The daily Alaskan., 1914-07-02
Pete Coyne
 Elevation
By SARAH BAXTER

. ] Sometimes they take on a higher re- fucmeut: sometimes they don't
 When the first railroad was pushing its way across the great American
 desert I, being fond of hunting wild
 game, went to a small town on that part of the line that was finished and
 made it my headquarters for hunting
 bunuocs and other game. l boarded with a Mrs. Copeland. Whether she
 was a widow, a brevet widow or held
 no matrimonial commission whatever no one cared and no one asked. Her
 regular boarders called her by her first name. Kate. She was one of those
 women who fit In readily with unCOuth surroundings. Her bOarders were all men. but every man was respectful to her, in accordance with the manners of the country. They did not hesitate to
 swear in her presence, and probably if
 one of them should have had diff . rurtv with another neither would have
 heSitntcd to shoot in her presence, but ! so far as she was herself concerned she
 was immune from any disrespect what l ever.
 l Mrs. Copeland was but twenty-three
 years old and tolerably good looking. 1 She showed no preference for any of l the men with whom she came In con- tact and accepted no attentions from any one of them She treated them all alike, except one, Peter COyne, whom ] she seemed disposed to quarrel with. l Coync had been a professional gam l bier. but had recently turned his at ] teution to a contract he had with the ! railroad for taking dirt from where 1t 1 was not needed and putting 1t where 1 rails were to be laid. He appeared to ] be the most forcefuI of Rates board CTS. and l wondered why she singled 1 him out for in usage. Her treatment 1 seemed to trouble him, and every time l she scoIIcd him he would hang his head and take what she said to hlm l like guilty schooIboy.
 ! noticed that E0te's reprimands to l Covuc were never occasiOned by any III treatment ot her. Sometimes they arose from differences of opinion sometimes because she was unmlndful of tue feelings of others, and once l heard her abusing him because he had shown a tendency to backslide into his former profession of gambling. Just before l left l witnessed a makeup
 after one of the dressings Kate gave
 CorDn. and it was very amusing. The
 big man had got a pOsy somewhere auG offered it to her as a peace offer ing He went up to her with it as shyly as if he expected her to open on him with a six shooter.
 Soon after this little episode l finish cd my hunting operations and return
 ed to the east The railroad and other trauscontiuental lines were lshed'
 and the western part of North Ameri-
 ca began a development thOt has work
 nF wonders. New farming territory
 was oncned. towns and villages sprang rn with modern couveniences, and the
 people, throwing of their uncouth
 manners with their rough dress, were transformed into ladies and gentlemen
 Some twelve years after my hunting
 triD to the west l had occasion to visit
 Waslfngton. Congress was in session, and the social season was at It's height
 Ara reception of the president which
 attended. I was moving about among
 the throug when l met a man ana
 woman handsomely dressed, both or
 whose faces seemed familiar to me
 The lady showed signs of recognizing me. but passed on with only the sign. Later a man, evidently a WesterneF' aunrOached me and said:
 Beg your pardon, sir There Is
 ladv in another room who desires to speak with you" l followed him, and he led me to the
 woman l had met shortly before.
 Mrs. Senator COyneT said my con- ductor. and since he did not know my name he left us.
 l stood looking at the lady wonder inelv, while she sat looking at me with
 aD amused expression on her face. Then suddenly through the silk and Iace gown she wore l recognized the
 woman I had boarded with years be- fore. l grasped her hand.
 You would hardly recognize in me- she said. "the woman you boarded with when on your hunting trip, would
 you? And you wouldn't have expected that ] would marry Pete Coyne. Fact
 is. | saw there was the making Of 8 unc man in Pete, and when you were with me l was trying to get him up ou to a higherpIane, He made money by contracting, and after awhile ] married him. Then when the terri tory became q state be was sent to congress. That led to his being made one of the states senators, and here
 we are right in it for all we're worth"
 And 1 assure yOu," l replied, "One
 would not suspect but that you were born here"
 "Oh, this is my third winter in Wash l ington. When first came I was pret- 1 ty rough. But, you see, Pete was rOugher than I, so l had to pull myself