The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-08-05

the Highlands over yonder, way up on top
of that hill. 1 don't know just how far it
Is to there. but / reckon it's about three
miles or three miles and a half. Here's
Fenton Post Office over on this side of the
BRIDGE" he adds, after we have crossed the
Meramec.
Yes" interrupts our old lady. land about
all you can say about Fenron is that it
never seemed to go ahead like it ought to.
1t never was what it ought to be until the
Germans took hold of it ard made it what
it is. Still, Fenton could pick up some get
if they'd only push it"
Out from Fenton we begin to encounter
waving fields of m~illet-German millet. and
Huskey says it makes the very best kind
of feed. but for horses it ought to he cut
reasonably early. before it heads out and
gets too hard.
And this Is what they call Bowles Hill.
When we get up on top it's the end of st.
Louis County.
From Fenton to Murphy's Post Office it
is mostly up hill, and from Murphy to High
/ Ridge it is all that way. From the high
ground the read is now travelling we can
look back and family see the distant city
of St. Louis. with the ascending smoke OF
its manufacturing industries. And of to
the left are the dense black smoke clouds
that hang between Cheltenham and the
great blue sky.
AS we climb up to High Ridge the driver
succors what remaining spirit there is left
in the now tired team for a final squirt up
! to the tavern, where we encounter the stage
| from the south. Here we alight and find
the ~tavern's dining table with each seat
| occupied. Somebody says something about
"seven-up" and the driver gets stuck. It's
! a good joke on the driver.
For a respectable space of time after din
| ner we sit around in the shade while Huskey
| and Hansen compare notes and exchange
orders for various articles they are to pick
up and deliver to people along the route
| over which the other has already passed
this morning.
On an eminence out from High Ridge our
old lady points out the quaint little house
of the DIRTY Doctor" When he first built
the house it was a log house, she says. AMI
when he built on that barren ridge every
body predicted he would never get along
there. But he did. and what's more, he
beautifed the place, planted peach and
other fruit trees. The house Is boarded
over now. and. while some log outbuild-
ines remain, it is altogether a quaint and
picturesque setting in a most beautiful and
romantic spot. But while the picture of ex-
ternal beauty still survives, 1t is said of
the Dirty Doctor that he died as he lived.
unmarried. unioved. unkempt and alone on
a bed of dirty rags.
ITS getting pretty hot, don't you think.
boys?" asks Huskey. as we start down En-
tire Hill. the steepest and longest on the
route. This hill runs down and down
through the timber. and the shade of
spreading trees we find most enjoyable.
when the sound of a "Hclloar' comes TO
US. We pull up and out of the shade
on the lower side of the road comes a man
who asks If we see a boy a mile or so
down the road looking for lost cattle to
please tell him he has them located down
In the timber here and he's minding them,
and to tell the boy to come en- back and
help drive 'em home.
AT Houses Spring Post Office our old
lady gets out and We bid her a pleasant
adieu. "Good-by. ALL" she cries from her
%dooryard, "a-d don't forget to throw one
of those big fishing hats over in the ward
when you come back this way. 1t will
make a good sunshade for the garden"
The girl on the back seat, she of the vel
low braids in pink ribbons, manages To
stammer a faint 'good-by," and nearly
chokes with the effort.
Further on down the road Ne came to