Fourth of July mill
tia parade, might reasonably be OK
pected to know by intuition that in
target practice competition every trig-
ger has got to pull just so hard, what
ever the regulation number or frac-
tion of pounds may be- Otherwise
1t Is plain that the nearer you come
to Il hair-trigger the better your aim
will be.
However, whether Miss AIivart was
fully aware of what she was doing
nobody ever knew. unless, perhaps,
1t was Grcville--and he, like Zuleika,
never told. Burton had n bad time
OF it., and his beautiful score went for
worse than nothing Mt all.
That, though, was the end. And the
beginning ought to come first. The
beginning was when Miss Mivart I'M
dcrtook to learn to shoot carbine.
There was n target practice compe-
tltion going ON at the post; not one
which was Of any interest to the serv-
ice, or even to the department Mt large;
just local affair, devised to keep up
the esprit dc corps Of the troops and
to Tighten the monotony Of life. There
were three contests, one for troops
and companies, as such; one for in
dividual privates, and one for the Off
GERS. This last was to finish off, and
then there was to be a big hop.
Burton and Greville shot with their
troops, that the officers competition
would lie between them. This made
1t interesting in more ways than one,
because the rivalry was not confined
to the target range, but extended to
the winning Of Miss Mivart's hand and
heart, and every one believed that this
would settle matter she did not up
pear to be able to settle for herself.
Not that She was to blame for that.
Any one, even a person much more
certain Of her own mind than Miss
Mivart was, would have been put to
1t to choose.
both cavalrymen, and both good to
look upon. Burton was fair and Gre
vile was dark, but she had no fixed
prejudices regarding that. She had
often said SO. Also, both were as
much in love with her as even she
could have wished, and were more
than willing that NIL the world should
see it-than which nothing is more
pleasant and soothing to right-mind
ed woman.
The rifle contest lasted ten days.
during which time the air hummed
with the ping and sing of bullets over
on the range. and with the calls of
the markers in the rifle-pits. Only
scores and records and bets were
thought and talked about.
Miss Miv,lrt herself had bet, with
all the dsring wickedness of kitten
teasing beetle. She even went so
far as to bet on both Burton and Gre
vile at once. The adjutant undertook
to explain to her what was called
hedging" and was not looked upon
as altogether sporty. Miss AGivart
was hurt. Was it really dishonest,
she wanted to know. The adjutant
felt that he had been unkind. He
fastened to assure her that it was
not-not dishonest in the least: only
that it took away from the excitement
of the thing to a certain extent. Miss
Mivart smiled and shook her head.
No, she didn't think that 1t did, be-
cause, Of course, she knew herself
which one she wanted to have win.
The adjutant admitted that that might
possibly be just as interesting for her.
self and the fortunate man. And
which was he, IL he might ask. Miss
MivGrt shook her head and smiled
again. No, she didn't think he might
ask. AS the man himself didn't know,
she could hardly tell anyone else, just
vet, could she? She had her own
ideas about fair play.
II can shoot carbinc, myself" she
told the ndjutant. with her cleft chin
proudly raised; and my shoulder is
all black and blue. Mr.. Burton is
teaching me-"
oh" said the adjutant, land what
does Greville think about that" The
adjutant was married, so he was out
of the running.
"Mr. Greville is teaching me, too"
said Georgia; land here he comes for