Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1901-12-18


ly mingled with his 5wondrous assort-
ment of western and southern dialects,
chinook" jargon and straight Eng
lish.
The old man and the guide made a
supper for US, in little grape vined ar
Dor, at the right of the house and oppo-
site to ''Bill's grave" after which,
as the chill of the night had begun to
come on. we repaired to the largest
of the two rooms in the cabin, where
before a blaze of fir bark, in a huge
fireplace, the old man was led to talk
of ''Biu.''
On some rows of shelves, at the
side of the fireplace, there were a
number of books, among them Taine's
English Literature PIutarch's
| Lives "Josephus,'' translations of
the odyssey" and the ''Ihad,' - Moore's
''LaIla Rookh,'' Scott's ''Marmion,"
Hugo's Lies Miserables," and num-
Der of Fielding's, Smollett's, Thack-
eray's, Dickens and BuIwer's novels,
with other, and later, popular itera-
ture. Nearly ali of these had the name
of William Brandeth written in them.
''Bill left the books to me-most of
them,'' the old man explained, and that
started him talking of BILL general
| ly which was exactly what we desired.
''BiIl was a good fellow" he repeat
| ed, ''but he had his faults. They
weren't such powerful bad faults gen
orally, but they KEEP him back heap.
| And he KEEP me back. Him an me were
| pardners and he was monstrous good
company. You never heard such
talker as he was. People would sit
| around and listen to that mans tum-
tum from rosy morn till dewy eve,
and later. Bill was a powerful able
bodied liar, too. I've counted up on
him and found out that, taking the
number of years that he had been in
| China, Spain, Mexico, and what not,
that man was 29S years old before he
was As He'd done everything you
could think of, and he'd made you be-
Iieve he was the author of brand of
pills, if he'd ever set in to doit.
''The way Bill Brandeth could play
the fiddle was caution. He left his
fiddle to me, and I sorter took up play
in it after he went over the range"
By this time my companion had
reached the violin and handed it to the
old man, who, without any mock mod
esty excuses, took it and tuned it as he
talked.
''I'm getting along to'ard the end of
the trip myself" he said, 'and my fin
gers amt as supple as they used to
be. Besides, I'm not up in any late mu-
sic, but I'll give you the best we've got
in the shop. Bill says it's skookum
enough, and he knows, for Bill's sperit
comes ands sets around here with me
heap. Still I don't believe in ghosts.
generally, mind you. Bills ghost is
the only one I allow to come loafn'
around where l am. I couldn't take to
any strange ghost
By this time the old man had the in
strument in perfect tune, and he
brought from it, with graceful and as
tonishing execution, music from old
time operas, such as the charming
songs in ''The Bohemian Girl the ser
enade from ''Don Pasquale," and
touching. strains from I'll Trovatore,
together with snatches from the pop
ular songs of ten, fifteen and twenty
! wears before. Sometimes his eyes
would dance with merriment, when the
! music was that way, and then they
would fill with tears when it was ten
der and pathetic.
Laying aside the instrument, at last
, he said: 'Bin could pay better than
/ that, but 1 don't think he enjoyed it any
better than do.
''BilI did lots of wild things. But he
did lots of good things, too" the ole
,, man went on. However, he didn't
> like to have anything much said about
. his better ways, so I won't mention
. 'em, for know he'd upbraid me about
it the next time he comes around.
''Bili had been tol'able drunk in every
= whoop-up-and-boom, from the time
: Westport Landin' climbed up the banks
of the Missouri river and called herself
q Kansas City, through the Comstocl
and Phoebe, back to Leadville and dowT
7 the Gunnison, all over, everywhere, il
the mountains and on the coast, til
= ! finally him and me brought up al Con
: connully, up here in the Okanogan.
h GAS usual, Bill was 1ddlin', singin'
tellin' stories, playin' cards, gfVin' hi!
: money-weII, never mind that-having
: a good time, till one day up there fel
t Iowa pretty good fellow, at that, bu
e over fuli-called Bill a name that thu
t Kaintucky statutes make it breach o.
o the peace to call man, and they locket
d horns. When the cleaning up cam,
d Bill was all right, but the other fellow
t had quit. Then I brought Bill owe.
/ here, and we settled down on thi
ranch. We hadn't been here long be
a fore Bill-poor old Bill Brandeth-de
:, cided to climb the golden stair. lai
V him out yonder and he's rested Their
z, quiet enough ever since, exceptin' tina
: he comes in here and sets up with me
d sociable to a fraction, and generally o
d nights, and we talk and play the fiddle
/ Pretty nigh every time Bill gets hold o
IS the fiddle he plays that kind of musi
f, that folks call quick and dev'lish,' bu
" if anybody happens along he scoots.
/ 81 hated to see Old Bill go over tn
j, range, but it was the best thing tina
d could have happened to both of US, TO
N [ just ma turally followed him about I'll
e was no good for anything. Ever sine
we've been over here we've been dom
pretty well. 1 tend his grave close
than I do most anything else, and som
day I'll go in there with him, reckon.
Among the cd mans books was
n Latin Reader-a school book-and O