St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-10-26
Smiley's -
Oil Strike
BY WILL Q. a1DLEY


Copyright 1901, b Authors syndicass)
TACK SMILEY was nobody's fool.
IL He was a shrewd, well-educated,
wideawake young man, but somehow
he never seemed to have any luck
that is, until the final grand coup de
main or chef-d'oeuvre, the story of
which il here set down.
After graduating with high honors
(including the degree of football
champion) from q northern uni
versity, he had wooed Fortune under
various guises, but without eliciting
even a smile. But yes, I believe she
did smile at him, which is an entire
~ different proposition from smiling
upon him.
Instead Of getting discouraged and
throwing up his hand, Smiley pluck
lily stayed in the game and kept peg
ging away, hoping that some time
things would take a turn, which they
are almost sure to do if one can only
manage to hang on long enough.
Finally Smiley drifted to Texas
that mighty empire Of the southwest,
full of big men, big ideas and big pos
sibilities-and invested all his avail
able worldly wealth land he hadn't
an over-abundance Of it just then) in
. 1,ooo-acre ranch, with few strag-
Cling yearlings and mortgage on it.
One of Smiley's neighbors, if peo-
pie who live five miles apart can be
called neighbors, was Col. Brandon;
another was Col. Brandon's daughter,
Bertha, who was her fathers house,
keeper and the apple Of his eye. His
wife had died some years before, and
he had been too busy making money to
hunt up another.
Young Smiley obeyed the scriptural
Injunction to love your neighbor as
yourself, but however it may have
been with the coloners daughter, the
colonel himself did not reciprocate.
In fact, that gentleman frowned
most decidedly upon Smiley's at
tempt to ingratiate himself with the
Brandon family. Smiley was an out
slider, an adventurer, an interloper.
The colonel wanted nothing to do
with him. Besides Smiley was as poor
as a church mouse. He might sue
coed In raising few lonesome, half
starved steers, but he would never be
able to raise the mortgage on his
ranch-Col. Brandon felt sure of that.
And il there was anything that
placed q man outside of Texas soci-
ety-according to the coloners way
Of looking at tit was the pseudo
ownership of q rundown ranch COW
cred by blanket mortgage.
But it is q long lane that has no
turn. The oil fever finally struck
Texas-and struck it hard. Everybody
laid aside their ordinary occupation
and began prospecting for oil, Smiley
among the rest. The air was full
of rumors of big oil strikes, but few
Of them could be traced to any re-
liable source. Nevertheless the
boom kept on, and now and then q
rich strike was made and some for
tunate ranch owner was suddenly ele-
waited to the top wave of prosperity
and rendered independent for life.
One day in the height Of the oil
excitement Jack Smiley arrayed him
self in his choicest raiment, mount
ed his gallant charger FUSED chiefly
in rounding up cattle) and rode like
. conquering knight straight into the
Brandon camp.
Col. Brandon was not at home-in
fact Smiley rather suspected he
wouldn't be when he came over-but
Bertha would do just as well. Smiley
assured her. He said that while of
course it was great disappointment
to miss her fathers genial welcome,
vet he believed his business was such
that he could readily dispense with
the presence Of . third party.
Bertha blushed, and whispered that
the fates were kind; and two hours
later, when young Smiley was riding
homeward with his heart bubbling
over with Joy and his head in the
clouds, and CHANGED to meet Col.
Brandon returning to his ranch
well, Smiley bravely smiled and
bowed with. the debonair grace Of q
prince in . fairy tale.
Feeling mighty clipper, amt
you?'' growled the colonel, with dis
approving glance at smiley's beaming
countenance.
"Got q right to-" chuckled smiley,
with q grin, the corners Of which
threatened to permanently usurp the
place Of his ears.
"Have, Ell? What's up? Haven't
struck oil, have you?' demanded the
colonel, jealousy. He. too, was on
the hunt for that commodity, al
though he was wealthy enough with
out it.
you're right. I have" was the
bosstful reply.