Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1910-01-12
BEING A HERO,
A. N. QUAD.

" Tompkins, whose farm adjoined
hat of his boss on the west. Ebene-
or was twenty-four years old, plain Of
nee and ungainly Of form and without
100 worth of property. The widow
vas less than forty and well on. Ebe-
ezer was rated as good hearted but
ather dull. One evening as he drop
cd In to see the widow about borrow
ne some farm implements next day he
ouud her reading q love story. She
cad few chapters to him and after
ward acknowledged that she had al
ways been romantic and that IL she
kyer married again 1t would be to a
hero. The farmers hired man didn't
kush right OF that night and try to be
hero, but sat down to think. -.
Three or four days after Ebenezer's
linking bee a tramp came alongatl .
road and, seeing the young man hoe
ng corn just over, the fence, halted
or word or two. Ordinarily Ebene-
.er would have ieaped the fence and
run the wayfarer half q mile, but on
his occasion he invited him over into
he corn and sat down with him for a
confidential conversation. The result
BIZ that conversation was that at 8
o'clock that evening the tramp ap-
peared before the Widow Tompkins
and made. threats OF what he would
do If she didn't set out yictnals, hunt
up old clothes and come down with a
dollar in cash. Ebenezer was not far
away, just far enough to come run
ming up and knock the tramp head
over heels and rescue the widow. But
as he started to come running he fell
down and got tangled up with the
bushes, and before he could. get away
the widow had broomsticked the tramp
into flight. She didn't say she was
glad that the would be hero was so
near at hand. What she did say was
that she wasn't afraid Of any old
tramp walking the roads.
Ebenezer's first try was failure,
but within fortnight he was ready
for another. Behind the farms ran a
river. The widow had a skin on the
water and often rowed herself up and
down. One night the farmers hired
man took some tools down to the
landing and was busy for an hour.
Two evenings later, just at shutdown.
he saw the widow making across the
field forithe river, and he was not long
in following her. He expected to hear
cries for help. but they did not come.
He expected to find a woman clinging
to a swamped boat, but he didn't. She
was wading ashore when he arrived
on the bank and dashed in, and all he
got out Of it was good sousing and a
cold in the head.
Azcold In the head casts a man down
for few days, but IL there be any
hero about him he rallies and becomes
more daring than ever. EbenezeE
rallied. Two or three farmhouses in
the township had been robbed, and
this fact became the basis for his third
plan. One night at midnight he left
his bed, descended to earth by way OF
a window, and. armed with a club. he
became a guard for the widows house
He circled around It and patrolled the
garden and the orchard, and he fell
that he would give year Of his life Il
a robber would appear. he would firs
fell him and then arouse the hous'
and when the widow came to know
that he had been guarding her for low
her heart would melt toward him. Blu
no robber came. Instead of that hi
footsteps awoke the widow, and, peer
ing out, she saw some one walking
about. and she got out shotgun anC
raised window and blazed away. Th
gun was loaded with bird shot to shoe
hawks that might come swoopinl
down on chickens, but in this cas-
they answered just as well for man
Ebenezer received about twenty o
them and ran two miles to doctor 3
have them picked out. he also had
vacation from work for q week unde
the excuse that he had sprained hi
back turning over in bed. s4s.
Ninety-nine out Of a hundred wOul
be heroes would have given up the Jo
right here, but Ebenezer was a ma
to hang on. 1t was while he wa
limping around on his vacation and dc
ing a lot OF standing up and wander
ing over the fields that he came upo
the widow fishing in the river at
certain point. He did not show hin
self. but fifty feet from where she 80
under tree he discovered humble
bees nest in the grass. 1t was q larg
and liberal nest, and 1t gave him
thought. The bees wouldn't bottle
anybody so long as they were let alon'
If stirred up they would look for mea
There was a haystack not far aEaI
and Ebenezer had matches In n
pocket. He retired behind the stac
and collected hatful OF stones froI
the plowed land. These he threw on
BY one at the spot where the be-
were pursuing the even tenor Of the
ways. The plot thickened. You ca
thicken a bumblebee plot in . TeE
short time. All you've got to do lis
tread on their coattails. When thu
sects found the rocks dropping on the
heads they swarmed out Of the graI
to look for the enemy. They shou
have seen the widow and descenu'
- hAvs AFaf Hhrt