The Washington herald., 1912-12-29

tCopyriEht by the BobhsMerrn Conpany9
Principles has their local habitats the
same as live things; an nothin' is worse
rr 'em than 10 turn 'em loose where
they don't know the water-holes an
wind-breaks Principles that'n lay on
fat an top the market in Boston. II
queer the huh game in a country where
playin' 1t is tangled up with Injuns, gold
mines, r range-stuff. In the short-grass
country, doggy principles are sure
source of loss, until they get hardened
up SOS to git out and rustic with the
push. Now. this Humane-Society-Injun
ReIief-Corps form of dom good-harrn-
less, you'd say. as We set here by the
grub-wagon; but 1 swear to Godfrey's
Guich, the worst throwdown I ever got
in a social way growed out Of combina-
ton Of them two highly proper idees
with a Oberlin College gal / met up to
Chamberlain
This was the way of it: The 20. M"
Mr.. EllIins, 1 mean, of the J-Up-An'-
Down Ranch, was called to Sioux Falls
as a witness in case of selling CONVEX
sation-water TO the Injuns, an casually
landed juicy contract with Uncle Sam
f'r supplyin' beef-issue cattle over ON the
Rosebud. The Pierre firm of politicians
pretty good, az they thought, on the de-
livery, at once hops to him with propo-
Eition TO pay him I d'know how much
money an take it of his hands. Havin'
pongshong FIR doin' business on velvet,
the o. NJ. snaps 'em up instantaneous,
an comes home to Wolf Nose Crick snil-
. IN like. he'd swallered the canary. an
sends me to Chamberlain to see that the
contract is carried out as fer as proper.
nm fa he
member that while the J-Up-An'-Down
outfit don't feel bound to demand any
reforms, its interests must be protected.
Any sort of cattle the Pierre crowd can
make look like prime steers to the in
spector goes with us. But" he goes on,
our names and not theirs are on the
contract. These inspectors" says he,
'bein' picked out on their merits at
Washington to look after the interests
of the govermen an the noble red. it
would be unpatriatic If not Lees Majes-
ty to cavil at their Judgment on steers,
especially If il comedies with that OF
Senator Whaley's men at Pierre. There
fore, far be it from US to knock. But be
leery that we don't get stuck for non
performance, which We can't afford.
See?''
matrickelated as night-wrangler, an
graduated at it on the J-Up-An'-Down,
an 1 went heart-free an conscience
clear, seem my duty perfectly plain.
Now at Chamberlain was this Ober-
lin College lady, who had some kind of
an infiamed conscience on the Injun
question, an was dead stuck on dumb
animals an their rights. She was one
of the kind you don't see out here
blue eyes. you know, yellow hair. the
kind of complexion that don't outlive
many hot winds: an she had lots of
pitchers around her, of young folks in
her classes, an people with motar-
board hats an black nighties. r striped
sweaters. She was irrupting into the
lnjun question via Chamberlain. Her
thought was that the Injuns was really
Twin correct s fur as they had a chance.
an that We orto copy their ways, instid
of maxim them tag along after our'n.
Maybe that's So" says I, but I've
took the Kelley cure twice now, an
please excuse me!'
She looked kinder dazed FIR a minute.
an then laffed. an said sometin' about
the sardonic humor of the frontier.
had been asked to give a exhibition
of broncho Dustin at the ranch where
she was stayin' an she was agitatin'
herself about the bronks' feelin's. l
told her that it was just friendly rivalry
between the puncher an the bronx an
how, out on the ranch, the gentle crit
the hour, a'nickerin' fr some O. the
gang to go out an bust 'em.
1T reminds me-" she said, 'of my
brothers pointers begging to go hunt
ing"
1t seemed to ease her mind. an feelin'
as I did toward her. 1 wouldn't have
her worry FIR anything. Then she found
out that I was a graduate, of the high
school of Higgsville. Kas., an used to
know what quadratics was, an that my
way of emitting the English language
was just an acquired mannerism, like
the hock-action of a string halted boss.
an she warmed up to me right smart,
both then an after. never asIIin' to see
my diploma. an begun interrogatin' me
about the beef issue; an discussin' the
Injun question like a lifelong friend.
Wherat, I jumped the game.
But, for all that, about this time
become subject to attacks of blue eyes
an yellow hair, accompanied by vertigo,
bltnd-staggers, bots. ringin' in the ears
like low confabulatin talk, kinder in
terspersed with little bubbles of lafture
an sense O. guilt whenever I done
anything under the canopy of heaven
that I was used to doin'. Can yeh ex-
plain that, now? Why this Oberlin prop
osition should make me feel like GRIM
lnal jest because the pony grunted at
the cinchin' o. the saddle r because l
damned him fr bitin piece out O. my
thigh at the same time, goes too deep
into mind science f'r Aconite Driscoll.
o. course, a man under them succum-
stances is supposed to let up on cussin'
an not to listen to all kinds O. stories
but you understand, here / was, con-
science struck in a general an hay sort
of way, mournin' over a dark an bloody
past, an thinl1in' joyfulIy of death. It
was the condemnedest case ever con-