New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-08-04
THE BEGINNING OF
A LONG JOURNEY,

BY GEORGE HERBERT BONN.
copyright. 1909. by American Press Asso-
clatlon.I
A few years ago was obliged to
connect between two railroads by stage
coach. had been doing some hard
travelling. was tired out, and my nerves
were generally unstrung. The only
other passengers in the coach were an
old gentleman and young lady whom
I presumed to be his daughter They
occupied the back seat and the front.
There was no middle seat. Indeed, the
coach was small, shabby affair, a
ghost of the solid, imposing vehicle in
which our ancestors used to ride. Both
windows were up, and, thinking to i'm
prove the air. which seemed to me tC
be very stuffy. let down the one next
to which was sitting. The young
lady sat directly opposite me and
when lowered the window cast an
apprehensive glance at her father, an.
other at me, then coolly put the win
dow back in it's place.
Had she been a man there would
have been an explosion then and there
As it was, set my lips together,
breathed hard and racked my brain for
gentlemanly means of crushing her
At last, finding what l considered a
honeyed thunderbolt, launched it.
Madam" l began icily. had you
BEG your pardon, sir, but l am not
madam"
This took away something Of the
steel cold sharpness Of what l had tc
say, for couldn't begin with Miss"
1t would sound ridiculous.
81. assure you," began again, "that
whether you are miss or madam
makes no difference whatsoever in this
instance was about to say
1T makes some difference to me
whether or no l am addressed prop.
erly."
l waited a few moments.
81 Had you," l began a third time,
"said to me, May ask you to allow
the window to remain closed, my
father being delicate and I fearing
draft for him?' would certainly
Had you said, DO you object to my
lowering the window? l would have
had an opportunity to tell you wheth-
er wished it open or closed. You
took it upon yourself to lower it, and
I therefore took it upon myself to
close it."
Technically you are right, really
wrong. With stuffy atmosphere like
this it is to be presumed that you
would prefer at least one open win
dow. Common politeness compelled
me to lower it,
"And common protection Of my
right to be consulted In the matter
compelled me to raise it."
I knew in my heart that I was
wrong. but when the nerves are the
handspring Of ones acts one gets deep
er into the mire.
Il have supposed" replied after
some silence, that woman's
strength is in her weakness. Granting
your right to be consulted-and con-
cede you this right as one OF the soft
er sex"-1 put an unnecessary infection
on the word "softer''-"as to granting
this right, say, would it not have
been more effective with a gentleman
to have
with gentleman, yes"
"You must excuse me-" l retorted
hotly, from further discussion with
one who forgets''-
At this point something occurred to
stop my speech something that filed
me with establishment. The old gen
tleman, who had been paying no at
tention to our fitting, took an orange
out of his pocket, tore off a large
piece of the rind and threw it out of
the closed window It went right
through the glass without sound or
resistance. put my hand where 1
had supposed the pane to be, and there
was no pane there
The young lady burst into merry
laugh.
Ordinarily should have laughed
too. But in addition to a headache
and strained nerves 1 had placed nv
self in false position and about moth
ing.
did you know there was no glass
there?" l asked in the same cold tone
as before.
From the first"
Then your fear of draft upon your
father
"This gentleman is not my father,
nor is he with me. / don't think he
has understood what we have been
talking about. I heard him speaking
German with the driver. You acted
without consulting him or me, so
concluded to-
Teach me politeness'
By way of reply she took up
lunch box and, opening it, handed me
chicken sandwich. l took it and sew
eral more, following them up with
other eatables. Then I took out nv
flask and washed the whole down with