Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-01-10
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The Means and The End. 5
Observation-Disclosures 6aQs@A0sa

Srasnect for constituted authority
mas as un-American as his face. HeWas
.ou and fine-looking, his English was
~,tto as polished as Strathmore's own;
and-which was of infinitely more i'm
ortancp-he never touched whisky and
cigars, nor went on a payday spree. So
ctro+hmore felt himself justified in sup
.os,no that he had murdered, or stolen,
- forged or something, at one time or
ono+bnr and he shrewdly guessed that
cbocter was not his real name. But
+ho+ was no ones cOnsern, that he
oonld see, and everybody knows that
enlistment in the army Of the United
Ctotns even more than baptism, 10 a
q new birth
throughout the department Strath-
more was known by the striker he
,ont This had it's disadvantages, but
tho advantages outweighed. No one
oouId have realized this better than
Strathm0re himself, and yet sometimes
he was moved in the bosom of the
mess to complain. 1T is telling on
me- he would insist; Il am slowly
breaking down under the strain. l
came across something in French book
tha other day about how few masters
are worthy to be Wallets. That's what
am striving to be, and the failure is
telling upon me- They used to-" he
explained complacently, "they used to
say-when my name was mentioned
from Dan to observation-disclosures,
4 Srrathmore of the 'steenth. Big, good
looking chap" (Strathmore had picked
n Nd Chester's manner of speech), one
j of the Strathmores of Boston, isn't heT
i Now it's 'Strathmore? That's the chap
Chester's striking for?' Oh! yes;
think I'll send Chester back to the
! troop"
Which. of course he never did. Apart
from the fact that he could never have
done without him, he could not have
had the heart.
Chester had been as good soldier as
be was a striker, but he had languished
under barrack rule Exactly for the
reason that he never said SO, it was
plain that he had been used to
better things 1t was so plain
that Strathmore would never have
thought of suggesting to him to
become body-servant, had not Ches-
ter himself-when a desperado's bullet
had left the position vacant-volun-
teered. AS a striker Chester had many
little luxuries that he had lacked be-
fOre-his own room, his own bath-tub,
and the run of his masters small but
choice library. With the help of dra-
peries and blankets that StrathmOre let
him have, and with that Of some potted
plants he managed upon his own &C
count, he transformed the room into
quite a Sybaritic retreat, and his liter
airy discrimination was thing to won
der at. He tackled up colored supple
ments of the London Christmas papers,
and there was a Photographers one
on his mantel-piece. It was OF
woman who had soft eyes and hair and
a lovely mouth. Strathmore ventured
to ask who it was, one day, and Ches-
ter told HIM that it was IAN English
woman, sir
Now this was in Texas, in the early
days shortly after the war, in the State
of the Lone Stars palmiest time. There
was much drinking in the land, and
much poker, as well, no pious general
having as yet arisen to bid gambling
cease. There was also some shooting,
but Of unattached women there were
We're, generally, not very nice. This
condition of affairs led to good many
unfortunate things. Any man prefers
even second-rate woman to none at
all, and any man-being deprived Of a
standard of comparison for a length Of
time VIII come to think that an exceed
ngly poor article is superior enough,
after ALL
That was what happened to Strath-
more He should have known better,
because his youth had been spent
among women who We're lovely in ev
cry way; but the memory Of man is
Shorthand he was lonesome. There
should be provision for this in the reg
uIatIons. When man gets any of the
HIS that frontier service is apt to in
uuce, they bundle him off back East on
d SICK leave; yet when-which is in
AlIJeIy more prejudicial to the standing
VI Tie Seryice-he reaches the stage OF
loneliness where he would marry the
wien OF Endor herself rather than
continue to be alone, there is no one to
1nuorSc his application to be sent some
where where he can find the proper
Sort Of girl.
S1rathmore had been in the wilder
ness matter of five years, and he was
sEauually, very gradually, lapsing from
t.NHizaton The first intimation of this
'Dat Chester had was that the lieuten-
"N' made unnecessarily frequent calls
a ranch-hOuse some ten miles from
oe reservation. Chester knew that
go ANed there-a dreadful girl, who
Ia" pIumply pretty figure and face.