The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-03-29
SUSAN'S LUCKY SHOT,

~ =" de very pretty prospect tndL coz
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 sucn a novelty to the girl from
the great manufacturing town-it was
all bright and fresh and 50 delightfully."-
clean. Miss Susan Gallon Brown looked
back on the peaceful prospect for a
lingering moment or two and then
pressed ahead up the mountain road.
for that quiet neighborhOod. IAttired in
a close-6tting suit OF gray. with a shor:
walking skirt and wide brimmed gray
felt hat that. concealed her beautiful
hair, she might at distance-save for
t tree ef handsome boy. Her ga gait ." Would
have carried out the impression, there
was such an unconstrained swing to il.
But her high boots were not boy 9
boots and her hands were neatly g!Oved.
Miss Susan Cation Brown carried some
thing under her arm. 1t was light
father. For she could shoot and fish and
swim and run, and do it all in a way
that met that adoring fathers critical
approval. She had minor talents, Of
course-an education rounded off in Il
finishing school, pleasing smattering OF
music, taste IOr art tual was Oily seSooH
to her taste for nature. But all these
were quite dwarfed in her daddy's opin-
ion by those manlier attributes that he
so assiduously cultivated. She was, his
companion on long hunting and fishing
trips and an ideal companion at that:
It is needless to say, that quiet Elm,
Young woman with a very doubtful ex-
preston. She was a little too advanced
that was the term they used-for Elm
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
secretly envied her. AS for the men
we'll. 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
ted that John Cartwright stood first and
foremost.
If Miss Susan Gallon Brown knew Of
the unfavorable light in which her short
skirt and her Teddy hat had placed her
and there is no DOUBT she did 1.-THE mat
ter failed to worry her in the least: She
month with her maiden aunt-her dead
mothers only sister-who lived in the big
white mansion on Main street, just be-
yond the Baptist meeting house. 1t was
this fond aunt who had invited Jack
Cortright to call. and although this was
a 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
ing property that lay few miles north
Of Elmwood. 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
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
those who didn't approve of his revOlu-
tionary tactics to be the liveliest factor
of progress the sleepy little hamlet had
ever known. "
Miss Susan Cation Brown had Door
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 bril-
liant leaf to a tree trunk and at twenty
pa split it at the first trial. 80
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 s
sudden Gathering caused her to turn her
head. Three men mounted on powerful
h0rxe9 caune fr0ffinsz dons.un !. ~. -