The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-04-03
By JAMES b. MORROW.

Two Ifelghters, rusty men, smelhng OF
pipes and horses, came for the bars.
There were casks and boxes at the bot
tom of their loads that were better pinehed
inward and frontward toward the trucks.
The bars. with scrapers. shovels, and
axes. and piles of tangled harness. and
tents, kettles and tin dishes. idle tools
OF railroad building, were waiting while
the contractor was away in the mountains
for other work The freighters. burly
persons with muddy boots and faces
red as brickbats. would return the bars
by twilight. and sonny. as they called
the boyish watcher let them go at that
By O'Clock the frelghters were on the
road 70 Socorro. carrying the bars with
them, stuck in their wagons like broom
handles. The boy, discovering the flight
and theft that night followed on horse
back next morning. At the first water
nole. fifteen miles from Albuquerque, he
= found warm ashes, new oats where the
mules had been feeding. and other signs
OF camp recently broken. The freighters
were cooking their dinner at the second
water hole when the galloplng boy over
took them.
Il have come for the bars he said
without dismounting. He was a quiet
boy, slim and short of stature. but his
eyes were the color OF bullets and his
jaw had an ugly angle.
And He GET Them.
You will wait for the bars untn we
return 10 Albuquerque" the freighters re-
piled. giving their words the tones OF
finality and derision.
7 have come for the bars" the boy
repeated, and. pulling them from the
loads. he laid them across his saddle. He
had Travelled thirty miles under New
Mexican sun. and the trail. as he rode
away. began TO blur and the blazing
light to grow uncertain
Behind the first little hill. out of sight
Of the freighters, ne tumbled upon the
sand and waited for the fog to go out
of his eyes and his brain TO stop its
giddy revolutions Thus he rode and
rested all the way back. twisting the
flesh of his legs with his fingers. the
shock seeming TO arrest Inconsistencies.
but he had recovered the property he
had been guarding against the day when
the contractor should return from the
mountains.
The story is interesting in that It helps
TO explain Charles Frederick Scott, Of
lola, Kan, a Representative in Con-
gress, and a prospective member of
President Taft's cabinet, in the event Of
However, the prophets say and so DO the
speculators-busy gentlemen, running in
and out of the anthill of Washington,
each dragging a theory or guess after
him-that James Wilson. Secretary of
Agriculture. now in his seventy-fifth
year. has never acquired the vice Of re-
signing and Is too foxy and old to begin
Still it is Scott. no matter what hap
pens-Scott in reality or a substitutional
capacity. The dusty freighters and the
crowbars. therefore the bullet-colored
eyes and the menacing chin are small
but revealing details appertaining 10 an
important character
why ScOtt Won Out.
A roaring man would have made no
Roadway at the second water hole, even
- If ne ever got there. A fidgety man would
have died of sunstroke. A timid but con
scientious man would have argued the
case with the contractor Fidelity cour-
age, and tenaeity were the real elements
OF the adventure. Doubtless. Scott is IN
changed. except for the better
Externally, he is a leisureIy personality.
with hands made large by toll, q red
mustaehe and a crisscross of honorable
lines-all foOlishly marked out by the pho
tographer-slashing his forehead. cheeks,
and temples. From the appearance of his
desk. I should say that little things do
not bother him-when they are covered
up.
Since coming TO Congress. nine years
ago, agriculture has been his speciality.
But he owns no land. Secretary Wilson
does. but he Will not talk about it. Apart
from his possibilities, Scott has had some
quaint experiences Once he cooked for a
shopful of frontier blacksmiths. Food
In his view, will never be any cheaper.
Profits, easily gained in the country. will
check the growth of cities. The United
States is TO be a nation Of small farms
and happy landowners. Gambling in flu
lures is a crime against safety. morality
and common sense. There was a meIodra-
matte flavor in the answer he gave TO my
first questionable noise of pistols and a
sight of Indians.
Walnut Rails in Fences.
My father" he said, was physician
with a liking for agriculture. He moved
to Kansas during the free State agita-
tion-moved TO help with his vote and
presence the growing sentiment against
African slavery. Taking up a homestead
of 100 acres Of wild prairie, he hauled
walnut logs from the fringe of timber
along the nearest river. and built
cabin FOR his family The clapboards were
Of cottonwood. Not being hard to split,
we used black walnut rails for all of our
fences.
AT the beginning Of the civil war, my
father went away as surgeon Of a Kan
sas regiment and was absent four wears.
There were five children in the family
The first incident OF my life to leave
lasting memory In my mind occurred
when I was four years old Soldiers
came 10 our house and while my mother.
flUstered and Overheated, was cooking
them a meal on a red-hot stove they
were outside the house firing revolvers at
our poultry Indians occasionally appear
ed at our door and demanded food. We
were afraid to send them away unfed.
When my father came back from the
war, the farm was In ruins. Ny eldest
brother was eleven years Old. and we
could do no more than cultivate a little
garden The fields were in tangle of
weeds. the buildings leaked. and the fences
were down in many places. Life on the
frontier has many hardships. but it is
good discipline for grown persons as we'll
as children. teaching. as it does. re-