Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1902-04-29

"About the mcanest thing I ever
did" said Bass NcPheeters, who had
served as a volunteer through the
Cuban campaign, was to steal bran
dy Off the dead dagos. Every man
Jack of them had a flask. I guess it
was the worst brandy ever distilled,
but it tasted mighty good to me, and.
as l say, stole it and drank it and
felt like a ghoul all thetime."
"Ah, you're very thin-skinned,"
growled Heathcote, a Harvard man
who had come to be a Texas Ranger
because he was plucked at West Point;
eff you want to feel real downright
80 cents YOU ought to try peacemak-
ing between a woman and wife-beat-
ing husband. l did. You remember
it, don't YOU, Harris? The time l
came from Langtry in an ambulance?
I made peace between them, all right,
but what they did to me between
them was a plenty Robbing dead
dagos is a Sabbath pastime compared
to peacemaking, and twice as remu-
neratiye'
"Ncither one Of you knows what
he's talking about" drawled Lieut..
! Collins, who was doing his second
year on the frontier with his regi-
ment, and held the record as the only
officer in it who was not pulling wires
for detached service. Gone of you is
thief and the other a fool, but l can
tell You an experience that made me
look like a thief and feel like a fool
for a long time"
He got fresh bottle out of the cup
board, sent the Chinaman for another
siphon, and said;
"You remember, Heathcote, while
l was at the academy was forever
running back to Cincinnati to spend
a day, a week OF a month, or whatever
time l could get on sick leave, bogus
kilograms or other subterfuges. Well
they were all bogus, but l had rea-
son, or thought l had, for going there
so often. Woman? Yes, Of course,
it was woman. That is, she was the
making Of fine and beautiful wom-
an She was mere girl then, just
come IS, and as gentle and generous
a soul as ever lived. L might as well
admit that had my heart set and my
hopes built on her and-lost l
didn't find out that part, the loss part,
though, till my last visit to Cincin-
natl, and as that's what l started out
to tell about III Just begin there.
"Well, 1 don't think Edith-that
was her name-I don't think she ever
knew how felt toward her; you see, /
was never forehanded with women,
or she wouldn't have invited me to
that theater party. l don't know ex-
actly how her mother sprung it, but,
anyhow, we hadn't been in Edith's
house five minutes before everybody
knew that she was engaged to Herbert
Humphreys, spruce little dandy
with light-colored eyes and clothes
that would have made Freddie Geb-
hard look like a costermonger. !
didn't like him first, last nor any
time, but Of course l was a prejudiced
party.
"Well, 1 was assigned, that's what
you call it, guess; l was assigned to
Fannie Ziegler-you know the Zieg-
lers, Heathcote? Brewers, you know,
and we went off to the theater in a lot
Of carriages, the girls all talking about
the coming wedding and what lovely
doings would be pulled off, and what
a lovely ring that was Edith had, and
me-you can just guess howl en-
joyed that theater party. don't
remember what the play was or who
was in my carriage besides Fannie or
anything about it except that one Of
the party was a girl cousin of Edith's
who had come from New Orleans to
be leading lady, or bridesmaid, or
whatever it is at the wedding.
"Well, sir, she was a sumner? !
think if I hadn't been so faded on
Edith I'd have gone after that cousin
Her name was Corinne Forgeron,
blond creole with purple eyes and a
forml Oh, sayl I've seen her only
once since then, but it was too late.
Pm always too late on the wooing
business, but wait, That comes IL the
story, too. We were at the theater,
weren't we? Well, / noticed this
squirt Humphreys, Edith's fancei
seemed to make better headwav With