Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1909-09-17
THE BEGINNING OF
A LONG JOURNEY.
BY GEORGE HERBERT BoHN.


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 all
old gentleman and young lady whom
| 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, IL
ghost Of the solid imposing vehicle in
which our ancestors used 10 ride Both
windows were up, and. thinking to in
prove the air. which seemed to me to
he very stuffy. | let down the one next
to which | was sitting. The young
lady sat directly opposite me and
when ! lowered the window cast III
upprchensivc glance at her father. an
other ut me. then coolly put the win.
dow back in its place.
Had she been man there would
have been an explosion then and there.
A. 1t WAS. set my lips tO.etlNr.
brcathpd hard aud rlcked my brain for
gentlemanly meats Of crushing her.
Vt last. finding what | considered Il
honcye;l thuIdcrbult. launched it.
Madam" began Jelly, had you
beg Your pardon, sir. but | am not
madam"
This took away something of the
steel cold sharpness Of what / Had to
say, for couldn't begin with Mis-"
1t wcu!d sound ridiculous.
II assure yGu." 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 am addressed prop
erly.'
waited a few moments.
Had YOU began third time,
said to me. May ask you TO allow
The window TO remain closed, my
father being delicate and l fearing Il
draft for HING would certainly
Had you said. DO you object to my
lowering the Window | would have
had an opportunity to tell you wheth-
er | wished it open OF closed. You
took it upon yourself to lower it, and
therefore took it upon myself to
close it.
Technically you are right, really
wrong. With stufry 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 NE TO raise it,,
knew in my heart that l was
wrong. but when the nerves are the
handspring Of ones acts one gets deep
or into he mire.
Il have supposed" replied after
some silence, that woman's
strength is in her weakness. Granting
your right to be consulted-and ! con-
ceGc you this right rs one Of the soft
or SEX put IN unnecessary infection
this right. | say, would it not have
been mere effective with a gentleman
TO have
with gentleman. yes"
'YCu i1ust excuse me-" l retorted
hotly. from further discussion with
enc who forGets"-
At this point something occurred to
stop my speech something that filled
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. 1t went right
through the glass without sound or
resistance. | put my hand where
had supposed the pane to he. and there
was 10 pane there.
The young lady burst into a merry
laugh.
Ordinarily | should have laughed
too. But in addition to a headache
and strained nerves had placed my
self in faIse position and about moth
inC.
did you know there was no glass
there?" asked in the same cold tone
rs 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. heard him speaking
German with the driver. You acted
without consulting him or me, so
concluded to-
Teach me politcness"
by way Of reply she took up
lunch box and. opening it. handed me
chicken sandwich. took 1t and sew
cra more. following them up with
other eatablcS Then | took out NV