Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-12-11
BY THOMAS poNNELLY.
Copyright, 1903, by w. R. Hearst-Grea
Britain RIGHTS Reseruad \


Copyright 1903, by w. R. Hearst-Great
Britain Rights Reserved.)
Perhaps it was natural for horse-lov-
ing woman like Miss Julia Stotts to be
prejuliced against the automobile. Yet 1t
did seem odd that she should hold out so
obstinately against the motor-driven We
hicle, seeing that she was the center of a
crowd of men and women who, while
quite as loyal to the horse, had welcomed
its latest competitor with the frankest
kind Of enthusiasm.
Any way, that motor cars stood for
any hing better than mere ephemeral
init. they had come up like the banished
bike and they would be cut down in the
same relnorseless fashion, she held, as
soon as the novelty wore off.
Miss Stotts stood en- the veranda of the
Nortnchester Country club. Jack steb-
you,'' said Jack The talk had turned
on the irrepressible topic of motor We
sible dislike for them.
Your missionary zeal will hardly stand
the strain" said she he,s sGertainnly you you
ordinary savage, who scared SO easily at
the locomotive. only contempt is called
forth IN me when see yon the
charm of a country road with. your snort
ing and gasping and putting"
in an automobileY" asked Jack.
".Ths only poetry of motion. can con-
ceive in connection with one. is the speed
pear when people come to their senses"
,..Nor-if ROMANCE be barred-,can you
all9w any PorentialitXy o Of usef1lnsss
less it be the possibly useful lesson it
may teach when 1t does vaEish-that of
the absurdity of all violent temporary
Jack Stebbins sighed. He had been SO
long unsuccessful in storming the strong
ne aaon III preudce tha he had he begun n
to think the task hopeless. Presently his
face frightened. Was it an inspiration?
again this su:nmer, aren't youss he
Eyes" she answered And probably
II know that -the-world corner
Of the Maine, woods well CROUCH to be
"Exactly. There are no automobiles to
make life burden and horse.riding I'M
es 70 the 'n s @a station m an ft od
man"
lack Stebbins said this in dreamy
absent sort. of way, as If he were talking
Two weeks later Miss stotts was at
Ing mob Of motors, enjoying h irua own
particular fad of taking every morning
a long horseback ride before sunrise, and
Stebhins could content himself away
from her even with the aid of an auto
mobile. For herself one of the. things
that helped to interest her in this UNI
eventful wilderness was the cNtraordi-
nary personality and reputation of the
local mail ca who eonyeyed the let
railway point, fifteen miles away. On
her ante-sunrise rides she often met him,
scrawpy steed had been a pet grievance
with her during the two seasons she had
passed in the wilderness. This summer
she had resolved not to leave until she
had accomplished some sort of relief for
this broken down animal--though so far
she did not quite see precisely how she
was going to go about it.
A long ravine paralleled the high road
some distance from Observation-Disclosures. and
there was steep incline called Fiddler's
Hill, with a sharp curve at the foot of it.
round which. if you did not swerve eau
tiously as became good driving, 1t was an
easy Haatter to be precipitated over
cliff some 200 feet high into one Of the
torn OF large circular ljine-pit
When these were burning at night, it