Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-03-22

That is badly overdrawn and don't
happen but three or four times, and af-
ter a walk of seven or eight
miles after each occurrence you soon
learn to avoid it..
Gives Advice.
First would advise a cross coun.
try run, where you walk part of the
time, such as took down here, and
where had an excellent opportunity
to study the workings and unworkings
OF our machine Where the farther we
went the roads got worse and we
stopped only on the last one out of
the United States. Where for days
you don't see anybody and never a
time but that you can see everybody
if you ride barb-wire fence or go over
gate that you should go through.
Where every species of road that lies
outdoors presents itself to your view
and consideration. Where the hills
are unclimable and the natives pro-
duce but cotton, as this is the only
cargo they can transport over such
roads. Where you get in the canyons
and unload before you get out, and
your eyesight grows dim looking for
the beautiful, level as floor roads
your friends told you of before you
left home. Where the sage brush and
bunch grass and sandhills are thicker
than loafers on an Ottumwa street cor
ner. and going is hard, and your en-
CINE gets hot land so do you) and
your muffier sets the grass on fire, and
on that account you have to watch the
rear of the road as well as the fore.
"And you put the last drop of fuel
in your machine miles before you
reach place where you can replenish,
and live few hours In a nervous
state that is sorrowful to behold, and
you buy water in your gasoline and
the engine objects and splits and
fuses and misses, and drives you to
distraction and you adjust every
movable thing about the machine, and
then you wish you hadn't and adjust
| them again and finally get them all
back to where they we're before.
Under the Machine.
"And the storm comes and drives
you to camp-and it pours-and soaks
you to the skin and spoils your batter
les, and makes you wonder when the
end will come. And the rainfall raises
the creeks, and you have several fords
to make and you don't see a living
soul for days (Which seems weeks)
and your food consists of one box of
creckers which the dog eats while you
are outside the tent trying to soak up
a little sunshine and shake the rhell-
mates out Of your joints. And you
run out Of tobacco and feel that you
haven't friend on earth. But not
for always, because the sun shines
again and how bright and warm 1t
seems, and you reach the plains and
good roads once more. You lay aside
the spade and take UP the shotgun
again. A brace of chickens fly across
4 your path and alight among the weeds
and cactus, and you take the gun and
t get them both and you feel good all
over and think that life is worth liv
ing after all. You wend your way mer
rily on and the roads get fine and
dandy and you turn off the miles with
a certain intoxication that comes onl,
to the driver Of this thing of life.' It's
;. a pity to stop, but your trained (?)
ear catches a suspicious and unfamil
lar sound. Something rattles and al
your book of instruction says abso
lutely don't get the rattles,' you stoI
short and dismount with determine
) tionpto make short work Of that 'errol
!, in construction You slide in on YOU
4 back and pile all your wrenches or
your stomach in easy reach, for obser
walton is limited in that position. YOU
locate the trouble-a loose holland
4 you reach for the wrench but that par
ticular one has disappeared and vol
grope around frantically in the dus
for 1T without success, and you raise
your head for better view and the
4 frame Of the machine comes in con
tact with some Of the soft spots II
your Uranium and you lie gently bacl
and fold your hands and cross you
feet and close your eyes and see many
pretty things and wish it was night
drop Of oil falls gently in your eye
and calls you back to earth, and thu
pain in your back is caused by the
wrench you seek.
In A Mud Hole.
with a do or die determination 70,
make jab at the bolt and give jerl
and the wrench flies off and SO doe,
the skin from your finger, and Web
ster would grow green with envy if h,
could but hear. But the work Is don,
and you worm yourself out from unde,
the car and stow your tools and climl
in with a 4confound- you'll -fxed-you
J satisfaction. On your way once NOR,
with an egotistical calmness that onl,
the practical enjoy. Cool and collect
, ed; in fact almost too cool and yo,
! put your hands to your head and thel
: stop again and walk back few hun
: dred yards for your hat, where 20,
f left it lying on the grass. A quicl
: turn in the road and before you lies
: bridge, with the floor off-partly Off
= and you cross on a margin that is eve
( SO scant and for some inexplicabf
reason just happens to be right in dis
lance and you are over, when 70,
/ might have been In. You are foo
. for luck on this occasion as on man,
: before, and you tremble when yol
C think what might have been An
g now a dark and gloomy streak ar
) pears across your path to mar TIL
y smooth and glorious running. A mu
e hole! But you will make short worl
l Of that and speed ahead with il
cod ayorox, ond fbo,, 49, J,k1, =