The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1901-03-27
SUSAN'S LUCKY SHOT.

1t was a very pretty prospect that con-
fronted Miss Susan Gallon Brown. The
scattering white homes among the trees
in the valley, the blue hills beyond with
their fringes Of pine trees, the clear sky
that was such novelty to the girl from
the great manufacturing town-it was
all bright and fresh and so delightfully."-
clean. Miss Susan Cation Brown locked
back on the peaceful prospect for a
lingering moment or two and then
pressed ahead up the mountain road.
She certainly was an unusual figure
for that quiet neighborhoOd. Attlred III
close-ftting suit OF gray with u short
walking skirt and a wide-brimmed gray
felt hat that concealed her beautiful
hair. she might at a distance-save for
the skirt-have been taken for an eX-
tremely handsome boy. Her gait would
have carried out the impression. there
was such an uncOnStrained swing TO IL.
But her high boots were not q boy
Miss Susan Cation Brown carried some
thing under her arm. It was a light
magazine rifle, the gift Of an adoring
father. For she could shoot and fish and
swim and run, and do it ali IN way
that met that adoring fathers critical
approval. She had minor talents, OF
course-an education rounded off IN 4
finishing school, pleasing smatterng OF
music taste for art that was only second
to her taste for nature. But all these
were quite dwarfed in her daddy's opln-
ion by those manlier attributes that he
so assiduously cultivated. She was his
companion on long hunting and hshIng
trips and an ideal companion at that.
It is needless to say that quiet Elm
wood looked upon this accomplished
young woman with a very doubtful eX-
preston She was a little too advanced
that was the, term, they used-for pm
woods old-fashioned ideas Of maidenly
modesty The mothers of Elmwood held
her up as an example Of the baneful
coming woman, and the girls of Elm
wood thought her dreadfully bold-and
secretly enyied her. AS for the meI-
well, there were but few of them IN Elm-
wood whose opinion was worth recording,
and of these a mere handful dared to
express an honest opinion in the face of
the universal feminine condemnation. Of
these independent souls it must be admit
ted that John Cartwright stood first and
foremost.
If Miss Susan Cation Brown knew Sf
the unfavorable light in which her short
skirt and her Teddy hat had placed her
and there is no DOUBT she did-the mat
ter failed to worry her in the least. She
had come down to Elmwood to stay a
month with her maiden aunt-her dead
mothers only sister-Who lived in the big
yond the Baptist meeting house. 1t was
this fond aunt who had invited Jack
Cortright to call, and although this was
particular youth, with high ideals Of
womanhood, he called again, and again,
and again. What was strange about it,
too, was that Jack hailed from the East.
and from Puritan surroundings at that
Yet with all this discreer bringing up he
certainly was fascinated with the wild
Western hoyden.
They all said that Jack Cartwright
was a rising young man. Boston CAPT
talists had sent him-fresh from college
to the Western town to look after their
interests in certain undeveloped coal-min-
ing property that lay few miles north
Of Emwood. And Jack had taken off
his coat, metaphorically, and gone to
work to develop it. There was plenty of
capital behind him, and he had built a
railway branch to the mine, and started
a bank in Elmwood, of which he was
temporary cashier. and stirred the little
town into making certain Improvements
that had long been discussed. In short
Jack Cartwright was recognized even by
these who didn't approve Of his reyolu-
tionary tactics to be the liveliest factor
of progress the sleepy little hamlet had
ever known.
Miss Susan Cation Brown had poor
luck that bright October afternoon. She
didn't rouse a solitary rabbit. But after
ALL it was the tramp she was after rather
than the game Still she must have
shot at something. So she pinned a bril-
liant leaf to a tree trunk and at twenty
paces-split it at the first trial.
The sun was still high above the hills
when she started to return to her aunt's.
AS she went down the old state road
sudden gathering caused her to turn her
head. Three men mounted on powerful
horses came trotting down the slope