The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-10-26

! ana the cursory nature of his toilet,
prepared to receive a message of life
and death.
| The wire to Aunt Adelaide ran:
| Practically at end of journey Take
| stage to Lost. Trail this morning Am
well. Don't worry about me. MARY.
| And the telegraph operator, dimly
remembering that he had heard Lost
Trail was 'spizen mean country" and
that it was tucked some 200 miles back
In the foothills, did not find it very
hard to forgive the girl who was .'prac-
tcally at end of Journey" particularly
| as the dimple had come out Of hiding
and he had never been called upon to
telegraph the word practically be-
fore. He was a progressive man and
liked to extend his experiences.
After sending the telegram, Miss
Carmichael drew from her pocket a
square envelope Of heavy Irish linen. a
| little worn from much reading, but
primarily an envelope that bespoke ele-
gance Of taste on the part Of her cor
| respondent, and read:
Lost Trail, Wyo
| assure you of my qualification that the
| prelim1naries have been so satisfactorily
arranged and that we are to have YOU
| with us by the end of June. The children
are proiting from the very anticipation
| OF it, and it will be most refreshing to all
| US isolated ones to be able to welcome an
eastern girl as a member Of our family.
Although the long journey across the
continent is trying, particularly to one
VINO has not made it before, I hope
| you may not find it utterly fatiguing.
! Please remember that after leaving the
train it will be necessary to take a stage
to Lost Trail. If it is possible, I shall
! meet you with the blackboard at one Of
| the stage stations; otherwise, keep to the
| stage route, being careful to change at
Dax'S ranch.
Unfortunately the children vary so in
their accomplishments that fear can
! make no suggestions as to what YOU NAV
| need to bring with you in the way Of
| text books, but I think you will find
them fairly well grounded.
1 had a charming letter from Mrs
kirkland, who said the pleasantest things
| possible of you. I am glad the wife of
| our senator was able conscientiously to
| commend us.
With our most cordial good wishes for
safe journey, believe me- dear Miss Car
michael sincerely yours,
SARAH YELLETT
In the meantime ''Town" came yaWn-
ing to breakfast. It was not so prank
lsh as it had been the night before,
when it accepted the sheepman's broad
gauge hospitality and made merry till
the sun winked from behind the noun
tains. 1t made it's way to the low,
shedlike eating house with a pre-
| breakfast solemnity bordering on sulk-
mess. Not petticoat was in sight to
offset the spurs and sombreros that
filed in to breakfast from every point of
the compass, prepared to eat primitive
~, Joke broadly and quarrel speedily if
that sensitive and often inconsistent
something they called honor should be
brushed however lightly.
But the eternal feminine was with
In, and, discovering it, the. temper of
Clown was changed. It ate self con-
sciously, made jokes meet for the ears
OF ladies and was more interested in
the girl in the sailor hat than it was in
remembering old feuds or laying the
foundations Of new. .:..
In it's interior aspect the eating house
| conveyed no subtle invitation to eat,
drink and be merry. On the contrary,
Its mission seemed to be that of con-
| rounding appetite at every turn. A
long, shedlike room it was, with walls
Of implanted pine still sweating from
the ak. Festoons of scalloped paper
in conflicting shades hung from the
ceiling, menace to the taller of the
guests. On the rough walls some one,
either prompted by a latent spirit of
aestheticism or with an idea Of abet-
ting the town toward merrymaking,
an encouragement it hardly required,
had tackled posters of shows, mainly
representing the tank and sawmill
school Of drama. ~.~...
Miss Carmichael sat at the extreme
end of the long, oilcloth covered table,
on which struggling army of salt and
pepper shakers, catchup bottles and
divers commercial condiments seemed
to pause in a discouraged march. A
plague Of flies was on everything, and
the food was threat to the hardest
appetite. One man summed up the
steak with, you got to work your jaw
so hard to eat it that it amt fair to
the next meal.' ""~.
His neighbor heaved a sigh. '"This
here formation, whatever it be''-and
he turned the meat over for better in
spection-''do shore remind me of an
ondestructible doll that an old maid
aunt of mine Civ my sister when we
was kids. That doll sort Of challenged
me, an one day ups an has a chaw
at her. She war ondestructible, all
right. Fore concluded my speri-
mcnts I had left a couple Of teeth in
her, e@
"Well, l discyards the steak an
draw to pair Of aces'' And the first
man helped himself to couple of bis
cults. ~-a.... . ....-
Miss Carmichael knew, by the con-
tinual scraping of chairs across the
gritty floor, that the places at the
table must be nearly all taken, and,
| while she anticiDate1 with an i1tto,.1v